   The
STANDARD
   BEARER
          REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY M A G A Z I N E





  .NO one will ever ask us for a reason for the
hope that is within us unless that hope comes
to expression in the witness of our mouth and
1ives.
   See "My Sheep Hear My Voice" `- page 257





                                                   Volume LIII, No. 11, March 1, 1977
                                                              l6SN  03624692


242                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                               t'blE STAND&D  BEARER .'
                                                                        Semi-monthly. except monthly  during  Jun.. July.  and August.
                           CONTENTS:                                    Published   Oy  th'. Reformed Free  Publishin   Assocjrtion.  Inc.
                                                                           hcond   Cless   f'atoge  hid  et Grand Ft. Jds.  Mlch.
 Meditation -                                                       Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Homer  C.  Hoekseme
                                                                    Depertment  Editors: Prof. Robert  0. Decker. Rev. David J.  Engelsma.
       Liberated to Serve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242       ReV.  COrneliuS   Henko.  Prof.  Hermen   tinko.  Rev.  Robert  C.  HerbaCh.
                                                                    Rev. John A.  Heys.  Rev. Jay  Kortering,  Rev. M. Hoeksema. Rev.
 Editorials -                                                       George C. Lubbers.  =&t.v.   Meindert   Joortenr.  Rev.  Marmur   Schipper,
                                                                    Rev.  Gise J.  Van   pr4$  Rev. Herman  Veldmen.  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink.
       Baptism on the Mission Field . . . . . . . . . . 245         `EditorhI Office:  Ref.  t-4.   C.  Hoeksema
                                                                                    .     4975  1%  nrest  Ave.  S.W.
       Reformed Thought on Baptism . . . . . . . . 247                                    Grendvi  I..
                                                                                                   t      Michigan 49418
                                                                    Chumh  N+w Editor:  Mr. Kenneth G. Vink
 Studies in Isaiah -                                                                             1422  Linwood.  S.E.
                                                                                                 Grand Rapids.  Michigen  49507
       Woes Denounced Against Deliberately                          Editorial  Policy:  Every  editor is solely  r.SpOnribl.  for the contents of
                                                                    his   o wn l  rtlcles.  ContrlbUtlOnS  of  gsner.1  Interest  from our  rerden
          Self-Destructive Ways . . . . . . . . . . . . 248         and questions for the Question-Box Department  are  welcome.  Contrl-
                                                                    butionr  will be limited  to  .pprOXimat.ly  300 words and  murt be neatly
 Translated Treasures -                                             written or typewritten.  end must be  Sigled.  Copy deadlines  l re the  first
                                                                    and the fifteenth of the month.  .All communications  relstive  to the
                                                                    contents  Should be sent to the editorial office.
       Acts of the Synod of Dordrecht (6) . . . . . . 250           f?eprint  /`o/icy:  Permission  is hereby granted for the reprinting of  l  rti-
 The Day of Shadows -                                               cles in  our  megeiine  by other publications. provided:  l  ) that such  re-
                                                                    prlnted   l rtlcles  l re reproduced in full;  b) that proper  l  cknowled~ment
                                                                    Is  med.;   c) that . copy of the periodic.1 in which such reprint  .ppurS
       The Shadow of Things to Come . . . . . . . . 252             is sent to our  edItori.  offlc..
 Strength of Youth -                                                &bWSS  Dffi8.X:  The  Stenderd   Bearer
                                                                                          Mr.   l-l.  vonder   W.I. BUS.  Mgr.
                                                                                          P. 0. Box 6064
       Envy Not the World (2) . . . . . . . . . . .  : . 255                              Grand  Rapid%   Michigan  49506
 My Sheep Hear My Voice -                                           Austre/ien   Businert   Officer  Reformed Literature  Centre.
                                                                                                        P.O. BOX 849.
                                                                                                        Rockhampton  4700,
       Letter to the Members of the                                                                     Queensland. Australia
                                                                    New Zealand  f'tusiness  Office: 
         Church at Philadelphia . . . . . . . . . . . . 257                                                The Standard Bearer.
                                                                                                           C/O OPC  BookshoP.
                                                                                                           P.O. BOX 2289.
 In His Fear -                                                                                             Christchurch. New  Z..l.nd
                                                                    Subscription Policy:  Subscription price. f 7 . 0 0   per  year  ( $ 5 . 0 0   for
       Pure Religion (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ., . . . 259    Austrelesi.).   Unless   l definite request for  discontinuenc.  is  receiveq.  it
                                                                    is  aswmed  that the  subwriber   wishes  the  subscri lion to continue with-
 All Around Us -                                                    out the formality  pf  a renewal order. and he  wt .P
                                                                                                                                   I be billed for renewal.
                                                                    If  you  have   a change of address. please notify the  Bus.   esS  Office   as
       "They'd Rather Fight Than Pay" . . . . . . . 261             e&y   .S  posSible  in order to avoid the  inCOnVe8IienC.  Of `6.lryed deliv-
                                                                    ery. Include your Zip Code.
       "If at first you don't succeed .  :  ." . . . . . . . 262    Advrrfising   Policy:  The  Standerd   Bearer  does not accept  commercirl
                                                                    advertising of any kind.  Announcementr  Of  Ch.urch   ..nnd  SChoOl   events.
       "Receding Common Grace" . . . . . . . . . . 262              l nniveneraes. obituaries.   and sympathy  resolutlOnS  will  be pieced  for.
                                                                    $3.00 fee. These should be sent to the  Business  Office and should  be
                                                                    xcompenied  by  the $3.00 fee. Deadline  for.an~OUnC~mOnts  is the  1st
       Independence for Canadian C.R.C.? . . . . . . 262            pr the 15th of the month.  previous.fo   publicetlon  on the 15th  or the
                                                                    1st  r.sp.ctlv.ly.
 News From Our Churches . . . . . . . . . . . .  ; 264              Bound  l/o/urns:  The  BuSineSS Office will accept  stendlng   Orders   for
                                                                    bound  cop&  of  the current volume; such  ord.rS   l  r.  fIlled   .S  SoO"  .S
                                                                    possible  l  fter completion of  a  volume.  A limited  numr  Of  Pelt  vPI-
                                                                    umr  may  ba  OOtalMd  through  the  Businal  Office.


MEDITATION



                                         Liberated to Serve
                                                        Rev. M. Schipper

              "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to
              whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be
              thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of
              doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of
              righteousness.. "' Romans 6: 16-l 8.

  Know ye not?                                                       of doctrine which had been delivered to them.
  0, indeed,. the apostle does not question the                          Implied in the whole question is the solemn truth :
knowledge of the saints at Rome as to whether they                   that they knew that no matter who their master was,
have it or not. Rather, he is reminding them of the                  they are always servants. If their master is sin, then
knowledge they have. This is very evident from the                   they are the servants to sin. If their master is righ-
fact that they had obeyed from the heart that form                   teousness, then they are servants. to righteousness.


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 243



       They know therefore that the servant never becomes           in the light of history, but it markedly militates
       lord and master. Of this saving truth the saints at          against the whole conception of freedom as expressed
       Rome, and all the saints, must constantly be re-             by man in any age.
       minded, for in this truth is bound up their everlasting        We must see that the paradox is only apparent, not
       freedom.                                                     factual. We must understand that man, whether he is
         The apostle gives thanks, and so must we, for the          under sin, or grace, is always only a servant. He never
       glorious fact that, whereas once the saints were ser-        becomes lord and master. This was true when he was
       vants to sin, they are now become  ,the-servants to          the servant of sin. Though the master was a tyrant,
       righteousness. They have been made free from sin,            exacting death; man was a willing slave of sin. This is
       and, having obeyed from the heart that form of,doc-          true now when he becomes a servant of righteousness.
       trine which was delivered to them, they are now free         Also here he is a willing servant, and he serves with a
       to serve righteousness.                                      service that never ends. In both cases he is a willing
         They have been liberated to serve. This is evidently       servant, and he never becomes lord and master.
       the main thought in this passage of Scripture. And              Fact. of the matter is, that man in the state of
       this thought the apostle further develops in the re-         righteousness before the fall was created only to be
       mainder of the chapter. For, says he, when ye were           servant, never lord. It was precisely his sin that, under
       the servants to sin, ye were free from righteousness.        the enticement of Satan, he rebelled against the
       What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are        whole idea of servitude, and sought to be equal with
       now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.           God his Creator and Master. In this he emulated the
       But now being made free from sin, and become the             Deceiver, whose sin, no doubt, was also that he re-
       servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and       fused to be under God, but sought to remove God
       the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death;     from His exalted place, and to move into God's state,
       but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ     Whose prerogative as Creator is to be Lord. Does not
       our Lord.                                                    Jesus say of the devil (John 8:44) "He abode not in
         Liberated to serve!                                        the truth, because there is no truth in him"? What
                                                                    was the truth in which he abode not? Was it not that
         Apparent paradox!                                          God was God alone, and that he was only servant?
         Does not this expression seem quite contradictory,         Mind you, he was an exalted servant, head of the
       and does it not defy the normal concept of freedom?          entire heavenly realm under God. But he puffed him-
       Is it not normal to conceive of freedom as that state        self up with pride and sought earnestly to demote
       and condition where servitude no longer obtains?             God and to take His place. This lie he also conveyed
       where one is under no master at all?                         to man in Paradise. Said he, Ye shall not surely die:
         Yet there it stands, black on white - having been          for God doth know that in the. day ye eat thereof,
       made free from sin, ye became the servants of                then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as
       righteousness. Ye have been made free to serve!              God, knowing good and evil. (Gen. 3:4, 5) Man be-
                                                                    lieved that lie, and ate of the forbidden fruit, because
         Surely this conception of freedom violates the             no longer did he wish to be servant, but as his lord.
       understanding of freedom in our modern world.                He did not want to serve God in love, but to be as
       Would not the fathers of our country and the authors         God  - to be lord, and not servant. And when man
       of the Declaration of Independence scoff at this             sinned, he became a slave of sin. This is the category
       presentation of freedom? Do not all our history              in which the apostle also puts us, as we are by nature.
       books teach us and our children that the war for             We are by nature the servants of sin.
       independence was fought to set us free from the dic-
       tatorial tyranny of a foreign power? Or, to put it             And the apostle suggests in the question he asks
       another way, was not Lincoln's Emancipation Act the          that this service of sin is not merely a service which is
       declaration of jubilee for all the black men who             imposed on us against our will, but it is a willing
       wished to be freed from their slave masters? a free-         service. Literally he says, "Know ye not that to
       dom just as real as the liberation of the slaves in the      whom. ye place yourself beside as servant unto
       year of jubilee in the old dispensation?                     obedience, servant ye are to whom ye obey, whether
                                                                    of sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness?"
.:.      And is not this idea of freedom in the sphere of the       0, we know, of course, that the service of sin unto
:. mundane relations carried over into the realm of the             death was the judgment of God, which He said man
       spirit? Is it not precisely the doctrine of all Pelagian-    would experience if he transgressed the command-
       ism and Arminianism that. man has a free will, and           ment of God. Nevertheless, man after the fall does
       that freedom is a matter of man's choice?                    not serve sin against his will, but willingly. He
         Indeed, when the text speaks of having been made           actually places himself beside sin, and says with all his
       free to serve, it not only suggests an apparent paradox      heart, I will serve thee, I will obey your every dictate.


