      The
 STANDARDS
    BEARER,
        A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE                                         \





  It has actually happened, and it is happen-
ing today, that men who have had the gospel
entrusted -to them and who ought to preach it
and defend it are ashamed of it. In their
shame, they are silent about the gospel and
teach other things. Or, they go to work on the
gospel to change it into something that they
like better. For the gospel.  in. its pure,  un-
adulterated form is offensive to men.

                  See "Unashamed of the Gospel"
                                                           - page 227



                                       Volume LIV, No. 10, February 15,1978 d
                                                   ISSN 0362-4692


218                                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



                                                                                                                         THE STANDARD BEARER
                           CONTENTS:                                                    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July. and August.
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                                                                                Editor-in-Chief:  Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
   Totally Depraved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 18           Department Editors:  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma
Editor's Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221         R e v .   C o r n e l i u s   H a n k o ,   P r o f .   H e r m a n   H a n k o ,   R e v .   R o b e r t   C .   Harbach'
                                                                                R e v .   J o h n   A .   H e y s ,   R e v .   M a r k   H .   H o e k s e m a ,   R e v .   M e i n d e r t   Joostens:
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                                                                                Rev. Marinus Schlpper, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev. Glse J. Van  Baren,
   Why Not Come Out With and                                                    R e v .   R o n a l d   V a n   O v e r l o o p ,   R e v .   H e r m a n   Veldman,   M r .   K e n n e t h   G .
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AdEDITA TIO N



                                                 Totally Depraved
                                                                     Rev. C Hanko

                Are we then so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of any good, and inclined to all
             wiekedn,ess?
                Indeed we are, except we are regenerated by the Spirit of God. Lord's Day 3; Question 8.

   So very corrupt.                                                               chism spoke of the fact that we are prone by nature
                                                                                  to hate God and the neighbor, that we are wicked and
   Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? Who shall                             perverse, that our nature is depraved, and that
dwell in Thy holy hill? Not I, not as I am by.nature.                             through the fall of Adam we are become so corrupt
Not any of my relatives or acquaintances. Not any                                 that we are conceived and born in sin. To all this is
man, woman, or child that ever saw the light of day                               now added that we are wholly incapable of any good
upon the earth.                                                                   and inclined to all wickedness. The heavy burden of
   We are so very corrupt, as our Catechism reminds                               our guilt, daily increased by our sins, is bad enough.
us. This word "corrupt" is only one of the many                                   But the problem is aggravated by the fact that I am
terms that our fathers use to describe our sin and                                evil, corrupt, like an apple that appears goodly on the
misery in these first three Lord's Days. Our Cate-                                outside, but is rotten at the core, useless, good for


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                219



nothing, fit only to be cast away forever. My nature is     received from God, retaining nothing but mere
perverse, my mind is darkened by sin, my will is            remnants of them, and these remnants are left to him
obstinate, every inclination of my heart is only evil       only to hold him accountable to God for all that he
continually. Notice, I do not say, I  was,  as if that      does in his whole life. Our Canons, under the Third
were something that belonged to my unconverted              and Fourth Heads of Doctrine, declares that man
state. I am. I am what the fathers referred to in the       through his fall has "entailed on himself blindness of
Five Points of Calvinism as  totally depraved.  That        mind, horrible darkness, vanity and perverseness of
word "totally" is a bit redundant, for what is de-          judgment; became wicked, rebellious, and obdurate
praved is rotten, no good whatever, but the "total"         of heart and will, and impure of his affections." Not
does stress the hopelessness, the horrible extent of        an attractive picture, but no less true.
my corruption.
  This is our Christian experience drawn from the             A Painful Doctrine
Word of God. This was Luther's conviction when he             Our proud, sinful nature has always violently
wrote about the bondage of the will. This was in the        opposed this truth of total depravity. In various
hearts and minds of the composers of the West-              forms the same question is raised, "Are we then so
minster Confession, chapter  j 6, paragraph 4, where        corrupt that we are wholly incapable of any'good and
they wrote, "From this original corruption, whereby         inclined to all wickedness?" Immediately after the
we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made               fall Adam and Eve tried to cover their nakedness with
opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil,      fig leaves. We still imitate them, Cain took of the
do proceed all actual transgressions." This was in the      finest of the crops which his hands had produced, in
soul of the fathers who composed the Three Forms of         order to try to give something to God. How often we
Unity. This is our confession. To deny this fact would      do the same! Phariseeism is foreign to none of us.
be dishonesty with ourselves, a refusal to face a bitter    Pelagianism and Arminianism are terms that belong to
reality. The believers throughout the ages have con-        this new dispensation, yet their proud error is as old
fessed this depravity. Every honest child of God must       as the depravity of man. The world today is steeped
confess it. How can he avoid it if he knows himself as      with the theory of Pelagius that man is innately good.
God sees him, as the Spirit of Christ speaks to him in      The infant that rests in mother's arms is a perfect
his heart through the Word?                                 picture of innocence. Who cares to say that this cute
   David cried out in Psalm 5  1:5, "Behold, I was          little mite is conceived and born in sin, subject to all
shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive       miseries, yea, to condemnation itself? (See our Bap-
me." The prophet Jeremiah testifies under the gui-          tism Forms.)One may be willing to grant that as a
dance of the Holy Spirit, "The heart is deceitful           child comes in contact with a bad environment, it
above all things, and desperately wicked, who can           picks up bad habits, such as hatred, immorality,
know it?" Read Romans 3: 1 O-l 8 with its condemn-          stealing, and dishonesty. But a good influence can do
ing testimony concerning ourselves: "As it is written,      wonders to improve his character. Even the worst
there is none righteous, no, not one: they are all gone     derelict of skid-row may be bad, but under the proper
out of the way, they are altogether become un-              guidance the good that is in him may be newly
profitable: there is none that doeth good, no, not          aroused.
one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their            One cannot ignore the great advancements made
tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is        by the skills and ingenuity of mankind. Man probes
under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and        the bowels of the earth and produces oil, coal, and
bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood: destruc-    precious jewels. He delves into the depths of the sea,
tion and misery are in their ways: and the way of           he soars through the skies, he sends spaceships out to
peace have they not known: there is no fear of God          explore the outer space. Man creates for himself
before their eyes." This is not true only of the worst      powerful earth movers, but also delicate instruments
of us; this describes you and me as we are by nature.       with amazing accuracy. He makes computers that
This is not what might have been apart from some            work with greater speed, less effort, and greater
restraining influences; this is reality. We cannot deny     accuracy than the human brain. Anything man
it. Therefore we feel ourselves very much akin to the       imagines he is confident he can do, and often
apostle Paul, that saintly servant of God, when he          produces the seemingly impossible. Consider the ad-
confesses in Romans 7, "I know that in me (that is,         vancements in the realm of the atom, in the realm of
in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing."                      industry, and of medicine. Proud man makes great
   Our Belgic Confession in article 14 states that man      advancements in God's creation.
is "become wicked, perverse, and corrupt in all his
ways." This article continues by declaring that man            The Good that Sinners Do.
lost all his excellent gifts which he had originally           This same man can discern between right and


