    T"-A/j/DARD,`G

     BEARER*
       A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





  "Happiness is  . . ."
                         l 



  Happiness is the blessed assurance, that
my sins are forgiven, that' by the grace of
God I can hate- and fight sin that still wars
within me,  that, I never face my  d.aily cares
and needs alone,  but' that in all my trials
and temp.tations ,I have an' Advocate in the
heavens,  Who. -blesses me by His Spirit in
`my heart. He -is my Savior, my Helper in
the strife, My Lord, to Whom I belong now
and forever.                     .                  i'-                 _
          "Our Triple Knowle;dge" page 362'
                                  i



                                           Volume  LIII, No. 16, May 15, 1977    ---J
                                                           ISSN 0362-4692


     362                                                        THE  STANDARd  BEARER



                                                                                   .,                         THE STANOARD BEARER
                                                                                         Semi-monthly.   except  mOnthly   during  June,   July.  and  August.
                                CONTENTS:                                           :  published   by  the  Reformed   Frea  Publishing   Association,   Inc.
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                                                                                  Rev.  COrneliUS   Hanko.  Prof.  Herman   Hanko.  Rev.   Robert   C.  tiarbach.
        Our Triple Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 62           Rev.  John   A.  Heys,   Rev.  Jay  Kortering,   Rev.  M.  Hoeksema
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        Baptism on the Mission Field (10) . . . . . . . . . .365                                        4975  lvanrest   Ave.  S.W.
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     MEDITA TIO N

                                          Our Triple Knowledge
                                                                      Rev. C. Hanko

                       "How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort,
                   mayest live and die happily?
                       "Three, the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the second, how I may be delivered
                  from all my sins and miseries; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such
                   deliverance. " Lord's Day I, Question 2.
       "Happiness is . . . ."                                                     dream. Happiness in this world is something that
       You are often expected to fill in the rest according                       everybody strives after, yet never attains.
     to the fancies and dictates of your heart at the                                    Scripture alone knows of true happiness: happiness
     moment. Happiness may be gaining a friend, or strik-                         which is already attained by the believer, which
     ing a fortune, or gaining some token of esteem.                              suffers no disillusionment, which abides and endures
     Happiness may fluctuate, change,  be, snatched from                          as a "joy unspeakable and full of glory." Have you
     us, or disappear like a morning mist. Something may                          ever searched the Scriptures with a concordance at
     seem to bring happiness today, the very opposite                             your side to discover how often the Word of God
     tomorrow. What seemed to be a goose with a golden                            speaks of joy, happiness, peace, blessedness as the
     egg may prove to be a mere chimera, a shattered                              peculiar possession of the child of God? The prophets


L


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                               363


in joyful anticipation declared: "Rejoice greatly, 0           Three things to know . . . .
daughter of Zion, shout, 0 daughter of Jerusalem;              We are confronted with the question, "How many
behold, thy king  cometh unto thee: he is just and          things are necessary for thee to know, that thou,
having salvation." Zech. 9:9. The Psalmist arouses us       enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily?"
to join him in holy adoration, "Sing to the Lord, sing
His praise, all ye people. New be your song, as new            Happiness is often thought to be nothing more
honors ye pay." Jesus assures us that there is happi-       than a feeling, an uncontrollable emotion. Either we
ness even in days of sore persecution: "Blessed are ye,     are happy or we are despondent, and actually there is
when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and           very little that we `can do about it. One will try to
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely; for my    find happiness in pouring out his soul to some willing
sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, for great is your     listener. Another will try to drown his sorrow in in-
reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets       dulging in tranquilizers, liquor, drugs, or some wild
which were before you." Matthew 5: 11, 12. Peter            revelry. -Happiness is trying to forget, or trying to
reminds us that true believers sing songs in the night,     convince one's self that "every day in every way we
smiling through their tears in the blessed expectation      are getting better and better," or, as the philosophy of
of the glorious deliverance in Jesus Christ, "wherein       recent date expresses it, "I'm OK, you're'OK."
ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need           We can appreciate the sober language of our book
be, ye are in heaviness through manifold tempta-            of instruction. Happiness, it tells us, is rooted in
tions." I Peter  1:6. The apostle Paul urges us:            knowledge. Happiness is the strong conviction, "I
"Rejoice in the Lord always." In order to impress us        know." We must hasten to add that this knowledge is
with the fact that this is the only real, abiding hap-      not a matter of mental gymnastics or of cold reason-
piness, he adds, "Again I say, rejoice!" Phil. 4:4.         ing. The knowledge that is meant here is the Christian
   True happiness in a world of sin and death is a joy      knowledge, drawn objectively from the Scriptures,
that quells every sorrow, turns our night into day, our     subjectively from the testimony of the Spirit in our
weeping into rejoicing, our misery into blessedness. It     hearts. It is the knowledge of faith. We are not hiding
is, indeed, a joy unspeakable and full of glory.            our heads in the sand, we are not superstitiously
                                                            deceiving ourselves with vain delusions, we are in no
   Our Heidelberg Catechism is subjective and ex-           sense trying to deny reality. We boldly face each new
periential in the sense that it is a confession of the      problem of each new day with the conviction that all
testimony of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the be-        is well, all is well between us and God. We see life as
liever as drawn from the Scriptures. It speaks the          it really is, we see ourselves in our relation to God in
truth according to the heart of Jerusalem. Our fathers      every situation of life, and we are content in what-
who wrote this book of instruction were well                soever state we find ourselves. In that conviction of
founded in the Scriptures. They had studied, the            heart and mind Job could say: "I know that my
Word, digested it, so that the truth was part and           Redeemer liveth." Paul says: "I know Whom I have
parcel of their souls. We marvel as we read this            believed." Each of them spoke from the knowledge
Catechism, how they draw treasures, new and old,            of faith.
out of the gold mine of God's Word. We hear the               Three things. . . .
Spirit testifying with our spirit for our own spiritual
edification. We are ready to confess along with the           These three things are often briefly summed up as:
saints of all ages, that our only comfort, in life and      Misery, deliverance, and gratitude.
death, in body and soul is exactly this, that "I am not       Did our fathers snatch these three concepts out of
my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus              the air? Are they their own inventions? If so, you or
Christ." Therefore we lend a ready ear when the Cate-       I, or someone else might invent three other things
chism goes on to teach us that there is no happiness        necessary for true happiness. We might decide that
apart from that only comfort. There is no true              misery is not a pleasant thing to think about, much
happiness in marriage, no true happiness in our             less to be reminded of from time to time. We might
labors, no happiness in periods of rest and relaxation,     decide that those three things were relevant four
no happiness at any time without Christ. Happiness is       hundred years ago, but no longer fit in this en-
the blessed assurance that my sins are forgiven, that       lightened, scientific age. These three things which our
by the grace of God I can hate and fight sin that still     fathers mention are drawn from the Scriptures. I turn
wars within me, that I never face my daily cares and        to Psalm 116 with its keynote, "I love the Lord."
needs alone, but that in all my trials and temptations      There David speaks of deep misery, of hellish pangs
I have an Advocate in the heavens, Who blesses me by        that gave him trouble and sorrow. He tells how he
His Spirit in my heart. He is my Savior, my Helper in       cried to the Lord,  "0 Lord, I  bese.ech thee, deliver
the strife, My Lord, to Whom I belong now and for-          my soul." And he concludes with the joyful acclaim,
ever.                                                       "What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits


364                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


He has bestowed on me?" Soon I find myself en-               not even into his own sinfulness. But he does know
grossed in Psalm 130, where the Psalmist cried to God        that behind all his problems lies that one great sin
out of the depths of his sin and misery; the Lord            problem. He knows, "I am evil, born in sin; Thou
heard and delivered Him; his soul learned to wait on         desirest truth within." He recognizes his sins in his
the Lord, even as watchers watch for the morning.            evil desires, thoughts, words, actions, deeds. The
Many other Psalms speak in the same strain. Paul's           burden of guilt weighs heavily upon him every day
epistle to the Romans can' readily be divided into           anew. Even his prayers and worship are still so im-
those three sections, knowledge of our great misery,         perfect. Yet he has a strong desire to be holy as God
knowledge of our deliverance, and knowledge of our           is holy, perfect as a son of his heavenly Father. There-
thankfulness to God for that deliverance.                    fore he is compelled daily to confess his sins before
   A glance at our minor confessions shows                   the face of God in true sorrow and a hearty repen-
                                                 us  that
these three necessary things are found there. Our            tance.
Baptism Form begins with a confession that we are all           No, the result is not that he becomes depressed,
conceived and born in sin, points out the riches of          morose. Confessing his sins and forsaking them, he
`grace in being sanctified in Christ as members of           experiences the riches of God's forgiving mercies. As
God's church and covenant, and our "part" in that            he stares into the mirror of God's Word, deeply im-
covenant to walk in a new and holy life. Our Com-            pressed by his own vile image, he sees behind him the
munion Form speaks of this triple knowledge in the           Christ, Whose righteousness overshadows him. He
section pertaining to our self-examination. Each of us       knows that God sees him in Christ, adorned from
must humble himself before God, must seek his sal-           head to foot, not in his own righteousness, but in the
vation in Christ alone, confident that He has atoned         righteousness that Christ merited for him on the
for our sins so completely as if we ourselves had            cross. He experiences the blessedness of the man
atoned; and we must show true thankfulness in our            whose sins are forgiven, whose transgressions are
relationship to God and to one another.                      covered.
  Small wonder that this first Lord's Day has always           The Lord puts a new song in his heart. He recog-
found a ready echo in the hearts of God's saints             nizes sin as sin, hates it and flees from it. He fears the
throughout the centuries.                                    onslaughts of Satan, is alert to fight him off whenever
  We are actually a bit careless when we speak               he approaches. He seeks his fellowship with God in
merely of "misery, deliverance, and thankfulness." As        prayer, and finds his companions among those who
a result these three terms have at times been replaced       fear the Lord.
by three others, which-are supposed to express the            This knowledge is not like a stairway, upon which
same idea: Sin, Salvation, and Service. Taking a closer      we take one step at a time, from misery, to deliver-
look at our Catechism we find that the emphasis does         ance, to gratitude. But in the measure that we know
not fall upon "these three things," but on the triple        o'ur misery, we also experience our deliverance, and
knowledge,  that I  ,know  these three things. Again,        thus can confess:
even that is not entirely correct. The idea is that I         i Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and all that is within me,
know how'great my sins and miseries are, that I know          I bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and
how  I may be delivered from my sins and miseries,              forget not all His benefits; who forgiveth all thine
and that I know lzow I shall express my thankfulness          iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases." Psalm
to God for that deliverance. The emphasis does not               103:1-3.
fall upon  me  and  my deliverance.  As important as
that deliverance is to me, that is not the most im-
portant thing in life. Though God were to punish me                                 NEW ADDRESS
in His sore displeasure, He would still be just and
good. The emphasis falls upon God. Come, hear what                                           LYNDEN
God has done unto my soul, how God shows mercy
upon me, delivers. me, and makes it possible for me to                        Mr. Sweitze Vander Meulen, Treasurer
                                                                              5366 Rock Road
show true thankfulness to Him for all His benefits to                         Sumas, Wa. 98295
me. Then I do not end up with what I do in Christian                          206-9884590
service  for  God, as a sort of remuneration for what
He has done for me, but I end up in thanking Him for
the privilege of being able to show true thankfulness           Mr. Andrew Van Den Top, Clerk          Rev. D.H.  Kuipey, Pastor
                                                              659 Loomis Trail Road                    317 North Park
in deeds of gratitude before His face.                        Lynden, Wa. 98264                        Lynden, Wa. 98264
  Thus we are taught to confess: "That I know how             206-354-3659                             206-354-4337
great my sins and miseries are." The believer does not
take a certain delight in probing into sin as such, no,