244                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



He loves sin with all his heart and being, and would          But, 0 wonder of grace, God did not leave His
not have it otherwise.                                     people in the bondage of sin. He delivered them in
   The same is true when he is liberated from the          His sovereign grace from sin and from death.
service of sin; he becomes a willing servant of right-
eousness. True, he no longer serves from the heart the        The text does not tell us in so many words how He
                                                           delivered us. It simply assumes that that deliverance
tyrannical. slave-master sin, but from the heart now       has taken place. But we know, do we not, from the
serves righteousness. But in either case, he remains       Scriptures that God did it through His Son, our Lord
servant. Only now he places himself beside righteous-      Jesus Christ. He it was Who assumed our nature' and
ness with the intention to be devoted unto righteous-      our guilt, bore the penalty of our guilt in our nature
ness with all his heart and being.                         on' the accursed tree. He became a curse for us, in
   Man never becomes God, the very thought of              order that He might deliver us from the curse. He, by
which is blasphemy! Man, whether he be natural man,        His death, broke the power of sin and death which
or the new man in Christ, remains servant. When he         held us in bondage, and in His glorious resurrection
becomes the latter, he is liberated to serve righteous-    declared unto us our justification. As the glorious
ness.                                                      Head of His people He ascended to God's right hand
  What is generally forgotten at this point, or we         where He received the Spirit without measure and
should perhaps say is not understood, is the fact that     power to change us from servants of sin unto servants
man's true freedom consists in his being able to serve     of righteousness.
his God. So it was in the state of rectitude. Man was         Indeed, it is all of grace!
created in the image of God and possessed all the
faculties. to love and serve his God. He was made a          For He comes by His Spirit and truth and attacks
covenant friend-servant. That was his true freedom.        our hearts, which loved the lie and the service of sin,
When man rebelled against God, at that ,very moment        and ,makes those hearts to love and obey that form of
he lost his freedom. He imagined he would be free          doctrine which was delivered to us through the
when he transgressed. The truth is, he became a ser-       preaching of the gospel. Through that change of heart
vant, bound with the shackles of sin and death which       we' learned to hate sin and to flee from it. Through
he could not break. God was not mocked - the day           that change of heart we love God once more and
he sinned, that day he died. This is the plight of all     desire to serve Him. Through that change of heart we
who are born of Adam, of the whole human race. But         submit to the form of doctrine delivered by His
here is the gospel, the good news of salvation: God in     apostles and prophets; yea, more, we submit to the
Christ came to deliver His people from the bondage         for'm of doctrine unto which we were delivered.
of sin and death. He not only restored them to their
original state of rectitude, but raised them up to the       All of grace!
glory of the heavenly and eternal covenant rela-             And when we by grace recognize this, we say with
tionship in which they will be His covenant  friend-       the apostle:
servants forever. Yes, they were the servants of sin,
but are now become the servants of righteousness.            Thanks be unto God!
  Wonder of grace!                                           Not only do we say this with our lips, but we seal
                                                           this confession with a godly life. That is what the
 The apostle says: But thanks be to God! Literally         apostle'means when he says: obeyed from the heart
he says: But grace to God1 The idea is that when the       with an obedience unto righteousness.
grace of God is recognized, observed, it. becomes
"thanks" to God. As you probably know, the funda-            Willing service!
mental and basic significance of grace is beauty. And         This is sanctification, without which no man shall
that significance must not be lost out of sight here.      see, the Lord.
The beauty which is here ascribed to God is seen in          We have been made free to serve. In the text it is
the redemptive work of making us, who were the             obedience unto righteousness. In the verses that fol-
servants of sin, to become the servants of righteous-      low we note that the apostle adds, "yielding your
ness. The change therefore is wrought through the          members servants to righteousness unto holiness."
wonder of grace. God,' through a wonder of grace,          (VSI 19) And he concludes, "servants unto God." (vs.
made the change.                                           22)
  To be sure, when man sinned and became a servant           It is a devoted service, not by compulsion, but will-
of sin, that was also of God. And the fact that the        ing' from the heart. Consecrated are our lives in the
wages of the service of sin is death is also of God. It    service of and unto the glory of God. The end fruit of
belongs to the righteous judgment of God that the          which is everlasting life.
sinner must serve sin unto death.                            Thanks be unto God!


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                              245


E.DITORIALS

                                  Baptism on the Mission Field
                                                               6)
                                Reformed Thought on Baptism
                                                       Prog H.C. Hoeksema


  In this section of our discussion we will try to                       arm of the congregation. The baptism records, there-
cover that part of the Study Report which deals with :                   fore, can be held either by the missionary, on behalf
what the Church Order has to say about baptism. The '                    of the sendin.g  church, or  by. the sending church. The
material of the Study Report appears on page 107 of                      missionary can use our present Form for the Adminis-
the 1976 Acts of Synod, and it reads as follows:                         tration of Baptism, making plain to the baptized per-
                                                                         sons, or their parents, that "this Christian Church"
      It is the Church Order that apparently stands                     -refers to the institute that sends out the missionary.
   opposed to baptism on the mission field. Articles 39
   (with its appended decision), 56, and 58-60 seem to                 There is one more paragraph in this section of the
   require the institution of a congregation, or the en-             Study .Report. But since this does not deal with the
   rolling of the members of a group in an adjoining                 Church Order as such, we will not quote it and dis-
   congregation, before there may be baptism, thus                   cuss it now, but reserve treatment of it for a later
   prohibiting baptism on the mission field and denying              date. The -"Attachment" referred to is found on pp.
   that baptism is part of the missionary task.                      109-l 11 of the 1976 Acts of Synod. We shall refer to
      Such a reading of the Church Order confronts one               that later.
   with the serious question: How is the Church Order                  Now I can agree with the fundamental point made
   to be harmonized with the missionary mandate of                   in  this section of  the Study  Report. For the rest, I am
   Matt. 28 and Mark 16 and with the practice of the
   Church in the book of Acts, i.e., with the Word of                in radical disagreement. The fundamental point with
   God?                                                              which  `I am in agreement is: "In fact, there is no
                                                                     conflict between the Church Order and Scripture. In
      In fact, there is no conflict between the Church               these articles on baptism, the Church Order's scope is
   Order and Scripture. In these articles on baptism, the
   Church Order's scope is the local, instituted con-                the local, instituted congregation." If only the Study
   gregation. As regards the instituted congregation, the            Report had stuck to this point and proceeded from it,
   sacraments are to be administered in the public                   it would have reached an entirely different conclusion
   gathering of the congregation under the supervision               and would not have been compelled to invent solu-
   of elders. But the Church Order does not address it-              tions for all kinds of problems resulting from its
   self to the missionary situation. This was the position           present,  incorrect conclusion  - solutions, I am sorry
   of the General Committee for Home Missions report                 to say, which are obviously no real solutions and
   to Synod of the Christian Reformed Church 1957.                   which ,do not even, when tested, ring true.
   (See attachment I, "Historical Perspective.")                        But,what does the Report go on to state?
      In this connection, the objection that baptism on
   the mission field does not harmonize with the truth                 In the first place, it says: "As regards the instituted
   of the church institute should be faced. The fear that            congregation, the sacraments are to be administered
   baptism in the mission field does not do justice to the           in the public gathering of the congregation under the
   church institute, or to the supervision of elders, is             supervision of the elders." Now this statement  is. in
  unfounded. The instituted church that sends out the                itself true. However, it is not to the point. And it is
   missionary does the baptizing on the mission field                not to the point, because it fails to state the principle
   through the missionary, just as she preaches through              which underlies virtually everything that our Church
   the missionary (Cf. Acts 13: 1-3 and Acts 14:26,27).              Order says concerning the sacraments. That principle
   The elders of the sending church oversee the mission-             is this: the sacraments and their administration are
   ary's baptizing, just as they oversee his preaching. The
   simple truth that must be remembered here is that it              insepabably  bound to the instituted, local congrega-
   is. the instituted congregation which preaches the                tion, gathered for public worship (in which the
  Word and administers the sacraments: in the case of                preaching of the Word is indispensable) under the
   missions,  she, does this through the missionary whom             supervision of its own, local elders.  And this is a
   she sends out. The missionary and his labor do not                principle always held by Reformed churches, as well as
   stand over against the local congregation, but are the            maintained by almost every Reformed theologian


246                                           THE  STANDARD   BEARER



who addresses himself to this subject in any detail.        mind, too, that this is not just a decision hatched out
Precisely because it is a principle, it can be and must     in our own Protestant Reformed Churches. No, we
be observed on the mission field as well as in the          took over this decision from the Christian Reformed
already organized and established congregation. And         denomination; and the latter adopted it as early as
let me add immediately: when we properly read the           1908. Notice, too, that it maintains the principle
Form of Ordination of Missionaries, as I have pre-          which I mentioned above.
viously explained it, this principle also  can be ob-
served on the mission field,  whether foreign or               In the third place, while it may be true that
domestic. Have no fears about it, our Reformed docu-        Articles 56 and 58-60 of the Church Order do not
ments (Church Order, Liturgical Forms, Confessions)         specifically address the missionary situation, this is
are all consistent with one another.                        really beside the point. It is somewhat like saying that
  In the second place, the Report goes on to state:         these articles do not address the question of church-
"But the Church Order does not address itself to the        state relationships or some other question. For do not
missionary situation." Here the Report makes a              overlook the fact that our fathers who drew up the
fundamental mistake, first of all. It pits the mission-     Church Order (and also the confessions and liturgy) -
ary-situation over against the local-church-situation,      even as many Reformed theologians who can be
as though they are two entirely different situations        quoted to this effect  - were well aware of the very
when it comes to the administration of the Word and         Scriptural data. which the Study Report cites. Yet
sacraments and when it comes to the principles in-          they insist that the sacraments are bound to the
volved and the rules which follow from these prin-          locally instituted congregation, as stated above; and
ciples. This is erroneous. Even the appeal to the           they never make any provision for violation of this
"Report re Branch Churches" attached to the Study           principle.
Report does by no means entirely support this con-             I must conclude the discussion for this time. But
tention. For one thing, this report is talking about        let me put to the test just one of the Report's pro-
branch churches, not mission stations. But besides, its     posed solutions - which, by the way, ought also to
recommendations (which are somewhat in harmony              be included in the recommendations (for from a
with our own Study Report) are not in harmony with          formal point of view the Report is sorely lacking in
the data in the report. The latter speaks of organizing     spelling out regulations governing this whole new
churches before administering the Lord's Supper.            procedure). But let us test what the Report says
(This is apart from the fact that a report of 1957          about the use of the Baptism Form(s), as required by
surely does not date from what might be called the          Article 58 of the Church Order. The Report ad-
most flourishing period of the Christian Reformed           dresses but one problem, that of the expression
Church.) But be that as it may, in the second place,        "this Christian Church" in the second question asked
let me point out that the statement of the Study            of parents at infant baptism and in the fourth
Report is not factually correct. The Church Order           question at adult baptism. The Report proposes
does indeed  address the missionary situation in            that the missionary make it plain that this expression
Article 39 and its footnote. This is exactly the article    refers to the institute that sends out the missionary.
which in part has been involved in this entire dis-         Hence, in the Houston, Texas mission station our
cussion from its beginning in Hope's Consistory. It         missionary would say: ". . . in this, the Hope Protes-
reads: "Places where as yet no consistory can be con-       t a n t   R e f o r m e d   ( G r a n d   R a p i d s )   C h r i s t i a n
stituted shall be placed under the care of a neighbor-      Church . . ." It is perfectly obvious that this is fac-
ing consistory." Regardless now of whether the              tually incorrect. It doesn't work. But now bear in
original article was geared to mission or church ex-        mind that the Study Report does not even mention
tension work, it has been applied in this fashion for       the, full expression used in the Form. That specific
almost 70 years, as is plain from the footnote              expression is: ". . . here, in this Christian Church. . . ."
attached: "If possible the organization of a con-           (italics added) Now anyone can understand that
gregation shall precede the administration of the           "here," which is Houston, Texas cannot at the same
sacraments. However, if the conditions are not ripe         time be "here, in this Hope Church in Grand Rapids."
for the organization of a congregation, such members        The Baptism Form does not fit the position taken by
are to be enrolled in an adjoining congregation, and        the Study Report. It would have to be officially
thus the sacraments can be administered under the           changed in order to make it fit. And why? The whole
supervision of that consistory. However, this shall not     of the Baptism Form is in harmony with the principle
be without the accompanying preaching of the Word,          that the administration of the sacraments is bound
nor without sufficient representation of the  con-          inseparably to the locally instituted congregation.
sistory to have supervision of the administration."         And this, mind you, is not simply a matter of some
Let no one say, therefore, that the Church Order does       elders supervising - whether in actual presence or in
not address the missionary situation. And `bear in          absentia  and long distance. Supervision of elders is