 220                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



 wrong, good and evil. According to the Arminian, the        advantage to live a decent, respectable life with his
 sinner is not dead in sin, but sick; he is not depraved,    family and in his community.
 but there is still much good in him. There are, indeed,        All this is so very true, our fathers inform us. Then
 sadists who take a keen delight in murder and other         they add, "But so far is this light of nature from
 horrors, but these are the exception rather than the        being sufficient to bring him to a saving knowledge of
 rule. There are the sex deviates, but there are also        God and to true conversion, that he is incapable of
 people  who. live respectable lives. Divorces and remar-    using it  aright even in things natural and civil. Nay
 riages are becoming increasingly common, but there          further, this light, such as  .it is, man in various ways
 are still many husbands who care for their families,        renders wholly polluted, and holds it. in unrighteous-
 and there are many women who make good wives and            ness, by doing which he becomes inexcusable before
 mothers. There are school children who are aggres-          God." Notice, first, that this light of nature never
 sively opposed to learning, but there are also those        makes a person receptive for the gospel. Second, man
 who strive for good grades. Many men give every             does not use his natural light  aright in things natural
 impression of plying an honest business.  So,.often the     and civil. Still worse, he pollutes it, using it in the
 question is raised, But is this not good? Where then        service of sin. Scripture teaches us that whether we
 the depravity?                                              eat or drink, or whatever we do, we must do it all to
   Some speak of total depravity as something that           the glory of God. Natural man hates God,. banishes
 might have been our lot, if it were not for the             Him from his thoughts. He seeks himself, his own
 restraining influences of God's common grace. They          advantage. A husband too often thinks first of self,
 maintain that in Romans 3 the apostle is speaking           and then of his wife and children. We always ask
 about man as he would be, if God had not restrained         ourselves the utilitarian question, Does it pay? What
 sin in his heart. This  .restraint  now enables him to      advantage is it to me? "Taking care of number one,"
 produce good deeds in the sight of God. To the              is the big catch phrase today. Proud man boasts that
 question, are we then so corrupt that we are wholly         all things are of him, by him, and unto him, that to
 incapable of any good, and inclined to all wicked-          him may be the glory.
 ness? they would answer, "Indeed we are, except for            Our Catechism teaches us in question 91 that good
 the restraining, influence of God's common grace in         works are only those "which proceed from a true
 our lives." The distinction is made, although it never      faith, are performed according to the law of God, and
 occurs in Scripture, between total depravity and            to His glory: and not such as are founded on our
 absolute depravity. According to this distinction,          imagination, or the institutions of men."
 there are some creatures, like the devil and calloused
 criminals, who lack entirely the restraining influence         Why Talk About It?                                  <y
 of common grace, so that they are hopelessly, ab-             First, this is the plain teaching of the Scriptures!
 solutely depraved. But there are others, who have this      We bow before the infallible testimony of God's
 restraining operation of the Holy Spirit in their           Word even though it condemns us.
Y hearts, whereby they produce good works that are              Second, we must know how great our sins and
 pleasing to God, even though they remain unregener-         miseries are. Our Communion Form states under the
 ated. The influence of common grace is said to be so        section that refers to our self-examination in pre-
 powerful, that the natural man can even want to be          paring ourselves for celebrating the Lord's Supper,
 saved and is receptive to an offer of the gospel.           "That every one consider by himself, his sins and the
   Our Canons have something to say about this               curse due to him for them, to the end that he may
 so-called good that sinners do. Under the Third and         abhor and humble himself before God."
 Fourth Head of Doctrine, article 4 states, "There             Third, we must realize that nothing less than a
 remain, however, in man since the fall, the glimmer-        wonder has happened in our lives, the wonder of
 ings of natural light, whereby he retains some knowl-       regeneration by the Spirit of Christ.  .God by a
 edge of God, of natural things, and of the differences      super-natural work, more wonderful than our first
 between good and evil, and discovers some regard for        creation, has made us new creatures in Christ Jesus.
 virtue, good order in society, and for maintaining an       All has become new.
 orderly external deportment." Man still possesses
 glimmerings of the light he once had in the state of          Finally, being aware of our own emptiness  .and
 righteousness. He knows that God is God, there is no        wretchedness, we seek all our salvation from God
 doubt about that. He knows how to make use of               alone, prayerfully asking that we may live by faith,
 God's creation, making great progress with his dis-         doing all things in love to God, seeking always only
 coveries and inventions. He knows that murder, theft,       His glory.
 immorality are wrong, and readily condemns that               "Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift." II
.wrong  in others. He knows that it is to his own            Corinthians 9: 1 S.