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   365


E D I T O R I A L
Prof. H. C. Hoeksema


                      Baptism on the Mission Field
                                                              (10)
  We are now ready to look at the Scripture passages                  only a hope (on the part of missionary and adherents)
from Acts which the Study Report cites as Scriptural                  that perhaps there will be a church and that perhaps
proof for its position. To refresh our memories, let us.              the baptism will eventually lead to membership in
quote the two paragraphs of this section of the report                that Protestant Reformed congregation - or in some
which refer to Acts:                                                  other true church. This is, in effect, the meaning of
       Exactly how the Lord intended the commands of                  "with a view to" in the Study Report. It is subjective
    Matthew 28 and Mark 16 and how the Church under-                  while the stipulation of our Form is objective.
    stood them, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is               My second observation is that the Study Report
    clearly indicated in the account of the missionary                produces not one iota of exegesis to back up its bold
    labor of the Church throughout the Book of Acts.
    The testimony of Acts is that the missionaries                    claim of indisputable." And let us remember that
    baptized on the mission field; that baptizing, along              the burden of proof is on the Study Committee, not
    with the preaching of the gospel, was part of their               on those who disagree or are unconvinced. In these
   missionary office; that the apostles and evangelists               two paragraphs the Study Report makes statements
   baptized where there was as yet no church institute                such as, "The testimony of Acts is . . .," "The prac-
    and that they did so with a view to instituting the               tice of the Church . . . is indisputable," "Acts 10:47,
    church. Passages include: Acts  2:38,41; Acts                     48 teaches . .  .," "Acts  16:15 and Acts  16:33
    8:12,13,16;  Acts  8:38;  Acts  9:18; Acts  10:47,48;             teach. . . ." But notice that the Report does not even
    Acts 16:14,15;  Acts 16:33;  Acts 18:8; Acts 19:5.           quote the passages, let alone give any explanation of
       The practice of the Church of baptizing as part of        the passages, show what in these passages proves their
    the missionary task, before the instituting of a.con-        point, or show that their assumed understanding of
    gregation is indisputable. Acts 10:47,48  teaches that       the passages is correct in the light of the context and
   Peter commanded Cornelius and his house to be                 in the light of the rest of Scripture. Isubmit that this
   baptized as soon as they believed and the Spirit was          is not the proper manner in which our churches in
   poured out on them. Acts  16:15  and Acts  16:33              their Synod should make a major change in a policy
   teach that Lydia and her household and the Philip-
   pian jailor and his household were baptized by the            of long standing regarding the administration of the
    apostles prior to the instituting of a church in             sacrament of baptism.  We must not jump to con-
   Philippi, as an element of the missionary task of.            clusions ,but must have our position based foursquare
   gathering a church.                                           on Scripture and the Confessions.
  First of all, let me make  some general observations                  In the second place, I wish to make some general
about this section of the Report. My first observation           remarks that have bearing on our exegesis and under-
is that the Report does not accurately state what it             standing of a historical book such as the book of
must prove. It must not merely prove that baptism                Acts. I have especially three remarks.
can  and did take place before the church was in-                       The first concerns the nature of historical accounts
stituted and where there was as yet no church in-                in Scripture. What I am writing here is true of all the
stitute. Nor must it merely prove that baptism. can              historical books, including Acts. Negatively, these
and did take place "with a view to instituting the               books are characterized by the fact that they do not
church." In the abstract, we may freely grant both of            furnish a complete historical account of what took
these possibilities  i although it is another question           place in. a certain place and over a certain span of
whether the passages in Acts show anything like this.            time. Many, many details may be omitted. What we
What the Report must prove is this: that baptism can             might deem important facts may be omitted. Often
and must take place where there is no instituted                 what we would like to know may be omitted. Thus,
church, where there will be no instituted church for a           for example, we call Acts the "Acts of the Apostles."
considerable time, and even when and where there                 But have you ever counted how many apostles are
may never be an instituted Protestant Reformed con-              not even so much as mentioned by name? Have you
gregation in a given locality. It must prove, further,           ever wondered what became of Peter and his work
that baptism can and must take place where there is              after the. last mention of him in Acts? Of Thomas? Of


 366                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


 Philip? Of Nathanael? Have you ever thought to your-        congregation in those places when baptism was
 self that it might, for the most part, better be called     administered, or immediately thereupon, i.e., estab-
 the "Acts of the Apostle Paul"? Have you ever               lished through the very baptism, which is, remember,
 noticed that large parts of Paul's labors are passed        the sacrament of incorporation into the church. This
 over with a verse or. two? For example, in Acts 20,         is erroneous reasoning on the part of the Study
just to use a casual example, we read in vss. 1, 2 that      Report.
Paul "departed for to go into Macedonia." What do
 we know of those labors? Only this: "And when he               But there is more.
had gone over those parts, and had given them much              My second observation is also connected with the
 exhortation, he came into Greece." And what do we           character of historical books  - this time, from a
know about his work in Greece at that time? Only             positive point of view. This point is that Scripture in
this: "And there abode three months." Or again, after        its historical accounts is both selective and purpose-
the account of the Ethiopian eunuch we read of               j&Z. That is, the Holy Spirit tells us in the infallible
Philip's mission tour in 8:40: "But Philip was found         record only what he wants to tell us, and He does so
at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the        for a very specific purpose. And it is the task of the
cities, till he came to Caesarea." Mind you, this was        exegete to take note of this selectivity and to discern
before Peter went to Cornelius at Caesarea. We are           from Scripture itself the purpose(s) of the narrative.
given no details concerning all this work (have you          Let me use an example from the book of Acts again.
ever looked up how many cities Philip might have             Acts, we may say in general, tells us the things which
evangelized between Azotus and Caesarea?) And                Jesus  continued  to do and to teach in distinction
later, much later, we find Philip the Evangelist still in    from what He began to do and to teach, 1: 1, But one
Caesarea - when Paul is on his way to Jerusalem after        of the specific purposes is to tell us how the gospel
his three missionary journeys, Acts  21:8, 9. Some-          and the church, after Pentecost, broke through the
times  - and the exegete must be on the alert for            national boundaries of Israel and Jewry and became
these - there are indirect and unexpected indications        catholic. If you study the narrative carefully, you will
that something has taken place that is not mentioned         discover that various events mesh, so to speak, to
in so many words. Have you ever wondered, for                achieve that goal. There is Philip and the Ethiopian
example, why the outward manifestation of the in-            eunuch; there is the persecution which caused the
dwelling of the Holy Spirit did not take place in every      gospel and the church to be spread everywhere, even
instance, but only certain ones? Have you ever               to Antioch; there is Peter's lesson in the vision of
wondered why in the case of Cornelius it took place          clean and unclean animals; there is the revelation to
before his baptism and why in the case of the saints         Cornelius and the subsequent request to Peter; there
in  Samaria it took place after their baptism? Ques-         is the conversion of Cornelius; there is Peter's report
tions to ponder for an exegete  - but often very             to the Jerusalem church; there is the conversion of
significant.                                                 Saul the persecutor to Paul the apostle to the
  One of the practical cautions for the exegete which        Gentiles; there is the separating of Paul and Barnabas
follows from the above fact is that the exegete must         at Antioch to be missionaries; there is the Spirit's
be extvelnely  careful with an argument from silence.        prohibition to preach in certain places of Asia Minor;
Just because Acts does not mention that a church was         there is the vision of the Macedonian man; and finally
established at Damascus does not mean that there was         there is the spread of the gospel to Europe. All of
no congregation there. Just because you do not read          these events are related, and there is a unified purpose
of the establishment of dozens of congregations by           in the narrative. And the exegete must look for this
Philip does not mean they were not established. Just         purpose in order to discern the truth of the Word of
because you do not read that they had  a,`congrega-          God. This is but one example. More specific examples
tional meeting in Philippi  does not mean there was no       can be found, also.
instituted congregation there for months and years            Now, what is the importance of this? This. The
after Paul's first visit there. Just because you do not      exegete must be extremely careful about drawing
read that Luke stayed behind when Paul left Philippi         conclusions from a given narrative which the narrative
does not mean he did not do so; and remember the             itself does not intend to be drawn. I am not saying
"we" narrative of Luke is interrupted at this point          that such incidental conclusions may never be drawn.
and not resumed for a long time. And so one could go         B:ut the student of Scripture must have good
on.                                                          exegetical grounds for drawing such a conclusion or
  This is an important point for the present dis-            lesson, and he must discern such lessons only in
cussion. The Study Report argues (by assumption, for         harmony with and in the context of the main line and
it does not exegete) that because in several instances       purpose of the narrative. That means that in the
you do not specifically read that the church was in-         Study Report we also have to face this question
stituted in a certain place, therefore there was no          (apart from various other questions): is it the purpose


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 367


of this narrative to teach us something about the            the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the 120 in the
specific question with which we are concerned in our         upper room. 2) It was also instituted in the persons of
Study Report? If so, how and on what grounds do,we           the apostles who had been commissioned directly by
reach this conclusion? As an illustration of what I          Christ. 3) It might even be argued that they held a
mean, let me refer to what Abraham Kuyper said in            congregational meeting when they chose Matthias as a
one of my earliest quotations from his Dogmatics. He         replacement for Judas Iscariot - whether or not that
makes the point that baptism must take place in the          meeting was premature. 4) If the church was not
midst of the congregation. Then he mentions that             present on Pentecost Day, then on whom was the
Roman Catholics, arguing against this, appeal to the         Holy Spirit poured out? Surely, the Holy Spirit, as
example of the eunuch and the jailer at Philippi. But        the Spirit of Christ, came to dwell in the chtwch   on
his reply is that this is a faulty argument, and'that the    Pentecost  Day, not simply in a mass of individual
point of these examples is not what the Roman                believers. 5) Vs. 41 speaks of 3000 souls being
Catholics claim, but this, that baptism without the          "added" when they were baptized. To whom were
presence of faith (praesentia fidelium) is not possible.     they added, but to the church of Jerusalem? 6) Vs.
  This brings me to my third observation, namely,            47 speaks specifically of the fact that "the Lord
that we must remember in connection with the his-            added to the church daily such as should be saved."
torical books that not everything which is written in          In Acts 8: 1-25 (the Report mentions vss. 12, 13,
them is  nonnative  for our  .life and for the life and      16) is the account of the establishment of the church
conduct of the church today. This is one of the dif-         at  Samaria, as well as the spread of the church to
ferences between, say, a historical book and an              many villages of the Samaritans. Again, I can find no
epistle. When the apostle exhorts in Philippians 2: 12,      support for the position of the Study Report. There
"Work out your own salvation with fear and trem-             are several factors to be considered here: 1) Is it not
bling," that is normative for our conduct today.             correct to understand that the effect of the persecu-
When the book of Acts records that the Deacon                tion "against the church which was at Jerusalem" was
Philip also preached as an Evangelist, that is not           exactly the spread of the church to many places, in-
normative for deacons today, I assure you. Or when it        cluding Samaria? 2) Must we understand that Philip
tells US that the deacons waited on tables, that is not      went to' the city of Samaria all alone? Or is it possible
normative for our conduct today. The historical              and likely in the light of vs. 1 that more, perhaps a
books infallibly record  history,   but this does not        good many, of the Jerusalem church members went
mean that every single action of yesteryear is also an       to  Samaria, and that Philip was not the only saint
infallible example for our conduct. Philip baptized          in Samaria prior to that mass conversion? 3) Does not
the eunuch when they came to water; does that                this narrative show exactly that through baptism (the
authorize us to baptize under such circumstances?            sacrament of incorporation into the church) the
Paul and Silas baptized the  jailor in his house; this       church was actually established in Sarnaria? Note:
does not mean that we today baptize in private               this is more specific than the Study Report's baptism
homes. Again, a determination of such things.must be         "with a view to . . ." 4) Is this not confirmed by the
made in the light of Scripture before conclusions are        significant fact that in this case the Holy Ghost fell
drawn.                                                       on them  after  their baptism in connection with the
  But now let us turn to specific passages. I do not         visit of Peter and John? Because they were Samari-
intend to exegete all these passages in detail; that was     tans (previously thought by the Jews to be excluded;
the task of the Study Report. I will, however, try to        remember that at one time John wanted to call down
point out certain key facts which must be considered,        fire on Samaritans?) it was necessary both for them-
as well as to point out certain items which, in my           selves and for the Jerusalem church, including the
opinion, the Study Report ignores in making the              apostles; to have this confirmatory evidence of the
claim that these passages prove their position.              Holy Ghost, so that it might be known and seen by
  Acts  2:38, 41 is part of the narrative concerning         divine evidence that this was indeed the church and
Pentecost Day. Vs. 38 reads: "Then Peter said unto           that these Samaritan-outsiders were indeed baptized
them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in            into the church. I understand the reference to be not
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and      to the Spirit Himself; they already were under the
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." And            influence of the Spirit or they could not believe. The
verse 41 reads: "Then they that gladly received' his         reference is to the outward and visible manifestation
word were baptized: and the same day there were              of the Spirit.
added unto them about three thousand souls." It                Next is the example of the Ethiopian eunuch, Acts
seems to me that this passage proves nothing for the         8:26-39, who was baptized by Philip upon profession
Study Report, in the light of the following: 1) The          of faith, vss. 36-39. Concerning this example: 1)  It
church at Jerusalem was already represented before           should be `noted that the narrative drops the account


