     The
.STAND.ARD
     BEARER
F-A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





            One cannot help noticing the striking fact
         that in those days  - a flourishing period of
         Reformed theology!  - when the  do.ctrine of
         predestination was questioned and assailed, the
         Reformed churches had recourse to the compo-
         sition of a creed that reaffirmed and even
         but  tressed (if this is possible) the Canons.
         Today, in the face of similar attacks, Reformed
         churches surrender the historic creeds, especially
         the Canons, so as to bring their confession into
         line with the unbelief of the heretics. Ours is not
         one of the most flourishing periods of Reformed
         theology.

            See "Hyper-Calvinism" and the Call. of the
         Gospel  - page 804.





                                       Volume  LII, No. 13, April  1,1976    2


794                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



                                CONTENTS:                                                                                          THE STANDARD  BEARER
Meditation  -                                                                                   Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                 Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
   Led as a Lamb to the Slaughter . . . . . . . . . . . .794                                         Second Class Postage Paid at Grand  Raprds.   Mich.
                                                                                          Editor-in-chief:   Prof.  Homer  C.  Hoeksema
Editorials -                                                                              Department   Editors:   Prof. Robert  0. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma,
                                                                                          R e v .   C o r n e l i u s   H a n k o ,   P r o f .   H e r m a n   H a n k o ,   R e v .   R o b e r t   C .   H a r b a c h ,
                                                                                          R e v .   J o h n   A .   Heys,   R e v .   J a y   K o r t e r i n g ,   R e v .   D a l e   H .   Kuiper,.   R e v .
   Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .797 George C. Lubbers, Rev. Meindert Joostens, Rev. Marinus  Schrpper,
                                                                                          R e v .   G i s e   J .   V a n   Baren,   R e v .   H e r m a n   Veldman.   M r .   K e n n e t h   G .   V i n k .
   Our Australasian Tour (11) . . . . . . i . . . . . . . .797                            Editorial  O&e:  Prof. H.  C. Hoeksema
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MEDITATION  _

                         Led as a Lamb to the Slaughter
                                                                               Rev. C. Hanko

               He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: He was brought as a
               lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is .dumb, so he opened not his
               mouth.                                                                                                                                                        Isaiah 53:7.


   I remember well, how I stood in silent awe                                                proudly led a small flock of sheep up the ramp to
watching that soul-stirring incident, so common, yet                                        their slaughter. They were rounded up in a narrow
so evocative.                                                                                pen, and one of them, though hoisted up by her hind
                                                                                            leg, still offered no resistance. Helplessly she dangled
   It was in a slaughter house in the Midwest, where a                                       for a moment, - if only she would kick, or bleat, or
goat, quite significantly referred to as "Judas",                                            fight back. Then the knife was plunged into her


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                               795



throat with a quick thrust. Even though her life blood      came in the name of Jehovah.
was gushing out, the victim only shuddered and died,           He was all that, and even more. He was the Man of
without as much as opening her mouth in complaint.          Sorrows, with pain written upon His face. Beneath
   This is another one of those things that happen in       His smile there lingered a hidden grief. Even when He
parables. Already I was traveling in my thoughts into       enthusiastically spoke of the future glories of His
the past to that lonely hill called Calvary. I stood, as    kingdom, His voice carried strains of deep sorrow.
it were, next to the prophet Isaiah viewing the cross       The prophet Isaiah expressed it so well when he said,
where the Prince of Glory died. Transfixed, I cried         "Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our
out in anguish of soul, "We all like sheep are gone         sorrows."
astray." I, too, (how often?), have walked in my own
sinful way. And the Lamb of God went to the                    Indeed, He was oppressed. From the time that His
slaughter for my iniquity!                                  mother laid Him as a Babe in the manger in that
  We often ask ourselves, especially during the             lowly cattle stall, the pressure of His poverty never
passion weeks - What was the outstanding feature of         left Him. Foxes have their lair, birds nestle warmly in
Jesus' walk and ministry among us?                          the trees, but the Son of Man was without a com-
                                                            fortable pillow on which to rest His weary head. Even
  We are aware that He was a great preacher and             as a Boy, when He talked with the lawyers in the
teacher, such as the world has never known nor ever         temple, the burden of His calling weighed heavily
shall know. Christ was given the tongue of the              upon Him. When the Lord began His public ministry
learned. Common people and children gladly listened         in Jerusalem by driving out the thieves from Father's
to  Him. Thousands came from far and wide to sit at         Domain, the disciples already saw that the zeal of
His feet for hours at a time, while He unfolded to          God's House was devouring Him. Throughout His
them the law and the prophets. Particularly Jesus           public ministry He experienced a soul anguish so
spoke of a kingdom that would far exceed the riches         great that finally in Gethsemane great drops of blood
and glories of Solomon's realm. He assured His              were pressed out upon His forehead. He was not
audiences that the kingdom of God was at hand - in          exaggerating when He said that His soul was so filled
fact, was already present within them. All the              with sorrow that it nearly killed Him.
promises spoken by the prophets were about to be
realized in Him. Those who heard Him could not help            He was afflicted. Herod sought to destroy Jesus the
but ask: Is not this the Christ spoken of by God            moment He came into this world. His enemies never
through the prophets? And He sealed His testimony           grew weary of harassing Him and seeking to kill Him.
with signs and wonders that astounded friend and foe        Our Lord was hunted like a beast of the forest. His
alike. Jesus was indeed a great Prophet sent of God.        own brothers did not believe in  Him until after He
  He was sympathetic, thoroughly understanding our          died. Judas betrayed Him. The rulers bound Him with
needs, always ready to help. Children climbed on His        ropes and led Him away like a criminal. His enemies
knee to be embraced by Him. Men and women came              mocked Him, spit upon Him, scourged Him, and
from afar to bring to Him their troubles. The Lord          condemned Him to die innocently the painful, shame-
knew the right word for the weary. He sent sinners          ful, accursed death of the cross. His earthly career
away with the blessed assurance of divine forgiveness.      ended with His body suspended on a few spikes, a
Rightfully Jesus could say, "Learn from Me, for I am        spectacle, an outcast of God and of man.
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest for
your souls." Not as if He intended to improve the             We shall never be able to fathom the depths of
social conditions of mankind or to make this a better       Jesus' suffering unless we see that God laid this
world, but rather to point us heavenward to His             burden upon Him. God caused Christ to walk under
glorious kingdom to come. If we would seek a name           the dense cloud of holy, divine wrath throughout.His
for this meekness, we would call Him our merciful           entire life on earth. That cloud pressed in upon His
Highpriest.                                                 weary soul in ever increasing intensity as He carried
                                                            out His mission. Jesus' sorrow was a deadly sorrow
  At the same time, He came with an authority that          that could end only in death. During the last bitter
demanded respect. Buyers and sellers fled from the          hours of suffering, all the horrors of total  forsak-
temple at the very word of His command. Scribes and         enness swept over Him. The Lord gave His own inter-
rulers cowered before His well-deserved tongue              pretation of it in that amazing outcry that ascended,
lashings. Devils could not refuse to obey Him. By the       as it were, out of the depths of the abyss, "My God,
word of His power lepers were cleansed, the blind           My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
saw, the deaf heard, the dead were raised, sinners
were forgiven. In all  His lowliness and simplicity           We see more clearly now than ever, that He was
Christ .had the power and authority of a King, Who          wounded, not for His, but for OUY transgressions. He


796                                           THE STANDARD BEARER

                                                                                                                    -

was bruised, not for any offense that He committed,          appeals to us. The lion with his angry snarl is mtich
but for OUY iniquities.                                      more to our liking than the defenseless lamb. JchIl
  As important as this is for our understanding of           fled. Peter denied Him. All His disciples were
Christ's suffering, it still does not fully characterize     offended by Him. Jesus was a stranger to His breth:ren
that suffering as we must know it.                           and an alien in His mother's house. There was no
                                                             reason to desire Him, except for the deep-seated CIon-
  Ah, yes, this is it, as Isaiah had so clearly foretold,    viction that He was the Christ, the Son of the livi n g
"He was led as a lamb to .the slaughter. As a sheep          God.
before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His
mouth."                                                         At the same time there was an inexplicable majesty
                           * * * * *                         in His silence. When Jesus had convinced the bando f
                                                             soldiers that came to take Him prisoner in the garclen
  But is it not true that the Lord actually spoke            that their clubs and swords were useless against Hj
much?                                                                                                               h
                                                             He calmly surrendered Himself into their hands. 1?he
  It belonged to His calling to preach the gospel to         Lord held His head high as the slayers led Him to 1the
the weary and to instruct His disciples in the things of     slaughter. He was master of the situation throughc xlt :
His kingdom. He took great delight in instructing the        His trial, leaving  Annas exasperated, Caiaplhas
people whenever the opportunity offered itself. Even         stripped of his hypocrisy, Pilate with blood stairled,
during the moments of His intense suffering He was           hands that no water could cleanse.' He placed 1the
not completely silent. It only amazes us that He             whole world before the question, "What do  yozc do
spoke as much as He did.                                     with the Christ, the only begotten Son of the living
  At the last Supper Jesus showed His deep concern           God." The cross of Jesus Christ made separatic
for His disciples by addressing them with many words         even as the Word of the cross today is a savor of 1
of comfort. In the garden He prayed with them and            unto life and a savor of death unto death. There WIbre
for them. He warned them of the impending dangers            those who left that cross of the Silent Sufferer be:at-
when their faith would be shaken beyond belief.              ing their breasts. There were also those whom I w;mt
During His trial He readily arose to the occasion            to join in the humble confession, "My Lord and InY
whenever His Father's glory or His own position as           God." It was His confidence that He was pleasing to
the Christ was challenged. On the cross He spoke             the Father as the obedient Servant, it was the certain
seven times, and that while He suffered the anguishes        hope of glory that gave Him that majestic power e\Ten
of death and hell.                                           when He allowed Himself to be led as a lamb to 1:he
                                                             slaughter. He was bringing the sacrifice for sin, for 1:he
  Yet the outstanding feature of the Lord's ministry         sin of all His people, for our sins, who are privileg :ed
was the fact that He never offered resistance nor            to believe in Him He was leading many sons to glc
raised a word of complaint. He did not cry nor cause         as the Captain of our salvation, Victor through dea
His voice to be heard on the street. The Suffering
Servant of Jehovah came to bear the sins of His                A chariot was traveling down the road that leads to
people and to bear them away. He set His face like a         Gaza. The rider was pondering over the  Script1.ue
flint, saying, "Though My God slay Me, yet will I            passage that lay before him: "He was led as a sheep to
trust in Him."                                               the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before  :his
                                                             shearers, so he opened not his mouth. In his humillia-
  Christ's silence baffled His enemies.  Annas was           tion his judgment was taken away: and who shlall
foiled when he sought to draw out some word that             declare his generation? for his life is taken from I:he
could be used against Him. Caiaphas impatiently              earth."
asked, "Answerest Thou nothing?" Superstitious
Herod never had a comfortable day after He was                 Philip came to him, ready to interpret this Word of
confronted with the silent Sufferer.                         God for him. While the evangelist was  preachi .ng
                                                             Jesus, a wonder took place. Philip said: "If thou
  When the Savior was reproached, He reproached              believest with all thine heart, thou mayest be
not again. He refused to retaliate when His enemies          baptize.d." The Ethiopian eunuch answered: "I
and former friends heaped mockings and false accusa-         believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." (AIcts
tions upon Him. He offered no resistance when they           8:37)
surrounded Him like a pack of hungry wolves to
devour Him. It was exactly that silence that His dis-          Amazing love! Amazing love of God that gave IIis
ciples could not understand. It does not seem human,         only Son to die for the sins of His people. Amazing
or even natural not to strike back when one is hurt.         love of the Son to lay down His life for His  shec:p.
Our first reaction to pain is that we cry out. Our first     Amazing love revealed in boundless grace that  1He
impulse is  to beat off our attackers in self-defense.       should gather me as one of His sheep into the fold!
Meek submission to any unjust treatment never                  My Jesus. My Lord.