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              221





                                              Edit or's Notes
Apology.  We apologize for a couple of apparently            members can also obtain this book at 20% discount.
"authorless" meditations recently. In the December                                *****
15 issue Rev. H. Veldman was the author of the               New Publications Planned.  There are three new
meditation; in the January 15 issue Rev. M.  Schipper        projects on the front burner for the RFPA this year.
furnished the meditation. In both instances our type-        We hope that all three will be available this year. The
setter omitted the author's name.                            first is a long-needed new edition of Rev. Herman
                         *  *  1 * *                         Hoeksema's God's Eternal Good Pleasure, sermons on
Directory.  In this issue you will find an up-to-date        Romans 9-l 1. This was first printed in 1940 and has
directory of the clerks and treasurers of all our            been long out of print. But it is as necessary and as
Protestant Reformed Churches. Since in many in-              up-to-date in today's theological climate as it was
stances there  are.changes of officers around the first      almost 40 years ago. By the way, the missing sermon
of the year, we are furnishing this up-dated informa-        on God's Raising Up Of Pharaoh will be added to the
tion for your convenience. Will each clerk please            new edition. The second project is Rev. David  Engels-
check the information concerning his church for              ma's series of articles on Hyper-Calvinism, which will
accuracy? In case of errors, please notify me  prompt-       make a fine and instructive volume. The third project
lY*                                                          is the first volume of my  Commentary on the Canons
                         *****                               of  Dordrecht.  This first volume will include a his-
RFPA Book Club.  Did you receive your letter inviting        torical introduction and the commentary on the First
you to join the new RFPA Book Club? Did you also             Head of Doctrine. The manuscripts of the first two
mail us your membership card? If not, do so prompt-          projects have been completed and will before long be
ly, so that you can take advantage of the attractive         on their way to the typesetter. The third manuscript
discount offered on all RFPA publications, and so            will be finished in a few weeks and will likewise soon
that you will automatically receive all  new RFPA            be in the hands of the printer. All of which means
publications.                                                that you should hurry and join our Book Club. The
                                                             RFPA needs your moral and financial support, and
New Bible Manual and Workbook. Suffer Little Chil-           you as a good Reformed reader need our books!
dren, Book Two  and its accompanying pupil  Work-                                 * * * * *
book  have been off the press for several weeks now.         Reprints.  Yes, there are more RFPA projects. The
This is a companion volume to Gertrude Hoeksema's            supply of three of our publications is exhausted, or
Grade One level manual. Also this volume is designed         nearly so. But it will soon be replenished with new
primarily for grade school Bible teachers and pupils,        paperback editions. Herman Hoeksema's  Believers
but should be of interest and help to others, such as        And Their Seed  and  his Whosoever Will  (one of our
Sunday School and Catechism teachers and parents.            best sellers, by the way) and David Engelsma's  Mar-
The manual covers the Old Testament from the reign           riage, The Mystery of Christ and His Church will all
of David to the end. The price of the manual is $5.95,       soon appear in new paperback editions, very reason-
and the workbook goes for $2.00. The  manual-                ably priced at $1.95. Three more reasons to join the
workbook combination sells for $6.95. Yes, Book Club         RFPA Book Club!

EDITORIALS

                            Why Not Come Out With
                       and For the Reformed Truth?
                                                 ProJ: H.C Hoeksema

       This is the question which arose in my soul when I    Choice" in the January 4, 1978 issue of  The  Pres-
read a recent editorial on "Sovereignty and Free             byterian Journal  by Dr. G. Aiken Taylor. The  edi-