368                                            THE  STANDARD,BE&RER


of the eunuch with the words, ". . . and he went on           however, is the fact that the missionary in this in-
his way rejoicing." In other words, we know nothing,          stance, Peter, had tangible evidence that, as our Form
absolutely nothing, about what became of the eunuch           puts it, the Lord was making his work fruitful unto
after this. 2) If this silence of Scripture is intended by    the gathering of the church in that place. What was
the Study Report as proof of its position, it proves          that evidence? The remarkable fact that while Peter
too much. For on this basis, it cannot ,even be proved        was busy speaking the Holy Ghost fell on all them
that this was baptism "with a view to" instituting the        that heard the Word. This again refers to the tangible,
church. 3) We do know, however, that the eunuch               visible evidences of the Spirit. But remember that
was not a man who spurned his connection with the             where the Spirit is poured out, there the church is;
church prior to this. For vs. 27 informs us that he had       for the Spirit of Christ is given only to His church.
made his long journey to Jerusalem "for to worship."          Hence, the Lord was saying in effect: "Here in this
4) Apart from all this, and apart from the fact that          Gentile household I am gathering My church." Small
Scripture is completely silent - one way or the other         wonder that Peter,  then,, commanded that they
- as to the after-history of this eunuch, we must not         should be baptized.
overlook the fact that here was an unusual case.
Philip was made to meet this eunuch by direct revela-          ' In Acts  16:9-40 we find the account of the first
tion, vs.  26.. By the same direct revelation, vs. 29,        preaching of the gospel in Europe, in a colony city,
Philip was told to join him in his chariot. I would say       Philippi, where there was apparently not even a
that if we today were guided by the same direct reve-         Jewish synagogue. In this context we find two in-
lation to baptize such an individual, there could be no       stances mentioned by the Study Report: the baptism
hesitation. But such direct revelation there is not.          of Lydia and her household, vs. 15, and the baptism
And to make this instance normative with respect to           of the  jailor and his household, vs. 34. The Study
the issues of the Study Report has no foundation.             Report claims that there was no church at Philippi. I
                                                              call attention to the following: 1) That again there
   As to the baptism of Saul at Damascus, Acts 9: 18,         was direct revelation (the vision of the Macedonian
the following: 1) How does this qualify as baptism on         man) behind the preaching of Paul and Silas at
the mission field? From every indication in the               Philippi. 2) That we obviously do not have a com-
chapter, it is evident that the church was already in         plete and detailed account of all the work at Philippi.
Damascus. There was a publicly known group of dis-            The account is given only from the viewpoint of three
ciples in the city - whom Saul originally intended to         persons : Lydia, the soothsaying damsel, and the
persecute, and with whom Saul stayed certain days             jailor. Besides, when Paul. first preached, he preached
while in Damascus. Ananias was one of them and was            unto the women who gathered at the riverside: But
directly commissioned by the Lord to baptize Saul.            before he left, he and Silas saw the  brethren  and
2) Surely, no one would question whether Saul was             comforted them,  vs.40. 3) That Luke apparently
joined to the church through his very baptism. 3)             stayed behind in Philippi. The "we" narrative ends
,There was no missionary labor in any ordinary sense          here. Luke reappears in Philippi  in Chapter 20:5 ff.,
of the word at all in the conversion of Saul. It was the      at the beginning of the second "we" section of Acts.
Lord Jesus Himself Who turned Saul miraculously on            One commentator suggests that Luke was the "true
his way to Damascus. And at the end of the process,           yokefellow" mentioned in Philippians 4:3. 4) That in
Ananias very briefly conveys the message, heals Saul,         all likelihood the congregation of Philippi  was estab-
and immediately baptizes him.                                 lished at the time of this first visit of Paul. This is in
   In Acts 10 we find the remarkable narrative of             harmony with the general work-method of the
Cornelius, and the Study Report refers to two verses,         apostle; he did not leave a place until the fruits of his
47 and 48, which refer to the baptism of Cornelius            labors became evident. The narrative, of course, does
and his household. But the Study Report does not              not say in so many words that a church was estab-
show how this proves the point. It makes the factual          lished, nor that it was not established. But as I in-
statement, to which anyone will agree: "Acts 10:47,           dicated, there was a community of "brethren" by the
48 teaches that Peter commanded Cornelius and his             time Paul left - even though only certain women, a
house to be baptized as soon as they believed and the         woman, a damsel, and one man are specifically men-
Spirit was poured out on them." But do not overlook           tioned. And let me add that this is not only my per-
the following facts: 1) Again, there was a remarkable         sonal view, but also that of several reputable com-
chain of direct revelation by vision to Cornelius and         mentators on Acts. But, you see, if this is true, then
to Peter lying behind this baptism. 2) There is ab-           these baptisms were not merely "with a view to" the
solutely no proof that there was not already a church         instituting of a congregation. No, they were baptisms
in Caesarea, through Philip's prior labor, Acts 8:40,         into  the church; and through these baptisms of
and that Cornelius and his household were joined to           heathen Gentiles the church was formed at Philippi.
that congregation.  !3) What is of most significance            In Acts 18:8 is one verse in the account of Paul's


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     369


labors at Corinth. The narrative about Corinth em-             As to Acts 19: 5, the following: 1) It is at least
braces vss. 1-18. We may notice the following: 1)           possible that vs. 5 does not even refer to any act of
Again, as so many times, Scripture says nothing either,     baptism. If it does, then it is a re-baptism. Rev,.,, H.
way about the formal organization of the church at          Hoeksema is of the view that no baptism took place
Corinth. 2) We must remember that Paul personally,          at this time.  Triple Knowledge,  II, 475, 476;.  Re-
though a missionary par excellence, did not think it        formed Dogmatics,  671,672. 2) No proof is offered
important that he baptize. He baptized only a very          by the Study Report that there was not already an
few at Corinth - though many believed and though            infant congregation in Ephesus. Apollos, Aquila, and
the Lord had much people there. Did Silas  ,and             Priscilla all preceded Paul at Ephesus. There was also
Timothy do the baptizing? This is a possibility; but        a known and recognized group of disciples there. Acts
then the Corinthians could still claim to have been         18: 24-28, Acts 19:9.
baptized in the name of Paul, I Cor. 1: 13, in'the light       Finally, a few words about the last part of this
of their close association with Paul. But if not, there     section of the Report. It speaks of the reason for the
must have been others who were qualified to baptize         apostolic practice. In general, I can agree with this
- which would lead to the conclusion that very soon         section. I wish, however, that it was more precise on
there was a congregation at Corinth and office-bearers      the following counts: 1) Baptism is strictly a second-
who could baptize. 3) It seems likely that a con-           ary means of grace. 2) Baptism has no meaning and
gregation was established in the house of  Justus,          no significance apart from the preaching of the Word.
which became Paul's center of labors after he left the      It is a `sign and seal of the promise of the gospel,
synagogue, vss. 6, 7. If so, the "many" who were            added to the promise. 3) Baptism, therefore, is not a
baptized were again not merely baptized "with a view        means of the Spirit to save the elect in the same sense
to" the instituting of a congregation while there was       as the pieaching. 4) Baptism, in the view of Reformed
no guarantee whatsoever that a congregation would           churches, has never been considered 
ultimately be formed. But they were baptized                                                                indispensable,
                                                   into     though ordinarily required.5) Baptism does not mere-
the church. Their baptism was the sacrament of their        ly serve so that a repentant sinner 
incorporation into the church. 4) And thereafter,                                                      `<can  be a member
                                                            of the church institute,"
Paul continued to labor for a long time at Corinth,                                        as the Report puts it. That is
                                                            only possibility. No, by baptism one 
because the Lord assured him He had "much people"                                                        is incorporated
                                                            into the church.
there, vss. 9-l 1.

Correspondence and Reply

                        OPENLETTERTOTHEEDITOROFTHESTANDARDBEARER



Esteemed Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
Editor-in-Chief of the Standard Bearer
Greetings in the Lord, Jesus Christ.                        Consistory  of the calling church?" Your editorials do
   It would please me much to be granted a little           not address tlzemselves  to this point.
space in the S.B. to state my considered opinion con-          It seems to me that this cardinal point should not
cerning your "editorials" on "Baptism On The Mis-           be glossed over nor lost from view shall the discussion
sion Field." Thanks!                                        be fruitful, meaningful. The illustrious authors which
   Let me come directly to the point. I believe that        you quote (Bavinck, Calvin, Hodge,  Berkhof) don't
you have not addressed yourself to the document             address themselves to the point raised by Rev.
written by Rev. R.C. Harbach to the Mission Com-            Harbach at all. They were writing their "Dogmatics"
mittee, dated May 23, 1975. (Acts of Synod, 1976,           and not principles and guidelines for the Mission
page 111) Instead you. have gone rather far afield to       field in a given situation!
show that baptism may only  be. administered in                One thing more. My name has been mentioned in
Christ's Name  in  an organized church. However,            your Editorials, in passing, in quoting the decision of
Rev. Harbach, holding to that point, asked the ques-        the Synod of 1956. Ironically as it may seem, the
tion, underscoring it, "May the sacrament of bap tisrn      baptism referred to by the 1956 Synod took place in
be administered on the Mission Field in an un-              an organized congregation, under the auspices of the
organized congregation, but under the auspices of the       Consistory of Loveland, where I was Missionary, and


 370                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


in a sense, "on loan." The Congregation at Loveland,         do take the position that we may not baptize before
a Reformed Church, was received into our fellowship          the Lord makes a missionary's work fruitful unto the
in Classis West, without being re-organized and a new        gathering of a church, as the Form puts it. The con-
Protestant Reformed Consistory being chosen. They            crete issue is whether baptism may take place on the
were received finally into our church by the fiat of         mission field long before there is organization or any
the Synod of 1958. (Acts of Synod, 1958, pages               hope of organization, and even where possibly there
86-99) Incidentally, Mr. Editor, you were on the             will be no organization. That was the concrete case at
Committee of Pre-advice to receive Loveland as a con-        Houston, I remind you, when this question arose. My
gregation!                                                   position, as I trust I have made clear, is that baptism
   No one seeks to maintain a baptism apart from the         on the mission field may indeed take place - and this
organized church.  Perhaps this point has not been           is more necessary on the heathen field than the home
sufficiently stated by the Committee which you have          field  - when the work has progressed to that point
been criticizing at such great length.                       that a congregation is ready to be formed. At that
                                                             point especially, adults are baptized into the con-
                           Cordially,                        gregation that is formed.
                           Your brother in Christ,
                           Rev. G. Lubbers                     4. I am well aware that most of the men I quoted
                                                             in my separate articles on "Reformed Thought On
                        REPLY                                Baptism" were writing their dogmatics. I will insist,
                                                             however, that: a) Dogmatic principles may also be
Amice fraterque:                                             valid with respect to mission work, and may also be
   Thank you for your letter. My reply is as follows:        applied to it. b) That in several instances these quota-
   1. I believe that in dealing with the Study Report        tions dealt directly with Scripture passages at stake in
in my editorials I have also touched on every point          this discussion. c) That in at least one instance (Dr.
brought up in Rev. Harbach's document to which you           Bavinck) direct reference was made to the question of
refer.                                                       baptism on the mission field. d) That we must be
                                                             careful that we do not dogmatically create a cleavage
   2. As I pointed out in one of my editorials there is      between the home church and the mission field.
a fundamental flaw in Rev. Harbach's thesis. An "un-         Dogmatic principles (if they are true) are valid any
organized congregation" is, to me, a non-entity  -           time and anywhere.
what the Dutch calls an onding.  If it is unorganized, it
is not a congregation; and if it is a congregation, it is      5. Indeed I was present both at the Synod of 1958
organized.                                                   and that of 1956, and thankful that I had a part in
                                                             them. I promised that I would discuss the decision of
   3. If you will take the time to review what I have        1956 which the Study Report rejects. I must reserve
written, you will discover that what you say of my           that treatment, however, for the June 1 issue.
thesis is not correct: I do  not  take the position that                                  Cordially, in Christ,
baptism can only take place in an organized church. I                                     HCH