                                               THESTANDARD BEARER                                                             7!i7



  E D I T O R I A L S

                                             Editor's Notes
                                                 ProJ: H. C. Hoeksema


- Summer -Pulpit Supply. Perhaps it seems early for this      Mr. or Ms. Anonymous.  It seems necessary periodi-
  announcement; but I heard a robin this morning,             cally to remind you of my policy concerning
which means that spring cannot be far off and that            anonymous notes or letters. Before I read any com-
  summer is soon to follow. Besides, remember that the        munication, I always look for a signature. If the signa-
  early bird gets the worm! At any rate, Prof. Decker         ture is missing, the communication goes forthwith
  asked me to call the attention of consistories to the       into File 13, commonly known as the wastebasket.
  fact that pulpit supply requests for the summer will        The principle? If it isn't worth signing, it isn't worth
 -be-handled  on a "first come, first served" basis. Those    reading. Simple, eh?
  desiring vacation supply from the seminary should                                    *1x**
  contact Prof. R. Decker, 2230 Cranbrook, N.E.,              Publications. I have been informed that before long
  Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505. Home phone: (616)             there will be available a brand new catalogue of
  45 l-3303.                                                  RFPA publications. Watch for it! By this time we
                         *****                                have built up quite a library of Protestant Reformed
  Question Box. To those who have written to Ques-            literature. Do you take advantage of it? And there is
  tion Box `- and some of you have every right to be          more coming! Besides some new printings of books
  impatient - I beg your indulgence. The press of my          whose stock was low, there will soon be an  RFPA
  work has prevented me from answering you, and I do          reprint of  The Five Points of Calvinism.  Also in
  not like to give off-the-cuff answers. Soon I will have     preparation is a Lenten Anthology which will contain
  a week of spring vacation from school, and I hope at        all of the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema's passion
  that time to answer some questions.                         books, most of which have long been out of print and
                         *****                                hard to get.

                                Our Australasian Tour  (11)
     The change of scene from Sydney, Australia, to
  Jakarta, Indonesia, staggers the imagination; and both
  -from a physical and a psychological point of view we
  were hardly prepared for such a change. At this point                                     FLIGHTS:
                                                                                              SYDNEY-JAKARTA--36Oq   MILES
  in our tour all three of us were totally bone-weary.                                        JAKARTA-SfNGAPORE--560      MILES
  Add to this a long, monotonous flight of some nine                                          SINGAPORE-BANGKOK--900   MILES
  hours' duration in a not very comfortable plane, with
  only an occasional glimpse through the- over-cast of
  the vast inland wastes of Australia, and a three-hour
  time change, and you can understand somewhat our
  feelings when we arrived at the Jakarta airport late                           e
                                                                                  1
  Saturday afternoon, to be greeted by an entirely new
  scene.
     Our plane made only one stop, at Bali, a famous
  resort city, where most of our fellow passengers
  disembarked. From the descriptions given us, Bali
  might have been a nice place for a couple of days'
  rest. We, of course, were ignorant of what would
  greet us in Jakarta; and it certainly did not encourage
  us when the stewardesses on the plane expressed
  surprise that we were going on to Jakarta, rather than
  stopping at Bali. Nevertheless, to Jakarta we went.


  798                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



    Immediately upon our arrival at the airport the          evangelist of the church, Cornelius Kuswanto. We left
 changes to which I referred struck us with their full       Mrs. Hoeksema with our newly found friends; and
 force. For one thing, we were now in a tropical             Rev. Hanko and I made our way through the crowds
 climate; and while some warmth was indeed welcome           of people in a vain attempt to find the airline office
 after the chill of the winter season in New Zealand         and confirm our reservations to Singapore for the
 and Australia, the change to the heat and stifling          following Monday. Then we had our first ride in Mr.
 humidity of Jakarta was almost too much, so that we         Kuswanto's jalopy, which, in spite of its ancient
 welcomed the refuge of our air-conditioned hotel            vintage and its non-cooperative first gear, somehow
 rooms. But more than anything else, we were in a            furnished us dependable transportation whenever it
 totaily different culture. The culture of Indonesia is      was needed.
 very definitely oriental. The people are, of course,          We had been warned a bit by Mr. and Mrs. van Rij
 different in appearance. The language - or, I should        as to what we should expect in Indonesia, and-we had
 say; languages - were foreign to us. The social and         also been given a few do `s and don `ts. We soon learned
 economic structure is altogether different, virtually       that the van Rijs had not exaggerated. In the warm
 defying description Religiously speaking, we were no        weather Rev. Hanko naturally had the window open
 more in a nominally Christian country. And, as we           on his side of the car, and he was resting his arm on
 shall see, even the Christian church, in so far as we       the sill. When we came to a stop in the busy traffic,
  came into contact with it, was very different from         he' was quickly warned not to drape his arm on the
 that to which we are accustomed.                            window-sill of the car door, lest someone should
    Before I continue with my description, I should          snatch the wristwatch from his arm. And Mrs.
 perhaps explain how it came about that we went to           Hoeksema was warned to clutch her purse closely to
 Indonesia. Neither Indonesia nor Singapore (our next        her, to prevent anyone's snatching it. We were even
 stop) was originally on our schedule. The chief             warned that sometimes the eyeglasses are pulled from
 purpose of our tour from the outset had been to visit       your face while you are walking on the streets.
 New Zealand and Australia. But our New Zealand              Hence, we were duly cautious about our belongings
 friend, brother Bill van  Rij, had made various con-        during our brief stay in Jakarta.
 tacts in both of these places in the course of his busi-      The city of Jakarta is a city of extremes. There are
ness trips. And he had recommended to our Contact            the extremely rich, who have beautiful and well kept
 Committee that we include Indonesia and Singapore           homes; there are also millions of poor, living in
  on our itinerary. When we learned that we could            poverty such as you and I cannot imagine. The city,
 include these stops at relatively little additional         we were told, was planned for some 2% million
 expense, and could then return home via Europe, our         people; but officially, there are supposed to be about
 Committee decided to heed Mr. van Rij's advice. With        5% million inhabitants, while unofficially there are
 respect to Indonesia, an additional consideration was       undoubtedly many more. Traffic conditions are
 the fact that we would be able to make an  on-the-          unbelievably disorderly, noisy, and smoky; it seemed
  scene inquiry into the success of and the response to      to us as though the most successful way of getting
  the literature distribution project of our Foreign         through the traffic was to follow the strategy of
 Missions Committee in Indonesia. Thus it was that on        playing a constant game of "chicken" - that is, if one
  Saturday, July 19, we found ourselves in this strange      succeeded in getting through the traffic at all.
  scene.                                                       The poverty and the filth, due in part to the over-
    Already at the airport the scene was one of              crowded conditions of the city, are worse than can be
  teeming (and steaming) masses of humanity - most           described without pictures. Rev. Hanko volunteered
  of them speaking a language which we did not under-        that he had not seen the equal of it when he was in
  stand, and only very few of them able to communi-          Jamaica. Part of the problem lies in the fact that
  cate at all well in our language. We began to wonder       many people come from the surrounding countryside
  how we would ever find our hosts in that confused          in the hope of finding some employment and earning
  scene, or how they would ever find us. They had no         some small living in the city. However, there is no
  pictures of us, nor we of them; in fact, we were not       housing for these people. Hence, there are thousands
  even certain as to the identity of the person or           of people living in little squatters' shanties - shelters
  persons who would meet us at the airport. However,         which can hardly qualify as shanties, constructed
  as our hosts later  told'us, they were looking for a       mostly of cardboard. You can find these shanties in
  rather peculiar party: one American lady with two          any available spot along a main road, between the
  American gentlemen, both of whom, so they thought,         front -property line of the houses, which is usually
  must look rather distinguished. At any rate, we were       protected by a strong fence with barbed wire and a
  glad to be found soon after we passed through              locked gate, and the edge of the road. Of course,
  customs by Mrs. Pauline Mangindaan and a young             there are no utilities of any kind, and no water, and


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  799



no plumbing. One of the worst such areas is along a           proverb: "There is no disputing about tastes." Never-
large, open sewer-canal, which runs through the               theless, I much preferred the American-style food
middle of the city. Along the banks of this canal are         which was available at our hotel.
hundreds of these little cardboard shanties. The foul,          It was not my purpose, however, to tell you only
stinking water of that canal is their toilet, but it also     about our strange experiences in a strange culture and
serves as the place where they brush their teeth and          society. This is only background information. Our
bathe. The stench of the canal is overpowering, and           purpose was to visit the church which had the follow-
we could smell it even at the church building, which          ing name above its entrance: "Geredja  Santapan
was some distance away. Periodically these areas are          Rohani Indonesia." We were told that the American
cleaned up, and the shanties are dismantled; but the          name of this church was the Spiritual Life Church.
materials from which they are made are simply
stacked up, for the people will be back the next day            In our contact with this church there awaited us
to rebuild their shanty village. One can well under-          experiences which I am sure none of us, inhis wildest
stand that there are diseases to be caught from the           imagination, ever expected to have. Let me try to tell
very air which one breathes; the puzzle to us was that        you a little about this church.
people could live this way at all. Do not forget, how-           The constituency of this congregation, we were
ever, that there are also the very rich and the               told, is 95 per cent a people of Chinese nationality
moderately rich in a city like this. We were almost           living in Indonesia. I must m.ention,  however, that all
ashamed, after seeing sights like that just described,        of our information about the church was gained from
to go back to our luxury hotel, which was equal to            the people themselves. Their language is the language
the finest in our own country. Yet there is another           of Indonesia. Mr. Kuswanto seemed to understand
side to the picture. We were told, for example, that          English well, but spoke it rather poorly and was
while the Indonesian people are very artistic and             frequently at a loss to express himself in our
creative people - and we have samples of this artistic        language. Mrs. Mangindaan communicated with us
ability among our souvenirs - yet they do not know            partly in very broken English; but mostly in rapid
how to take care of things or are not interested in           Dutch, but Dutch which was also not free from
taking care of things after they have made them. We           adulteration. Mrs. Mangindaan appeared to be a
were also told that it is difficult to run a business on a    rather capable woman. She was the architect of the
European basis of punctuality and orderliness, for the        church building, which was a well built structure,
simple reason that many of the people, after they             though in the open-air Indonesian style. This reminds
have earned a couple of dollars, are quite satisfied and      me of another facet of this church which we were
simply leave their work. We were also told that some          surprised to encounter, namely, that Mrs. Mangindaan
kind of "payola" or bribery is necessary frequently to        was one of two deaconesses of the congregation
accomplish anything in the business world. Where the          whom we met and who appeared to take a leading
truth lies with respect to all these matters we               part in the life of the church. As far as this church is
certainly could not discern in the short time we were         concerned; it had no connection with the former
there. But the above description of some facets of            presence of the Dutch in Indonesia and with the
Indonesian culture and society will give you some-            Gereformeerde Kerk. When we tried to find out
what of an idea as to what we encountered.                    something about the origin and the position of this
  0, yes, I must mention the food. The one out-               church,  .we were informed that this church did not
standing impression of Indonesian food with which I           have its roots in Europe and in the Reformation of
was left was the fact, not merely that it was different,      the 16th Century, but rather traced its origin via
but that it is so highly spiced that one really cannot        China to India, where the Apostle Thomas is tradi-
taste the true flavor of what he is eating. For polite-       tionally supposed to have worked. We were unable to
ness' sake, and also partly out of curiosity, we              find out more about this, perhaps partly because one
partook of the Indonesian food which was served us            of their elders, who might have been better able to
for Sunday noon dinner at the church which we                 communicate with us, was at that time attending the
visited  - although I must admit that it was with a           ICCC conference in Africa. That was elder Charles
high degree of skepticism that we even sat down to            Sudargo,  with- whom we had originally been put in
dinner. And I well recall that one of the fish dishes         touch by Mr. van Rij. We were impressed, however,
served us was so highly spiced that it burned all the         by the busy schedule of activities at the church on
way down, and that surely one would not have been             Sunday. We had no way of knowing, of course, what
able to tell whether the fish was fresh or rotten. And        was being said at some of the meetings. In fact,
when one went down the street in the evening past             because of the language barrier we did not even know
many of the street restaurants, the air literally reeked      what was said at the services, apart from our sermons;
of curry. But I suppose one must remember the                 and we could not even check up on the accuracy of