 222                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


torial is introduced by the information that the editor        added) Now it is a riddle to me how such an emphasis
had "received several requests in the mail for clarifica-      can at the same time be truly strong and injudicious.
tion of the Presbyterian (Reformed) doctrine of                When it comes to the Reformed truth, a strong
election." Then a typical request is quoted as follows:        emphasis is also both welcome and judicious: God
"Please give us an editorial on election and human             knows how little emphasis it receives today! On the
choice. Does man have the power to choose? All I               other hand, an injudicious emphasis, it seems to me,
have heard lately is that man has no choice; God saves         can be neither strong nor welcome. But one who has
those whom  He  chooses."                                      followed events in the PCA cannot fail to recognize
   Here, therefore, a golden opportunity presented             that this comment is in the nature of a gloved-fist jab
itself for the editor to instruct his readers, many of         at  TRs.
whom belong to the young new Presbyterian Church                 Thirdly, Taylor draws the totally illogical conclu-
in America and who have come from the apostate                 sion from the above that "the first part of the answer
PCUS, or Southern Presbyterian Church. In fact,                to the question, `What about election?' is a reminder
requests like this could well have become the occa-            that much of the doctrinal distinctives which separate
sion for a highly instructive  series  of editorials on the    Reformed Christians from others belongs to the
Reformed doctrine of election. From all appearances,           periphery of the practice of the presence of God
this is highly necessary in the PCA. Arminianism and           rather than to the center of the fundamentals essen-
ignorance of Reformed distinctives seem to be                  tial for salvation." And he goes on to state: "In other
rampant in the infant denomination, and the strongly           words, much of so-called Reformed theology is not so
and truly Reformed element appears to be a rather              much about the basic details of our immediate rela-
small minority. Some informants have claimed that              tionship to God through Jesus Christ by the power
the battle for the Reformed faith in the PCA is a              of the Holy Spirit as it is about associated or
hopeless one.                                                  consequential questions. It deals with the natural
  But what does Editor Taylor do?                              curiosity of Christians who want to know  how  God
                                                               works, and when and with whom. "
  At the most, there are two paragraphs in the
editorial which are devoted to the subject of election           In plain language this means: 1) The distinctives of
and human choice, while the questioner asked for an            the Reformed faith are not important; they belong to
editorial  on the subject. There is no attempt what-           the periphery of our religion and our relationship to
soever at a "clarification of the Presbyterian doctrine        God through  Christ. 2) Much of Reformed theology
of election." Instead there is a studied attempt to            is really of secondary importance, and is only the
relegate Reformed distinctives to the realm of the             o b j e c t   o f   t h e "natural curiosity" of Christians.
unimportant and the troublesome. Here is how it is             3) How and when and with whom God works are not
done, and it is all wrong. For a Presbyterian magazine         really questions vital to our faith, but only fit objects
should seek to build up Presbyterians in the Pres-             of a certain natural curiosity of Christians.
byterian faith.                                                 Now lest there be doubts as to what Dr. Taylor had
  First, the editorial speaks of a "knotty problem"            in mind by "doctrinal distinctives" and "much of
with which Christians have wrestled: "If God is really         so-called Reformed theology," let me point out that
in charge of all things, does He not also control the          he himself points to three examples. The first is that
direction a person takes in his spiritual life?" Now           of limited versus general atonement. The second is
this is not a knotty problem whatsoever; the answer is         that of total versus partial depravity. The third is that
                                                               of irresistible versus resistible grace. Taylor then goes
perfectly obvious, so obvious that a child can furnish         on to suggest that "if a preacher bears down on man's
it. Besides, that affirmative answer certainly belongs         inability to reject God's grace," (in other words,
to the essence of the Reformed truth of sovereign              stresses that grace is irresistible) "rather than the
grace. The somewhat "knotty" problem  - though
not so knotty as many have made it out to be  -                good news that man is saved by grace," (and what
                                                               kind of grace is good news except  irresistible  grace?)
follows from this affirmative answer: what becomes,            - then "Reformed theology can become a burden
then, of human choice and human responsibility? But            rather than a blessing to ordinary people in the
this problem, which I suspect was the problem of Dr.           pews."
Taylor's questioner, is neither stated nor explained.            Finally, at the very end of his editorial, Dr. Taylor
  Secondly, there is a poorly veiled poke at those             first presents a very garbled account of how much a
who have been dubbed by some of the PCA as  "TRs"              Christian should know, leaving two Biblical truths of
- Truly Reformed. The editorial states  - without              election and the necessity of faith and repentance
proving  - that "There is today a strong and welcome,          simply side by side and in apparent inexplicable
but not always judicious,  emphasis on Reformed                conflict. And then he gives this very brief answer,
distinctives in some preaching and teaching." (italics         without further explanation, to the question which


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                            223



occasioned his editorial: "Yes, man makes a free             contrary, they can only serve to weaken the church,
choice within the compass of God's sovereignty."             give aid and comfort to the Arminian enemy, and
   In reflection, we submit the following:                   promote doctrinal indifference. If Dr. Taylor's posi-
   1. Instead of grasping the opportunity to explain         tion is correct, then why go to the trouble of forming
the Reformed truth of election, Dr. Taylor does his          a new denomination such as the PCA? Why not
utmost to belittle the importance of the doctrine of         simply separate from the PCUS if necessary, and then
election and related truths, meanwhile utterly failing       join some fundamentalist group? After all, the "doc-
to help those who requested light of him.                    trinal distrinctives which separate Reformed Chris-
                                                             tians from others" do not belong "to the center of
  2. The position of Dr. Taylor concerning the               the fundamentals essential for salvation."
importance of these truths is certainly not that of the
Westminster Confession of Faith; nor does Dr. Taylor           4. For the instruction of those who sought in-
in this editorial follow the example of our Reformed         struction, the least Dr. Taylor might have done was to
and Presbyterian forbears, who bled and died in many         quote the beautiful third chapter of the Westminster
instances for their Reformed profession of faith. To         Confession of Faith. This chapter on God's eternal
a Reformed man election, for example, is not                 decree, if studied along with its proof texts, would
peripheral and a mere matter of "natural curiosity,"         furnish more help to these seeking souls in the PCA
but it is the  COT  ecclesiae,   the heart of the church.    than a hundred editorials of non-answers.
  3. Writings such as these will not strengthen the            Why not come out  with  the truth and for the
PCA or any other conservative Presbyterians. On the          truth?

TRANSLATED TREASURES


                   A Pamphlet on the Reformation
                                              of the Church

5. How God's Word governs the whole life of the              out on all, (Joel  2:29) the service of ceremonies, in
church.                                                      daily offerings, in priestly intercession, and levitical
  The normal form or figure and shape of the church          song prevailed. This ceremonial service however, did
on earth is fixed by the Word of God. By the Word,           not pass over into the church after her birth for the
God gathers His elect, making this saving operation,         world. Between the sinking away of the Israelite
through the Holy Spirit, work to regeneration.               church and the rise of the world church the coming
Aroused by this Spirit, the elect confess that Word          of the Mediator in the fulness of time intervened.
over against Satan and the world, over against each          That Mediator has brought in the one and sufficient
other and themselves. They strive by the institution         sacrifice for the whole church of all ages. He after-
of preaching under the authority of this Word. They          ward brought it up to heaven in order to bring the
seek an administration of the sacraments in order to         prayer for His people to God, a prayer which is in and
confirm faith in that Word. They attempt to-bring the        for His church. He sent the Holy Spirit Who loosens
seed of the church to germination through that Word.         every tongue that they may proclaim the great works
They strive for this goal to incorporate into the            of God and exalt the virtues of Him Who called out
church through the Word the heathen, the Jews, and           of darkness into His marvellous light.
those who fell away.                                           It must not be said therefore, that only the church
  The ministry of reconciliation, of prayers and of          in Israel offered, had priestly intercession and spirit-
singing praise before the Lord our God is no longer          ual praising, while the church now lacks these. But it
alongside that Word, but is, after Golgotha, locked up       must be confessed that in  6id times these three
in the ministry of that Word. Before Christ died this        appeared in a defective way as shadows, while they
was different. Hence, in the period of the genesis of        are now worked gloriously in the church and come
the church in Israel when the only offering was not          into existence through Christ and the Holy Spirit.
yet brought and the Intercessor did not yet pray at          Christ is now in the church, and even now, each day,
the throne of grace and the Spirit was not yet poured        He applies His own offering, lets His intercessory