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                247



only one, limited aspect; and supervision of elders          he brings the sacrament into existence at present only
without an instituted congregation and members of a          mediately through the Church.
congregation is a complete anomaly.                             "Seeing that the sacraments belong to the realm of
  But let us test more of these solutions next time.         the visible, in this connection by the Church is to be
                                                             understood the Church as she appears in the realm of
       REFORMEDTHOUGHTONBAF'TISM                             the visible; not a visible Church next to the invisible,
  The following quotations are' taken from Robert L.         but the invisible, which appears in the visible. Now
Dabney, Lectures In Systematic Theology.                     this Church is not something next to, outside of, or
                                                             over against Christ, but His body, which by Him as
  p. 790: "They say they can prove in each case              her Head is inspired and ruled. He is her subject. By
there were none: Cornelius' by vss. 2, 44. But see           her intruding into the visible, however, she causes her
Genesis xviii: 19; 2 Chron. xx: 13; Ezra viii: 2 1; Matt.    unity to go into hiding; she bedims her holy charac-
xxi: 15, 16. That Lydia's house were all believing           ter, and she can let the works of Christ be seen in no
adult children, or servants, or apprentices, they argue      other way than through the office.
from Acts xvi: 40, `brethren.' But see vss. 14, 15,
nobody's faith is mentioned but Lydia's, and doubt-             "The actio of the church as such is:
less Paul had many other converts out of Lydia's                "1. That she appears as visible institute in order to
house. The proof is, that the whole context shows the        be Christ's instrument, in order that He may bring
meeting in vs. 40 was a public one, not a family one;        forth His sacraments: on this account she is bound to
and the Philippian church, a flourishing body was            His institution, to the form determined by Him, to
now planted."                                                the Word given by Him and to the purpose prescribed
  Note: This quotation is significant because it shows       by Him.
that Dabney's view was that there was already a                 "2. That she in the name of the Mediator and thus
Philippian church organized at the time when Paul            in the name of the Triune God administers these
baptized the jailer.                                         sacraments to everyone who reckons himself to be
  p. 794: "When our standards say., `all baptized            member of the body of Christ in the realm of the
persons are members of the Church,' this by no               visible.
means implies their title to all sealing ordinances,            "3. That by means of discipline she guards both
sufferage, and office. They are minor citizens in the        against the non-use of the sacrament by him for
ecclesiastical commonwealth, under tutelage, training,       whom it is, and against the use of the sacrament by
and instruction, and government; heirs, if they will         him for whom it is not proper.
exercise the graces obligatory' on them, of all the             "Also in the determination of time and place the
ultimate franchises of the Church, but not allowed to        Church is not free; not in regard to place, - for she
enjoy them until qualified. They are, justly, under          can only administer the sacrament there where she
ecclesiastical government."                                  becomes revealed as Church, whether in the gathering
  Note: We are not interested here in Dabney's argu-         of believers or in the gathering of the office bearers,
ment concerning the difference between cmldren and           representing the Church; and also not with respect to
adults who are members of the church. This is the            time, in so far as the determination of time arises out
qeustion which he is discussing in the context. We           of the nature of the sacraments, even though there is
are, however, interested in the fact that he proceeds        left to the Churches a judgment of discretion in this."
on the assumption that. baptized persons are members            p. 42: "The sacrament is bound to the Church; not
of  the church,  and that, too, in its visible, institu-     to individuals in that Church. A believer has indeed a
tional sense. This is quite in harmony with the cur-         mystical life, can allow Christ to operate through the
rent position of the Reformed confessions and of             Word upon his consciousness, but the sacrament he
Reformed dogmaticians that baptism is the sacrament          does not have. This belongs to the, Church as institute
of our incorporation into the visible church. Baptism        as organism.
which does not function as such is not proper bap-              "Besides it is bound. to the Church in the visible,
tism and is, not recognized either in our Reformed           the visible instituted Church, not to a circle of be-
confession or in Reformed dogmatics.                         lievers: This arises out of the nature of the sacrament
   The following is translated from Dr. A. Kuyper            as visible sign. . . ."
Dictaten  Dogmatiek IV, Locus De Sacramentis.                   p. 45: "Always must the Church as institute
   p. 41.0' "According as the sacrament is a means of        administer the sacrament. There can be a Church in
grace, it belongs in the Church, and is incapable of         the realm of the visible, not yet instituted, for
existence outside the Church; and according as Christ        example in the case of moving, but then the admin-
no more appears directly in the sphere of the visible,       istration of the sacrament may not take place there."


 248                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



   Kuyper then goes on to explain his position in this             "Therefore also baptism must take place in the
regard and to emphasize strongly and repeatedly the             midst of the congregation. Where there are no be-
necessity of the institute.                                     lievers, the rite of baptism is not complete.
   p. 47: "But what rule follows from the ordinance
of the sacrament? This: only in the gathering of be-               "The Romish appeal to the eunuch and the jailer at
lievers may there be baptism. Not in, the `absolute             Philippi. But those are exceptions. They tell us only
sense; but where the Church as instituted Church                that baptism without  praesentia  fidelium   is not
appears in the organs of her office bearers."                   impossible.
   p. 113: "The Reformed have excluded every
magical conception and said that the Church can only               "Baptism in the midst of believers must be strongly
exist in the heart of believers (Luke  17:20); she is           maintained, secondly, because baptism is the quest
naos tou theou (temple of God), seeing that the Holy            after a good conscience. (I Peter 3:21), and, thirdly,
Ghost dwells in her. That Holy Ghost is the Pneuma              because the sacrament, as sign of being received into
(Spirit) of all the believers; and therefore it must be         the covenant of grace, is not possible with the ex-
maintained that the Church is only there, where the             clusion of the love of the remaining members, who
believers are.                                                  therefore must also manifest themselves as Church."

STUDIES IN ISAIAH



                               Woes Denounced Against
                        Deliberately Self-Destructive Ways
                                                 Rev. Robt. C. Harbach
                                                     Isaiah, 5 : 19-23

  1. Deliberate defiance of God's judgments. Woe!              the affairs of men. God, seeking His highest happi-
"to the ones saying, Let Him hurry His work in order           ness, aims to be free from men and the world of men!
that we may see (it), and let the counsel of the Holy          Deism is refined contempt for the counsel and
One of Israel approach and come (to pass), so we may           decrees of God. Peter prophesied of the last days (2
know (what it is He threatens to do.)" He whom the             Pet. 3:3-4) when  mo.ckers would hold in contempt
world calls a free-thinker the Scripture calls a fool          the' promise of Christ's second coming. Why should
(nabal) and a scorner (letz). They flout the judgments         we  .be surprised at such derision on the part of the
of God; since they doubt whether they, as proph-               wicked? For they had already despised His salvation,
esied, shall ever occur. They say, If they arecoming,          had mocked Him as a Savior, and had sarcastically
we ought to be able to see and hear their approach!            called upon him to hurry and do the work He had
The philosophy of' these free-thinkers is, "We know            pretended to come to do. (Matt. 27:42). Just so, such
only phenomena. So when will we ever see or ex-                men in our own age are by this very word of the
perience the phenomena of which you prophesy so                prophet, by the plain message of the Bible, warned
much?"                                                         that they are exposed to the wrath and righteous
  Final judgment, fire and brimstone are far from the          judgment of God. But they will not believe the revela-
minds of worldly men!  Nor. will they have these               tion of the righteous judgment of God. Yet in the
things in mind. They despise such warnings as fanati-          depths of their conscience, -where they cannot pos-
cism and madness. Their notice of the divine judgment          sibly deny it, they know this judgment to be a reality
is only that of a contemptuous dare,  ,or throwing             to come. Still they fly in the face of the wrath to
down the gauntlet to God. It would delight them to             come, continuing to mock and flout the idea of
see Him back up these silly alarms. The:challenge to           divine judgment in the interest of convincing them-
hasten His work implies God does not work, is a do-            selves otherwise, and to applaud other fools who
nothing God, has trouble getting into action. His              mock God. (Rom. 1:32)
work of judgment is all talk. This is deistical free-             2. Deliberate confusion of moral distinctions (20).
thinking. God does nothing and cares nothing about             "Woe to those who say to Evil, `Good!' and to the


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                2 4 9



 Good, `Evil!' who put darkness for light, and light for      tions, needs no defence from us. It is as plain as the
  darkness, who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for           sun in- the heavens. It speaks for itself., It has stood
 bitter." (Heb.) False prophets call their lies truth, and    the test of time and attack, and will remain-when
 the religion of Jehovah a lie. Crooked, corrupted            humanism and pseudo-orthodoxy are destroyed. But
 judges pronounce the inn.ocent  guilty and the guilty        he will not be convinced in good conscience .who will
 innocent. Libertines praise drunkenness, carousing,          not conform his thought to Scripture and the Calvin-
  and bacchanalia, but slander a life of worship and          istical creeds. Here, then, is a woe, a curse, divinely
  service to God. This applies to the Talmud, which           pronounced  .on any who obstinately cling in absurd
 interprets and belabors every commandment of God             confidence to their own wisdom.
 in such a way as to enervate and evaporate its tornad-          Ritschl, the German theologian, made much of his
 ic force against. transgressors in Israel. They call         conceived "value judgments." The expression has
  boozing good fellowship, whoring necessary recrea-          "taken" in our modern vernacular. What is meant by
 tion, gluttony good housekeeping, squandering they           it ,is, that has value- which in man's judgment pleases
  call stewardship, sea and soil pollution, husbandry;        him. Even the. most religious minded "haughtily re-
 revenge becomes self-defence, assault becomes de-            ject everything that  .does not please them. They
  fending one's honor, lust becomes love, tantrums are        acknowledge that they need some bridle, but, on the
  self-expression, violence provides fulfilrnent; the more    other hand, are so much blinded by their presump-
 perverted the violence, the more fulfihnent is               tion, that when God points out the way, they
  afforded.                                                   immediately rebel; and not only so, but break out
    With this philosophy there is no concept of black         into violent indignation at the censure passed on the
 or white, all is gray, with evil allowed to run rampant,     their proceedings . . . Where is the man who re-
 and good charged with evil. When white is made               nounces his own judgment, and is ready to learn only
 black, there can be no concept black; there is no            from the mouth of God?" (John Calvin). Nothing is
 crime, no wrong. The equalitarians make the world of.        more. deceiving, rebellious, and dangerous than this
 morals, ethics, behavior, law and order, standard or         mere show of wisdom which stupidly persists in hold-
 norm and purpose of education all black. The world           ing it knows not what--They who make the grossest
 is a ball of mud floating in a bottomless, shoreless,        mistakes are the most elated with their own opinions
 fog-bound sea of irrationality. Crime (pornography.          and their own vast capacity for understanding and
 and obscenity for example) cannot be defined, and so         outwitting infinite Wisdom. Positively amazing it is to
 the law-abiding cannot be protected. It is certainly         see them, with the Word of God in front of them,
 true that "an .openly  heartless faith is surely danger-     under .the guise of reverence for it to actually attempt
 ous, but a heartless faith which believes in itself as a     baffling and correcting it!
 loving agent is even more to be feared" (Rushdoony).           4. Deliberate perversion of justice. "Woe to those
    3. Deliberate reliance on human  reason..:  "Woe to       who are heroes (only) at drinking wine, and the men
 those wise in their (own) eyes, and those (super) in-,       of strength to the mixing of strong drink, to the ones
 telligent in their own estimation" (Heb., v. 21). Who,       acquitting the guilty for the sake of a bribe, and the
 in the upper strata of society, well-mannered, with a        righteousness (right) of the righteous (innocent) they
 modicum of real intellectual merit, would ever               turn away from him. " The second woe was directed
 estimate the modern boasted supremacy of human               against drunkards, -this sixth woe against drunken
 wisdom as the worst form of pride? But such it is in         judges. Scripture does not regard the sinner here as an
 the judgment of God. Society no longer has any               alcoholic, but as a drunkard, calling him what he is,
 morals when it relies on its own wisdom in preference        (telling it like it is), and the drunkard must know
 to the wisdom (law) of God. He alone is the source of        himself under the curse of God (I Cor. 6:9, 10). The
 wisdom, and without His word, man, society, the              legal judge of such a sinner is called and appointed to.-
 nation stagger aimlessly in the cloudy miasma of their       be a hero in punishing men like that sinner (Dt.
 own fuzzy philosophy. Unaided human reason may               16: 18-20; Ex.' 23:8), and not an expert in gulping
 dabble and play with facts, but cannot know them             wine; to be brave in condemning the guilty and
 within their context (God and reality), nor know             acquitting the innocent, not to be pompous drunken.
 them as to their meaning (God's interpretation of            asses in accomplishing the very reverse.
 them). Here, the Lord condemns the  : would-be                 Especially since the assassination of President JFK,
 autonomous mind and will of man, who performs a              the philosophy of law has been away from individual
 near-miracle in making folly and ignorance look like         guilt and punishment. Then innocent- society is
 wisdom. There are some who, no matter what you               adjudged guilty, not the criminal. So that it gets
 say to them, argue against it, twist it, and try to make     dangerous to be innocent of wrong. For modern
. it look bad. However, the Reformed truth, as ex-            psychiatrical mentality views innocence as the great-
 pressed `in all the Reformed creeds of all denomina-         est guilt. This is the philosophy of the civil rights