800                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



the translations of our sermons. But the church               began. Here, as elsewhere, more especially because we
appeared to be very active. Not only were there two           really did not know what situation we would face
services in the morning,. but there was also a large          upon our arrival, we had made it very clear in advance
Sunday school. And when we returned for the                   that we were willing to speak the Word in this congre-
evening meeting, there were already various activities        gation only on the condition that we were to be left
- among them, junior and senior choir practice  -             entirely free.
which still had to be concluded before our meeting


                          Clasping a Viper to the Bosom (1)

A Word of Introduction                                        upon this doctrine, as has frequently been the case,
                                                              was the doctrine of sovereign, unconditional reproba-
  It is an appalling fact that throughout the world,          tion. For about a half dozen years now that doctrine,
wherever the Reformed faith has been transplanted             as set forth in Canons I, 6 and 15, has been officially
from the Netherlands to any significant degree, that          dead. The GKN officially declared that a gravamen
characteristic doctrine of the Reformed faith, sover-         against the doctrine was correct and that the doctrine
eign predestination, has fallen upon evil times.              set' forth by the Canons is not in harmony with the
Appalling this is, in the first place, because this doc-      Scriptural givens. To attack Canons I, 6 and 15 is
trine is of such importance that without adhering to
it no church can properly claim the name                      officially fair game in the Netherlands. But as I have
                                              Reformed.
Appalling it is, in the second place, because this doc-       so often stressed before, if there is no sovereign repro-
trine occupies a strategic place in the structure of the      bation, there cannot possibly be any sovereign elec-
Reformed faith: principally, if the doctrine of sover-        tion. The Reformed doctrine of sovereign predestina-
eign predestination suffers demise, no other impor-           tion is a doctrine of  praedestinatio gemina,  i.e.,
tant doctrine can be rightly maintained, i.e., in a           twin predestination.
Reformed sense. And appalling it is, in the third               I do not intend at present to write about the situa-
place, because this denial, for all its seriousness, seems    tion in the Netherlands; that would require too many
to create so little concern. In various places there is       articles and would entail too long a delay in giving
concern about departures from the Reformed faith              attention to the situation elsewhere. I only mention
and about liberal tendencies; There is a great measure        the Netherlands because it is the viper's nest out of
of concern, for example, about the doctrine of Holy           which this denial of sovereign predestination  origi;
Scripture  - and rightly so. But one seldom notices           nated and spread to other centers of the Reformed
much concern about this denial of sovereignpredesti-          churches. Our intention is to take note of the situa-
nation. This, I say, is appalling! For a church to            tion in Australasia, in South Africa, and in our own
embrace this error is like clasping a viper, a. deadly        country. We will begin with Australasia.
viper, to one's bosom: it will surely be fatal! How                                   *****
appalling, then, to see a church or a segment of a
church concerned about other ills, but paying little or         In spite of the attempt, or claimed attempt, by
no attention to that deadly viper! That can be like,          some in Australasia to live their own ecclesiastical life
paying attention to a minor head cold when one is in          in isolation from the doctrinal trends in other lands,
danger of death from snake's venom.                           eseecially the Netherlands, this has simply proved to
                                                              be impossible. Not only do .I claim that this is,
  It is with the purpose of sounding a note of warn-          indeed, impossible in today's world. For theological
ing and of calling attention to this mortal danger,           isolationism is as impossible as is isolationism in inter-
both for ourselves and others, that this and following        national relationships in the small world in which we
editorials in this series are written. I intend to express    live today. But I also claim that it is not healthful. To
myself frankly and concretely. Some will un-                  ignore theological developments elsewhere, especially
doubtedly take offense at this, I can predict. So be it.      elsewhere in the Reformed community, is foolish; it
Express myself I must and will.                               is like the proverbial ostrich putting his head in the
  It is generally recognized, I believe, that as far as       sand when there is danger threatening. But apart from
Reformed churches are concerned, this denial of               that, it is simply impossible in this age of thorough
sovereign predestination began in the Netherlands.            communication by means of books and magazines
The chief, but not the sole, architect of this denial         and theological journals. And especially in the case of
has been Dr. G.C. Berkouwer, whose learned writings           Australasia, which had such close ethnic and ecclesias-
have had world-wide influence. The point of attack            tical ties with the Netherlands this has been  impos-


                                              THE   STANDARD  BEARER                                            801



sible. One could hardly expect that when theological       constituted one of the reasons for his dismissal from
professors were imported, for example, into Geelong        Geelong.
from the Netherlands and from the U.S.A., there               This is according to student testimony, which
would come with those imported professors no               reported that he took the position that the reprobate
imported ideas and no imported controversial issues        were not destined from all eternity, and that  non-
and - no imported heresies! And so the thick stone         salvation cannot be traced back to-a decree of God.
walls of the old mansion in which the Reformed             This same student  .testimony attributed to Dr.
Theological College of Geelong is housed have not          Woudstra such statements as, "We cannot say that
proved impregnable to heresies from abroad. And the        election was an arbitrary decree before the founda-
denial of sovereign predestination was among those         tion of the world," and, "Election does not prevent
heresies.                                                  the salvation of others," and, "Man has tied God's
   Reference might be made inthis connection to the        hands if he refuses the grace offered." Or take note of
Runia matter of several years ago. Do not forget that      this reported statement: "Election in Christ reveals
his views concerning sovereign predestination, and         the same working of God as in the election of Israel.
especially concerning reprobation, were one of the         They were not all Israel who were. `of Israel. Some
important issues in that history. The Standard Bearer      were not saved  - yet they were elect." On Romans
commented at length on that matter and warned, at          9: 13 he is reported to have said, "If we understood it
.the time,, of the seriousness of the issues for the       as many do, we would say that Esau had legitimate
Reformed denominations of Australia and New                ground for questioning God for his damnation."
Zealand. And in a certain sense it was at that time, by      Moreover, it is a fact that it was views such as these
their failure to act against Dr. Runia, that the           (essentially the same as the views of Dr. Runia) which
churches already clasped a deadly viper to their           led the representatives of the Reformed Church of
bosom, that viper being the denial of sovereign pre-       Australia to recommend that Dr. Woudstra be dis-
destination. Perhaps it did not seem so at the time:       missed.
for it appeared as though the churches avoided the
issue through the departure of Dr. Runia for the             But what happened?
`Netherlands, and there were undoubtedly a good              Dr. Woudstra received a call to Hobart, Tasmania.
many who heaved a sigh of relief when he left. But         And  Classis Victoria, after examining Dr. Woudstra,
the failure to face up to the issues decisively was a      approved his admission into the ministry of the very
crucial mistake. And one evidence of the fact that it      churches which had dismissed him. How this was
was a crucial mistake is the fact that the very same       accomplished is a mystery to me. Either the questions
errors confronted the churches only a short time later     asked Dr. Woudstra were so designed that his errors
in the teachings of Dr. S. Woudstra at the Reformed        were not exposed; or the Classis forthrightly accepted
Theological College at Geelong. And this time there        him, errors and all. My guess is that the former was
was no avoiding a decision.                                the method.
  And what was the decision? True, Dr. Woudstra              But one thing is certain: Dr. Woudstra did not
was dismissed from Geelong. But not only have the          change between his dismissal from Geelong and his
churches been kept ignorant of the reasons; that is        admittance to the ministry in the Reformed Church
bad enough! However, it is also a fact that the same       of Hobart.
Reformed Church of Australia which through its               Nor is it true that his errors were such that they
representatives declared that they did not want Dr.        would not affect the preaching. It is doubtful
Woudstra training their students for the ministry          whether there are ever any such errors; but that
have, through one of their classes,  Classis Victoria,     certainly was not the case here.
received him into the ministry, A.$d mark you well,
Dr. Woudstra had not purged himdelf.of the&rors for          For not long after his dismissal from Geelong Dr.
which he had been dismissed fr,om Geelong!                 Woudstra preached a sermon on, of all subjects, elec-
                                                           tion! His text was Ephesians 1: 3, 4. And in that
  And thereby the churches clasped a viper to their        sermon, delivered in the Reformed Church of
bosom!                                                     Geelong, the Reformed doctrine of election is under-
  Understand clearly, I am not referring. to Dr.           mined and the same errors for which he was dismissed
Woudstra as a viper. The issue is not one of Dr.           from Geelong occur in the pulpit!
Woudstra's person. I am referring to his heretical view      To this we shall call attention in our next article,
of sovereign predestination, and especially of sover-      the Lord willing.
eign reprobation. That is the viper!
  For do not forget: it is a fact that Dr. Woudstra's
errant views concerning sovereign predestination


802                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE

                                      Letter to Timothy

                                                                 What the reasons for this may be are perhaps' not
Dear Timothy,                                                 so easily discovered. Perhaps there is partly the fact
   In the last letter I wrote to you we were talking          that ministers tend to get busier and busier with all
about the importance of fostering in the minds of the         the demands made on their time and with all the
people of God a proper attitude towards the Scrip-            extra work that gets shoved on them. And the result
tures. I think I ended that letter with saying that this      can easily be that exegesis doesn't get done the way it
must be done especially by means of faithful and              should. It is one place where we can do some cutting
careful exegesis of Scripture. This holds true whether        of comers. Another reason may be that we tend to
you are expounding the Word on the pulpit on Sun-             think, after a bit, that we have become skilled
day, teaching the children in Catechism, bringing the         exegetes, and that, in inverse proportion to our grow-
Word of God to the sick and suffering, the aged and           ing skills, the time we think we need to spend on this
dying, or calling the wayward to repentance and con-          work declines. I might point out already at this point
fession of sin.                                               that if exegesis were nothing but an intellectual exer-
   Since I last wrote you, however, you sent me               cise, this might conceivably be true. But because
another letter in which you have questions con-               exegesis is also a spiritual exercise in the sense that it
cerning the practical application of the preaching.           is the means by which we learn ,what the Holy Spirit
Whether we can get at these questions in this letter          is saying, this is not very true at all. Another reason
remains to be seen. We had probably better finish the         may be that we simply become careless with the
discussion we began last time before we get into this         Word. In our close association with it, we become
new subject.                                                  familiar with it in the wrong sense of the word so that
                                                              the adage holds also in this respect:. "Familiarity
  I'm not exactly sure how best to get at this matter         breeds contempt." If this is the case, this is serious
of exegesis. Perhaps the best way to get at it is from        business and a sin to be repented of. But I suppose
the practical point of view of the minister's own             each minister has his own devils to fight and, there-
experience. I do this because the impression must not         fore, his own particular reasons why thoroughness
be left with you that I think you did not learn your          and carefulness of exegesis takes a nose-dive after he
lessons well in exegesis class in school and that you         has been in the ministry awhile.
have not learned more concerning this work in the
time you have spent in the ministry. I don't want to            I talked with my pastor the other day about this
begin again a course in exegesis.                             matter and, wondered aloud to him whether it might
                                                              not be a good idea to hold some kind of  exegesis-
  Nevertheless, when I look back on my own                    seminars in Seminary during the summer weeks. After
ministry and when I can get together sufficient               ministers have been in the pastoral ministry awhile
courage to take a look at some of the old sermons I           they might find it profitable to spend a few days with
preached after I had been in the ministry for a while,        some of their colleagues  - not so much to take a
I discover that there was a period when, as far as            refresher course in exegesis - although this might be
exegetical work was concerned, I slipped a bit. The           the practical result of the course, but to get together
exegesis is not up to par. There is a noticeable slack-off    with their fellow ministers  ,to do some exegetical
in the quality. There is no longer the evidence of            work and discuss together the difficulties and prob-
growth which there should have been. And, as I recall         lems which they encounter and with which par-
it, it took a conscious awareness of this, an honest          ticularly they have to struggle in their exegetical
evaluation of my work, and a renewed determination            work. It would give them the opportunity to study
to get back on the right track.                               again the whoie matter of exegesis from the perspec-
  I make these confessions because I suspect that my          tive of actual practical experience rather than from
experience in this respect is not really all that             the more theoretical perspective of your Seminary
unusual. I suspect, in fact, that this may be an experi-      days. But I suppose there are practical problems
ence which is generally shared by all those who have          which would make something like this difficult to
been in the ministry for a while.                             arrange.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    803