 224                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


 prayer for us arise, and makes the Spirit operative to       is again taken up when God the Lord speaks again to
 the glory of the Father. Rome's error does not lie in        His servants.
 this that it keeps up these three holy activities in the
 church, but in this that it, although the Mediator             When therefore the prophecy of the Old Testament
 Himself has performed these three works, wants to do        was silenced with Malachi and did not resume until
 them after Him or in His place; and it thus takes them      John the Baptist, the regular ministry of the Word
 out of His hand.                                            was carried on in the synagogue. This continued for
   Looked at from a practical point of view, these           those four centuries which lay between Malachi and
 three services now merge for what actually concerns         John the Baptist. It was a service which retained its
the reformation of the churches in the one ministry          value only up to the return of particular revelation in
of the Word (because the work of the Mediator                the days of John the Baptist. With that the ministry
cannot be subject to any deformation). The disciples         of the synagogue was once again pushed into the
 of Christ are now pure through the Word which He            background, and there appeared in its place the
spoke to them. (John  15:3) There is, however, no            ministry of the Word  of~our highest Prophet. This was
part in His sacrifice nor in His intercession, nor in His    preceded by the "Be converted" of his herald and
Spirit in any other way than through faith. And faith        followed by the ministry of the apostolate.
in the Word alone makes these holy things true for
the soul. In the ministration of the Word the sacrifice         The ministry through appointed shepherds and
of Christ as the substance itself is applied to us, as       ministers first came to mature power when, with the
also His intercession and the work of the Spirit in the      death of this apostolate, particular revelation attained
soul. Every sacrament, every prayer and every psalm          its end. There was indeed earlier instruction of the
in the church is therefore bound to the Word, must           Word through the priesthood and through the father
be grounded in the Word and must be taken up                 in his household, but the separate office of shepherds
through that Word in the continuous mediatorial              and ministers did not exist before the dispersion from
work of Christ our Lord.                                     Babel. It appeared in the synagogue only as preforma-
                                                             tion. And it first became the normal way after the
   Another ministry than that of the Word there is           ascension into  .heaven of Him Who set some to be
not in the visible church; and every manifestation of        apostles, afterwards appointed some to be evangelists,
the life of the church flows forth from that one             and since that time, through all ages, has appointed
ministry of the Word. As often as the elect confess          and still appoints some to be pastors and overseers.
that Word of God among themselves, they walk in the
way of penitence, self-examination, and conversion,            The preformation in the rabbinate of the syna-
and the confession of sin is present among them. If          gogue could first arise when the Scriptures of the Old
they confess, on the other hand, this Word over              Testament were completed. And in the same way, the
against each other, then admonition and punishment           formation of this office could, after the death of the
and all the glorious work of love comes to the fore. If      apostolate, first grow and blossom when the whole of
they confess this Word over against the world, the           the written revelation of the Old and New Testament
work of mercy pertaining to life and soul comes to           had been completed. As long as this written Word of
manifestation., If they confess this word over against       God could not yet work, God Himself worked in the
Satan, the praise of hope arises and they experience         souls of the prophets so that they spoke His Word.
martyrdom. And finally, if they confess this Word of         But also that speech had to come to an end when the
God over *against the Lord Himself and His holy              written Word of God was ready. Also after that, the
angels, then prayer echoes and a psalm is used in            operation of the Holy Spirit with respect to the Word
jubilee. "Confession of the Word!" is all the  ex-           worked through it, but in `a different way. Now the
pression   of, the life of the church.                       Spirit elucidates just as earlier He revealed.
6. How the ministry of the Word was different in               `Each trend which loses sight of this definite re-
ancient times from now.                                      lation has no appreciation for the distinction between
  This ministry of the Word is different in propor-          the ministry of the Word before and after the com-
tion as the particular revelation of God continues, is       pletion of Holy Scripture. And still more, having
temporarily suspended, or expired.                           departed from a revealing operation of the Spirit, in
                                                             some sense it pulls down the ordinances of God in a
  If this  p,articular revelation continues and is active    Montanist or Anabaptistic way. Or still worse, it
then this ministry proceeds directly from God                makes "the revelation of God through His prophets
through His seers and prophets. There. is then no            and apostles" common, as various ethicists teach, by
regulated setting forth of this service when the Spirit      distinguishing the revealing operation of the Spirit in
of God comes into the prophets. It is discontinued           the apostles and prophets only slightly from His
when the  .vision is darkened for the prophets. And it       enlightening work in the elect.