250                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



(riots) radicals. A homosexual is defended as innocent           money. Gifts and gluttony pervert justice. The result
on the ground that his genes and  -1chromosome                   is that vices are not corrected, the sanctioning of
structures are abnormal. So the criminal is neither a            wicked custom is not opposed, the innocent are de-
criminal, nor responsible, but innocent, while society           serted and deprived of the opportunity to defend
drives the pervert to his vile excesses, so making the           their innocency, while judgment goes against them as
innocent guilty. So the guilty are acquitted and the             the guilty go acquitted. But where there is bribing,
rights of the innocent are taken from them. But this             "the  offence is the judge's, not the briber's." The
is what the Lord thinks of all this: "He that justifieth         judge becomes a thief and his office a den of thieves.
the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even                In our land crime does pay, as crooked judges are
they both are abomination to Him." (Prov. 17: 15).               influenced by businessmen, powerful political
                                                                 machines, and such billion dollar organizations in the
  What are. these brave lone rangers in the fight for            interests of their own evil purposes as a modern
law and order? Bumblers of the beery battalion  -                Illuminati, the Cosa Nostra. The law of God requires
wino musketeers  - smug in their mugs  - rich with               a responsibility to the victims of crime in reparations
bribes, spending their time wrestling themselves to              to them commensurate to their loss and suffering.
cram down as much as their bellies will hold.                    The law also requires a responsibility to the guilty in
Fatigued and weakened, they destroy their strength               their speedy punishment. But where in all the land is
in gluttonous exploits. Their strength is not in their           such responsible justice to be found? It is, as Martin
bodies but in their pocketbooks. Their might is their            Luther would say, a bird as rare as a black swan!

TRANSLATED TREASURES



                   Acts  of, the Synod of Dordrecht
                                                              (6)               '

  At the beginning of the Conference they again                  the ambiguity and deceit hidden in that word irresist-
debated concerning the order of the Articles which               ible;  namely, that under it lay hidden the formerly
would be treated. Arminius seemed to think that it               condemned view of the Semi-Pelagians and the
was advantageous for his cause to begin with predes-             Synergists. And Gomarus maintained that in the
tination. But, seeing that the article concerning jus-           regeneration of man such a grace is necessary which
tification seemed to be more necessary, Gomarus be-              operates so powerfully that, having conquered the
lieved that they should begin with this; and this was            opposition of the flesh, by that grace all who partake
also the pleasure of the States. Concerning this point           of it are certainly and unmistakably converted.
of doctrine there was the same dispute as that which             Finally, they treated the doctrine  concering  the per-
had taken place earlier before the High Council,                 severance of the true believers. Arminius declared
namely; whether faith itself, in respect of the fact             that he had never contested the doctrine of the cer-
that it is a deed,  is. through gracious acceptance by           tain perseverance of the true believers, and that also
God the righteousness by which we are justified                  now he did not want to contest it, seeing that there is
before God. In the second place, they treated the                such testimony of Scripture in favor of it that he at
doctrine of divine predestination, which Arminius, by            present could not answer it. For this reason he would
means `of the same false consequences which he had               only point out those passages which, for him, occa-
not long previously presented in the gathering, of the           sioned doubt and suspicion regarding this article.
States, sought to make hated. But Gomarus clung to               After Gomarus had replied to those passages, he
the chief item of difference, that is, whether faith is a        established the doctrine of certain perseverance over
cause or preceding condition of election, or whether             against them with many clear testimonies from God's
it is a fruit and effect of election. The third difference       Word.
was concerning the grace of God and the free will of                  When this was finished, therefore, they asked the
man. Arminius testified that he acknowledged all the             Conferees whether there were any more articles of
operations of divine grace which one could posit in              doctrine about which they differed. Gomarus replied
the conversion of man, provided that no grace would              that there were indeed more, namely, the articles con-
be proposed which is irresistible. Gomarus pointed out           cerning original sin, concerning the providence of


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                           251



God, concerning the authority of Holy Scripture,            of Holland were troubled while Arminius was still
concerning the certainty of salvation, concerning the       living.
perfection of man in this life, and certain others. He         After his death, October 19, all the pious hoped
further stated that he would leave it to the discretion
of the States whether they would also deal with these       that for the most, part the difficulties would be
matters at that place, especially since these matters       removed and buried along with Arminius, since he
would have to be dealt with again in the Synod. But         had been the instigator and the author of all these
since the sickly condition of Arminius no longer            entanglements. Yet since there were in various places
allowed him to continue at the Conference,. the States      many Ministers in the Churches of Holland who
deemed it good to terminate this Conference. But            adhered to his views and did not cease to propagate
first, upon the request of Gomarus and the other            them, therefore the Deputies of these Churches con-
Ministers with him, they promised, August 22, that          sidered it necessary nevertheless to press for the con-
this entire matter would be more thoroughly investi-        vening of the Provincial Synod. However, they were
gated and decided upon at the Provincial Synod              again given the answer that the States would see to
which was to be convoked immediately. Moreover,             the convening of an ecclesiastical gathering only when
they ordered the Conferees to deliver in writing,           the Classis of Alkmaar would obey their orders.
within fourteen days, their views, together with the           Meanwhile, when the Ministers siding with
proofs and the refutation of the contrary views, in         Arminius saw matters brought to the point that the
order that these documents might be kept for the            convening of the Synod was prevented, they seemed
Provincial Synod. Gomarus sent his writings within          to fear but little the judgment and the censures of the
the fixed time, and these were thereafter published in      Churches, as became manifest  ,from the degree of
the Netherlands language. Since the difficulties of the     boldness and shamelessness to which they sur-
Churches were increased rather than removed by this         rendered themselves. They began to strike out and to
Conference, the Deputies of the Churches again              bellow against the pure doctrine of the Reformed
humbly petitioned the States, September 16, that the        Churches concerning election, the perseverance of the
Provincial Synod, which had been promised so often          saints, the certainty of salvation, and other doctrines
previously and also in this Conference, might be con-       with extremely bitter and reproachful and abusive
vened immediately. To this petition the answer was          language, and to do so openly and in secret, to the
given, although some were opposed,  that' the sum-          great offense of the pious, to the joy of the enemies,
moning of the Provincial Synod would take place             and to the disturbance of the Churches. And it was
only after the Ministers of the  Classis of Alkmaar         not enough for them to upset the hearts of the
would obey the orders of the States to admit to their       common people and of the Regents alike by means of
gatherings Adolphus Venator and the Ministers siding        secret blasphemies and public uproarious sermons;
with him. In order that this matter would not cause         but they also did so with open writings, which they
the postponement of the Provincial Synod, the               distributed in great number and with equally great
Deputies of the Churches, traveling to Alkmaar, dealt       offense among the people. They tore to pieces the
with the Ministers of that  Classis concerning this         doctrine of the Reformed churches in such a way that
admission, and moved them to admit the Ministers            only the sworn enemies of that doctrine could have
who sided with  Adolphus under honorable con-               done so with more bitterness and obscenity. And, in
ditions; but they were not prepared to admit Venator        order that they might the better win the favor of the
himself. For this they furnished the Deputies so many       Magistrates and inflame their feelings more and more
and such weighty reasons that they themselves judged        against the other Ministers, they worked through
that they could not properly press this matter any          Uitenbogaard, first through a speech given in the
further. Having made this known to the States, they         gathering of the States and later through a published
still could not achieve the convening of the Synod.         document, and sought to convince the Magistrates
For the Ministers siding with Arminius brought it           that the other Ministers belittled the authority of the
about that the Classis of Alkmaar was again ordered,        Magistrates, sought to weaken it, and were striving for
October 15, to admit the aforementioned Ministers           a separate or equally high power for themselves. On
unconditionally. Since they could not do this, the          this account, the Deputies of the Churches deemed it
convening of the Synod was again postponed. Mean-           good to address the States again, May 25, and to
while, Arminius by letter excused himself with the          request that they, .by convening a Provincial Synod,
States, stating that because of physical weakness he        would finally see- fit to help with these troubles,
could not prepare the document which he was                 which appeared. to have reached new heights, by
ordered to prepare. This sickness soon became so            means of a lawful remedy. But when the States, on
severe that a short time later Arminius died.               account of the great need, appeared to concur in this
  The preceding is an account of the arguments and          readily, then the Ministers devoted to the views of
the disputes by which the Academy and the Churches          Arminius presented a new plan, in order that through


 2       5    2                               THE STANDARD B'EARER



 this the convening of the Synod might either be pre-       Churches, and without the authority of the  govem-
 vented, or that the Synod might be so constituted,         ment, a large number of them held a secret gathering.
 according to their idea, that their cause would remain     And there, but subscribing their names, they mutual-
 sure and would suffer no harm. Their :proposal  was        ly formed a confederation, a body separate from the
 that the men who would be called together at this          existing body of their Fellow Ministers, thus bringing
 Synod would not be delegated by the Churches (as           about open schism in the Reformed Churches.
 was proper and as until now had been the practice),
 but that the States themselves should invite certain          At this time they delivered to the States a request,
 men. For if they succeeded in this, they would easily      or,, as they called it, a Remonstrance (because of
 gain their end, namely, that only those men would be       which they were hereafter called Remonstrants). This
 chosen who were adherents of their cause or who            was published in June at the Hague Conference. In
 would not be very strongly opposed to it. Although         this they put the doctrine of the Reformed Churches
 they convinced some of the Regents of the Father-          concerning divine predestination, concerning the
 land of this innovation, nevertheless they could not       grace of God, and concerning the perseverance of the
 move the most understanding men to do this; and the        saints in bad faith, not without open and bitter
 latter judged that the convening of the Synod had to       slander. The purpose was to arouse the hatred of the
 take place in the usual way. Nevertheless, while the       States against these doctrines. Along with this they
 matter was debated by the States, the adherents of         added a declaration of their opinions concerning the
 Arminius succeeded in bringing it about:that  the con-     same Articles; but they sought to conceal their views
vening not only of the Provincial Synod but also of the     under ambiguous and disguised words, in order that
 annual Synod, which heretofore had customarily             to the simple their views would not seem to differ
 been held almost every year, was by this means de-         much from.the truth. In addition, they requested the
 layed and prevented. For as often as those who             States to take them under their protection over
wished that all these evils might be removed from the       against all ecclesiastical censures. This caused the
 churches through lawful means spoke of the  con:           Netherlands Churches to become very dejected, see-
vening of a Synod, so often those who sided with            ing that these differences had now burst forth into
 Arminius renewed these debates about the manner of         open schism. And they all diligently attempted to get
 convening the Synod. For this reason also the              a copy of this Remonstrance, so that they might be
Ministers who were committed to the views of                able to give an answer to all the slanders. But the
Arminius, seeing that they had brought matters to the       Arminians, through the favor of those who tried to
point that all fear of ecclesiastical judgment and          hold matters in safe keeping, easily brought it about
censure seemed' to be removed, became bolder; and           that no copy of that Remonstrance could get into the
without the knowledge and counsel of their                  hands of the other Ministers for a long time.