THE DAY OF SHADOWS



                       Laughing with Confidence
                                                 Rev. John A. Heys

  "And the Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and            Abraham and Sarah, this is a statement that is always
the Lord did unto Sarah as He had spoken."                   true. God always does exactly as He has said that He
  These words, which may be found in Genesis 21: 1,          will do, and events of which we see and hear are
speak volumes. God did as He had said. He said that          always exactly [he thing which He has spoken. Today
He would visit Sarah, and He did. He promised to give        - and until all that which He has said will come to
Abraham a son through aged Sarah, and He did as He           pass has become fact and history - He is doing as He
had spoken.                                                  said; and through the ages whatever happened did
  We do well to bear in mind that although we read           take place because God said it would.
this of God here in a particular incident in the life of       This does not mean that we have a record in the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                371


  Scriptures, or anywhere else, in regard to all that            Here is comfort for the child of God who puts his
  which transpires in time, and that all occurs exactly       trust in this mighty and glorious God of our salvation.
  as that record states it will take place. The Scriptures    The cry rises ever more strongly as we rush to the end
  would have to be bigger than the universe of which          of time, "Give us something practical and much less
  they would speak. A speck of dust takes little room, a      doctrine!" In a catechism class some years ago a
  whole lot less than the five-letter word we use for it.     young  ,man asked me after class, when we had a
  And in far less time than it takes for you and me to        lesson on the names of God, "Why do we have to
  state that this speck of dust flitted from one point on     learn all these names of God and what they mean?"
  the table to another, it is there. It does mean that        Well, the answer is quite evident: "Our comfort, and
  what the. three Persons in the Holy Trinity decreed         in fact our trust in God goes hand in hand with our
  among themselves, in the silence of eternity, would         knowledge of who, how, and what God is." Know
  happen in time, happens exactly that way. It means          Him as the One Who does as He says, the One upon
  that the promises and predictions we do find in Scrip-      Whom we can rely completely, in Whom we can
  ture are fulfilled in every respect exactly as God told     safely put all our trust, and our faith in Him will be
  us they would become fact.                                  strong. There is no faith to practice, if we do not
    Men try to keep their word when it suits them.            know Him as He truly is.
  And when they do we say that they are honest men.
  We call them trustworthy and men of their word. In             And wonderful as this truth is in all its broad im-
  fact we even read in Psalm 15 :4 that this is one of the    plications, these words in the first verse of the
  signs of those that will dwell with God in His house of     chapter, have tremendous force and meaning for all
  heavenly. glory. We read, after the question, "Who          that follows in the chapter. Sarah does conceive in
  shall abide in Thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in Thy       her old age. The humanly impossible event takes
  holy hill?" This answer among others, "He that              place. The dead bring forth life. The covenant seed
  sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not."                that seemed so impossible is there as big as life, and
    But this is so difficult for man most of the time.        the other promises of seed as the sand upon the sea-
  He may intend to keep his word, but he depends              shore, inheriting the land of promise, and a con-
  upon God. And when God has decreed that this                tinuation of the covenant line all now seem so pos-
  promise of man, this intention of man shall not be          sible and sure. And these words of God's power and
  fulfilled and realized, there is nothing that man can       faithfulness must also be borne in mind when in the
  do about it. In fact he cannot even say that he is          chapter we read of the persecution of that covenant
  going to do a particular work unless God gives him          seed by Ishmael and the difficult calling of Abraham
  the breath of life to state it. Only when God has said      to send Ishmael away. For as true as it is that God
to Himself in the silence of eternity that this or that       keeps His Word and does as He has spoken, it is true
 is going to take place in this history of mankind do         that we must not ignore that word or try to break it.
  the things which men decide  .and proclaim as their         Instead we must learn to submit to what He has said
 intent take place.                                           and to receive what He sends in meek submission
    With no such dependent, changeable creature do            with unshaken trust in Him. It is so easy to close our
 we have to do in the matter of our salvation and             ears to what He said, or to rebel against it and even
 when we speak of the God in Whom we put our trust.           foolishly to try to make it so that what He has said
 As He said He will do. What He spoke in His Word He          will not take place. Our prayers often reveal this to be
  still speaks today, and at the appointed time every         the case; and we can so quickly - also when, as He
 promise and prediction will be fulfilled at the split        said, He sends wars and rumors of wars  - pray for
 second He has picked for it, and in exactly the way          Him to change so that things round about us can
 that He has determined and declared to us. He Who            change. We quickly follow our flesh and forget or
 said that He would visit Sarah and spoke to Abraham          ignore the fact that in order to do what He said these
 and promised a son through Sarah is Jehovah. That            wars and rumors of wars must be here so that His
 name of God Moses uses here in Genesis 21: 1, and            Son's way may be prepared and that Son may come
 uses it twice. And in that name God stands before us         again as He had said and had spoken throughout the
 as the eternal, unchangeable I AM. What is more, He          day of shadows.
 can say I am  - rather than I Was, or I Will Be  -             But, to return to the first part of this chapter and
 because He is the Self-Sufficient One, the Inde-             these words with which it begins, here you have the
 pendent One Who has all His life in Himself and needs        gospel of the Old Testament. Here you have the
 no one or anything outside of Himself. And being the         Gospel according to Moses. That is correct. We have
 Almighty He has all of the creation which He made at         the Gospel According to Matthew, the Gospel Accord-
 His constant command to use to fulfill every word            ing to Mark, the Gospel According to Luke and the
 that He has spoken and every decree He has eternally         Gospel According to John in the New Testament. In
 in Himself.                                                  the Old Testament here we do have the gospel accord-


372                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


ing to Moses. In that one-sentence wherewith Moses            also that Sarah states now in Genesis 21:6, "God hath
begins Genesis 21 we have the good news of salvation          made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with
in Christ.                                                    me."
   Consider a moment three words which God had                  The laughter of Sarah after and at the birth of her
spoken thus far in the history of His church and in           son, Isaac, is one which all God's people have, the
the unfolding of His covenant. (1) He had promised            laughter, the joy of the good news, the glad tidings of
seed to the woman that would hate the whole  king-            great`joy that shall be to all people. The birth of Isaac
dom of sin and would crush it in due time. Genesis            is, the birth of Christ, Who brings spiritual, unending
3: 15. (2) In Isaac would that seed be called. In the         laughter and heavenly joy to all the seed of the
line of his descendants would The Seed come Who               woman. Isaac's birth in the day of shadows is a sure
would by His cross and through His Spirit realize this        word of God that, when the Sun of Righteousness
hatred of sin and love of God and would triumph               appears in Bethlehem to dispel all the shadows and
over the forces of evil for us, to give the death blow        bring us the Light, we shall all laugh and sing and
by crushing its head in that day of His glorious return       shout for joy as He also said in so many passages of
at the end of time. (3) Sarah would bring forth this          the Old Testament Scriptures. The Psalms particularly
Isaac - Sarah the woman with whom it ceased to be             are so full of it that it is only necessary to make the
after the manner of women, Sarah who had always               statement and not endlessly quote the passages. And
been barren, Sarah who had an husband who by this             the prophets also are full of this truth, and they
time also was sexually as good as dead. The word of           spoke what God said. Therefore, what they write is
God said that she would be the mother of this seed            true and will come to pass.
that in time will bring forth The Seed, which is               I There is quite a difference between this laughter
Christ. Galatians 3 : 16. What a history there is - all as    and the laughter of Sarah when she first heard of the
God had said - between Genesis 3 : 15, the so-called          promise of a son, for then she did not take hold by
Mother Promise, and Galatians 3 : 16! But there it all        faith of the words that God had said. But now she
is with the birth of Isaac and then of Christ together        does, and although she could not see what we now
with His death, resurrection, ascension, and presently        see (being in the shadows while we live in the days
 His return to complete all that which God had said.          after the true Light, which lighteth every man that
   Surely here we have the gospel. There is good news         cometh into the world, has been born) she does speak
because God does as He said. There are glad tidings of        of a joy and laughter which all who hear of this will
great joy because God keeps His word. Upon Him                have.
you can depend. The good news which He gives never              All who hear by faith, all who hear in their hearts,
has a bitter aftertaste. It becomes sweeter as the years      all who hear  God  tell this story, all that hear of the
go by, and in the everlasting day of rest that comes          birth of Isaac in its implications for the church of
His mercies will be new every morning.                        God, will laugh and do laugh with Sarah today. And
   What is more, God Himself has labelled  this as the        when, according to what God has said, this Son shall
gospel. He had told Abraham before the conception             come again, there shall be no sorrow or crying, all
of the child, before Sarah had laughed upon hearing           tears will be wiped away, and at God's right hand
that she would yet bring forth a son, that his name           there are pleasures forever more for all the seed of the
should be called Isaac. That we read in Genesis 17: 19,       woman.
"And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son             Can we be sure?
indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will
establish My covenant with him for an everlasting               `Yes, the Lord visited as He said, and He did as He
covenant, and with his seed after him." And that              had spoken.
name Isaac means "laughter." It is for that reason              `God's people laugh with confidence.


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                                               T HE S T A N D A R D BEAR E R                                         373


GUEST ARTICL.E



                    .Is Drama -.a Legitimate Means
                                to  Convey the  :Truth?
                                                   Rev. W. Bekkering


  Drama is a sin that continues to plague the people            of Christ and the writing of the Scriptures, one may
of God from year to year and from generation to                 wonder why the Scriptures are not more explicit in
generation. There is more drama in the world today'             condemnation of this sinful pagan practice. I think
than ever before, and yet less and less it is pointed           that the Scripture stands in sharp condemnation of
out and warned against as a sin to be avoided. We               drama. Paul tells us in I Cor.  1:22 that "the Greeks
have become strangely silent about drama. Perhaps               seek after wisdom." That wisdom of the Greeks was
the reason for that is that most of us have in our              manifested by their philosophers, poets, dramatists,
homes television sets with which we watch drama,                and polished orators. That wisdom was the wisdom of
and if we condemn drama we condemn ourselves. It                the world. Paul says in I Cor. 2: 1 & 4, "And I, breth-
seems that we are willing to let the issue of drama die         ren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of
so that our "sacred cow" can live.                              speech  ;or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testi-
  Drama is certainly nothing new. In fact, "the story           mony of God. And my speech and my preaching was
of these dramas goes back at least to 3200 B.C., and            not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
the content of the Pyramid Texts seems to indicate              demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Why did
that it may be extended as far back as 4000 B.C. As a           Paul take that position? Because God had rejected
matter of fact, Herodotus, 5th century B.C. Greek               drama as a means to save His people. The Greeks in
historian, asserts that the Dionysiac festival was trans-       their wisdom could have argued that there was no
ferred from Eygpt to Attica, and it is certainly out of         more effective means to convey a message than
this festival that the drama arose in Greece. In any            through drama. But God had a better way. We find in
case, whether the drama itself, or merely the festival          I Cor. 1:21, "For after that in the wisdom of God the
from which it arose, came from Egypt or was spon-               world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by
taneously recreated by the Greeks, the drama seems              the  fo!olishness of preaching to save them that
to have originated in religious tribal dances such as           believe. 7'
exist among primitive peoples today. The first crude               The church through the ages has reprobated drama;
dramas, whether Egyptian or Greek, told stories and             but now some churches, think that drama can serve as
legends of some god, having originated in rites of wor-         a legitimate means to convey the truth of God's
ship held in the god's honor." (Encyc. Americana,               Word.  Not only are the people of God confronted
1949 vol. 9, p. 304) From the above quotation we                with drama from the world with its television,
can see that drama has its origin in pagan tribal               movies,' and live stage productions, but also in the
dances in honor of idol gods. Drama was developed to            church ,and in Christian schools. Churches have of-
a high degree in the pagan civilization of the Great            fered various pageants, and morality plays. Christian
Empire of Greece. Drama reached its "golden age" in             high schools have regularly sponsored dramatic pre-
Greece nearly 500 years before Christ under men                 sentations with their class plays. Christian grade
such as Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.), Sophocles (c.                 schools have also presented various plays and oper-
496-406 B.C.) and Euripides (485-406 B.C.). After               ettas. Parents who send their children to a member
the decline of Greek dominion, drama was revived by.            school of the National Union Of Christian Schools
the Romans, "and during the final phase of the West-            usually find that they use the "Revelation-Response"
ern Roman Empire, which fell in 476 A.D., a vulgar              Bible Curriculum. This curriculum employs drama as
and frequently obscene form of theatrical entertain-            a method of presenting lessons from the Bible.
ment called the `mime' became popular." (Encyc:                    This situation places us squarely before the ques-
Am., 1949 vol. 9, p. 306)                                       tion, "Is drama a legitimate means to convey the
  Since drama was present and active during~the  time           truth?" .If it is, then the main concern of the child of