   I am not pressing for a particular method of              teaches from the historical sections of Scripture. He
preaching, either. I say this because, as you know, it       can pay closer attention to the meaning of words in
is increasingly common in our day for ministers to           their etymology, their use in Scripture, etc. He can
preach on a rather lengthy section of Scripture, and         pay stricter attention to the relation between his text
to treat this section in such a way that the minister        and the whole context of the book in which his
simply goes from one phrase or clause to the next as         passage is found; In all these areas there is always
he proceeds through the chapter and makes a few              room for more study. But above all, he must be
remarks by way of exposition and interpretation.             spiritual about his approach. There has to be time in
And indeed, not all expository preachers follow the          his sermon making for that Word of God tosink into
method which we generally follow in which a                  the depths of his soul so that it becomes a part of
minister takes a relatively short passage, exegetes the      Him. This is, no doubt, emphasized by the Hebrew
material thoroughly, and arranges the material               word for "prophet." You recall that the noun comes
logically in a-proper outline.                               `from a verb which means, "to boil over." If a prophet
   But the point is that exegesis lies at the bottom of      (and you are one) "boils over" with the Word of God,
all your work. As far as the preaching is concerned, I       he is filled with that Word. But he is not filled with
have discovered, as no doubt you have, that exegesis         that Word in a mechanical way - in the way a pan on
is always hard work. Although in a certain sense it gets     the stove is filled with water; he is filled with that
easier  - in the sense of gaining a greater under-           Word as a preacher with a heart, a mind, and a will.
standing of the concepts used in Scripture, increasing       His heart is full. His mind is full. His will is full. It is
in an awareness of what to look for in a text, what          so full that he is all but bursting with that Word. He
questions to ask, how to relate the concepts and ideas       simply must get to the pulpit as quickly as possible,
in a text, nevertheless, in another sense, this work is      for he can scarcely keep that Word inside of him. It
just as hard after thirty years in the ministry as it was    must be spoken. It must be brought to the people of
the day you started. And it is just as hard because the      God. The hand of God, through that Word, is upon
work is a spiritual exercise of faith. It is work which      him. To reach this point takes time and study, patient
requires one to come to Scripture as God's Word to           labor and spiritual exercises of faith.
learn what the Spirit has to say to the Churches. And           But it emphatically must be the Word. When that
this is never easy and never becomes any easier. This        Word comes `gushing" out, it must be the very Word
work can never be done simply by turning to the              of God. And when it is; there is nothing which will
commentaries to see what they have to say on a given         impress your hearers quite so much with the im-
passage. Nor can it be done by getting a general and         portance of that Word as your own preaching of it by
rather vague idea of what the text teaches without           the power of the Holy Spirit.
getting down to the details - then to make a sermon            But this same principle holds true for all your
which develops rather synthetically the general idea         work. Preparation for Catechism will not be sufficient
gathered from the text. Nor can this be done by way          if it is only a quick review of the particular Bible'
of a hasty perusal of the text and a hasty throwing          story which has to be taught, or if it is a hasty perusal
together of some thoughts which you ran across in            of the pertinent chapter in Hoeksema's "Dogmatics".
your reading or which come to mind as you hurriedly          Catechism teaching has also to be exegetical. It must
throw together an outline. Even the pressures of lack        be a discovery of what God is saying to the lambs of
of time are never an excuse for this kind of work.           the flock. It must be expository. Quite obviously, this
You are above all a minister of the Word. And'the            is going to be done in a way quite different from the
ministry of the Word implies diligent and careful            way a sermon is preached. But the principle holds
exegesis. It may take you two days to prepare a              true. And this principle holds for all your ministry. It
sermon when you are first in the ministry. It ought to       is well to follow this same expository method when
take you two days to prepare a sermon even after you         you go to visit the sick, the mourning, the suffering,
have been in the ministry for twenty-five years. There       the people of God in the throes of temptation,
are times, I know, (funeral services come, Christian         fiercely attacked by Satan. You must take up that
holidays which require extra sermons are required by         Word of God and expound it for God's people. You
the Church Order) when this is impossible; but, in           must, in the truest sense of the Word, exegete it. This
general, this is a goal to set before you - and a goal       takes preparation. Obviously, such preparation is not
which ought to be attained most of the time in your          always possible. You might be called to the hospital
ministry.                                                    in the dead of night in an emergency. Or you might
  There are all kinds of things that one can do to           be forced to turn to other passages of Scripture when
make his exegesis rich and proper. He can study the          the true nature of the problem becomes evident to
many related passages which are found in the Word of         you after you have talked for awhile with your sheep.
God. He can search out examples of the truth his text        But if you do your "homework" when you are


804                                            THE STANDARD BEAR.ER



supposed to do it. and when you have opportunity to           from time to time to give your work some  hone.st
do it, then the times when you have no such oppor-            evaluation and to take a sharp and critical look at
$mity will readily take care of themselves.                   your exegetical labors so that there will be occasion
  Your method of exposition may be quite different.           to remind yourself of your calling and to rededicate
You may indeed read a rather lengthy passage and              yourself to your task as preacher and exegete.
simply make some explanatory remarks. as you go                  We shall try next time to get at the questions you
along. But the point is that you are still a minister;        asked about practical preaching.
and a minister is an exegete.                                                    Fraternally in Christ,'
  To accomplish this, you have to take time out                                  H. Hanko




TAKING HEED  TO,THEDOCTMNE'


                      "Hyper-Calvinism" and the
                            Call of the Gospel  (17)

                                                  Rev. David Engelsma




   Although the reprobate "are made partakers of              intention of salvation, are called  according to
external vocation," Turretin  denies that they are            purpose, " but only the elect are called thus, accord-
called "with the design and intention on God's part,          ing to Romans  8:28ff., not the reprobate; 5. Salva-
that they should become partakers of salvation."              tion according to the intention of God is promised
There are two reasons why they are called externally          only to the weary and heavy laden (Matt. 11:28), the
by God in the preaching of the gospel, neither of             thirsty (Is.  55:1), and the believing and penitent
which is a sincere desire of God that they be saved.          (Acts  2:38), i.e., the elect, not the reprobate;
The first is that the reprobate "are mingled with the         6..God's  promise is indeed that all who believe shall
elect," so that "the Call cannot be addressed to men          be saved, but God knows that the reprobate will
indiscriminately without the reprobate as well as the         never have faith, "nay, He, Who alone can give, has
elect sharing in it" (p. 385). The second is God's            decreed to withhold (faith) from them." Therefore, it
purpose that "the call of the reprobate accomplish            is "`absurd to say that He calls the reprobate with the
their conviction and inexcusability" (p. 385).                intention that they should be saved" (pp. 386,387).
                                                                 Just- as is done by the advocates of the well-meant
  Turretin  gives six grounds for' the denial by              offer today, those in Turretin's day who defended a
Reformed orthodoxy that God calls the reprobate               sincere intention of God to save all objected that, if
with the purpose that they partake of salvation:              God does not intend the salvation of all who are
1. "God cannot in calling intend the salvation of             called in the gospel, God acts hypocritically and
those whom He reprobated from eternity. . .  .";              falsely. God is not truthful in calling a man to believe
2:`"God does not intend faith in the reprobate, there-        on Christ, if He does not sincerely desire that man's
fore neither salvation which cannot be attained with-         salvation. The charge is made that those who deny a
out faith"; 3. "Christ in the calling of the reprobate        sincere desire of God to save every man who hears the
Jews testifies that He had as His proposed end their          gospel contradict the teaching of the Canons, that "as
inexcusability" (Turretin here quotes John  9:39 and          many as are called by the gospel are seriously called"
John 15: 22); 4. "they who are called with the                (III,IV,8).


                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   805



    Turretin rejects this charge: "Although God does                           the "offermen" of the 20th century pronouncing
 not intend the salvation of the reprobate by calling                          their woes over those who insist that God's grace in
 them, still He acts most seriously and sincerely, nor                         the preaching is particular: "They cannot do mission
 can any hypocrisy and deception be charged against                            work'; "they are unable to call everyone to re-
 Him" (p. 387). The call to the reprobate is serious,                          pentance ,
                                                                                        ". "they can only preach to the elect."
 "because He seriously and most truly shows them the                             Without hesitation,  Turretin asserts that the
 alone and most certain way of salvation, seriously                            ministry of the gospel exists only for the sake of the
 exhorts them to follow it, and most sincerely                                 elect: "for their (the elect's -DE) sake alone the
 promises salvation to all those who do follow it" (p.                         ministry of the gospel was instituted, to collect the
 387). The call is not hypocritical, or "feigned," to use                      church, and increase the mystical body of Christ,
 the language of the Canons, even though God  has                              Eph. 4: 12, and, they being taken out of the world,
 decreed that those called shall not believe and shall                         preaching would no longer be necessary. . .  ." (p.
 not be saved, because the call to them is a command,                          385). This conviction, however, in no way hampers
 and "in such a command He wills to unfold His right                           unfettered preaching: "Although the intention of
.and man's duty" (p. 390). "For a serious call does                            Pastors calling ought to be conformed to the
 not require that there should be an intention and                             intention of God, by Whom they are sent to call men;
 purpose drawing him, but only that there should be, a                         in this that they are bound from the order of God to
 constant will of commanding duty, and bestowing the                           invite all their hearers promiscuously to repentance
 blessing upon him who performs it, which God most                             and faith, as the alone way of salvation, and on con-.
 seriously wills" (p. 388).                                                    dition of these to salvation; and that they ought to
    Turretin turns the tables on the objectors. Not                            intend nothing else than the gathering of the Church,
Reformed orthodoxy, but those who maintain an                                  or the salvation of the elect, in bringing about which
intention of God to save all, while at the same time                           they are co-workers with God: Still in this they also
professing the decree of reprobation, are guilty of                            differ,  .that the omniscient God distinctly knows
ascribing hypocrisy and deception to God. For God                              among gospel hearers, who are the elect, and who the
to indicate to a man in the gospel that He sincerely                           reprobate. The former alone He wills to save indi-
desires to save him, when, in fact, God has eternally                          vidually, the latter not. Ministers, however, being
decreed that man's damnation, is insincere, deceptive                          destitute of such knowledge, do not know to whose
behavior.1 "The opinion which we oppose is far more                            salvation their ministry will contribute, not being able
strongly pressed with the same difficulty; For on this                         to distinguish between the elect and the reprobate,
hypothesis, God is made most seriously to desire and                           charitably hoping  well-for all, not daring to decide
intend the salvation of men, provided they have faith,                         .concerning the reprobation of any  one:.Thus, they
which yet He knows they have not, and.cannot have                              address all the called promiscuously and indis-
of themselves, and which He Himself decreed from                               criminately even by God's appointment, still intend-
eternity by an irrevocable decree not to give, Who                             ing the salvation of no others than the elect, like God.
alone can; It is easy to decide whether this can be                            So that they do nothing in this ministry, which does
consistent with the sincerity of God; for by this very                         not answer both to the command and intention of
thing, God is represented as testifying that He wills                          God. . . ." (p. 389).
and does not will at the same time their salvation,                              This would be enough to show that 17th century
because He does not will that without which it can-                            Reformed thought condemned the universal grace of
not be obtained, as if any one would say, that he wills                        the free offer theory. But there is more. Condemna-
man to live, but yet nilled  that he should breathe" (p.                       tion of the doctrine of universal grace in the call of
 130).                                                                         the gospel and confession of particular grace did not
    In conclusion,  Turretin assures Reformed pastors                          remain confined to the writings of the theologians,
that there is no substance to the dire predictions of                          but were expressed in a confession of faith: the
the opponents that, without the doctrine of a sincere                          Formula Consensus Helvetica  (Helvetic,  or Swiss,
desire of God to save all men, lively, free, urgent                            Consensus Formula).
preaching must decline. It is as if this representative                          As is evident in our quotations,  Turretin  was not
of the Reformed faith in the 17th century could hear                           tilting at windmills when he opposed the doctrine of
                                                                               universal grace in the call of the gospel. Men within
                                                                               the Reformed camp were proclaiming this doctrine
    1Similarly. God's sincerity is open to the most searching criticism, if    ("patrons of universal grace," Turretin  called them).
 He proclaims to  a.man that He loves Him, has given Christ to die for his
 sins, and well-meaningly offers him salvation, sincerely desiring to save     Just a few years after the Synod of Dordt and just a
 him, but refuses sovereignly to regenerate that man and give him faith,       few years after the National Synod of the Reformed
 presumably according to His own will. Exactly this is  the"`sincerity" of     Church in France adopted the Canons of Dordt and
 the god of Harold Dekker's scheme of universal redemptive love and
 universal atonement.                                                          bound all ministers and elders to defend them,