 THE DA Y OF SHAD0  WS



                    The Shadow of Things to Come
                                                 Rev. John A. ffeys


      At the moment, we are on the island of Jamaica,       shadows and passed his pilgrimage without having
and a few lines are due for our department, The Day         obtained the promises.
of Shadows. But we have returned to such a different          We speak `not of a spiritual adjustment. Such an
Jamaica that we feel constrained to write about it,         adjustment was not necessary. And yesterday, Jan-
believing that our people will want to know the situa-      uary 23, when Mrs. McNab taught the Sunday School
tion as it affects the brethren' and sisters on the         lesson at Dias with the help of our Sunday School
island. Besides, one almost has to be a Jamaican            paper,  Our Guide,  the truths of the day of shadows
chameleon to change again after adjusting to this life-     was with us. The "golden text" was taken from
style and fall back into the routine of. life in the        Hebrews 4: 8, "For if Joshua has given them rest, then
 congregation, and in that spirit to fill our department    would he not afterward have spoken of another day."
and write of Abraham as he lived in the days of the         This was committed to memory by drill and  repeti-


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 253



tion. And Mrs.  McNab taught the children that the            effect all these restrictions, himself was getting only
rest to which Joshua led Israel. was a picture and only       $22,000 a year for his salary, AND THIS-HE CIJT to
a picture of the rest which Christ prepares for us.           $16,000 a year! The members of Parliament were
Truly that rest did cast its shadow back over the ages        getting $7,500 and were cut to $7,100. With these
to Israel as they crossed the Red Sea and entered into        salaries they must buy their gasoline and food at the
the land which God promised to Abraham,: Isaac, and           prices quoted above. What then must be the case with
Jacob. And, after all, even though we are not in the          the man who, as we were told, gets the minimum
 day of the shadows, we are not yet in the rest which         wage of $2,080 a year? And what then of the bulk of
Christ has come to prepare;  `and there are shadows           those with whom we deal who have not even a job?
here in Jamaica and throughout the world that are
 cast by His coming upon the clouds of heaven. And              These economic woes have spawned great unrest,
this moved us to write these lines.                           riots, fear, and desperation. Taxi drivers went on
                                                              strike'in Kingston because of the gasoline tax; and the
   Jamaica is undergoing a financial crisis and" is           capital city and largest city in Jamaica is without
 struggling for its very life. This became evident the        their  ;services. `Murder, robbery, violence, and rape
 moment we arrived, if not even before we left Chi-           have multiplied; and life has become far more danger-
 cago by Air Jamaica, the national airline of Jamaica.        ous than in the past. For that reason among others we
 This is the tourist season which had its beginning           moved after two days from the home where we first
 December 15. We are now in the heart of that season,         stayed upon arrival. No, we do not trust in horses and
 and yet our plane was far from full. What is more, .the      chariots, in windows with jail-like bars in front of
`newspaper tells us that in January the sale of tickets       them, in locked doors  - in that first house we had
 dropped another 22% and January ha.s a full week to          one door with four bolts and one lock to prevent
 go yet. But upon being questioned at Immigration as          breaking it down - and in barking dogs with whom
 to how long we planned to stay, and upon answering,          we had first to get acquainted. But we, putting our
 "six weeks", our immigration card was stamped to             trust in the God of our salvation Who sent us here, do
 indicate that we might stay two months. They would           believe that we must make use of the safety devices
 like to have us stay the extra two weeks to pour more        which He provides.
 foreign money into circulation on the island.
   Store shelves are becoming bare. Many items are no           The impact of this economic situation upon the
 longer obtainable because Jamaica will not import            churches in Jamaica wherewith we have been dealing
 goods in order to keep its money at home. And last           these years is great. The poor are simply getting
 week overnight we were informed that gasoline which          poorer and the hardships become greater. The five
 already cost $1.26 per imperial gallon of ,five quarts       ministers in these churches will be confronted with
 would have imposed upon it a 72$ tax, bringing the           higher bus and taxi fares and with ever higher prices
 price of the precious liquid to  $1.98! Yesterday on         for their food and clothing. It must be remembered
 our trip to Dias in the west and to Belmont on the           that the buses do not run on Sundays, so that when
 southern side of the island we noticed the `effects, for     travel becomes necessary on Sunday to and from the
 we had, for the most part, the road to ourselves. In         churches (in some instances coming Saturday and
 that respect it made things, humanly speaking, much          leaving Monday is impossible because the little, 12
 safer.                                                       foot by 12 foot houses are too small to have a guest
                                                              room; where the minister can sleep) must be done by
   To give a little idea of the situation, go into the        taxi at a far higher rate, or by private car which is not
 store and buy a few of the items which we usually            cheap by any means. And with the rise in gasoline
 buy. Potatoes sell for  50~ a pound. A small box of          prices, these private cars will not only be forced to
 Jello costs 35$, a very small roll of toilet tissue costs    raise their prices but in many instances will be taken
 40~. Ground beef, called mince here, may be pur-             off the road. Consider these figures given to us by
 chased, when you can find it, for $1.95 a pound. A           Rev. Elliott, who has to do the greatest amount of
 small 6% ounce can of tuna sells for'$l.OO to $1.15          travelling, for he lives far to the east of the greater
 depending on the brand you buy. Even native fruits,          number of these churches. It costs him $14.70 to go
 such as oranges, which two years ago sold for 30~ for        to Mt. Lebanon which is one of the most inaccessible
 a large plastic bag containing from 18 to 20 oranges,        of the churches. The closest to his home is Lacovia;
 now sell for 604 to 806 for a dozen.                         and that costs him $9.80. Mt. Lebanon requires bus
   Those who take a holiday (vacation) are allowed to         transport for the greater part of the way, and then a
 take along only $50. How long can one stay in Miami          private car from the sea coast up the steep mountain
 or New York with that amount of money; and what              to a point some miles from the church. The last part
 can one do with so iittle in our land or other lands         is done by foot; and although this is the cheapest part
 which also know inflation? But get this, the Prime           as far as dollars and cents are concerned, it is taxing
 Minister, the head man politically, who put into             upon' a man in his seventies. The trip to Cave Mt.


 254                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 costs him bus fare of $12.90 cents. And this, too,          the most modern conveniences, have we no calling to
 must be followed by a walk up a steep and high              these who have no windows in their churches to keep
 mountain road. One has to do it to know really what         out the driving rain, no good roof to keep them dry,
 it is like; and one ought to walk from the sea coast up     planks stretched across stones - and if they are rich
 that road to the church before one dismisses it as          enough, stretched across cement blocks - for seats?
 simply a thing to be expected.                              How about kerosene lights for your services? 0, if
    The collections taken by the congregation, if given      they had money to build beautiful churches and
 in their entirety to the minister, would, pay only a        homes for themselves and then neglected the ministry
 fraction  - and a small fraction at that  - towards         of the Word, we would have a different situation.
 these expenses. It is easy to talk and say that these       And as the economic picture darkens here in Jamaica,
 people - who were never taught to do so in the past         saints of God who, upon being instructed plead for us
 - should learn to support them. It takes no special         to come back again next week - and we have been
 effort to preach to them that first things come first,      discussing with them the very sins which we have
 and that we ought to seek the kingdom of heaven and         seen, such as visiting other churches that hold to false
 its righteousness first in the confidence that God will     doctrines; the evil of common law marriages; the re-
 add all the material that we need. But when the             fusal to baptize infants and a rebaptizing of those
 whole nation, those with jobs as well as those without      whom they did "bless" or "consecrate"; and of giving
 jobs, (those in the upper brackets and. those who           offices to women - to show- them what the Word of
 know only a few coins, must pay the prices that are         God says about these matters. It would do all our
 constantly rising to go to market to sell their few         people good to watch them look up the verses we
 oranges, bananas, yams, and the like, there just will       present as proof texts, and to hear them say that we
 not be much more than coins to put into the collec-         show not what we think but what the Bible says.
 tion plate. When the newspapers print their hopes
 that the Carter administration will be more mindful          `Forgive us, we got carried away because we are
 of Jamaica, and at present the newspapers are discuss-      here and see these things again at first hand. We had
 ing the pros and cons of becoming the 52nd State in         intended to write something else, at least to lead to
 the Union of the United States of America, things are       another thought. Added to all these woes is the smut
 bad economically by the admission of those with             in the sugar cane fields and mango trees. You have
 salaries and jobs and worldly goods. What must it           just experienced unprecedented cold with snow in the
 then be for those who never had much and now must           Bahamas for the first time in its history. Here in
 pay more for their foods? They must buy from the            Jamaica the temperature fell to 48 degrees in Mande-
 same stores; and we see them every day pay the same         ville and 64 in Montego Bay. These are extremely
 prices we do when they buy their rice and milk, their       cold. figures for Jamaica. But let no man say that
 salt fish, for which they stand in line when a supply       these things cannot happen again, and that we in the
 appears. One can close one's eyes to the facts, but         United States cannot have famine. As we wrote
 this does not change the facts. One can say that they       above, the final coming of Christ casts its long
 should give their ministers a salary and a home, but        shadow across the whole world. Look at it and ignore
 then one must also show them how to do this with            it not. -We are not in the days of the shadows of the
 next to nothing astheir yearly income. Dias is provid-      first coming of Christ. But that which cast its shadow
 ing a place to live for their minister, renting the home    in Canaan and was seen by Israel was not only the
 of the late Rev. Joshua Frame. This is a step in the        first coming of Christ in Bethlehem. Actually it is the
 right direction; but to encourage them we must not          shadow of Christ the King and of His coming as the
 close our purse strings and expect them to do the           glorious King of the Kingdom of heaven that cast its
 impossible. These are small churches that cannot            shadow way back into paradise after man's fall. And
 support a minister; and we ourselves have supported         since He has not yet come that way, that shadow falls
 many a minister by giving subsidy to larger and             also on the world today. See that in the economic
 wealthier congregations than these. Must we then            woes of the world, in the storms and the destruction
 withhold from these who by any standards are poor?          of our foods, in the changing climates and bitter cold.
 Does not the word of Jesus come to us, as He sent us        He is coming. And we are much closer to the roots of
 and called us to labour here, that the poor we always       the "tree" that cast this shadow.
 have with us? We cry that our deacons have no work
 to perform. The government with its social security
 and  m.edicare, medicaid, and other welfare agencies                       Know the standard
 has put them "out of business." But have we been                             and follow it. . .
brought face to face with these people to ignore their           Read THENSTANDARD  BEARER !
 need? While we sit in comfortable and beautiful
 churches and live in homes of the latest design with


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                255


T H E S T R E N G T H O F Y O U T H "   ..  ~-



                                  Envy Not the World

                                                   Rev. J. Kortering


  We have seen in our previous article that the world        air, it' is free to fly and to sit among the branches.
is not enviable to us because of the corruption that is      There is also a- law for the fish. That law is very
manifest in their life. In the words of Isaiah the           different. The fish must draw its life from the water,
prophet, "The wicked  are- like the troubled sea,            it has freedom to swim to great depths, to eat vegeta-
casting up mire and dirt."                                   tion or animal life within the water. Both animals
  We have to add to this the fact that this horrible         have a law that binds them. There is a positive side
filth makes the wicked worthy of God's terrible judg-        and a negative side. The positive side is that the suc-
ments. Sin is a transgression of the law of God and          cess of the bird is to fly and enjoy the freedom of the
makes one guilty before God. The thought of God's            air and to sing among the branches. The freedom of
punishing sin fills one with terror. It should drive us      the fish is to swim in the sea. The negative side is that
all the more to the cross of Jesus.                          each must stay within the proper boundaries. If the
         _                                                   fish should say (as we imagine) I don't like it here
S1N.A TRANSGRESSION                                          anymore, I want to be with the birds, and it decides
                                                             to jump out of the water; or if a fisherman should
  God is a God of law.                                       catch :one and throw it on the shore, it flaps about a
  This law is not simply a code for human conduct            bit and soon it gasps its last and dies. The same is true
which God enforces throughout history. Human law             for the bird. It can't decide to live in the water - that
is this way. The states have -a code for criminal be-        is out, of bounds. If a,naughty boy catches a bird and
havior. That code spells out what is to be considered        thrusts it under the water, it soon dies. There is a
wrong conduct. Very carefully, usually through court         positive and negative side to God's law for every
decisions dealing with precedent cases, the law dis-         creature.
tinguishes between degrees of crime. The code spells           This is also true spiritually for us, as we think on
out the difference between misdemeanors and                  God's law. The positive side of God's law is that we
felonies. Along with such a distinction, the code also       are to- love Him with all our soul, mind, and strength
specifies what kind of penalty fits each crime. Lesser       and our neighbor as ourselves. This is what God says
crimes have parole and fines; more severe crimes have        to us in the moral law of the ten commandments
imprisonment and even death. The system of justice           (Exodus 20), and what Christ also summarized for us
must determine whether a person committed a crime,           in Matt.  27:37-39. That is not simply a code for
which crime, and apply the proper penalty to him for         conduct, it is a sphere of life. Within the law of God
it. This is justice under our penal system.                  we enjoy blessed covenant favor with God and with
  With God, however, this is somewhat different.             one another. This is what God intended with the
God's law is not simply a code for determining               creation. He made man able to function within the
wrong; it is positively  .a way of  life.  There are two     sphere of His law. As long as man lives according to
sides to God's law. The positive side is the one in          God's law, there is perfect harmony and peace. The
which God comes to us and dwells with us as God in           joys of the covenant are expressed in loving kindness.
loving kindness and tender mercy. The negative side is         There is also the negative side of that law. God
the one in which God deals with those who step out           warned Adam and Eve, and everyone after them, that
of bounds and reject Him and therefore become the            if they step out of bounds and transgress that law,
objects of His terrible wrath.                               they will forfeit the benefits of His loving kindness
  Let's illustrate this a moment. God has placed             and will become subject to His terrible curse and
within the realm of nature His laws. There is a law for      judgment. That is the negative side.
the bird in that it must fly through the air, it breathes      The Bible speaks often of such transgression.