374                                           THE  STANdARD  BEARER



God is to discern between "good drama" and "bad            art. 37). The fact is that by impersonating someone
drama." If the situation is thus, then we ought to         else one does not escape his responsibility before God
have movie and theater reviews in the  Standard            for the things that he says or does. If a man becomes
Beaver, along with a television viewing guide, so that     drunken and goes out and kills another person, is not
we are enabled to make use of the good and reject the      that person responsible before God for his `deed? He
bad: If drama as to its form is permissible, then our      certainly is! He is doubly responsible. First for dis-
main concern is whether or not the content is pre-         regarding God's command concerning drunkenness,
sented according to the Word of God as interpreted in      and secondly for murder. If a man wants to partici-
our Reformed Standards.                                    pate in drama, either by watching or acting, -he vio-
   To my mind the question of drama stands or falls        lates God's command to be temperate, which carries
here. I take the position at this point that drama is      the meaning from the orginal Greek of "self-control."
per se wrong, and that the question of "good drama"        Thayer in his  Greek Lexicon  defines "temperate" as
or "bad drama" is irrelevant. Drama is not a proper        "The virtue of one who masters his desires and pas-
means of presenting the Truth!                             sions, especially his sensual appetites." Temperance
                                                           or self-control, which is a fruit of the Spirit, is con-
  The fundamental error in drama is impersonation.         trasted in Gal. 5 to the works of the flesh. Part of the
Impersonation is defined as assuming or acting the         list of the works of the flesh in Gal. 5 reads: "envy-
person or character of another. Impersonation can be       ing, murders,, drunkenness, revelling and such like"
distinguished from imitation. To imitate means "to         (verse  21.). Secondly, the man who participates in
follow as a model, pattern, or example; to copy or         drama becomes partaker in the acts which he portrays
endeavor to copy in acts, manner, or other wise."          and therefore responsible for them. The command of
Imitation is a good and important means of learning        God to His people is to be in control of one's self at
to walk in the ways of God's truth. Children learn by      all times; and one does not do that with drama.
imitating parents, teachers, and their pastor, These in    Drama has an intoxicating influence on a person, and
turn must be careful to imitate God so as to be good       he does not remain in control of his whole being.
examples for the children. The Word of God calls us
to follow examples of godliness. The word "follow"           : Someone may argue that this would hold true for
in the texts cited below means to imitate or mimic. In     the acting part of drama, but not for the watching
II Thes. 3:7 we read: "For yourselves know how ye          part. But we deceive ourselves if we think that we can
ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves dis-      remain objectively detached from the drama. Say, for
orderly among you"; In III John 11 we read: "Be-           example, you walk into the room and your children
loved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is    are watching drama on television. You are annoyed,
good." We can see from this that imitation is not per      but you sit down at a distance to judge it. Soon you
se wrong, but commanded by God and therefore is to         move in a little closer. Next, you are telling the chil-
be distinguished from impersonation.                       dren to quit talking. Quickly the hour is gone. Drama
  Impersonation is the main element in dramatic pre-       has a way of moving a person from one mood to
sentations. For drama to be successful and effective       another and carrying him along from one emotion to
the actor must suppress, as much as possible, his own      the next until that person is rapt by the drama. That
God-given personality and enter into the thoughts,         is' the intoxicating power of drama. The lie of the
moods, feelings, and actions of the person he is por-      devil is that you can handle it; and if you believe that
traying. The same is true for those watching. They         lie he will soon have you eating out of his foul hand.
too must "give" themselves, heart, mind, and soul to         `One may agree at this point that the drama of the
the drama, if they are going to "go through" the           world is wrong, but still maintain that drama could be
experiences being enacted.                                 a legitimate means to convey the truth. If we only act
  A child of God may not put aside or suppress his         out biblical themes, then drama can be used in
own personality which God gave him. Rather he must         churches, and in school programs and plays, and in
live honestly before the face of God in thankfulness       textbooks for covenant children. Or someone may
and obedience, and do that through his own  God-           object that little church and school plays are so in-
given personality. To do otherwise and to imperson-        nocent and harmless that we need not take a hard line
ate, is fundamentally a lie. A lie cannot be and is not    with respect to them. The truth is that drama is
a proper vehicle to present the truth. The end does        wrong in any form and that we must flee from it and
not justify the means.                                     teach our children to do so from little on.
  God calls us to a life of absolute responsibility          Would you like to have your child assigned the role
before Him so that "all men shall give an account of       of Cain, Esau, Pharaoh, Pilate,  Herod, or even of
every idle word they have spoken, which the world          Satan, and be urged to impersonate or even to imitate
only counts amusement and jest." (Belgic Confession,       one of these wicked persons?


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 375


  One may object that I have chosen the worst exam-        equally,as wrong as drama. Parents must supervise not
ples. Let's then choose the example of Jesus Christ.       only what their children read but also how they read.
Could one-may one-act the life and deeds of the per-       We must control ourselves and imitate the best things.
fect and sinless Son of God? Could one who is a
corrupt sinner stand in the place of the Sinless One?        We must look for and live in the fruits of the Spirit
Blasphemy! Choose another exampie.  Have a dramat-         in our own lives. We must not do that in an unnatural
ic portrayal of the life of the apostle Paul. He has a     or artificial way, which yields no true fruit of the Spir-
dramatic history. Depict him in his murder, blasphe-       it, but only a make-believe fruit. The point is that our
my, and persecution of the church. Then show his           struggle, to live our lives before the face of our God is
sudden dramatic conversion. Then follow his labors as      a serious matter, and not something to be played
a missionary, filled with moving events. In such a         with. That is true with respect to the acting out the
presentation, who would stand on the fore, Paul or         lives of either believers or unbelievers.
our Lord Jesus Christ? You know that the only point
and purpose would be to make of Paul some `sort of a         In the case of acting out the sins of an unbeliever,
saintly hero and at bottom to glorify man. Yet Paul        one plays sin or plays with sin, and that, of course,
himself emphasizes time and again that he is nothing       we may not do. We must ourselves have a proper
and that Christ is all. Paul has determined to know        biblical view of our own sins first of all. That will lead
nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and         us to hate sin and flee from it in ourselves and in
Paul says that he counts all things as loss for the        others. Secondly, the acting out the life of a believer
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.      leads one to have an unreal or superficial view of
"Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye     God's sovereign and gracious work in His people.
now made perfect by the flesh?" chides Paul in Gal.          We pray "And lead us not into temptation, but
3:3. Drama is a work of the flesh, and the wisdom of       deliver us from evil"; and the Heidelberg Catechism,
the world. Are we now going to use it to be made           in Lord's Day 52, interprets that to mean that "since
perfect?                                                   we are so weak in ourselves, that we cannot stand a
  Another objection that is often raised is that there     moment; and besides this, since our mortal enemies,
is no difference between reading a dramatic novel and      the devil, the world, and our own flesh, cease not to
seeing the book enacted. There is, however, a differ-      assault us: do Thou, therefore, preserve and strength-
ence. Reading, of course, is not in itself wrong. The      en us by the power of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may
Word of God admonishes us to read and study books.         not be overcome in this spiritual warfare; but con-
With reading it is much easier to maintain the neces-      stantly and strenuously may resist our foes, until at
sary objectivity and self-control. That does not mean,     last we obtain a complete victory." We must recog-
however, that there are no restrictions on what God's      nize our own weaknesses and sin and not attempt to
people may read. For example, a child of God may           stand in our own strength but pray God for His grace
not pick up a trashy and sensuous novel and "give"         and Holy Spirit to stand against sin and thus to
himself to it without self-control. That would be          glorify His name.

MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE


            Letter to the Members  ,of the Church
                                       at Philadelphia
                                        May 15,1977
Dear Timothy,                                              profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself
  We were discussing in these letters some practical       rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth
aspects of the minister's calling in relation to his       little: but godliness is profitable unto all things,
congregation, especially as Paul comments on these         having promise of the life that now is, and of that
things in I Timothy 4. I want to continue this dis-        which is to come."
cussion in this letter, for Paul has more things to say      It is rather interesting that Paul contrasts our call-
which are profitable to us.                                ing with respect to exercising unto godliness with
  In this letter I want especially to discuss with you     refusing profane and old wives' fables. He apparently
some of the implications of vss 7  & 8: "But refuse        means that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to


3 7 6                                           THE  STANDARD.BEARER


exercise unto godliness unless we make a special point      happened to his family after God took him to heaven,
of refusing these fables of which he speaks.                whether he was takea-in the sight of his friends or the
  -We ought first of all therefore to ask ourselves the     v$icked, etc. God has not revealed any of these things
question: to what does he refer by this rather graphic      to us, and if we nevertheless persist in speculating
expression? Searching for an answer to this, we are         about them, we might exercise our imaginations and
reminded of something similar which he wrote in             we might even kid ourselves into thinking that we are
chapter 1, verse 4: "Neither give heed to fables and        treating God's Word with a pious interest in spiritual
endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather       things which are conducive to our spiritual life; but
than godly edifying which is in faith: so do." The          we are occupied with profane and old wives' fables
word which is translated "fables" could just as well        for all that. And there is nothing profitable in that
be translated "myths." But the apostle does not refer       sort of exercise. All it does is lead to endless question-
particularly to the myths of Greek and Roman                higs and not "a godly edifying which is in faith."
mythology, but to the myths which were current in            ' I think that this same thing may.be said of much of
Jewish thought. This is clear from the fact  that he.       tik work which is done by higher critics of the Bible
links these myths with genealogies. The Jews loved          who reject the infallible inspiration of the Scriptures
genealogies and even based their salvation on them.         and who attempt to explain the words of Scripture
But along with their genealogies, especially as these       by a literary and an historical analysis of the passage.
extended back into the Old Testament, the Jews              They take, e.g., the miracle of the feeding of the five
wove endlkss myths around the central characters and        thousand as recorded in John. Now their basic pre-
related all these myths to the Word of salvation as it      supposition is, of course, that John is not the author
had come from God. The inventing, embellishing, and         oi` this gospel, but that the gospel was written very
narrating of these myths were not, therefore,               late in the second century. They furthermore assume,
harmless exercises in story-telling, but were con-          aithough they do not say this in so many words, that
sidered, in themselves, to be pious activities, con-        miracles just can't happen because miracles are con-
ductive to godliness and salvation.                         trary to our scientific view of the world. But they
  In vs. 7, Paul characterizes these same myths as          have to explain how in the world this sort of a thing
"profane and old wives' fables." They are profane           ever got written. And so they talk about the fact that
because they fire the opposite of the holy narratives       the Church, in evaluating the teachings of Jesus,
concerning the saints found in the Scripture records;       n'oticed that Jesus talked quite often about the lofty
and they are of about as much value as the endless          principles of sharing what we have with those who are
and tedious cackling of old crones. They are, in a          less fortunate than we are. And because the early
certain sense, exercises. They exercise the imagina-        Church was convinced that Jesus was a marvelous
tion, the mind, by clever subtleties and endless varia-     teacher, they say that Jesus illustrated the need for us
tions, the thinking faculties as all sorts of questions     to share of our bounties by persuading a small boy
are invented and answers sought for them. The Jews          who had five loaves and two fishes to share what he
considered this a pious and spiritually healthy             had with someone else. Others, seeing this wonderful
exercise besides. But, says Paul, disdain to have any-      example began to do the same. And so there was
thing to do with this sort of a thing.                      plenty of food to feed this huge multitude. But,
                                                            because the early Church wanted to drive the lesson
  I suppose that if one would attempt to put this           home as strongly as possible and because the early
into some kind of current language, the words of the        Church had a very exalted view of Jesus, they cast
apostle here should be construed as a warning against       this story about sharing in the form of a miracle.
becoming enmeshed in questions about the text of
the Scriptures which are, in their nature, unanswerable     Now the higher critics of the Bible do this with the
and which have nothing to do with the Word of God           tihole of the Bible. They show a remarkable facility
in the text. This sort of a thing can easily happen -       to exercise their imaginations and come up with the
especially in some of the societies. I will invent an       most startling and original explanations for the simple
example, but it is, in my experience, rather like some      stories of Scripture. And they even think that this is
distiussions which sometimes take place in society          an exercise which leads to godliness. But they are
meetings. Suppose that a society would be ,discussing       accomplishing little more than the gossipy cackling of
the passage in Genesis 5:21-25 where Scripture tells        some toothless crones.
us of Enoch who was translated without seeing death.         The higher critics have to be answered, I suppose.
We would be doing what Paul here warns against if we        And to answer them one has to know something
would permit ourselves to be led into a discussion of       about what they are doing. But it is a great weariness
all the myths which have been woven around the life         t6 the spirit to get involved in all this sort of thing.
of Enoch; if we would speculate on questions con-           Avoid it, Timothy. Such exercise is of no profit. And
cerning whom he married, where he lived, what               if you have to answer them, don't let yourself get