 806                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



 theologians at the Reformed seminary in Saumur,                                      Canon VI "Wherefore we can not give suffrage to
 France, began to attack the doctrine of sovereign                                 the opinion of those who teach: (1) that God, moved
 grace, so recently explained and defended by the                                  by philanthropy, or a special love for the  fallen
 D u t c h   S y n o d . The chief offender was Moyse                              human race, to previous election, did, in a kind of
Amyraut (or Moses Amyraldus). Amyraut taught that                                  conditioned willing - willingness  - first moving of
 God has ordained all men unto salvation; that Christ                              pity, as they call it - inefficacious desire - purpose
 died for all men; and that God offers Christ to all                               the salvation of all and each, at least, conditionally,
                                                                                   i.e., if they would believe; (2) that He appointed
 men, on the condition of faith, with a sincere inten-                             Christ Mediator for aII and each of the fallen; and
 tion to save them all. Grace, according to Amyraut, is                            (3) that, at length, certain ones whom He regarded,
universal. The cloak under which Amyraut thought to                                not simply as sinners in the first Adam, but as
smuggle this Arminian contraband into the Reformed                                 redeemed in the second Adam, He elected, i.e., He
churches was his profession of double predestination.                              determined to graciously bestow on these, in time,
However, he construed predestination as  following                                 the saving gift of faith; and in this sole act Election
upon  the decree of universal salvation through uni-                               properly so called is complete. For these and all other
versal atonement  - all of which is dependent on                                   kindred teachings are in no wise insignificant
man's acceptance or rejection of the offered grace  -                              deviations from the form of sound words respecting
so that Amyraut's predestination was nothing other                                 Divine Election; because the Scriptures do not extend
than the old Roman and Arminian doctrine of  COYE-                                 unto all and each God's purpose of showing mercy to
                                                                                   man, but restrict it to the elect alone, the reprobate
ditional   predestination in new dress.                                            being excluded, even by name, as. Esau, whom God
    From the mountains of Geneva, Francis  Turretin                                hated with an eternal hatred (Rom 9:10-13).
descried the enemy. With Lucas Gernler of Basle, he                                   The same Holy Scriptures testify that the counsel
requested  Johri Henry Heidegger of Zurich to                                      and the will of God change not, but stand immovable,
compose a creed for the Swiss churches that would                                  and God in the heavens doeth whatsoever he will (Ps.
condemn the Saumur theology and pointedly affirm                                   115: 3; Is. 46: 10); for God is infinitely removed from
the decisions of Dordt, and helped Heidegger to write                              all that human imperfection  which characterizes
the creed. The result was the Helvetic Consensus                                   inefficacious affections and desires, rashness, re-
Formula of 1675, "the last doctrinal Confession of                                 pentance, and change of purpose. . . ."
the Reformed Church of Switzerland."* This con-                                       Canon XVII "The caII unto salvation was suited to
fession was "agreed upon by the ecclesiastical and                                 its due time (I Tim. 2:6); since by God's will it was at
civil authorities of Zurich, Basle, and Geneva, and                                one time more restricted, at another, more extended
adopted in other Reformed cantons as a binding rule                                and general, but never absolutely universal. For,
of public teaching for ministers and  professors."3                                indeed, in the Old Testament God showed His word
                                                                                   unto. Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto
   A fascinating document, the Helvetic Consensus                                  Israel; He dealt not so with any nation  (Ps.
Formula confesses the verbal inspiration of Scripture,                             147: 19,20).  In the New Testament, peace being made
particularly the Old Testament, "not only in its                                   in the blood of Christ and the inner wall of partition
consonants, but in its vowels  - either the vowel                                  broken down, God so extended the limits of Gospel
points themselves, or at least the power of the                                    preaching and the external call, that there is no longer
points";                                                                           any difference between the Jew and the Greek; for
             the imputation of Adam's sin; the federal                             the same Lord over all is rich unto alI that caIl upon
Headship of Christ for the elect in the new covenant;                              Him (Rom.  9:12).  But not even thus is the call
limited atonement; and the covenant of works. It                                   universal; for Christ testifies that many are  called
concludes with a decree "that we not only hand                                     (Matt. 20: 16), not all; and when Paul and Timothy
down sincerely in accordance with the Divine  Word,                                essayed to go into Bithynia to preach the Gospel, the
the especial necessity of the sanctification of the                                Spirit suffered them not (Acts 16:7); and there have
Lord's Day, but also impressively inculcate it and                                 been and there are today, as experience testifies,
importunately urge its observation." But our sole                                  innumerable myriads of men to whom Christ is not
concern is its teaching regarding God's grace in the                               known even by rumor."
call of the gospel:                                                                   Canon XIX "Likewise  the external  call itself,
                                                                                   which is made by the preaching of the Gospel, is on
                                                                                   the part of God also, who calls, earnest and sincere.
   *.For  a description of this creed and the theological controversy              For in His Word He unfolds earnestly and most truly,
that gave rise to it, cf. Schaff,  Creeds  of  Christendom,   Vol 1, pp. 477ff.    not, indeed, His secret intention respecting the salva-
Typically, Schaff calls it "a defense of the scholastic  (sic!) Calvinism of       tion or destruction of each individual, but what
the Synod of Dort." But it is, even on Schaff's reckoning, a defense of            belongs to our duty, and what remains for us if we do
Dordt. It is "not so much intended to be a new confession of faith, as
an explanatory appendix to the former Confessions.. .  ."  (p.  466).              or neglect this duty. Clearly it is the wilI of God who
Unfortunately, Schaff does not give the creed itself, only a very brief            cab, that they who are called come to Him and not
summary.                                                                           neglect so great salvation, and so He promises eternal
   SSchaff, pp. 465,466                                                            life also in good earnest, to those who come to Him


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          807



    by faith; for, as the Apostle declares, `it is a faithful        even by the works of nature and Providence without
    saying: For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live           any f&her proclamation; adding, that the call unto
    with Him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him;            salvation is so indefinite and universal that there is no
    if we deny Him, He also will deny us; if we believe              mortal who is not, at least objectively, as they say,
    not, yet He abideth faithful; He can not deny Him-               sufficiently called either mediately, namely, in that
    self.' Nor in regard to those who do not obey the call           God will further bestow the light of grace on him
    is this will inefficacious; for God always attains that          who rightly rises the light of nature, or immediately,
    which He intends in His will, even the demonstration             unto Christ and salvation; and finally denying that
    of duty, and following this, either the salvation of the         the external call can be said to be serious and true, or
    elect who do their duty, or the inexcusableness of the           the candor and sincerity of God be defended, without
    rest who neglect the duty set before them. Surely the            asserting the absolute universality of grace. For such
    spiritual man in no way secures the internal purpose             doctrines are contrary to the Holy Scriptures. . . ."
    of God to produce faith along with the externally                       Canon XXI "They who are called unto salvation
    proffered, or written Word of God. Moreover,                     through  the preaching of the Gospel can neither
    because God approved every verity which flows from               believe nor obey the call, unless they are raised up
    His counsel, therefore it is rightly said to be His will,        out of spiritual death by that very power whereby
    `that all who see the Son and believe on Him may have            God commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
    everlasting life (John 6:40).  Although these `all' are          and God shines into their hearts with the  soul-
    the elect alone, and God formed no plan of universal             swaying grace of His Spirit. . . ."
    salvation without any selection of persons, and Christ
    therefore died not for every one but for the elect              This language is clear and sharp on the doctrine of
    only who were given to Him; yet He intends this in           the call of the gospel and the grace of God in the call,
    any case to be universally true, which follows from          especially Canon XIX and the last part of Canon XX,
    His special and definite purpose. But that, by God's
    will, the elect alone believe in the external call thus      needing no explanation.
    universally proffered, while the reprobate are                  This is Turretin.
    hardened, proceeds solely from the discriminating               This is the Swiss churches of the 17th century.
    grace of God: election by the same grace to them that
    believe; but their own native wickedness to the                 And this is another reason why the noisy claim
    reprobate who remain in sin, and after their hardness        that the well-meant offer represents the position of
    and impenitent heart treasure up unto themselves             the Reformed churches and theologians of the past
    wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the        does not so easily put us to ignominious flight. We
    righteous judgment of God (Rom. 2:5)."                       too have read, and our finding.is: particular, sovereign
       Canon XX "Accordingly we have no doubt that               grace.
    they err who hold that the call unto salvation is dis-
    closed not by the preaching of the Gospel solely, but                                (next: Kuyper)


                                        CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY

  All young men desiring to begin studies this fall in           mittee, to such an aspirant only who comes supplied
either the pre-seminary or seminary department of                with a testimonial of his consistory that he is a
the Theological School of the Protestant Reformed                member in full communion, sound. in faith and
Churches are requested to contact the Theological                upright in walk, and also a certificate from a
School Committee, 4949 Ivanrest Ave., S.W., Grand-               reputable physician showing him to be in good
ville, Michigan 494 18.                                          health.
                                                                   A complete high school education and the equiva-
Pre-seminary Department:                                         lent of a four year (125 hour) college education are
  Permission to pursue the pre-seminary course of                required for entrance into the seminary department.
study shall be granted by the Theological School                 Moreover, each entrant into this department must
Committee. A transcript of grades from High School               produce evidence that he has credit for the required
and College (if any), a letter of testimony from a               college courses. Requirements are listed in the school
student's pastor or consistory, and a certificate of             catalog, available from the School.
health from a reputable physician shall be submitted.              In the event you cannot be present at this meeting,
                                                                 please notify the undersigned secretary of your inten-
Seminary Department:                                             tions, prior to the meeting. Mail all correspondence to
  Permission to pursue the Theological course in the             the Theological School.
seminary shall be granted by the Synod, upon                                                  Richard H. Teitsma, Secretary
recommendation of the Theological School  Com-


808                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



IN HIS FEAR

                       The Jewel of Contentment
                                                Rev. D. H. Kuiper