 256                                              THE STANDARD  BSARER



 "Fools because of their iniquities are afflicted,"           Egypt demonstrate this? We read in Rom. 1: 18, "For
 Psalm 107: 17. "The earth shall reel to and fro like a       the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
 drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and           ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold
 the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and        the truth in unrighteousness." The Psalmist expresses
 it shall fall, and not rise again," Isaiah  24:20. To        it this way: "The Lord is in his holy temple, the
 speak more personally, the child of God recognizes           Lord's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eye-       .
 sin as transgression and therefore prays, "Wash me           lids, try, the children of men. The Lord trieth the
 thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from           righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth vio-
 my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression: and my           lence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain
 sin is ever before me," Psalm 5 1: 2, 3.                     snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest:
   When we look at sin, we must realize that all sin          this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righ-
 bears a terrible consequence. It is not so that God          teous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance
 looks up in His code book to see what penalty he has         doth behold the upright," Psalm  11:4-7. Solomon
 affixed to certain evil deeds. Far worse, all transgres-     adds, "The curse of the Lord is in the house of the
 sions, even the very first one which was "only eating        wicked; but he blesseth the habitation of the just,"
 fruit that was forbidden" bears the terrible penalty of      Prov. 3:33.
 death, everlasting death!                                      Sometimes this isn't so evident. As we noted in our
   One trembles to think of the meaning of this.              last article, even Asaph envied the wicked, for it
                                                              seemed as if their prosperity was greater, until he
 GOD PUNISHES TRANSGkESSION                  :                realized in God's house that even that prosperity was
    God's righteousness demands that His law be main-         a curse to them. Then again it is very evident. Accord-
 tained. The sentence of death hangs over the whole           ing  :to the book of Revelation, Christ sends for the
 universe ever since the first transgression. Who can         red `horse of war, the black horse of famine, the pale
 begin to understand the implications of death. It is         horse of death as judgments upon the wicked in order
 brought forth by the wrath of the Righteous God              that through these disturbances the white horse of
 against man's disobedience. That wrath is not an             the  :gospel may ride victoriously. Surely, such judg-
 emotional outburst of power; it is His hot displeasure       ments in history indicate that even though the ungodly
 to deal justly with-those who oppose Him.                    strive to build up Babylon the Great, the Mother of
                                                              Harlots (and they will apparently succeed with the
   This punishment of death ultimately leads to hell.         kingdom of anti-Christ for a time), all this shall ulti-
 Little wonder that the truth of hell is rejected today
                                                        `.    mately fail, for, according to Revelation 18, the
 in increasing measure. Somehow the wrong emphasis            merchants throw dirt upon their heads and mourn,
 on God's love is incompatible with hell.  E'et, that         crying out, Babylon is fallen, is fallen! As God dis-
truth is important, for sin committed: against the            turbs them now, so He will ultimately destroy by fire
 eternal God bears everlasting punishment. The pen-           all the wicked and their so-called achievements.
 alty is commensurate with the crime and the crime is
 determined also by the one against whom it is com-           OIJi RESPONSE
 mitted. The justice of God demands that one who
 steps out of bounds from God will receive everlasting          Considering this truth, how can we possibly envy
 death.                                                       the `world? Oh yes, they .seem to have so much fun
                                                              and. are so carefree, but they pine away under the
   The Bible describes hell in such terms. It speaks of       wrath of God. They are fools in their folly, sowing
 the tire burning but never consuming (Luke 3: 17), of        the wind and reaping the whirlwind.
 worms eating but never devouring, (Mark 9:47, 48),
 of falling into a pit and never reaching the bottom,           Well may we tremble.
 (Rev. 20:3). The idea is that hell is conscious, unend-        Rather than envy them, we do well to evaluate our
 ing torment of body and soul before `the God of              position in relation to them.
 wrath.                                                         Consider Lot of  .whom we read, "For that righ-
   We find a picture of hell within the chronicles of         teous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hear-
 history when we turn to the destruction of Sodom             ing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with
 and Gomorrah. The holocaust of fire and brimstone            their unlawful deeds," II Peter 2: 8. It is further ex-
 must etch upon the mind of all men the sure fact that        plained that he did this because, "The Lord knoweth
 Jehovah is righteous in judgment.                            how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to
                                                              reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be
  This visitation of God upon the wickedness .of men          punished," verse 9.
 is not reserved entirely for death and the end of the
 world. God already now visits the wicked with such             D:o you vex your soul from day to day?
 judgment. Do not the plagues upon Pharoah and                  That's quite different fr,om envying them.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                               257



    Furthermore, the inspired apostle adds later,              not our friends. We do not find pleasure in their com-
 "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,        pany,  lwe cannot be imitators of their lifestyle, we
 what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy             cannot laugh at their jokes, we cannot be entertained
 conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting           by their iniquity. Rather, we separate ourselves from
 unto the coming of the day of God wherein the                 them and testify against them.
 heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the ele-            God's judgment upon them causes us to be
 men ts shall melt with fervent heat? Wherefore                humble.
 beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be dili-
 gent that ye may be found of him in peace, without               By nature we are no different.
 spot and blameless," II Peter 3 : 11, 12.                        By grace we are transformed into a new and holy
   If we really stop to think of who the wicked are            life.
 and that they are the objects of God's judgment for              To this we will direct our attention next time, the
 time and eternity, we must conclude that they are             Lord willing.

 MY SHEEP HEAR MY  VOICE


           Letter to the Members of the  C:hurch at Philadelphia


                                              March 1, 1977
 To the members of the church in Philadelphia,                 grave sin to separate one's self from the preaching. It
    We ended our last letter with a number of  ques-           is for this reason that separation from the preaching
tions. These questions arise out of our assertion that         deprives one of salvation.
 the preaching of the Word is of fundamental signifi-             This has been the gist of our argument against all
 cance for the salvation of the child of God. It is of         such groups who do precisely this.
                                                  .
 such critical importance that there is salvation in no           But it is this argument which raises other questions
 other way. This is, e.g., the clear teaching of Paul in       which I want to discuss with you now.
 Romans 10: 13-15: "For whosoever shall call upon
 the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall              Basically these questions involve the spiritual
 they call on him in whom they have not believed?              efficacy and benefit of all sorts of other Christian
 and how shall they believe in him of whom they have           activities. These activities include such things as Bible
 not heard? and how shall they hear without a                  study (whether with other believers or in private),
 preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be           prayer, family devotions, Christian witnessing, etc.
 sent?" Paul constructs a chain here which cannot be           Does God use these means also to save us? Does
 broken. He is talking about how we are saved. Or,             Christ speak through these different means?
perhaps more accurately, he is talking about who are              Surely this is an important question, for if Christ
 saved. And his answer is that only those are saved            does not speak through these other means then they
 who call upon the name of the Lord. But it is im-             are little more than exercises in futility. And if you
 possible for us to call upon the name of the Lord             are in any way persuaded that this is true; then all
 unless we believe in Him. And, it is impossible to            these exercises to which Scripture calls us will span
 believe in him unless we hear him. We cannot believe          disappear from our lives.
 in someone whom we never hear. But we cannot hear                The answer to these questions is rooted in the fact
 Him unless there is a preacher. And there can .be no          that God has established an inseparable connection
 preacher unless the preacher is sent. And so, when a          between the preaching and all these other exercises.
 preacher is sent, he can preach. And when he                  The Scriptures are quite clear on the fact that the
 preaches, Christ is heard. And when Christ is heard,          preaching is central to our lives. But the preaching is
 then we can believe in Christ. And believing in Christ        connected with the whole life of the child of God.
 we can call upon His name. And in this way we are             That connection is clear and important. For one
 saved.                                                        thing,  ,that connection lies in the Scriptures them-
   It is for this reason that there is no salvation apart      selves. `The content of the preaching is the Scriptures.
 from the preaching. It is for this reason that it is a        In fact, it is not too much to say that the preaching


258                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



derives its authority, its "Thus-saith-the-Lord" from       ens within us the desire to go up to God's house to
the authority of the Scriptures. There is no preaching      hear His Word proclaimed every Lord's Day.
where the content of the preaching is anything else           The same thing may be said of Christian witness-
but the Scriptures. But, at the same time, the spiritual    ing. I think sometimes that we have made here a mis-
exercises of the child of God are also centered in the      take of emphasis. We have emphasized so strongly the
Scriptures. His Bible study is the study of the Scrip-      efficacy of preaching as the sole means of salvation
tures. His prayers have as their content the Scriptures.    that we have all but discouraged God's people from
His Christian witnessing is concerning the truth of the     Christian witnessing. The heart of the question' is
Scriptures. The connection is in the Word of God            really whether or not the witnessing of the people of
itself.                                                     God is effectively used by God in the salvation of
   Furthermore, there is the connection of faith.           those who hear such witnessing. Does God use the
According to our Heidelberg Catechism, the preach-          witness of the individual members of the Church to
ing of the Word is the mealzs of faith. And the idea is     save those whom .he has ordained to eternal life? May
that the preaching of the Word is the God-ordained          we expect that God will so use us in our calling to be
way to bring faith into consciousness in our lives.         faithful witnesses of His Word to bring to conversion
Under the preaching the Holy Spirit so works faith          those who are numbered among God's people?
that we believe the Word of God; and believing the            To me the only answer to that question has got to
Word of God, we believe Christ and call upon Him:           be: Yes. The Scriptures, it seems to me, are clear on
But that very faith which is worked by the preaching        this point. Christ Himself tells us: "Ye are the salt of
is a faith which must come to expression in all our         the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, where-
lives. All the exercises in which the Christian engages     with shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for
must be exercises of faith.                                 nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under
   Closely connected with all this is the fact that the     foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city
Holy Spirit is He Who works all this in our hearts.         that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men
The Holy Spirit works faith through the preaching           light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a
and makes that faith conscious. The Holy Spirit             candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the
works that faith which must be operative in all our         house. Let your light so shine before men, that they
life: in our. Bible study, our prayers, our witnessing,     may see your good works, and glorify your Father
our daily walk. But the Holy Spirit never works apart       which is in heaven."
from the Word. He never works apart from the Word             It is also simply a fact that in the early history of
preached principally. And when He works in us so            the. post-apostolic Church there were almost no mis-
that we live out of faith in all our lives, the Holy        sionaries. And yet the Church spread rapidly through-
Spirit always works' that faith as we tie ourselves to      out the whole Roman empire. The rapid spread of the
the Word of God.                                            Church is to be expiained in large measure by the
   The preaching is the real fountainhead of all our        faithful witness of the early Christians who witnessed
life. But drinking of the waters of life at the fountain    to their faith even in the face of death.
of the preaching, we drink those waters from God's            God's people are called again and again to be wit-
Word daily and those waters flow forth from us in all       nesses to His truth  - both in their confession with
our life of faith.                                          their mouth and in all their walk. Peter presupposes
                                                            that this is indeed the kind of life God's people live
   Hence, the truth of the matter is that indeed Christ     when he admonishes those who are pilgrims and
speaks to us through the Scriptures when we read            strangers in the earth: "But sanctify the Lord God in
those Scriptures in our inner closet, when we discuss       your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to
those Scriptures with our families about our tables,        every man that asketh you a reason of. the hope that
when we study those Scriptures.in the company of            is in you with meekness and fear." I Peter 3 : 15. No
God's people.                                               one will ever ask us for a reason for the hope that is
   But there is a sort of reciprocal relationship here.     within us unless that hope comes to expression in the
When we hear the preaching and are fed by the               witness of our mouth and lives.
preaching, then we are very interested in the further         We must be witnesses to our faith. We sin when we
and constant study of the Scriptures. It is as if the       are not witnesses. There is no option here on our
preaching serves as the stimulus to drive us in all our     part. The calling to witness is insistent and compell-
life to the preaching. The preaching quickens within        ing. But we may confidently expect that the Lord
us the desire to study God's Word and to pray. But          will also use that witness. We need not think that our
the opposite is also true. When Scripture reading and       witnessing is little else than a kind of going through
study along with prayer occupy an important place in        the motions. God will use it as a means to gather His
our lives, then too, this very exercise of faith quick-     Church.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         259