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   377


involved in their reasonings; come with the Word tif         to be derived from this. And in that connection, he
God only.                                                    makes the observation, rather in passing, that ex-
  Nevertheless, there is a proper exercise for the           ercising unto godliness is far preferable to bodily
Christian minister. That is an exercise unto godliness.      exercise because the latter profits only a little.
Twice in the passage Paul mentions that. "Exercise             We could talk about that "little" of course. A
thyself rather unto godliness." "But godliness is            minister has a great responsibility in the Church of
profitable unto all things. . . ."                           Christ. He must "take care of himself' so that he can
  And quite strikingly, this is further contrasted with      better 6e able to fulfill his responsibilities. Part of his
the comparatively little value which is to be found in       care of himself is his care of the body. And implied in
the exercise of the body.                                    this is the truth that our bodies are the temples of the
                                                             Holy Spirit - as Paul writes elsewhere. And Christ has
  I do not want to write extensively about the latter.       redeemed the body as well as the soul. So this "little"
There are only a few remarks which I think ought to          profit is then that if we take care of our bodies - also
be made in this connection. The first remark is that         with proper exercise - we will the better be able to
there is, to my mind, no question about it that Paul         exercise ourselves tinto godliness. The little profit is
means here exactly the exercise of the body. Some,           because the profit of bodily exercise is strictly
have doubted this and made Paul speak here of                subordinate to exercise unto godliness.
various ascetic practices which are so popular among
Roman Catholics  - especially of the bygone years.             And this is the point at which we must be so
They are wrong. Bodily exercise is exactly what the          careful. It is so easy to make bodily exercise an end in
apostle has in mind.                                         itself. This is exactly what is done in our day. It is
                                                             done by  all professional athletes. It is done when
  In the second place, this text is often used as the        mere pleasure becomes an end in itself. We ski or
chief basis for a whole Christian physical education         horseback ride or play ball or whatever for the sheer
program. It is not that. It cannot be that. And a            pleasure of it as an end in itself. This is wrong. This
Christian physical education program which is built          may never be. A minister too must keep himself
on this text is on flimsy ground. The aigument is that       healthy in body. But we are not Greeks and Romans
Paul gives some significance here to bodily exercise         who gloried in the body and extolled the perfect
when he talks about it having "little" profit. But as        specimen of manhood for its own sake. We are of
this little bit of profit is discussed and developed into    Christ. And bodily exercise is important only insofar
an entire program, the "little" becomes "much," and          as it helps us in the exercises which lead to godliness.
even "most." Now, I am not against a Christian
physical education program of the right sort. In fact,         We shall have to talk about this important part of
I have my own personal devil to fight in this,respect,       the apostle's teaching in our next letter, the Lord
for I like sports more than I ought. But the point that      willing.
needs to be made is that the apostle is talking  her6                                          Fraternally,
about exercising unto godliness, and the great profit                                          H. Hanko

GUEST ARTICLE



                              Holding Fast the Faith
                                                  Reti. R. G. Moore

   In our age, more and more, we are witness to the          attempts to destroy God's revelation to His people!
fact that the  -truth  that the Bible is the infallible,     And  thi? attempt is made in order to substitute for
inspired Word of God, and that it is normative for           God's Word the word of man and a god of man's
faith and life is brought under attack. It is said that      imaginat'ion. From such vain philosophy God's chil-
God's Wdrd is in the Bible, rather than that the Bible       dren must flee!
is God's Word. The Bible is said only to tell stories of
what could happen, or is said to tell something of              You may answer, that of course we may have no
what God is willing to say to us. Much of the his-           part of such a perversion of God's Word. Yet, have
torical fact of Scripture is brought into question, and      you noticed that in our day there is an ever increasing
parts-of the Bible are denied altogether. But these are      lack of true spiritualness in the church world? And it


378                                           THE STANDARD BEARER


is one that we all too often are led to witness. There        God's counsel stands forever, the thoughts of His
is a continuing attempt to bring God down to the            heart to all generations. cf. Ps. 33: 11.  ' God is not
level of man. No longer are those things that were          worshiped, "as though he needed any thing, seeing he
held precious in the past being maintained today.           giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." Acts
Examples abound! The holy bond of marriage, and             17:25. How vain is man when he thinks God is de-
the keeping of the Sabbath Day in sanctification unto       pendent upon his desire to be saved! Our God rules
God are scoffed at. True childlike reverence and fear       over all things and does all things alone according to
of God and of His Word are being displaced by the           His own will and good pleasure. cf. Psalm 115 :3.
speaking of God and to God, in prayer, in worship,            It is also evident that Jehovah alone is Lord. Oh,
and in song, as though He were no more than a next          4an may desire to make God's Name common; he
door neighbor. Often we may see a total disregard for       may attempt to speak of God as he would of man, to
the officebearers of Christ, with true Christian dis-       make of God but an idol of his own imagination. But
cipline becoming a thing of the past. When God's            our Lord, Jehovah is, and ever shall be! He alone
child encounters these things it brings to him deep         establishes the law, His is the sole prerogative to judge
concern, for he knows that the Scriptures exhort,           the creature and to execute His own will. He alone is
"Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at His              the standard for all law, righteousness, and justice.
footstool; for He is holy."                                 Does not Scripture say: "He is the Rock, His work is
  The above departures from a Christian walk and            perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth
faith, as well as other examples that could be cited,       and without iniquity, just and right is He"? Deut.
can be traced to a willing lack of holding precious the     32:4. Does one forget God is judge of heaven and
faith of our  fatheSs. In this article we notice this in    earth when with impunity he takes God's name upon
connection with that faith as it is specifically con-       his lips? God will not be mocked! Jehovah is the Most
nected with God's Names: Jehovah and the Holy               High. He alone is the Almighty God.
One. We must beware of all such departing from the            Certainly in every sense the sovereignty revealed in
faith held precious by our fathers. The Scripture           the name Jehovah is emphasized by God's Word.
sounds forth clearly : "Trust ye in the LORD forever:       There is no host of heaven or. earth that exists apart
for in the LORD Jehovah is everlasting strength. For        from God. Who is the king of glory? "The Lord of
he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty         hosts, He is the king of glory," Ps. 24: 10. The Lord is
city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the       the great God: "In his hand are the deep places of the
ground; he bringeth it even to the dust" Is. 26:4ff.        earth, the strength of the hills is his also," Ps. 95:4.
  When one with impunity throws over the faith of           God is the Lord and saith: "I am the first, and I am
generations, and exalts his own way above that of           the last; and beside me there is no God," Is.  44:5.
God's way, there remains but destruction for him.           Who can question what God does; Who can require an
Depart from the Word and cease to wait upon                 answer of Him? He says, "I form the light, and create
Jehovah, and no strength shall sustain you. "Even the       darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD
youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men          do all these things," Is. 45:7. Jehovah is merciful to
ihall utterly fall." Is. 40:30.                             whom He will be merciful, and He hardeneth whom
  The judgment of God is against those who fail to          He will. ct. Rom. 9: 15ff. To Jehovah alone belongs
serve Him in His Word. "This is thy lot, the portions       the kingdom, the power, and the glory!
of thy measures from me, saith the Lord; because              When by grace one lives in the consciousness of the
thou hast forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood.           presence of Jehovah, the sovereign God, as an elect
Therefore will I discover thy skirts  tipon thy face,       sinner he is emptied of all self-seeking. And as he is
that thy shame may appear. . . Woe unto thee, 0             given grace he glories alone in God. Further, as God
Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean?" Jer.               reveals Himself in His name Jehovah, He demands
13:25-26. Let us not harden dur ears to this Word of        childlike reverence and fear  - a living in absolute
our God, but rather hold fast the faith.                    subjection to His Holy Word. This requires a deep
  Then let us hold fast faith in Jehovah as the             spiritual attitude and life.
sovereign God. This name means, that I Am that I Am.         : But, further, this growing lack of spiritualness h
Jehovah, is God's covenant name through which He            otir day is due to an overthrowing of the faith of our
reveals Himself to be our sovereign God. Then we            fathers with  respect to God's Holiness. There is an
understand that Jehovah's sovereignty is such that He       increasing lack of consciously living before the knowl-
is wholly different from the creature. God is perfectly     edge of God's holiness. Indeed, there comes to pass
the "I AM," sufficient in Himself; but we are always        today the saying of our Lord Jesus Christ,. "and be-
dependent for what we are and for all things upon           cause iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall
our God. How foolish it is then ever to exalt ourselves     wax cold." Matt. 24: 12. And it comes to pass in ful-
over against God, or attempt to make God dependent          fillment of, the prophecy of Jeremiah: when the call
upon our will or our vain philosophies!                     to repentance is sounded, there comes the answer,


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                379


"there is no hope: but we will walk after our own          revelation of the Holy God. "Then said I, Woe is me!
devices, and we will everyone do the imaginatiori  of      for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips,
his evil heart," Jer. 18 : 12.                             and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips:
   This declining spiritualness is often manifest in       for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts,"
worship services that become more and more  man-           Is.  6:5. When Isaiah in vision saw the Lord sitting
centered, rather than properly God-centered. There         upon a throne on high, and the seraphims crying out,
comes an increasing cry for less sound exegetical          "Holy, holy, holy," he stood in the presence of the
preaching, and the corresponding desire for more           holiness of the sovereign God. And he is wholly
liturgy. The emphasis is often that we must make           amazed, realizing that he was but sinful man.
worship services more entertaining and more relevant,
to the detriment of true God-glorifying worship              Always the above ought to be the effect of coming
which is sanctified unto the living and Holy God in        before the revelation of our God - also from Sabbath
reverence and godly fear. Modern preaching has come        to Sabbath through the preaching. For in the
to so emphasize man's earthly needs in the social.         preaching the Holy God addresses His people, and iti
sphere, and man's responsibility with respect to this      the Word stands just as surely before them. How then
world, that there is no longer a consciousness of our      can we help but, in uttermost humility and prayer,
deepest need for the forgiveness of sin. And lest we       worship God under the Word? According to Isaiah
be misled to desire the same, may we remember our          29: 19 we are instructed that it is the meek that shall
reformed heritage. We remember when the congrega-          increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor shall
tion came to church, the proclaimed Word com-              rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Thus God saith that
pletely emptied the elect sinners, so that they fell in    meekness and humility is the only proper attitude
holy reverence before God's Holiness  - then to be         that dare be assumed towards our God, Who forever
filled with the blessedness of God's grace in Christ       seeks His own perfect glory. And on the other hand
which saves, and thus were renewed in a life of            the wicked who are so brazen to exalt themselves
sanctification unto the service of God. And so it still    against God taste His consuming wrath.
is where the reformed faith is held precious. The            But then who can stand before God? Praise be the
whole life of our fathers was God-centered in their        Holy One, for He is the God of all grace! The Holy
worship, in their daily walk, and in their confession.     One is pedeemer,  and exactly as the Holy One. "As
Thus it ought to be in the church; and thus it shall be    for our:redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the
where the Scriptures are rightly divided and soundly       Holy  Ohe of Israel," Is.  47:4. In holiness God con-
expounded from Sabbath to Sabbath. For the Scrip-          sumes the sins of His elect people by burning in holy
ture reveals God to be the Holy God, well pleased          wrath ulpon our Lord Jesus Christ until His wrath is
with the righteous in Christ, but a consuming fire         utterly quenched. And as the Holy One, by the Spirit
unto the wicked walking in impenitent sin.                 and ,Woi-d of His Son, He purifies and sanctifies His
  God reveals throughout Scripture, and the re-            own,  that they might be consecrated unto Him in
formed faith holds precious, His Holiness. It is in His    service and in love. And, further, by His Word rightly
Holiness that God is incomparable with any other.          proclaimed the Holy One efficaciously calls His chil-
"To whom then will ye liken me or shall I be equal?        dren to repentance and holiness. "But as He which
saith the Holy One." Is. 40:25. God in His holiness        has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
stands alone - He is by and of Himself God. Dare we        conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I
attempt, then, to make Him common? To confess              am holy," I Peter 1: 15-16.
"the Holy One", is to speak of His incomparable              By grace the church hears and heeds this word of
majesty, glory, and sovereignty! Never can the             her God. She is emptied of all man-centeredness; she
comparison of God so be made that He stands on a           desires, longs for, and in principle becomes  God-
par, on the basis of equality with the creature. It is     centered in all things. And as she is cleansed by
exactly His Holiness - that He is the God of ethical       Christ's blood and sanctified by His Word and Spirit,
perfection, the sole good with no imperfection or          her members become pilgrims in this world, sanctify-
darkness `in Him  - that causes  Him to be in-             ing the Lord God in their hearts, heeding the word of
comparable as God. Perfectly God is consecrated            the apostle in I Peter 3 : 15, "But sanctify the Lord
unto Himself as the Holy One; and, as the Holy Ofie,       God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an
God is glorious and alone worthy of all praise.            answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the
  When man, therefore, comes before the  presence of       hope that is in you with meekness and fear." And
that holiness of God he must confess that  naturally       thus in till things - their worship, their prayer, and all
before God he cannot stand. He of necessity is             their life  - God's Name receives the glory. Let our
emptied of all boasting, and of all  .self-esteem. This    paryer be for grace to hold fast this faith of our
was the reaction of Isaiah when coming before the          fathers.