   A father who seems to be locked into a low-paying,      moment for life, movement, for being itself. That is a
`dead end job that holds little attraction for him and     fundamental difference between God and man. God
promises few financial rewards. . . . A mother who         has perfect freedom and independence so that He
rises early and retires late, crowding every waking        never requires anything; within Himself He finds all
hour with cooking, cleaning, washing, and changing         that He can ever desire. But manness or creatureness
of diapers, often without proper. appreciation. . . . A    means that we. rely upon Someone outside of our-
pastor whose church does not grow and whose                selves for everything needful! Even to think for a
sermons seem to fall on deaf ears. . . . A young person    moment that we are independent is to commit the sin
who cannot seem to find the right young lady, or is        of high pride and conceit. In fact it is alone when we
never asked by the right young man. . . . Just a few       acknowledge our total dependence upon God that we
examples which demonstrate the urgent need for the         can be content!
child of God of every age to apply himself to the             In his  Lexicon  of  the  New  Testament,  Thayer
learning of the grace of contentment.                      points in the helpful direction when he includes
   We hope in the next few months to examine               among several meanings for contentment, "inde-
various jewels of Christian virtue which belong to the     pendent of external circumstances." Contentment
crown of life that' we wear- as believers in the Lord      can only mean, therefore, that the inner life of a man
Jesus Christ. Perhaps the most important' of these         is entirely independent of the external circumstances
virtues, and the most difficult to obtain, is that of      of his life. To put this most important concept
contentment. As a virtue it `sparkles more brightly        another way, a man is content when he contains
than all the rest, and therefore its presence or its       within himself a certain strength that will enable him
absence is the most readily noticeable. That content-      not to have to find support without. And in that
ment stands as the chief$&-ue becomes obvious when         sense only is he self-sufficient.
we consider that contentment is actually the inner           This is all to say that how we look at things, how
perfection of the law. The tenth commandment,              we feel, what we experience in life, is not to be condi-
"Thou shalt not covet. . .  .," is a slightly different    tioned by the outward things of this present time. If
kind of a commandment in that it does not govern           our spiritual attitude  is  at the mercy of external
some new area or relationship of life, but it states       events, then we are without rudder or anchor, tossed
something concerning all of the law. It emphasizes         about by every wind and wave. Too often how or
that the entire law of God is not a code of external       what we feel inwardly is dictated by such things as
precepts, but is an inner matter of the heart. Posi-       health or illness, prosperity or poverty, success or
tively worded, the tenth commandment calls us to           failure, friendship or loneliness, the lack or the
walk in daily contentment. Thus, when a person is          presence of trials and hardships. If things go our way,
content he is in the proper spiritual disposition to       we feel good, happy, content. But when these out-
keep all of the perfect law of liberty; otherwise not.     ward circumstances are altered  .So that our lot is
                                                           rough or unpleasant, we feel much different; our out-
AN UNUSUAL WORD                                            look is changed and we are ready to speak critically
   The original word for the grace--of contentment is a    of God. This is all backwards.
word that at first glande gives pause. It is a word of       Contentment is that virtue which allows the inner
two parts: the one is the reflexive pronoun meaning        life of the child of God to stay beyond the staining
self, and the other means to suffice, to be sufficient.    touch of outward things. We all have such an inner
The compound word has the literal meaning of being         life of the soul beneath the surface where others
self-sufficient or independent. Contentment involves       cannot see. Belonging to this inner life is the mind,
independence. How can that be? If one thing is clear       our power of reasoning and remembering. If we are
from Holy Scripture it is that man is  not  self-          content, with our minds we know that all things are
sufficient or independent, but he needs God every          well with us. And this conviction, thisknowing, is not


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                             809



 conditioned by anything outward in our life, but is           money: five, two, and one talent. These talents do
 completely independent of these changing circum-              not refer to abilities or special gifts one might possess
 stances. Also belonging to the inner life of a man is         (music or art), but they refer to an office of labor and
 the will. When contentment is present our will tells us       trust. This is clear from the facts that the master gave
 that we do not want things any different than they            to each one according to his ability, and was able to
 are! This means we do not have any needs. And thus            take the talent from them again. So it was the calling
 the soul has peace; the mind knows and the will is            of each one, while the master was absent for a time,
 satisfied, so the soul has perfect tranquility.               to labor faithfully in that particular position. Two of
                                                               them were content to do this and were rewarded with
 SIGNIFICANT PASSAGES                                          entrance into the master's joy. The third servant,
    With regard to what, specifically, are we to               completely devoid of contentment, was not satisfied
 demonstrate contentment? The contexts in which the            to labor in a position he thought to be below his
 word is found reveal that there are three situations or       dignity. Rather he angrily buries the single talent in
 areas in which contentment is required, but in which          the ground. He refuses to labor! He will not work in a
 we are the most prone to be discontent. And these             position of such unimportance. And he is driven out
 three occurrences really cover all of life. 1.) Hebrews       after being dispossessed of that which he had. Thus
 13: 5, "Let your conversation be without covetous-            the point is that we are to be content with the place
 ness; and be content with such things as ye have; for         in which God has put us in His kingdom. It is not
 he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake            only ministers and teachers who have kingdom work
 thee." Here contentment, the opposite of covetous-            to do! Every child of God labors in the kingdom, and
 ness, is required in respect to earthly things, posses-       it is of supreme importance that he demonstrate con-
 sions, money. The reason given in the text is that God        tentment as he does so!
 will never leave or forsake us. You have very little
 worldly goods? You have no luxury or pleasure? Let            BASIS OF CONTENTMENT
 us make it very extreme: you say you have only                  It follows from the fact that contentment is an
 enough to get through one day at a time? Even then            inner independence from outward circumstances that
 there is absolutely no excuse for covetousness, for           it must have a solid basis. And this solid basis is first
 God will never forsake but will provide faithfully            of all the truth that everything that happens to us in
 ,each day's needs. When the mind knows that, when             this life is not the result of fickle fate or blind
 the will would have it no other way than to live out          destiny, but is the result of the controlling hand of
 of God's hand each day, then the soul can rest and            our heavenly Father. All of our life from our con-
 say, It is well!                                              ception to our death, has been determined before the
    2.) Phil. 4: 11, ". . .for I have learned, in whatso-      worlds were. And according to that determination it
 ever state I am, therewith to be content." The                actually has come to pass. .If a hair cannot fall from
 context makes plain that contentment is also required         our heads without the will of our heavenly Father,
 in the midst of afflictions, trials, and infirmities.         what do you think can happen to us? There is nothing
 When Paul wrote these words, he was in a Roman jail           that ever happens without the will of God, without
 cell; his state was that of a prisoner waiting for the        His bringing it to pass.
 executioner to tap at the door. Near the end of his             Since .it is true, however, that the circumstances of
 life the apostle here looks back over labors, stripes,        every man's life are ordained by God, the wicked as
 imprisonments, dangers, beatings, stoning, ship-              well as the righteous, we must know that our way has
 wrecks, and perils. Surely if ever a man had reason to        been determined by God in love. We cannot rest in
 wish he were someone else, or to wish he were some-           the mere doctrine of providence, but in the greater  i
 where else, it was Paul. And now he sits in a cell and        truth that God, through His providence, in Jesus
 speaks to us of contentment! What a tremendous                Christ, directs all things unto the salvation and bene-
 virtue it must be if it is able to keep the soul of the       fit of His people. Circumstances are not just there,
 saint safe from the clutches of our outward state so          they are not merely determined, but they are  un-
 we do not fall into the sins of rebellion and criticism.      failingly,good for God's children. This conviction of
 Does any one of us dare to say that the apostle speaks        the mind, this satisfaction of the will, this confidence
 a bit too ideally, but. does not know the rigors of           of the soul allow contentment to flourish and grow.
 daily life?                                                   Then a person is saved from the snare of covetousness
    3.) Matthew 25: 14-30, the parable of the talents.         and rebellion, for then he is able to say, It doesn't
Although the word contentment does not  occur in               make any difference what happens to me, nothing
 this parable, the idea of contentment is certainly the        can ever harm me or separate me from the love of
 main thrust of the passage. The master who went into          God in Christ!
 a far country gave to his servant various amounts of            So there is really nothing new, is there? If the


810                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



restatement of the above truth does not thrill us, or          conclusion is, I have no want! Paul has reached God's
seems not to be an adequate answer in the season of            purpose for him in this life! Storms of life cannot
our discontent, it has to mean that we have not really         reach him within, where he really lives. For within
learned contentment. As we suggested earlier, this             there is contentment that is based on the unfailing
virtue does not immediately spring full-blossomed              Word and promise of God!
from the soul; it is very difficult to possess. It must           Have we learned? Are we learning? What kind of
be learned. So states Paul while sitting in his final cell.    disciples are we, as we walk after Christ? Do the
There had been times when the apostle did not have             truths of Scripture strike us at the level of our inner
this wonderful contentment, times when he criticized           life so that we are built up in this independence? In
God and despaired of the wisdom of God's ways. But             the way of unceasing prayer and Bible study, this
the point is, he learned! Near the end of his life he          jewel shall shine in our crowns to the praise of God in
looks back, and he is given a glimpse of the wonderful
way God had dealt with him. He includes his present            heaven. How did David put it? The Lord is my
                                                               Shepherd, I want nothing.
afflictions which are but for a moment, he recalls the
gifts the saints at  Philippi  had sent to him; but his


.THESTRENGTHOFYOUTH

                                                   Friends
                                                   Rev. J. Kortering



   Friends! The very word has a cherished ring.                WHAT IS A FRIEND
   What a difference they make in a person's life.
   Without a friend, life can be so miserable, so alone,         The Bible does speak in quite some detail about
so lost in the vast sea of humanity. It's terrible to be a     friends. We need only recall the precious friendship
nonentity. With a friend the strangest place is a              that David had with Jonathan. Of this we read in I
challenge, the busiest city a haven, the tragedy of life       Sam.  20:41, 42, "And as soon as the lad was gone,
eased, the fun shared.                                         David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell
                                                               on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three
   By friends we have in mind other kids, outside the          times; and they kissed one another, and wept one with
family circle, that you like to be with. In the                another, until David exceeded. And Jonathan said to
narrowest sense, any person that means something to            David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both
you is a friend. From this point of view your parents          of us in the name of the Lord, saying, the Lord watch
might be considered your dearest friends. They are             between me and thee, and between my seed and thy
the most important stabilizing force in your life.             seed forever. And he arose and departed; and
They are the ones you can always count on. When                Jonathan went into the city."
you are exuberant with youthful enthusiasm you can
be sure they are interested and want to hear you out.            The friendship had to withstand the fiercest trials,
No less, when you are down in the mouth and                    for Saul hated David and did his best to destroy him.
petulant because life has dealt you a rough blow, yes,         Nevertheless, it endured and when David learned of
Mom and Dad want to take a little of your load then            the death of Saul and his son Jonathan, David said, "I
too. You can use them as the toughest sounding                 am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan, very
board, they'll listen to your arguments, you can lash          pleasant hast thou been unto me; thy love to me was
out at them, you can cry on their shoulder, they               wonderful, passing the love of women. How are the
won't crack. In a real sense they are your strongest           mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!"
friends.                                                         That was quite something for David to say.
  But they are parents. And parents can't be in the              In addition to this example of friendship, we can
same category as friends which you enjoy being with            point out that the Scripture delineates at least four
outside the home. We're thinking about these friends.          qualities of true friendship.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 811