  Does all this mean that there are therefore two                  church or another  - something like: "Go to the
ways in which God gathers His Church: the preaching                church of your choice." That witnessing will achieve
of the Word and the witness of God's people? No, it                its purpose when such a person who is brought to the
does not mean that - not, at any rate, if you make a               knowledge of the truth comes himself under the
separation between the two. It is totally and utterly              preaching. There is the official proclamation of the
impossible for the Christian to witness to the truth               Word and the work of the Holy Spirit to work faith
unless he himself faithfully attend to the preaching of            in the hearts of those who belong to Christ. In this
the Word. All his power to be a witness comes to him               way there is an inseparable connection between the
only through the preaching. If he should cut himself               preaching and the witnessing of God's people.
off from the preaching in any way, he will never suc-                 But it must be remembered at the same time that
ceed in the calling to witness to the truth. Then the              just as the preaching itself is a savour of life unto life
power of his `witness is the power of the' preached                not only, but also a savour of death unto death, so is
Word applied by the Holy Spirit as spoken by him.                  it with the faithful witnessing of God's people. That
  But even this is not all. His witnessing must never              witness can also harden, and it often does. But God
be aimed at any other purpose than to bring those to               accomplishes His purpose. And that is all that mat-
whom he witnesses to the Church. He may not wit-                   t e r s .
ness just to bring someone to Christ - as the saying                  And now we have come to the end of another
goes; and have no more regard for the relation of that             letter. May God make you all faithful witnesses to His
man to the Church. He may not witness, and then                    glorious truth.
simply leave it to the person's own choice whether he                                                  Fraternally,
will go to church or not, or whether he will go to one                                                 H. Hanko

IN HIS FEAR


                                          Pure Religion
                                                  Rev.  M. Joostens

                                                            (2)

  In the first installment of this two part series on              sort of eleventh commandment. There is a danger of
the topic of "Pure Religion" we came to grips with                 so approaching this text and missing the point. We
the negative admonition of James. Pure religion                    must not consider the visitation of the fatherless and
before the face of God, James told us, consists of                 widows as the totality of the positive aspect of non-
keeping ourselves unspotted from the world. We are                 defilement. There is more to pure religion than visit-
called to be in the world, but never may we'be one in              ing. And simply doing this does not put one beyond
principle and practice with the world. It is our calling           reproach as far as religion is concerned. That's not
not to become defiled with the filth and corruption                James's point at all. Rather, James desires to take one
that belongs to the world because they lie under the               small aspect of our life, place it under the scrutiny of
power of darkness. As we saw last time, this means                 the criterion of pure religion and so illustrate how we
that, from a positive point of view, we continually                must function in every sphere of our Christian life. In
say no to the ways and temptations of sin and walk in              other words, he singles out one example to illustrate
the fear of God. Yet, James is not satisfied with our              his point.
treatment so far. His treatment in James  1:27 de-                    This is a very fitting example! Orphans and widows
mands that we add yet another dimension to the                     must be visited. It is in this very example that the
explanation of pure religion. You see, so far we have              antithesis between ourselves and the world is pointed
illucidated the principle of pure religion; but as we              out. They who are the objects of our visiting are by
said at the outset of the last article, James is inter-            and large despised by the world. The fatherless and
ested in uniting theory or principle and practice. So              the widows are the outcast ones in society. They are
we, with James must turn to practical application of               the so-called nonproductive members and can only be
the principle of non-defilement and true religion.                 a burden or liability. Whereas in the communion of
  We must visit the fatherless and widows in their                 the saints these are the recipients of the joyful dis-
affliction. Before we continue, let us remind ourselves            tribution of the mercies of Jesus Christ, they are the
of the viewpoint here. James is not stating for us a               problems to the world. Add to this the fact that they


260                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



are orphans and widows "in their affliction." These          there is nothing carnal to be gained by visiting the
are certainly the ones that the world could do with-         indigent and afflicted ones, it is our calling to cast our
out but grudgingly tolerates. This is understandable,        lot with them in their affliction by perhaps giving up
because the friendship of the world is based upon            a few wage-earning hours for the spiritual benefit of
carnal considerations. One who can bolster someone's         the. body of Jesus Christ. "Pure religion and undefiled
position, influence, and wealth is an ideal friend in        . . .' is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their
the eyes of the world. But we who are the children of        affliction."
God do not use this worldly and carnal criterion to            The example illustrates the principle. The essence
determine our friendship. We know that principally           and character of religion is found in the idea of the
that which unites us to each other as  :saints is our        covenant - especially as this idea has been beautifully
common lot of being hated by the world. And it is            and particularly developed in our churches as the idea
the affection of this friendship and not carnal              of friendship between God and His people. As we
advancement that motivates our visiting. We would            abide in that friendship with God, we stand in hatred
rather visit a lonely widow and experience Christian         against the world and its carnal drives and values. And
kinship than participate in the revellings of the un-        as we, by the grace of- God, stand in such covenant
godly, though it bring us carnal and earthly advance-        friendship, we live a sanctified life of non-defilement
ment! For we would rather lay up for ourselves               in fulfilling our part of God's covenant with us. One
treasures in heaven than to amass unto ourselves the         small but not so insignificant part of such a sanctified
things that must needs perish.                               life' consists in visiting the orphans and widows in
                                                             their affliction. The well-being of God's covenant and
  Such activity is an inherent part of pure religion.        kingdom ought not be infringed upon by the lusts of
We ought to make this a point of emphasis. Let us for        the flesh and the things of this world which are
a moment consider the example James chooses to               designated only as a means toward the fulfillment of
use, in order that the principle which ought to govern       theikingdom and covenant of God.
the whole of our life in every sphere be understood.
All of us, young and old, participate in the com-              The apostle John makes somewhat the same point,
munion of the saints in our particular congregation.         but from a slightly different viewpoint. "If a man say,
There are in the midst of all of these churches "the         I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar." (I
orphans and widows in their affliction." Now we              John 4:20) If we confess that we abide in the love of
must not quickly begin to find excuse `in the word           God and are comprehended in His covenant, yet this
"affliction." It is true that sometimes, due to              love does not penetrate the activities of my daily life,
physical-material lack, the affliction of some is            then I had better reevaluate my confession. I may be
especially great and difficult. But apart from this, it      a very pious Christian. I may even be considered a
must be realized that simply being a widow, widower,         model as I sit in the pew from Sunday to Sunday. But
or orphan is suffering. Loneliness makes hours and           if I consider not the brother, nor care about the
days seem as if they last forever, and being parentless      indigent and lonely, then my Christianity is vain.
makes growing up difficult and frightening. James            Then my life is defiled by the values of this world,
says, visit them! This is clearly our Christian responsi-    and its filth has made obscure my care for the body
bility. Officebearers and pastors must be exemplary          of Jesus Christ, the Church. In the words of James,
in this; yet they must never be the only ones who do         we must be more than just hearers of God's Word
the visiting. To make the point of James clear, we           who soon forget that Word and find no application
must connect this thought with the non-defilement of         for it in their life! Theory or, if you will, the doctrine
which we spoke previously. Then we are admonished            we confess, finds its expression in practice!
never to let worldly friendship stand in the -way of           It is only in the combining of theory and practice,
visiting the orphans and lonely. Sometimes I fear that       confession and life, that we are pleasing before the
we have our priorities mixed up. We are ever so busy,        face of God. As we stated previously, this is the only
there are scarcely enough hours in the day. Yet, how         criterion that we ought to regard. It is of no import
many are not the visits that are spent with those who        what men may think. To be esteemed in the eyes of
are not of the household of faith! And the hours we          men as a good Christian hardly assures one a place in
spend on various business appointments pressure our          heaven. Men may be impressed by philanthropy,
lives to excess. But we have to admit that all these         Sunday Christianity, etc. But God demands truth in
visits and appointments are times that further only          the' inward parts. That which He has given in our
material goals. Business appointments render only            hearts must come to expression in our conduct. What
new accounts! It is true, of course, that we have to         does God, Who is our-Father, think of us His sons and
run our businesses and must fulfill the obligation of        daughters? Do we reflect  His love to those round
our various callings; but these may not crowd out this       about us, especially those of the household of faith
chief and vital characteristic of pure religion. Though      who are His chosen? He rejoices in His children when


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          261


the friendship of the world does not stand in the way             Christ' becomes manifest in deed. Let us visit the
of the friendship of the communion of the sairits, and            fatherless and widows in their affliction, remaining
when the oneness and mutual concern of the body of                unspotted from the world, and so live in His fear.

ALL AROUND US


                                      "They'd Rather Fight Than Pay"
                                     "If at first you don't succeed . . ."
                                         "Receding Common Grace"
                                    Independence' for Canadian C.R.C.
                                                       Rev. G. Van Baren


  A striking article with this catchy title appeared in               of unionism or to engage in any strikes or violence
Liberty,  a magazine of the Seventh Day  ,Adventist                   against their employers.
Church. The article gives an account of two members                         2. The dues exacted from the plaintiffs were
of the Seventh Day Adventist Church who' are fight-                   merely a "tax" to support the union's collective bar-
ing in court the requirement that they join the union                 gaining activities, from  which the plaintiffs had
or lose their jobs. The union was willing to "com-                    ob\iiously benefited financially and in job security.
promise" to the extent of demanding of them union                           3. To urge that by paying the equivalent of union
dues without their becoming union members. The                        dues the plaintiffs were supporting violence against
two individuals rightly refused to do this, for they                  their neighbors and transgressing the commandment
reasoned that they were also then supporting the                      to love their neighbors was as specious as urging that
union. The union refused them work as "con-                           the. plaintiffs contributed to violence against their
scientious objectors," paying the equivalent of their              neighbors by performing their occupational tasks,
dues to some charitable organization.                                 namely, the assembly and manufacture of component
                                                                      parts for military aircraft.
  The Seventh Day Adventist Church, evidently,                      The. case was then taken to the U.S. Court of
opposes union membership  - much on the  satie                    Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (New Orleans) on
grounds as we do. This church claims that its mem-                November 11, 1975.  ."The Equal Employment
bers have the right to be exempted  fr6m union                    Opportunities Commission presented an oral argu-
membership requirements -because of religious con-                ment in favor of the plaintiffs. The Attorney General
scientious convictions against the support of organ-              of Ohio filed an amicus brief in favor of the plaintiffs.
ized labor.                                                       The  c&u-t considered the case to be of such impor-
  One of the individuals in this struggle had himself             tance that no time limit was set on the hearing, as is
been a union member earlier in life. He says, "I can              generally done in appeals courts." Then, according to
still remember how we used to call those people                   this article:
finks, scabs, freeloaders, and a lot of unprintable                         In a stunning reversal, the Fifth Circuit held on
obscenities. Tension ran high: Fist fights broke out                  June 9, 1976, that the religion clauses of the Civil
over the name-calling, and I know that  sotie of the                  Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Equal Em-
things I did and said contributed to the violence."                   ployment Opportunities Act of 1972, protect  "all
  The case came to Federal Court in the Northern                      forms and aspects of religion, however eccentric . . .
                                                                      except those that cannot be, in practice and with
District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, on April 11,                  honest effort, reconciled with a businesslike opera-
l-974. This. court decided in favor of the union in a                 tioq." The court said such protection extended to an
decision which suggested:                                             employee's religious-based beliefs that prohibited him
       1. While the plaintiffs' beliefs were granted to be            from paying dues to a labor organization.
    sincere, the court did not feel that the union security                 The court remanded the case to the Federal Dis-
   agreement discriminated against them in the exercise               trict Court to determine whether General Dynamics
    of their religious beliefs and observances. They were             and the labor organization can accommodate Howard
    not required to subscribe to any tenets or doctrines              Hopkins' and Rita Coleman's religious beliefs without