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                       225



STUDIES IN ISAIAH



                         The Virgin-Born Immanuel
                                                Rev. Robt. C. Harbach

Isaiah 7: 14                                                 thenos," virgin, means one who has never had sexual
   "On that account, the Lord, He will give to you a         intercourse.
sign  - Behold! the virgin: pregnant! and bringing              Is this meaning borne out in the Old Testament? In
forth a son! and she calls His name Immanuel" (v. 14,        the seven times that  almah  is used in Scripture, we
Heb.). For the meaning of words in the original              shall see that it is. It appears in Gen.  24:43; Ex.  2:8;
languages, we, naturally, must turn to the lexicons.         Prov.  30:19; Ps.  68:25; Song  1:3,  6:8; and Isa.  7:14,
This means, however, that we are largely dependent           the culminating passage. In our beloved KJV, where
upon the word of a modern, rationalistic, destructive        almah appears in these verses, we have "virgin,"
critic. For the best lexicons have been produced by          "maid," (twice), "damsels," "virgins," and "virgin,"
such. One lexicon is by Gesenius, translated by Robin-       respectively. In the ASV we have "maiden" (three
son of Union Theological Seminary. This means the            times consecutively), "damsels," "virgins" (twice),
production of a work doubly Unitarian. Another               and "virgin." The RSV has "young woman," "girl,"
edition of Gesenius, translated by Tregelles, a  biblical    "maiden," then "maidens" (three times), and finally,
scholar, has notes by the translator at every point          where it really counts (and hurts), "young woman."
refuting the neology of Gesenius. According to this          The RSV claims for itself that ""critics agree that it is
lexicon,  almah  (vrigin) means, "A girl, a maiden, a        more accurate than any previous translation." The
young woman (of marriageable age). The primary               above shows that the opposite is the case with respect
idea of this word is not that of unspotted virginity,        to the translations of "almah." The KJV is the most
for which the Hebrews have the special word  beth-           accurate, the ASV less accurate, and RSV is the least
ulah. "                                                      accurate of the three. In fact, it is definitely in-
   Now there are three things glaringly wrong with           accurate, as  almah  never means a married woman, but
this assertion. First, the denial that  almah  means         always a true virgin, a virtuous woman, a pure,
primarily unspotted virginity. This denial flies in the      attractive girl.
face of the facts. It is a lie. For the word does denote       According to Gen. 24: 16, Rebekah was not only a
unspotted virginity. Second, the Hebrew has a special        "naarah" (girl, or young woman), but a "bethulah," a
word for girl, or young woman, and it is not "almah",        virgin. To make it perfectly plain that Rebekah was
but "naarah," a word which suggests nothing as to            an unmarried, pure virgin, it is immediately added
chastity or virginity. Third,  bethulah  is not  the         after the words  girl  and  virgin  that "neither had any
special, unmistakable word for unspotted virginity.          man known her." This last clause definitely affirms her
For this word could mean "a girl, a virgin betrothed         virginity, as the term  bethulah  does not have suf-
to a man" (Deut.  22:23ff),  and therefore a woman           ficient definiteness by itself to do that.. Neither
practically married, as engagements in Israel were as        "naarah"        ( g i r l )   n o r   "b e t h u l a h " ( v i r g i n )   u n -
binding as marriage. Then read the Deuteronomy               questionably indicate unspotted virginity, so that the
context and you will find that "bethulah" does not           words "neither had any man known her" were neces-
connote a pure virgin. The word could also mean "a           sarily added, and are no mere redundancy. It is clear,
young widow," and so one who had known a man                 then, that Moses, the writer of this passage, did not
(Joel 1: 18).                                                intend the broad sense of "bethulah," which includes
  This being so, the rationalism of Gesenius appears         betrothed maidens and widows, but rather the narrow
in his not only incorrect, but dishonest statement           sense originally limited to the term  virgin.  Thus the
that in the Septuagint (LXX) of Isaiah  7: 14 almah  is      noun  bethulah  in this passage is so qualified as to
incorrectly  parthenos,  "virgin." For the Greek LXX         mean  virgin  in the strictest sense of the word. This is
at this point is absolutely correct and accurate, being      further confirmed by the fact that in  24:43, Rebekah
confirmed by the text of Matt.  1:23, where the              is called ha-almah,  the virgin!
Isaianic  "ahnah," virgin, is translated "parthenos,"          In Ex.  2:8 it is plain that "almah" means a young,
pure virgin. For in 2 Cor.  11:2, the word  "par-            single girl of the babysitting, or perhaps even  mar-