380                                           THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                            $


TRANSLATED TREASURES
                  Acts of the Synod of Dordrecht
                                             Historical Foreword (10)
(Connection: In the last installment we saw the con-        their feelings. And when he had renewed the same
flict become more intense. In some parts of the                  declaration at Leiden, and particularly to Festus, they
country actual separation began to take place, and               agreed that they would both, each with his own
even the formation of so-called  "nood-gemeenten"           people, bring it about that three Ministers from each
(emergency congregations). Meanwhile, Simon                 side might be delegated. These Ministers would come
Episcopius, on advice of the Remonstrants, was called            together with one another in a friendly way, in order
to the Academy of Leiden. Again pleas were made to          seriously to consider together a proper way of peace;
the States-General to authorize a National Synod; but       and thereafter this would be submitted to the
this was prevented through the influence of. the            Churches for their approval. The States of Holland,
Remonstrants. The latter continued  to make open            understanding that this was being taken under advise-
and shameful propaganda, to the grief and injury of         ment in secret, praised this their intention, and public-
the churches.)                                              ly ordered that this conference should be held at
                                                                 once.
  Especially the Illustrious Count of Nassau, Willem               Shortly thereafter, February 27, they came to-
Lodewijk, Governor of Friesland, in  harm'ony with          gether for this purpose in the city of Delft. From the
his outstanding love toward the Churches and toward              side of the Remonstrants, there were Johannes
the Republic, admonished in particular Uitenbogaard,             Uitenbogaard, A d r i a nus Borrius, and Nicolaus
on the one side, and Festus Hommius, on the other           Grevinchovius. From the side of the other Ministers,
side, that seeing that the condition of the Republic             Johannes Becius, Johannes Bogardus, and Festus
itself was severely upset by these ecclesiastical dis-      Hommius. First the States admonished them through
putes, they should in friendly and brotherly fashion        their Deputies that they should put aside all secret
consider whether no honorable means could be found          hatred and evil passions, and should exert all the
whereby this grievous dispute might be quieted and               power of their understanding, in order that they
unity might be attained. Festus declared that if the        might find some proper way of peace; and they de-
Remonstrants did not differ from the bther Ministers             clared how pleasing this would be to God, to the
in any other articles than in those five (concerning             Churches, and all the pious, and  .especially to the
predestination and the related points), he believed              States. Then all the individual Ministers also testified
that a way could be  ,found  whereby a certain peace        that they had come with a peace-seeking intention
might be established between the parties until the          and would do all that was in their power to make
entire controversy might be resolved in a National          peace. Thereupon a friendly conference was held
Synod. But seeing that there were weighty reasons           between them. In this conference the Remonstrants
why the Churches believed that many Remonstrants                 declared that they could point to no other way to
diverged in almost all of the more  imljortant  doc-             peace than` the way of mutual tolerance (as they
trines from the adopted doctrines of the Netherlands             called it), to wit, that every party should be allowed
Churches, and seeing that they ought not to tolerate             openly to teach his views concerning those Five
or to allow that under cover of these five articles very    Articles in the churches; and they requested of the
grievous errors would be introduced into the                     other Ministers that they would declare whether they
Churches, he believed that there appeared to be no               considered their views, expressed in the Five Articles,
hope to achieve peace with the Remonstrants unless          to be in that manner allowable and tolerable. If they
they would uprightly declare that they, with the            held  tliem to be insufferable, then it was not neces-
exception of these five articles, were of one mind          sary further to take under advisement anything con-
with the Reformed Netherlands Churches in all other              cerning the way to peace. For, according to the&
points of doctrine. Uitenbogaard, when questioned           judgment, there was then no way to peace left. The
about this, answered that as far as he was concerned,            other Ministers judged that the surest and most
he had nothing else than those five articles wherein he     proper way to peace, seeing. that on both sides they
differed, and that he would be  prepared always to          were Ministers of the Reformed Churches of the
declare his views concerning the other points. Also,        Netherlands and wanted to be counted as such, was
he did not doubt but that many Remonstrants would           that each party would subject their case to the lawful
do the same thing. And further, he wished nothing so        judgment of the Netherlands Churches; to that end
much as that for that reason a conference would be          they should labor earnestly and uprightly that,
held between certain Ministers who were moderate in         through the authority of the States-General, the


                                                                                                           __. .--- ._____


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              381


  National Synod of the Reformed Churches in the,            other  ,.  Remonstrailts. And when  Jhey had briefly
 Netherlands should be authorized to meet as soon as         sutiinarized  in writing the views of both sides, they
 possible, if possible in the coming summer. At that,        separated from one another with nothing accom-
 Synod the entire matter should be lawfully' in-             p l i s h e d .
 vestigated and considered; and either it should be            After this the States summoned Uitenbogaard and
  determined which of the two views ought from then          Festus,' in order to learn from them what hope of
  on to be taught in the churches as being in accord         peace and unity there was. Festus forthrightly told
 with God's Word, or it should be determined whether         them what had taken place and declared that there
 the so-called way of tolerance, with the united advice      was hope if the pemonstrants  were willing straight-
  of all the Churches, might be followed as being.           forwardly  tp declare their views concerning the
  according to the Word of God. They declared, more-         articles which had previously been delivered to the
  over, that they were ready to submit themselves  to,       States. `Uitenbogaard had deceitfully taken care that
 the judgment of this Synod, and that, if the Remon-         he would be heard only in the absence of Festus, in
  strants were willing to do the same, in this manner        order that he might more freely present that which he
peace might be established. But -they declared that          thought would serve his purpose. And, after he had at
  tolerance, which would be limited by various con-          length censured the dealings of the other Ministers, as
  ditions, however much they had exercised it to this        though'by their demand of a declaration (which he
 time, and however much they appeared still to desire        had nevertheless promised before the Conference)
 it, could not serve to the peace and edification of the     they  sgught to introduce a new and entirely in-
  Churches. But if they, nevertheless, were willing to       tolerable inquisition, he managed to have them for-
  limit the way of tolerance by honorable conditions,-       bidden to exact from the Remonstrants any more the
 they declared that they were prepared to confer with        aforesaid declaration. In addition, they were at. once
 the Remonstrants about these conditions, provided           ordered that they should declare in  wrjting more
  the Remonstrants were willing first by forthright          broadly: their advice concerning the best way of peace
  declaration to assure the churches that, except for        and  copcerning the conditions with which they be-
  those Five Articles, they would hold views other than      lieved toleration should be limited. When this had
  those of these Reformed .Churches  in no other point       been dqne by them, and when at the same time they
  of doctrine. They pointed out that for two years           had shown that the proposed articles concerning
  now, December 3, 1611, the States had expressed by         which  the declaration had been desired stood in so
  name six points of doctrine concerning which they          many words in the Confession and the Catechism of
  forbade to te'ach differently than until this time had     the Netherlands Churches and that the contra-articles
 been  taught in the Netherlands Churches,. namely:          were  tq be found in public documents with many
  concerning the complete satisfaction of our Lord           with whom the Remonstrants had great fellowship
  Jesus Christ for our sins, concerning the justification    in  the& lands, and after this their writing had been
  of man before God, concerning saving faith, con-           openly iead, then the Remonstrants brought it about
  cerning original sin, concerning the certainly of sal-     through; the  .Advocate  that it was strictly forbidden
  vation, and concerning the perfection of man in this       that thib should be passed on to any man either in
  life. Therefore they requested especially that the         print or/ in handwriting. And since they saw -that the
  Remonstrants be willing to  declare that they sup-         Deputiei  of the Churches or Synods, to whom the
  ported the views of these points of doctrine ekpressed     commGn care of the Churches was committed,
  in the Confession- and the Catechism of these              through; their labors (as was in harmony with their
  Churches, which they had summarized in certain             office)  tVere much in the way, therefore they  .also
  articles out of those documents, and that. they re-        broughtlit  about, even as previously all annual Synods
 jected the contrary views in certain contra-articles        had been forbidden, that it was forbidden from now
  from the  writings of Arminius, Bertius, Vorstius,         on that: anyone should use the name of Deputies of
 `Venator, and others. Over against this, the                the Chv;rches or of the Synod, or should serve in such
  Remonstrants said that they could not see how these        an office. Their purpose was to take away all care for
  differences could be settled by a National Synod, and      the welfare and the peace of the Churches, and thus
  that on this account they could not consent in this        to be a! the more free to rage against them. Through
  situation to the authorizing of such a synod, nor          this confuct  the Remonstrants made themselves more
  request it. Further, they  decl,ared that  this matter     and more suspect with the Churches, since all those
  could not be helped by synodical decisions, and that       with understanding judged that if they did not differ
  they did tiot believe that the Province of Holland; in     from  th+ Churches in these points of doctrine, they
  the matter of Religion, would be subject to the de-        would h?ve no reason to avoid this declaration, seeing
  cisions of other Provinces. As far as the declaration      that this; would tend in particular to the advancement
  which was demanded was concerned, they declared            of the peace  of, the Churches and to the benefit of
  that they would take counsel about that with the           their na&e and fame.