262                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER



       undue hardship to the company's business or the                 A great. deal of public opinion judges that there is
       labor organization's operations.                             nothing wrong with nudism.
   The article suggests that this case might go $0 the                 A great deal of public opinion judges that there is
Supreme Court. It may well be a case worth watch-                   nothing wrong with premarital sex.
ing. Many of our own people know what it means to                      "In the last days there will be lovers of self, lovers
lose a job rather than joining the union. One would                 of money, proud, arrogant, abusive . . . lovers of plea-
hope that perhaps, for a time, some relief would be                 sure rather than lovers of God" (2 Tim. 3: l-4).
provided in this regard.                                          When reading such an opinion, one can not wonder
                                                                what the difficulty must be. If there is common
"If at first you don't succeed . . ."                           grace, does God give less of it today than before? Or,
   The old saying has certainly been taken literally by         is man increasingly able to resist it successfully? Or is
the Synod of the Reformed Church in America with                it just possible that Dr. Praamsma is coming to an
regard to women serving in the ministry. For the fifth          awareness that there is really no such thing as
straight year, the Synod has voted its approval of              "common grace"?
women as ministers within their churches. This vote,            More Concern about Television
however, requires the subsequent approval of two
thirds of their classes in order to become a regulation           In the  Presbyterian Journal  of Dec. 8, 1976, an
of the denomination. Recently, and for the fifth con-           article about the dangers of television presents timely
secutive time, the classes failed to approve by a two           warning to us also:
thirds vote. The final vote would be: 29 in favor, 15                  The  incrkase  of "soft core" pornography in tele-
opposed, and one tie (counted with  ,the negative                   vision and the niass media is beginning to disturb even
votes). So, legally, women may not serve in the min-                those who once fought to defend freedom of expres-
istry in the R.C.A. But, next Synod will present a                  sion, according to recent news articles.
sixth opportunity to try again. In the meantime,                       "Hating opened the door to sex for art's sake,
there is already one woman ordained into the min-                  `they have found that it is no longer possible to close
istry in the Reformed Church in spite of the present                it against sex for profit's sake," said Walter Goodman
rule against this.                                                  in a New York  Times  report.
                                                                       He said that "as pornography has proliferated
"Receding common grace"                                             across the land, from centers of  sexual technology
                                                                    such as New York and  Los Angeles to less advanced
  Dr. Louis Praamsma, in Calvinist Contact, Dec. 3 1,               communities, a suspicion that something may be
1976, is apparently approaching the position of the                awry has begun to nag at even that enlightened van-
Protestant Reformed Churches who deny the exis-                     guard which once strove to save Lady Chatterley
tence of any "common grace." Dr. Praamsma still is                 from the  Philistines."
convinced that common grace was operative in past                     In another  Times  article headlined "Soft-Core
ages but, for some reason, is not as apparent any-                 Porn is Sneaking into Prime Time," John J. O'Connor
more. He speaks of a "recess in common grace." He                  echoed the observations of many TV watchers that an
writes:                                                            increasing amount of program material is verging on
          Since that time much has happened, we have ex-           the pornographic.
       perienced two world wars, we have heard theologians            The  Times' critic noted that themes bordering on
       say that there is no God, we have heard of an atheis-       the pornographic "have become commonplace on the
       tic thdology and of a new horizontalism.                    evening schedule, usually in the sincerity-laden guise
          In the same time we seem to live in a time of a          of social concerns. . _. ."
       gradual withdrawal of God's common grace. I was          Independence for Canadian C.R.C.?
       certainly struck by that thought when I read my daily      The Calvinist Contact of Nov. 26, 1976 reports on
       paper in the lastweek of November.                       what it calls "a step toward independence" for the
          One headline read: "It was adultery but now it's      Canadian Christian Reformed Churches. This past
       called swinging." . . . .                                November, the groundwork was laid for a  Christian
          That was the judgment of present-day science. The     college in Ontario. But also, the Council of Christian
   judgment of the Word of God is different: "God will          Reformed Churches in Canada is seeking a full time,
   judge the immoral and adulterous" (Hebrews 13 :4).           salaried, executive director. This Council is not
                                                                "answerable to Synod. It will operate totally in-
          A recess in common grace.                             dependent of the yearly meeting of Synod." It
          A great deal of common opinion judges that there      appears that there is a deliberate effort to bring the
       is nothing wrong with adultery.                          Canadian C.R.C. into closer union, hopefully to be-
          A great deal of that opinion judges that there is     come "independent" at some future date, from the
       nothing wrong with abortion.                             churches in the U.S.


                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    263




                                                  CALL TO ASPI RANTS TO THE MINISTRY

   All young men desiring to begin studies this fall in the                    comes supplied with a testimonial of his consistory that he is a
Theological School of the Protestant Reformed Churches,                        member in full communion, sound in faith and upright in
located at 4949 lvanrest Ave., S.W., Grandville, Michigan                      walk, and also a certificate from a reputable physician showing
49418 are hereby notified of the Theological School Com-                       him to be in good health.
mittee meeting to be held on March 17, 1977 at  7:30 P.M. in                     A complete high school education and the equivalent of a
the Theological School Building.                                               four year (125 hour) college education are required for en-
Pre-seminary Department:                                                       trance into the. seminary department. Moreover, each entrant
                                                                               into this department must produce  evidence that he has credit
   Permission to pursue the pre-seminary course of study shall                 for the required college courses. Requirements are listed in the
be granted by the Theological School Committee. A transcript                   school catalog, available from the School.
of grades from High School and College (if any), a letter of
testimony from a student's pastor or consistory, and a certifi-                  All applicants for enrollment in the seminary department
cate of health from a reputable physician shall be submitted                   must appear before the Theological School Committee for
along with the student's application.                                          interview before enrollment. In the event you cannot be
                                                                               present at this meeting, please notify the undersigned secretary
Seminary Department:                                                           of your intentions, prior to the meeting. Mail all correspon-
   Permission to pursue the Theological course in the seminary                 dence to the Theological School.
shall be granted by the Synod, upon recommendation of the                                                          Richard H. Teitsma, Secretary
Theological School Committee, to such an aspirant only who


                STUDENT AID INFORMATION                                              WALKER'S CONPREHENSIVE BIBLE
   Students who have been accepted by The Protestant Reformed
Theological School Board and are in need of financial support should                     CONCORDANCE BOOK REVIEW
contact Mr. Theodore Engelsma,  2333 Clyde Park, SW., Grand Rapids,             J.B.R. Walker; Kregel Publications, Grand Rapid!, Michigan
Ml 49509, Telephone CH 54706, or; Mr. Gerrit Pipe, 1463 Ardmore,                  968 pp., $12.95 (Reviewed by Prof. H.C.Hoeksema)
SE., Grand Rapids, Ml 49507, Telephone CH 56145.

                                                                                One of the tools which every Bible student needs is
                                                                               a good concordance. This is even more necessary than
                                                                               a commentary: for it is a tool necessary for indepen-
                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                           dent study of Scripture, in which the comparing of
   On March 4, 1977, the Lord willing, our parents,  MR: AND MRS.              Scripture with Scripture is a fundamental principle.
HENRY HOLSTEGE, will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. We              Moreover, for most of our readers, I take it, a con-
thank our covenant God for their many years together and our Chris-            cordance which follows the King James Version is a
tian home and training through them. We earnestly pray that they may
be continually blest in their remaining years.                                 necessity.
                                   Their children,                                This recently reprinted concordance by J.B.R.
                                   Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Holstege               Walker will be a good addition to your library. The
                                   Mr. and Mrs. Jay Holstege
                                   Mr. and Mrs. Larry Lubbers                  promotional "blurb" on the dust jacket makes several
                                   Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Holstege                claims to excellence, such as: being a text-finder, rigid
                                   Mr. and Mrs. Clair Holstege                 alphabetical order, passages and references being in
                                   and 20 grandchildren.                       strict Biblical order, including 50,000 more passages
                                                                               than Cruden's, etc. This is not, of course, the type of
                                                                               book one sits down and reads through. Nor have I
                              NOTICE                                           checked the number of references in comparison with
   Classis East will meet in regular session on April 6th. 1977 at South-      other concordances. However, I have done some spot
east Prot. Ref. Church. Material to be treated in this session must be in      checking; and I find this to be indeed a very thorough
the hands of the Stated Clerk at least ten days prior to the convening of
the session.                                                                   and accurate concordance.
                                                  J o n   H u i s k e n           The book is neatly and attractively executed. The
                                                  Stated Clerk                 price is attractive, too: $12.95 for a book .of almost
                                                                               1000 pages is a good bargain.
                                                                                  Recommended.
                           NOTICE

   The Protestant Reformed Christian School, South Holland, will be
in need  pf two teachers for the  1977/78 school year. Applications can
be made by writing to (The Educational Committee, Mr. Adrian  Lent-
ing, Jr., Secretary, 16511  Sbuth Park Avenue, South Holland, Illinois
60473).

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





    264                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER


                                      News From Our Churches

      Rev. Arie den Hartog of our Covenant Protestant                 Engelsma of South Holland, Illinois, preached for
    Reformed Church in Prospect Park, New Jersey has                  Rev. Lubbers' congregation in Pella on January 16 to
    received a call from the Orthodox Presbyterian                    help them during the absence of their pastor. Rev.
    Church of Christchurch, New Zealand to come over                  Engelsma also lectured in Pella during his visit there..
    and help them. Should Rev. den Hartog accept this                 Professor H. Hanko journeyed from Grand Rapids to
    call, he would remain a minister in the Protestant                South Holland to occupy Rev. Engelsma's pulpit dur-
    Reformed Churches, but be `on loan' to the church in              ing his absence.
    New Zealand. Decisions on these matters were made
    by the Synod of our churches in 1976.                                Some time ago you may recall that we expressed
                                                                      mystification as to what a `tasting bee' consisted of.
      The congregation of our Southeast Church in                     One of the kind ladies whose group sponsored one of
    Grand Rapids planned a special program on January                 these `tasting bees' in one of our churches kindly sent
    28 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of their                   along several recipes for some of the delicious foods
    pastor, Rev. Marinus  Schipper,  in the ministry of               that were `tasted' in their `bee'. So, that mystery is  .'
    God's Word. The Church Council sponsored the event                solved. However; a new mystery has taken its place.
    which included a brief program followed by a social               The ladies in South Holland are sponsoring a `bakeless
    hour with refreshments in the church basement.
    However, due to the rather severe winter: weather                 bake sale.' Now what do you suppose that is?
    experienced in Western Michigan (and elsewhere), the                The following important news appeared in the
    program was postponed until February 4.                           First Church bulletin: "The Mission Committee (a
      The severe weather the last week of January                     standing committee of the Synod of our Churches)
   necessitated the cancellation or postponement of                   decided this past Tuesday (February 8) to grant the
    numerous activities. Because a `snow emergency' was               request for organization of a congregation at Hous-
    declared in Ottawa County, Holland and Hudsonville                ton, Texas. Though the group is small, there is evi-
    Churches canceled their worship services on January               dence that a faithful congregation can be established.
    30.                                                               There were many questions the Mission Committee
                                                                      considered before arriving at its decision. It believes
      A little information from our Jamaican emissaries,              that the decision taken is in harmony with God's will,
    Elder and Mrs. J.M. Faber and Rev. and Mrs. John                  and for the benefit of God's people there and our
    Heys was included in the First Church bulletin on                 churches generally. Hope, Grand Rapids, consistory
    January 30. Mr. Faber reports that they arrived safely            was appointed to carry out the organization - which
    in Jamaica. After some difficulties, they located an              they expect to do this coming Tuesday (February
    apartment in which they are now staying. The                      15), the Lord willing. Pray God's blessing on this new
    temperature is in the 80's .(quite a contrast to Mich-            congregation - and be sure to visit with them if you
    igan, where the temperature did not get above                     are ever in that part of the country."
    freezing for seven weeks); they have some difficulty                 Rev. Robert `Harbach, missionary pastor in
    with mosquitoes and other insects.. They report that              Houston, writes that the group there enjoyed the
    they are struggling also with some of the problems                Lord's faithfulness and goodness in this third year
    within the Jamaican churches.                                     there. He continues, "`So it's been, too, with the little
      Classical appointments for a vacant church can be               hand of saints in our seed-form church. Small we are,
    the cause of quite a bit of travel on the part of our             and, no doubt strange to many. But the Lord revives
    ministers. Rev. Lubbers of our church in Pella, Iowa,             and refreshes us, enabling us to continue in His pure
    spent three Sundays in Forbes, North Dakota. Rev.                 worship and hearing of His Word.  ; . . His Word
    Lubbers also traveled to Isabel, South Dakota on                  never returns to Him void, but shall accomplish what
    January 18 and lectured for our congregation there                He pleases where He sends it. (Isaiah 55: 11)"
    on the topic, "The Decalogue  in Reformation." Rev.                                                                 K.G.V.