  226                                          THE STANDARD BEARER


  riageable, age. So the word certainly means a virgin.      They mistranslate Scripture, they mutilate God's
    Appeal is made to Prov. 38:  18f in support of the       Word, they destroy the sign, they deliberately discard
  idea that "almah" may mean a married woman.                the virgin-birth of Christ and they despise and reject
  "There are three things which are too wonderful for        the incarnation of the eternal God.
  me, yea, four, which I know not: the way of an eagle         The neologists (neo-orthodox or neo-modernists,
  in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way      but still the old rationalists) interpret this text in such
  of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a        a way as to sink it in the then present, thus destroy-
  man with a maid (virgin)." The way of an eagle in the      ing, as they intend, its prophetic character. But that
  air  - what a magnificent privilege to see the glorious    talmudical interpretation will not stand. The text has
  sight (as we have in Texas and over the Georgia            n o t   a   v e r b , "shall conceive," but an adjective,
  Strait)! But who can foretell the movements or             "pregnant," and then, not another verb, "and bear" a
  direction of the eagle? or change his course? The          son, but a feminine present participle, "bringing
  serpent on a rock is just as free to turn in any           forth" a son. Yet the plain grammatical structure puts
  direction. No man can know the precise path it shall       the whole wonderful event into the future. "Behold"
  take. The same thought continues in the ship in the        in Isaiah indicates something future, and "the Lord,
  midst of the sea. The ship leaves a wake, the exact        He  will  give you a sign" is the clear statement of
 lines of which are not to be foreknown by man.              promise in the future. Only, the future is so vivid in
  Carrying out this parallel thought, it applies also to     prophecy that the present tense is often woven with
  the way of a man with a maiden (almah). What is the        the future. So we have "and  she calls  His name
 way of a man with a virgin? Sometimes in an immoral         Immanuel." But the whole sign is future, as "the
  or sinful relation. In such a case, "almah" would not      Lord,  He  will"  bring it to pass. From Isaiah's point of
 mean a married woman, neither to this man nor to            view, future it is, and nothing else. What is here
  any other. For it may be said of a woman associated        predicted can in no way be fitted into Isaiah's
 with her husband, or even with a man not her                present. The whole Bible is laid out in prophecy, fact,
 husband, that we know what she in either case would         and interpretation of fact. The Old Testament
 probably do. No, nor can we regard this woman as a          prophets give us prophecy; the New Testament gos-
 harlot; for everyone knows how such a woman would           pels give us fact; and the epistles give us the interpre-
 act. But who can foretell whether a young virgin in         tation of the facts.
 her relations with a man will keep her virginity? Many
 a strong, principled maiden has succumbed to the              At this point a word must be said about the
 more dominating male personality. The point then is         significance of Immanuel. For the essential point of
 that almah means only a virgin.                             this passage is not merely that a virgin is bringing
    In Ps.  68:25, the damsels (virgins) went in the         forth a son, but that the Messiah (ha-Moshiach) is
 religious procession playing the timbrels. If they were     Immanuel.  What does this name mean? Names in the
 married women, then a different word, not "almah,"          Bible are significant. They express the working of
 would have been used.                                       God in providence and in grace, especially in reflect-
                                                             ing a spiritual hope reaching into the future. So,
    In the Song of Songs, the word  virgins  refers to       Isaiah means  Salvation of Jehovah;  Jeremiah,  Estab-
 young unmarried women who become friends of the             lished of Jehovah;  Zephaniah,  Whom Jehovah hid;
bride and groom. That they are truly unmarried               Zechariah,  Remembered of Jehovah;  Ezekiel,  Whom
 virgins is plain from the fact that they stand in           God  will strengthen;  Daniel,  My judge is God;  Joel,
 contrast to concubines and to queens married to             Jehovah is God;  and Immanuel,  God with us.  The
 kings.                                                      people bearing these names did exemplify to a degree
    Therefore, when we read in Isa. 7: 14, "Behold, the      and by God's grace the qualities denominated. But
 virgin . .  ." the word is indeed virgin, and not "young    who thinks "my judge is God" means that Daniel was
 woman." This is conclusive when we understand that          the judging God? Or who believes that Joel means he
 in this word is the sign God gave, not to wicked King       was divine? Then does Immanuel mean that the
 Ahaz, but to  faith,  to believing Judah. For what sign     person with that name is actually God dwelling with
 would it be in a young woman conceiving? But for a          His people to aid and deliver them? Or does it merely
 virgin to conceive a son without the normal, natural        mean that the parents giving this name thus express
 instrumentality of a man, and a Son Who is really           their faith in God? In the case of this prophecy,
 Immanuel, God With Us in the flesh  - that is a             Immanuel is the one not conceived by natural gen-
 stupendous sign!                                            eration, but supernaturally, miraculously, and born of
                                                             a virgin. He was not, as ordinarily, born of a man and
    But modernistic ration-alism and most of the new         a woman. He was "made of a woman" (Gal.  4:4). So,
 Bible translations deliberately ignore and fly in the       when He would come into the world, God foretold
 face of all the biblical evidence herein presented.         His own name. As Bible names do, it reveals His true


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                227


character, and not just, as with mere human beings,          born in the reigns of Judah's and Israel's kings. The
what He wanted to be. God gave all these names, and          idea is pitifully absurd. What the name Immanuel
the names He gives attach to the actual, the literal         reveals is that  God  came to earth through the womb
and the real. The inference of Scripture (not neology)       of the virgin in the form of an infant born.
then is that this son is what His name claims,  God            So the sign is supernatural, the virgin's conception
with us.                                                     supernatural, the word  almah   signifies nothing less
   In chap. 8, the land of Israel is called Immanuel's       than the miracle of the incarnation of God, God in
land. What in the world could  that  mean if the name        the form of man and in association with men. Isaiah, a
Immanuel referred to a person born in Isaiah's day?          .true rabbi, furnishes us with a divinely inspired
In  9:6, this son is given to Israel, and very specially,    exposition of  the original mother-promise of the
from  God,  through physical birth ("for unto us a           Redeemer of God's elect, the Savior of the world
child is born"), and who is himself "the mighty              (Gn. 3: 15). What else so fills the hearts of men in any
God." There is no Wonderful, nor Prince of Peace             and every age with holy delight?

TAKINGHEED TO THEDOCTRINE



                          Unashamed of the Gospel
                                                Rev. David Engelsma