  First, companionship. A friend is one with whom            you won't ask her out for a date. Maybe that's why
we like to be in moments of joy and sorrow. An               there is little "in" dating within church and school.
example of this is found in Luke 15: 6 where we read         The pressures of others force you to look elsewhere.
of the shepherd who lost one of the sheep, but went             If you happen to attend a school where the
out to search for it and when he found it he, "cometh        majority of the kids attend movies, and even have
home, and calleth, together his friends and neighbors,       "good `movies" advertised in their church, the
saying unto them, rejoice with me; for I have found          pressure to attend movies is much greater. Your
my sheep which was lost."                                    friends talk about the show they saw the other night,
  Secondly, protection. A friend will do anything; go        they constantly discuss the late movie on t.v., they
any place, give anything necessary for the well being        rehearse the comedy act they watched, etc. You want
of a person.`Jesus mentioned this concerning Himself,        to be able to contribute something meaningful and be
"Greater love hath no man than this that a man will          accepted on their terms. So you let them influence
lay down His life for His friends," John 15: 13. Such        you to watch questionable television programs,
love between friends will bring out the best in any-         attend movies on the sneak, listen to certain kinds of
one, even to die for him.                                    music on the  .radio, etc. Friends have that kind of
  Thirdly, loyalty. A friend won't turn his back             power over our lives.
when the going gets rough. Trials separate true friends
from imposters. Sometimes kids may like you                  GOODFRIENDS
because you are a free spender, they go along for a             The question that we face here is this, what kind of
free ride, you're great with the hand outs. But when         friends do we have?
the going gets rough, they disappear into thin air. Not         Since friends are so important to us and also so
so a friend, "A friend loveth at  all times,  "  Prov.       influential, it is logical that we be pretty selective as
17: 17. Similarly, "There is a friend that sticketh          to what friends we choose. After all, everyone can't
closer than a brother," Prov. 18: 24.                        be our friend. Friends are not forced upon us either.
  Finally, honest correction. A friend will not flatter      We encourage other kids to look our way; we also go
for the sake of being accepted and certainly not             out of our way to find others that we can enjoy.
deceive someone to make him think that he is some-           Friendships are cultivated and worked at. What kind
thing which he really isn't. A friend will correct and       of young people are you seeking to include in your
offer suggestions for improvement. The closer the            life?
friendship, the more honest it becomes. "Open                   This takes on double importance for us as Chris-
rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the          tians. In a sense even the unbeliever recognizes the
wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are           importance of friends. He knows there are those who
deceitful," Prov. 27:  5,6. Those wounds may hurt            get  freaked out with drugs, get kicks out of life in
when they are the truth, but they always bring out           ways that are dangerous. They are into crime,
the best in a person.                                        violence, sex, and other things that are far out.
                                                             Rather than get messed up with these things, they
THEINFLUENCEOFAFRIEND                                        think of more acceptable forms of behavior. Some
  It stands to reason that friends have a great deal of      emphasize culture, brotherhood, love for one's
influence on your life. This is true for all of us, it is    neighbor, and choose friends that help them develop
especially true while you are young. The pressures of        along these lines.                             I.
being accepted by your friends is greatest then. What           The Christian has a more definite idea than that.
your friends think, means a great deal to you.               We are interested in friendships that have more than
  Your clothing is pretty much dictated by styles            good human values and are expressed within the
that are worn by your friends. Washed off jeans may          socially acceptable forms of behavior. A Christian
not be particularly attractive as far as color is con-       seeks friends that are godly and will help him express
cerned; but if your friends think they are great, you        His Christian faith.
are sure to think it too. They may be so tight you              Our deepest friendship is with God. Of Abraham
practically split the seams; but comfort isn't the           we read, "And Abraham was called a friend of God,"
thing, baggy jeans are out!                                  James  2:23. Jesus said, "Ye are my friends if ye do
  A particular guy may seem to be a pretty nice              whatsoever I command' you," Jphn 15: 14. A friend
fellow to you until some of the gals do an impersona-        on this level is one to whom God reveals His love and
tion of him at a slumber party; after that you               draws into the inner chamber and reveals the secrets
wouldn't look twice at him. The same holds true for          of His own heart. Jesus did this in a measure to Judas
you guys. You may think a certain gal holds some-            and called him a friend, Matt. 26: 50. He had shown to
thing special; but if your buddies think otherwise,          Judas as well as the others, all the will of His


812                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



I-Ieavenly Father., God speaks to us His Word and            Do you put forth effort to have good friends
gives us the faith to believe it. Within the sphere' of     around you? Yes, we need friends. Life is terrible
God's Word we are drawn close to God as He draws            without them. More important, however, we need
near to us. Such a friendship is heavenly and triumphs      good friends.
over every human relationship. All things on earth
must help to make that friendship more precious.
   Hence, our earthly friends must not be unbelievers       BE A FRIEND
or careless Christians who would undermine our
friendship with God. Rather, we must seek friends                 Even the Bible recognizes that to have friends you
who will enhance and strengthen our faith. God says,        must be a friend. We read of this in Prov. 18:24, "A
"Know ye not that the friendship of the world is            man that hath friends must shew himself friendly."
enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a                    There is a moral to this. Our Christian calling is not
friend of the world is the enemy of God," James 4:4.        only that we select good friends, it goes farther than
The reason is obvious. If we like to be in company          that. It includes this: we must ourselves be good
with people that blaspheme God and openly sin               friends to others.
against God, we cannot really say that we are a friend       We must also ask ourselves, what kind of friend am
of God. There is a spiritual separation between God         I?
and His people on the one hand, and the world of the
wicked on the other. How Satan would like to                      Am I a true friend to others. Am I a good influence
destroy our faith and tempt us to sin under the guise       on them? Do I show forth Christian virtues so that I
of a friend. Be alert to this.                              draw to myself the right kind of kids? If we like to
                                                            show off, if we think its real cool to be the life of the
   We must be selective in making friends. They             party, to tell off-colored jokes, to be brash about sex,
influence us in so many ways. We want to be faithful        to live it up with drinks, to freely attend movies, etc.,
to our God, we fear the awful consequence of sin and        then we ourselves are the wrong kind of friends. This
would rather walk humbly and honestly with our              is a double shame, especially when we are born in the
God each day. To help us do this, good friends are          sphere of the covenant and should consider it our
essential. They will not tempt us to sin, rather they       duty to be an example of godliness. Paul said to
will also recognize the importance of godly living. If      young Timothy, "Let no man despise thy youth, but
your friends see the need of prayer, recognize the          be thou an example of the believers, in word, in con-
truths of the Bible, are acquainted with godly living,      versation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity," I
fight daily to overcome temptation, resist the devil,       Tim. 4: 12.
strive earnestly to contend for the faith, you will also
enjoy with them these spiritual virtues. Their                    Seek out good friends.
influence will be good.                                           And be a good friend.


FROM  HOLY WRIT

                      Exposition of Hebrews  13:17
                                                  Rev. G. Lubbers



  The Hebrew believers are admonished in this verse         self appoints, saying "feed my sheep." (John
to be good sheep of Christ in relationship to the           2 1: 15-l 7) These shepherds are to be watchful of the
undershepherds whom He sends to feed and tend               needs of the sheep; they must care for their souls.
them! They are now the church which is outside of           They are watchmen on the walls of Zion, and they
the gate of the city of the earthly Jerusalem. They are     are accountable to the Lord of the Church for their
the church, who have gone outside of the gate,              spiritual stewardship "as those who must give
bearing Christ's reproach.                                  account." And the members of the flock of God have
  But here outside of the gate the church needs             the holy calling to submit to those who go before
shepherd-leaders whom the Lord of the church him-           them with the ministry of the Word.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  813



THE WATCHMEN IN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST                        THEY CARE FOR YOUR SOULS  (Hebrews 13: 17)
(Hebrews 13 : 17)                                              In order to understand a bit more what is implied
  The text does not speak directly of "watchmen";           in real Biblical soul-care, it will be necessary to study
rather the text speaks of your leaders. The KJV trans-      a bit the Scriptural teaching concerning the "soul" of
lates "Those who have the rule over you." These are         the redeemed Christian. We are not primarily con-
not, self-appointed rulers, usurpers of power, who lord     cerned about the soul of man in general, but our
it over the flock of God, as cruel thieves and robbers.     concern. is about the souls of the regenerated people
(John 10: l-5) For such thieves and robbers do not          of God, the man of God. This is important for the
enter into the fold by the door but climb in over the       proper understanding of the care which the  under-
wall, to rob and to kill. These do not go in and out        shepherds must give to the flock. It is care for the
before the `flock finding green pastures for the sheep      flock of God, the souls of the redeemed in Christ.
in the divine Scriptures. They are all sleeping dogs        Our concern must be that these "souls" shall not be
that do not bark at the approaching of the lurking          bowed down with grief, fear, and terror, but that the
enemies; they love to eat and slumber. (Isaiah              souls shall be joyful in the Lord. Had the writer not
56: 10,ll) They are blind watchmen and ignorant of          desired to speak specifically of "soul-care," he could
the needs of the flock. However, the text speaks of         simply have written of the watch "over you." The
leaders, who "watch for your souls." And as such            writer intends that the ministers and elders know that
good watchmen they rule over the flock of God. For          their task is not simply a general care, but it is a care
they have a God-given authority and calling to feed         for the souls of the flock.
the flock of God over which the Holy Ghost has
appointed them. (Acts  20:28) This flock God has               The care that is here intended is what we would
purchased with His own blood. One day Christ will           call  spiritual-psychological  care, and not what is
present the church to God as a spotless bride, without      called  physical-pneumatical  care. The latter, one can
any blemishes of sin and guilt and shame. This church       give outside of the camp of the true Israel of God. No
is the apple of God's eye.                                  one will deny that one's body is deeply affected by
  The "rulers" in the church are undershepherds of          the turmoil of a troubled soul. David cries out in
Christ, Who is the chief Shepherd. (I Peter 5:4) They       Psalm  32:3  ". . . my bones waxed old through my
are true underlings, under-rowers of Christ. (I Cor.        roaring all the day long, for day and night thy hand
4:l) As such they are stewards of the mysteries of          was heavy upon me; my moisture is turned into the
God. And it is sought in stewards that they be found        drought of summer." David's body suffered much
faithful. That is the chief requirement which is sought     with the anguished conscience which needed to be
                                                            sprinkled with the blood of sprinkling on the altar.
in them. They must be faithful to their master to           That no one will deny, who reads the Scriptures and
whom they are accountable. (I Cor.  4:4) For let it         believes them. Nevertheless, David's problem at bot-
not be forgotten that Christ is the great preacher in       tom was spiritual, deeply, profoundly spiritual, and it
the church. He died and arose again and sits at God's
right hand, and "he came and preached peace to              affected his soul, his mind, will, and all his affections.
                                                            It was a spiritual-psychologitial  problem which needed
those who are far and to those who are near."
(Ephesians 2: 17) And when he sends preachers in the        the soul-care of the sound words of reproof that re-
church and rulers these are some of the "gifts" which       sounded in his ears from the lips of Nathan, the
are graced upon the church by the risen Christ, Who         prophet, "Thou art the man!" (II Samuel 12:7) David
is exceedingly high above all things, that He might fill    needed the therapy of the Word of God which is
all things. Hence, he gave to the church first apostles,    profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
then prophets and evangelists and shepherds and             for instruction in righteousness. (II Tim. 3: 16) He is
teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work     called to repentance so .that he writes a Psalm in the
of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.    Holy Spirit which becomes the song of all who sin as
(Ephesians 4: 8- 16)                                        did David, who in deep contrition cry to the Lord for
                                                            the healing of their souls in the forgiveness of sins. It
  Now the Hebrew believers are admonished to recog-         was through, the sound words (health affording
nize these office-bearers in the seriousness of their       words) that David once more has spiritual health, his
office and work which was assigned to them by the           soul is revived and is caused to experience that the
Lord Himself. Sad to say, ever since the Hebrews            High and Lofty One, Who inhabits eternity, Whose
were admonished it has been necessary to impress            name is holy, dwells in the holy place, and with the
this truth upon the hearts of God's children, early         humble and contrite of spirit, to revive the spirit of
and late.                                                   the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite
  We should therefore also notice what is the lofty         ones. (Isaiah 57: 15) And David is given us as an ex-
task of these watchmen appointed by the Lord over           ample of the soul which needed care by a  prophet-
the flock of God!                                           watchman in Zion. And this prophet understood his