382                                                      THE  STANDARD  ,BEARER


ALL AROUND US

                                          Difficulties in the P.C.A.
                                 Herman Dooyeweerd: 1894-1977
                   Roman Catholic - Reformed Lord's Supper?
                                         Schuller's' Branch Church
                                                           Rev. G. Van Baren
Difficultie$  in the P.C.A.                                               God, that if he will accept, he shall be saved. `Ho,
  The recently formed denomination, the Pres-                             every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.'
byterian Church in America, is having difficulties  -                            "This is good Calvinism; and if anyone holds to a
judging from recent issues of the  Presbyterian  Jour-                    Calvinism  that does square with the widest offers of
TzaZ. This young denomination originated out of the                       God's mercy, then he has gotten hold of a spurious
Southern Presbyterian Church (P.C.U.S.) because of                      : article, and the sooner he flings it away the better.
the liberalism in the latter body. Now, however, those                  ' `Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'
who found themselves united against liberalism, find                      Any so-called Calvinism that does not chime with this
themselves divided as to how to handle the Reformed                       sweet Gospel bell deserves to `be cast out, and to be
                                                                          trodden under the foot of men.'
faith. Although traditionally and confessionally  Cal-                           "We ask for no leniency of judgment on any
vinistic and Reformed, the new denomination is                            argument or inference that would tend to make the
struggling with a wide diversity of views within its                    strait gate straiter, or the narrow way more narrow.
own midst. In throwing off the yoke of modernism, it                      Above all things, let us believe that `Jesus Christ came
has found that this is no guarantee of unity nor a                        into the world to save sinners,' and that `him that
basis for a continuing Reformed church. At least                          cometh to him He will in no wise cast out. ' "
three of the past issues of the  Presbyterian Journal                            My father, grandfather and greatgrandfather,
treat the questions. It speaks rather disparagingly of                    ministers in the Presbyterian Church, warmly
the "TR"  - the truly Reformed. These  TR's  are                          embraced the Reformed faith and I fully concur with
presumably a class by themselves in the new denom-                        Dr. Reed's thesis and warnings as they did.
ination who insist on pure Reformed doctrine. And                                . . . Some try to rule out what God is doing
although the magazine and its writers claim to desire                   through Billy Graham and Campus Crusade, saying
that which is Reformed, these would make allow-                           they make salvation "too simplistic." But we should
ances for those with different views:  pentecostals,                      beware lest our presentation becomes too com-
premillennials, arminians, and others. The question is,                   plicated. It may not even touch base with the ordi-
can these views live together under one `denomina-.                       nary fellow, and even dedicated Christians are
tional roof? It appears that there are many in the                      alienated as well, because they do not understand
.P.C.A. who are of the conviction that this is not only                   what the preacher is talking about.
possible, but desirable. Rev. William E. Hill, Jr.,  in                          Disagreements between those espousing the Re-
the Mar. 16, 1977, issue writes:                                          formed faith and other evangelical conservatives
         A noted Southern Presbyterian theologian of a                    weaken the testimony of the Gospel. Such polariza-
       bygone generation has given a clear and cogent de-                 tions are unnecessary. "Reformed" and "evangelical"
       scription of the Reformed faith, and the differences               are not mutually exclusive nor should they be made
       between Arminianism and Calvinism in a little book                 so.
       entitled The  Gospel as Taught by Calvin.  Dr. R.C.               Or Prof. Jack B. Scott, of the Reformed Theologi-
       Reed wrote briefly but to the point, and he  also              cal Seminary in Jackson, Miss., wrote in the Mar. 9,
       sounded a note of warning and caution:                         1977, issue:
          "After all, it is largely a difference touching words                  Now it pains me to say this, but I almost have
       and names. Arminians believe that the atonement is                come to the point where the term' "TR" makes me
       limited in its application to those who believe; Cal-              sick! I don't mean the concept. I believe that the
       vinists believe nothing more and nothing less.                     concept' of being thoroughly Reformed is a commit-
          "Inasmuch, however, as Calvinists believe that God              ment everyone of us should have. I believe every
       makes the application, they say the atonement is                   seminary should stand for doctrines that are thor-
       limited in design as well as application. But there is             oughly Reformed. But that term "TR" has become
       nothing in their view to prevent their offering Christ             heinous to those out in the Church. The two basic
       to every sinner and assuring him, on the authority of             reactions to it are fear and laughter.


                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                                      383

                                                                                  .        <.                 I      /.-.
                                                                            ~            ,L`
                                                                                                               I
   Last of all, the editor of the Presbyterian Journal                      inroads of modernism will again quickly be seen there,
presents an editorial in the issue of March 23, 1977,                       too.                        *            ;      -     -
titled, "Lo, the TR!" It gives an account of a younger
minister in the PCA who was released from his con-                                                                  Herman Dooyeweerd: 1894-1977
gregation because he was T.R. (truly Reformed). The
editorial concludes:                                                                    Several magazines note the passing of Dooyeweerd,
             . . . It is one thing to react against a situation in          a well-known philosopher from the Netherlands. He
     which the Bible is ignored, the Gospel is perverted                    was, until his emeritation, professor of jurisprudence
     and Christ is dishonored; it is quite another thing to                 at the Free University in Amsterdam. His best-known
     adjust to a religion which to the uninitiated appears                  work was in the Dutch, De Wysbegeerte der Wetsidee.
     as strait-jacketed as that of the strictest Pharisee.                  Dooyeweerd sought to carry out the thought and
             If it is un-Reformed to give a Gospel invitation; if           ideas of Dr. Abraham Kuiper. Dooyeweerd has his
     it is heresy to tell an unsaved person God loves him; if               followers in Canada and in this country especially in
     an Arminian is no better off than one who denies the                   the A.A.C.S. movement, centered in Toronto.
     deity of Christ; if a woman cannot give her opinion in
     a congregational meeting; if Christmas is of the devil;                              Roman Catholic - Reformed Lord's Supper?
     if the Holy Spirit bestows no special gifts today; if an
     elder who has served twenty years must be expelled                                 From  Clarion, the Canadian Reformed magazine,
     from the Session because he admits to being premil-                    the following appears:
     lennialist; if a child may not be baptized because the                                       .The. Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church
     parents have not submitted themselves to the dis-                                   (Hervormde Kerk) has adopted a declaration which
     cipline of that particular congregation - if all these, I                           could serve as a basis for a combined celebration of
     say, are of the essence of what the Church must stand                               the Lord's Supper/Eucharist between the Roman
     for (and I do not for one moment acknowledge that                                   Catholic Church and the Reformed Church. This
     they are) - then at the very least the truly Reformed                               declaration, set up by an interecclesiastical com-
     spokesman should approach his assignment the way a                                  mittee, especially discusses the "function of the
     women's liberationist might feel moved to address a                                 offices" in connection with the Lord's Supper. It has
     meeting of the Benevolent and Protective Order of                                   already been, adopted in the Reformed Churches
     Male Chauvinists.                                                                   Synodical.
             That is, treading very lightly.
   So the picture is one of struggle in the neiv P.C.A.                                                                    Schuller's  Branch Church
It's impossible to know all the details of. the struggle                                The Calvinist Contact reports on a branch church
taking place.  On the one  hand,  the  Presbyterian                         of Schuller who is a minister of the Reformed Church
Journal presents these "TR's" as harsh, crude, rude,                        in America:
unsympathetic, unloving tyrants who refuse to teach                                               Dr. Robert, Schuller, pastor of the famous drive-in
lovingly but will force doctrinal truths down the                                        walk-in Garden Grove Community Church near Dis-
mouths of spiritual infants capable only of sipping                                      neyland, now plans to build a branch near Disney
some of the milk of the word. But on the other hand,                                     World in Florida.
one receives the distinct impression that there is a                                                   "The Florida church will be almost entirely a
concerted effort to down-play that which is Re-                                          ministry to older people," he said, adding that its site
formed, to allow all sorts of doctrinal deviations                                       near Disney World was "coincidental." The lo-acre
(except a denial of Trinity and the divinity of Christ),                                 site was donated by the developer of an adjacent
to place Arminianism alongside of that which is Re-                                      mobile home park.
formed  - insisting that the difference isn't all that                                            Dr. Schuller hopes to form the Florida congrega-
important. If the latter is the case, the future is not                                  tion from among "shivering senior citizens in
bright for' this new denomination. If it rejects its                                     northern U.S. cities (and Canada)" who faithfully
Presbyterian and Reformed heritage already now, the                                      watch his Hour of Power television program.

                    WEDPING  ANNIVERSARY                                                                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
   On May 23, 1977, D.V. our parents Mr.  and  Mrs. Anthony De                          On May 27, 1977, our dear parents, MR. AND MRS. CHARLES E.
Young will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. We, their children,    KREGEL,' hope to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. We thank
are thankful for the years in which God has given them to each other        God for keeping them for each other and for us these past years and
and to us. It is our prayer that the Lord may continue to bless them.       pray for His continued blessing on them in their future years together.
   "Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their
children.
   And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us:" Ps. 90:16  & 17a           their children,
                                                                                         Kenneth and Mary Velthouse
                     Their children,                                                     Joel and Ellen Bruinooge
                       Mr. and Mrs. Jozef  Postma                                        Chuck and Robin Kregel                          their grandchildren,
                       Rev. and Mrs. Meindert Joostens                                   David Kregel                                      Michael and Kristin Velthouse
                       and 4 grandchildren                                               L a u r a   K r e g e l                           Heather Bruinooge

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




                                                                                                                             .L'
                                                                                                                                  ,
                                   -~~  ~-~  __   -  ~___.______~~._   ~.      _     ~_     _




    384                                             THE STANDARD BEARER
                                  News From Our  Churches,
      Rev. David Engelsma, lectured to a full church on               assigned by the Mission Committee to proceed to
   April 21 in our new Hudsonville church auditorium.                 .Lynden, Washington and from there investigate the
   Rev. Engelsma's topic was "Reprobation  - Is it                    interest in the Reformed  _ faith in the Vancouver,
   Reformed?" This lecture as well as many others. was                British Columbia area. However, the consistory of our
   tape-recorded.  Foi information on obtaining one of                church in Hull, Iowa, has given permission to their
   these recordings, you may write to  `the Standard               ' pastor, Rev. Mark Hoeksema, to vacate `his pulpit on
   Bearer Business Office.                                            May 22 and preach for the Pella congregation.
      Rev. Engelsma lectured in Randolph, Wisconsin on                       Rev. Lubbers too has been busy of late lecturing
   April 1. His topic for this lecture was- "A Reformed               and giving instruction in the Reformed faith. He
   Look at Pentecostalism." Rev. Wayne Bekkering, the                 spoke on Central College Radio, led devotions at the
   pastor of our church in Randolph, sent along a report              Pella Christian School, conducted a series of four
   of this meeting as follows: "A bit of news that we                 midweek services in the Pella Nursing Home, and
   could perhaps share with our people is that Randolph               answered a number of questions of a group of Central
   had a wonderful and-exciting- evening when over 200                College students concerning the inspiration of the
   people turned out to hear Rev. Engelsma's lecture.                 B i b l e .
   This was a record crowd for our little church and we                      The Young People's Societies in First Church,
   had to set up extra chairs.                                        Grand Rapids, continue to sponsor 15 minute song .
      "A couple of factors that ,accounted for our large              services after the Sunday evening service the last
   turnout are, first, Neo-Pentecostalism is having a great           Sunday of each month. The November singspiration
   deal of influence in our area of late and is causing               featured numbers requested by the little tots in the
   quite a stir among, the people of the various                      congregation who wanted to have the congregation
   Reformed denominations. Secondly, we advertised                 sing the songs they had learned in Sunday School.
   widely and got good coverage in the local paper.                   The April edition was also an `all request' nite. On
      "One other unusual experience in connection with                Easter Sunday evening a special edition song service
   our lecture is that it was `picketed'; at,least, a group           was held to sing praises to the risen Lord. .
   from a Pentecostal church in a neighboring town                           Rev. Van Baren also placed a news item in the First
   passed out literature in front of our church to those              Church bulletin as follows: "The sermons of the
   attending our lecture. Included in the literature was a         pastor on Genesis l-3 are still being presented on the
   letter especially prepared to refute `Reformed                     12 stations of Family Radio. On most of these  \
   Pentecost.' "                                                      stations the sermon is broadcast at  9:05 PM on
      I do not recall when one of our denominational                  Wednesday evenings. The last sermon of this series
   lectures has been `picketed' before, at least in recent            will be broadcast on .May 11. We have also submitted
   history. It must be that the truth as it is proclaimed             the recent series on Romans 9, but that has not yet
   in the Protestant Reformed Churches is particularly                been scheduled for broadcast. Several letters do come
   obnoxious to some who hold to opposing views. This                 in each week, usually requesting cassettes of the
   too would appear to be one of the `signs of the                    message. "  ,A goodly number of these requests for
   t i m e s . '                                                      message tapes have been filled. Rev. Van  Baren
                                                                      presently is continuing his series on the book of
      Recent bulletins from our church in Pella, Iowa,                Genesis during the Sunday evening services.
   contained a number of items of interest. Pella's
   pastor, Rev. Lubbers, has a Classical appointment to                      One other note concerning First Church - a prac-
   preach for our new congregation in Houston, Texas                  tice which continued for 50 years has been  dis-
   on May 15, 22, and 29. The Pella consistory wrote                : continued in that the Sunday bulletin is no longer
   Rev. Harbach to ask whether he could'stop in Pella                 printed, but mimeographed. It seems that with the
   on his way from Houston to Michigan and preach in                  cost of printed bulletins projected to exceed $2,000
   Pella during Rev. Lubber's absence. However, Rev.                  for 1977, the practice was discontinued.
   Harbach's plans had been changed, as he has been                                                                     K.G.V.