814                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



calling as a watchman who cares for the souls as one          God. True soul-care needs to be caring for the soul,
who shall give account. Nathan's care was deeply              that it may have an "anchor within the holy place,"
spiritual-psychological. He knew how to address the           and must see in Jesus' ascension the fulfilment of the
king. It was true, spiritual-psychological soul-care,         promise. When the soul has this anchor high in the
and it was used by the Lord as His means to bring             heavens, it may be a bit tempest tossed, but the
about the fruit of righteousness. To God be the glory         anchor holds. And so the soul looks away from self to
both for the means and the fruit!                             the promises of God. And all the pedagogy of the
  Perhaps it can serve some purpose to enlarge upon           preaching and teaching of the watchmen must be
this teaching of Scripture just a bit. We will call           such that it points away from self to the ever and
attention particularly, to two passages here in the           abiding faithfulness of God.
book of Hebrews and elicit from them what we be-                 Now it ill behooves us not to submit to such
lieve to be sound teaching on this subject.                   watchmen, rulers who care for our souls, as those
  We call attention, first of all, to Hebrews 6: 19, where    who must give account.
we read, "which hope we have as an anchor or the soul,           The means which the watchmen use to care for our
both sure and stedfast, and which entereth  mto that          souls is the Word of God. This is underscored in
within the vail; whither the forenmner for us has en-         Hebrews 4: 12, "For the word of God is quick (living)
tered, even Jesus, made an high priest forever after the      and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword.
order of Melchisedec." Now what, to our mind, is strik-       pier&g even to the dividing asunder of soul and
ing here is that the writer in this portion refers to the     spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
soul in its spiritual relationship to Christ and to the       of the thoughts and the intents of the heart." Here too
blood of sprinkling in the holy place before God. The         the writer speaks of the "soul" and does this in con-
soul must not be tossed to and fro with all kinds of          nection with the "spirit" and the  `cheart" with its
fear and doubts. For in the context this is not simply        thoughts and intents which are judged by the Lord.
the soul of mankind in general, the mass of the               Now it ought to be evident that that "soul-care" here
damned, but it refers to those "who have fled for             is connected with the preaching of the Word, and also
refuge to take hold upon the hope set before us"!             is a matter of "laboring to enter into the rest." Only
That hope is the perfect salvation in the day of              when we labor to enter into the rest of God is our
Christ. And this hope is anchored for us within the           soul healthy in faith and love. And the Word of God
vail of the heavenly temple, where we can come to             is living and powerful and turns us inside out to our-
the throne of grace. (Hebrews 4: 15,16)  This throws.         selves. Yea, it pierces into our very bones and
light on the question of what is meant by "soul." It is       marrow. And, therefore, a good watchman will warn
the soul of the redeemed saint, the children who walk         both the righteous and the wicked in the church of
in the footsteps of the faith of Abraham. The writer          Christ. Thus was the mandate to Ezekiel 3: 17, "Son
is addressing the sons of Abraham as they need to             of `man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house
have assurance concerning the salvation as the "heirs         of Israel: therefore hear the word of my mouth, and
of the promise." And we should notice that soul-care          give them warning from me . . ." And the word that a
is connected with the "Immutability of God's coun-            watchman speaks in the name of the Lord pierces
sel." We must be assured that, when our names are             into the bones and marrow, and is a discerner of the
written in the Lamb's book of life, we shall surely be        thoughts and intent of the heart. It is, therefore, of
saved. God promised this salvation of old, and he             the utmost importance that the sheep of the flock
confirmed with an oath. Now we have "two im-                  submit to those who watch for their souls as they
mutable things" by which we have consolation with             who must and shall give account in the day of Christ.


                                         Book Reviews
A CHRISTIAN VIEW OF HISTORY?, Edited by                       question by taking a mediating position between
George Marsden & Frank Roberts; Wm. B. Eerdmans               "overassurance" and "diffidence." The disagreement
Publishing Co., 1975; 201 pp., $4.50 (paper).                 seems especially to be whether there is historical data
[Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko.]                                 upon which believer and unbeliever can agree. And, in
                                                              connection with this, whether an objective interpre-
  This  book,. in a series of essays by different  au-        tation and value judgment is possible, or whether we
thors, seeks to provide a "tentative" answer to the           are reduced to an historical relativism in this respect.
question posed in the title. It seeks to answer the             Because the book is written by a number of  dif-


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                         815



ferent authors, the viewpoint is also different. George               has been added to the New Testament information.
Marsden  defines the reason for studying history as:                  Only what is fairly there has been reproduced here,
          We who are Christians should teach and learn his-           with one exception. In the account of the imprison-
    tory so that we may better understand ourselves and               ment of John the Baptist an explanation taken from
    our fellow men in relation to our own culture and to              the works of the ancient Jewish historian Flavius
    the world. Since the Christian's task is to live in this          Josephus is incorporated, because it is one item of
    world and to witness to the love of God as manifested             information from a source contemporary with the
    in Christ, it is essential for us to understand ourselves         gospels that is doubtless genuine and throws consider-
    and the world as well as we possibly can.                         able light on the temper of Israel in Jesus' time.
   This, taken by itself, is a wholly inadequate reason             There is also a section at the end on the historical
for studying history, but it follows from the general            setting of the gospels which is very worthwhile.
view of the authors, for they reject the traditional                For those who are, as is true of most of our read-
view of history as the unfolding of the counsel of               ers, brought up from childhood with instruction from
God. Doing this, they can no longer  find in history             the Scriptures themselves, this book is of little value.
the revelation of God, and they no longer see in a               Most of us have learned to understand and love the
study of history the benefit of growing in the knowl-            King James Version, and the need for a  ~modem
edge of God in His works and ways. For this reason               "paraphrase" is not a need among us. There is also
too, there is little in the book about the relation              the danger that a paraphrase may be taken as the
between history and sacred history and the relation              Scriptures themselves.
between the Scriptures and the study of history.                    The book is also weakened by higher critical views
   In general, the conclusion of the book is that prob-          of the  author, by various omissions from the text,
ably one must, in the teaching of history, make                  and by an incorrect chronology.
moral judgments about what transpires in history; but               The book could be useful to those who are totally _
there is a caution sign raised in this connection, and           unacquainted with the gospels, but then only if it led
an objective standard by which to judge what tran-               them to read the gospels themselves.
spires in history is totally absent.
   The book reflects current thinking about history in           GRACE UPON GRACE, Essays in honor of Lester J.
evangelical circles and is worth reading for this rea-           Kuyper; Edited by James Cook; Wm. B. Eerdmans
son. But it is of little or no help (except by the way           Publishing Co, 1975; 154 pp., $6.95. [Reviewed by
of antithesis) in an understanding of  a Christian               Prof. H. Hanko.]
approach to the study of history. Nevertheless, those               Lester Kuyper was for a long time a professor of
who teach history in our schools ought to read it, and           Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary in
those who are interested in this subject will find a             Holland, Michigan. The essays in this book, dealing
great deal of food for thought.                                  with various problems.of Old Testament studies, were
                                                                 written in his honor. Most  Festschr-ifts  are  dull
                                                                 reading, and this one is no exception. It deals with
JESUS, THE STORY OF HIS LIFE, by Walter Bar-                     such subjects as: "The  (Un)changeability of God,"
nett; Nelson-Hall Inc., 325 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago,           "The Biblical View of Time," "Women and Masculine
Ill., 60606; 1976; 273 pp., $6.95. [Reviewed by Prof.            Theological Vocabulary in the Old Testament,"
H. Hanko.]                                                       "Exodus in the letter to the Hebrews." Some of the
  This book is a sort of retelling of the life of Jesus          authors are: I. John Hesselink, Hendrikus Berkhof,
from the gospel narratives. Since it combines all the            James Muilenburg, G. Ernest Wright, J. Coert Rylaars-
gospel narratives, it is also a sort of harmony of the           dam, and Marten H. Woudstra.
gospels. The author describes the book in a chapter at              If nothing else, the book shows how far higher
the end entitled, "Note on the Composition of the                criticism has vitiated Biblical studies in Reformed cir-
book."                                                           cles. I would not be honored by these essays, but
      This book is not a fresh translation of the sources        angered and embarrassed that Scripture can be
   from the original Greek. It is simply a retelling of the      treated so cavalierly. So should anyone who loves the
   story in modem American speech. Since the objective           Word of God.
   is to put that story as nearly as possible into the
   words Americans would use today, the result may
   occasionally seem like a rather free paraphrase of the                                           NOTICE
   sources, but great care has been taken to make certain            Due to our decision  to  add a fourth teacher to our Staff, the
   that the meaning has not been misrepresented. . . .           S O U T H   H O L L A N D   P R O T E S T A N T   R E F O R M E D   C H R I S T I A N
                                                                 SCHOOL is accepting applications for the position. Anyone interested
      It must be reemphasized that this book is not a            should write or phone Mr.  Menno Poortenga, 18425  Oakwood  Ave.,
   fictionalized account of Jesus' life. Nothing imaginary       Lansing, Illinois 60438. Phone:  (312) 474-0675.

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





                            News  From Our Churches
   One of the most important decisions a congrega-              Activity in the area of church extension continues
 tion makes is extending a call to one of God's              in many of our churches. Randolph is beginning a
 servants whom they would ask to serve as their              program of some selective mailing out of our
 pastor. One of the more important decisions a               material. The first item selected for distribution is the
 minister of the Word is called upon to make is              new pamphlet on Modern Bible Versions. Rev.
 whether to accept or reject such a call. Since Rev. M.      Bekkering is seeking the assistance of his congregation
 Kamps of Redlands, California, declined the call            in putting together a suitable mailing list.
 extended to him by our Edmonton congregation,
 Edmonton formed a new trio of Rev. R. Miersma,                An additional item was found in the Randolph
 Rev. R. Moore, and Rev. J. Kortering. From that trio,       bulletin concerning The Reformed Witness Hour, our
 Rev. Moore has received their call.                         denominational radio broadcast. "Beginning March
                                                             14, 1976, the Reformed Witness Hour will be broad-
   Since Rev. Harbach accepted the call to become            cast at  12:30 PM on Sundays instead of  8:45. The
 home missionary in the Houston, Texas, area, the            idea behind the change is that it may enable more
 congregation of our Kalamazoo, Michigan, church has         people outside of our church to hear the program.
 been without a pastor. Recently, Kalamazoo has              Most of the churches in the area begin at  9:30 AM,
 decided to sell their parsonage and look for another.       and, with the program running until 9: 15, this consti-,
They have not formed a new trio at this writing.             tutes a conflict. We hope therefore that this new time
   Hope Church in Walker, Michigan, is Rev.                  will be more convenient for those outside our church,
 Harbach's calling church. Hope's bulletin, therefore,       and that it will be a good time for us as well. Please
 has informed the congregation about the work in             notify everyone that you know who listens to our
 Houston. The following report was printed in their          program of the time change so that they may con-
 January 25 bulletin: "The twofold effect of the             tinue to listen." The program is carried on WLKE,
 preaching of the Word is always felt where the Word         1170. Judging by the `hustle and bustle' in our house
 is preached. This is especially true on the mission         45 minutes before the service, this change in time of
 field and even more so where our missionaries purely        the broadcast would seem to be a good change. It is
 proclaim the Word. The Word preached by Rev.                no small task to listen to a rather serious radio
 Harbach in Houston is, now more than ever before a          message while helping the children find their coats
savour of life unto life, to four faithful families and a    and straighten their ties.
 few others. That the preaching is also a savour of            Last summer we celebrated the 50th anniversary of
 death unto death is the reason why the group has            our churches. This coming summer, our Hudsonville
 become smaller. Pray for our missionary and his wife        congregation plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary
 that he may be faithful in the preaching and for those      of their church with a program the evening of July 29
 who remain as one, professing a sincere love of our         and a picnic the afternoon and evening of July 30.
 Lord."                                                      The members of the congregation are requested to
   An additional report on the work in Houston was           plan their vacations accordingly. The anniversary
 found in the March 7 Hope bulletin as follows: "The         committee is looking for pictures of interest,
 work in Houston has dwindled in size but picked up          especially those going back to the building of the
in labors. At present three families attend the services     church and parsonage. It sounds as if a major event is
regularly while another family and two individuals are       in the making in the `celery city.'
irregular in attendance. During the last two Sundays           :The following appeared in the Redlands, Cali-
 of February and the first Sunday of March, Rev. John        fornia, bulletin: "The Hope School Board with
Heys (from Holland, Michigan) was sent (at the               grateful hearts to little ones in Christ informs the
request of the Mission Committee and with the                congregation that the Hope School Society has
 approval of the Holland consistory) to Houston to           received the following gifts: a) From the school chil-
 help Rev. Harbach made as many outside contacts as          dren of our Hope P. R. Christian school in Walker,
possible. Let us not forget to bring this field and its      Michigan $43.44. b) From the children of our Adams
labors before God's gracious throne." Rev. Ronald            St. School in Grand Rapids $128.67." These were
Van Overloop, pastor of Hope Church, plans to travel         Christmas gifts from the children in the `East' to the
 to Houston for the last two Sundays in March and the        children in the `West.'
 first Sunday in April to assist Rev. Harbach in the                                                          K.G.V.
work there.