   Ours is a day of departure from the Reformed              violence in his own society, could ignore all the
faith, on the one hand, and ignorance of it, on the          suffering and grief of broken homes, there is one
other hand. Under the conviction that it is better to        great and dreadful fact that he cannot escape. That
light a candle than to curse the darkness (although it       fact is death. There is death in the world. From it, no
may be necessary to curse the darkness),, I intend to        man escapes. Although a man is not stricken with
present a series of brief, one-article explanations of       cancer, or some other disease; although he does not
some of the fundamental doctrines of the Reformed            perish on a far-off battlefield; although he is not the
faith.                                                       victim of some murderer on a dark street; although he
   The explanations will be simple. Young people,            never becomes one of the grim statistics of highway
even children, will be able to understand them;              fatalities; although he may live 70 or 80 years; he will
parents might want to see to it that their children do       die. This is bad news  - of the worst kind.
so. Your next-door neighbor, even though not                   Is it all darkness? Is it all bad news? Is there no
Reformed or only nominally Reformed, should not              light? Is there no good news? Well may man ask these
find them incomprehensible; you might want to offer          questions, and he does. Many men come to the
them to him. And, who knows, they may even refresh           conclusion that there is no light in the darkness and
some of us.           *  * * * *                             no hope in a world where death reigns supreme. This
   The man who has his eyes opened and his ears              is evident from the fear and despair that grip many
attuned to what is going on in the world has to be           people. Because of this fear and this hopelessness,
aware that there is bad news everywhere. There is            many turn to drunkenness or drugs; and many
murder and violence on every hand. The basic                 immerse themselves in various kinds of pleasures.
elements of human society, marriage, home, labor,            None of these things gives hope, but they do
and government, are dissolving. In the background,           temporarily push the fear and despair to the back-
always, is the threat of world war, as the great             ground.
powers, armed to the teeth with the most destructive           There is good news in this world of death. This
of weapons, lurch into confrontation with each other.        good news is the gospel. The word,  gospel,  simply
Night after night, week in and week out, year after          means `good news,' or `glad tidings.' This is what the
year, the gist of the evening news is: Bad news              angel joyfully announced that night long ago, when
tonight!                                                     Jesus was born: "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you
   If a man could somehow avoid all of this, could           good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
refuse to think about war and rumors of war, could           people." (Luke  2:lO) "Fear not," he said, "for I
banish from his mind every thought concerning the            bring you good news."


228                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


   This good news is news about Jesus Christ, the Son       to men. Do not be too quick to deny this. For one
of God Who came into our world as a man. The angel          thing, the gospel contradicts the wisdom of men in
went on: "For unto you is born this day in the city         every age. The first chapters of the Bible, e.g., teach
of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." It is        that man and the universe originated by being created
the news of what He did: He died for the sins of His        by God in six days, each of which was limited by an
people on a cross, and He rose from the dead in His         evening and a morning. Each of the various creatures
body. It is the news of what this risen Jesus, possessor    came into being by the power of the Almighty Word
of all power in heaven and on earth, does for them:         of God. At once, the gospel opposes the wisdom of
He gives them eternal life, peace, joy, and hope. It is     the world in the theory of evolution. The gospel calls
the news, the gospel is, of what Jesus will do: He will     this bit of human wisdom a fraud, a lie.
come again to destroy His enemies; to raise His               Above all, men are tempted to be ashamed of the
people from the dead; to teach the nations peace; and       gospel because it begins by passing a devastating
to renew the world, so that it is a creation in which       judgment upon man, upon every man. It declares that
righteousness shall dwell.                                  men are sinners and that men's sin is the cause of all
   The gospel presents this great, this astounding          their misery. It finds men guilty before God and,
salvation as God's free gift to men who are sinful and      therefore, worthy of the death that a righteous God
unworthy. The way in which He gives it, and in which        inflicts upon them. The gospel exposes every man as
we enjoy it, is not the way of our works, but the way       totally depraved and all his deeds as only evil. It
of faith  - and this faith itself is His gift to us. The    destroys all man's pretensions of his own goodness
gospel is the good news of grace, God's free favor to       and worth. It dashes all his fond hopes of delivering
the undeserving.                                            himself from his miseries.
  There is no news like it. The goodness of the news          The gospel points out one way of salvation for men,
of the gospel surpasses anything man might dare to          and that one way is the way of the cross of Jesus. But
imagine.                                                    this also is a truth that one is tempted to be ashamed
  But how do you know this, someone asks; where             of. As the same Paul wrote in I Corinthians  1:23:
do you find this? The gospel is given in the Bible,         "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a
Holy Scripture, which is from beginning to end the          stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness."
inspired Word of God. The gospel is not an invention        The truth of salvation by way of the crucifixion of a
of men. It is not another human theory, that  prob-         Man once upon a time is contrary to the ideas of
lably offers some temporary relief to mankind groan-        religious people and nonsense to the learned heathen.
ing under its burdens  - an opiate administered to          So, one is inclined to be ashamed of the gospel; to
wretched man by a crafty, or misguided, priesthood.         water it down; to change it; to smooth its rough
It is the gospel of God. This is what Paul, a great         edges; to make it palatable to men; to revise and
preacher of the gospel, calls it in Romans 1: 1.: "the      update it for modern, 20th century men and women.
gospel of God." God is the One Who conceived and              But we are not ashamed of the gospel. Why not?
counselled the salvation proclaimed in the gospel;          "Because," as Paul goes on to say in Romans 1: 16,
God is the One Who worked it out in our world and           "it is the power of God unto salvation to every one
history  - sending His own Son; God is the One Who          that believeth." When the good news of Jesus Christ
announces the good news. It is God's gospel.                crucified and risen from the dead is preached, the
  We are privileged to preach the gospel (by "we" I         Almighty power of God Himself operates, through
mean the Church). We are not ashamed of the gospel..        the gospel, to save men. There is power in the gospel.
We are ready to preach it to anyone and to everyone.        This power is the glorious power of salvation.
This is what Paul said of himself in the same first         Through the gospel, God delivers those who believe
chapter of the book of Romans. In verses 15, 16, he         from sin and death  - our terrible misery. God takes
said: "So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach        away their guilt, which exposes them to the wrath of
the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not       God and makes them fearful and ashamed, and
ashamed of the gospel of Christ."                           declares them righteous. He changes their hearts, so
  This implies that there are reasons why one might         that they no longer  practise wickedness, but obey His
be tempted to be ashamed of the gospel. It has              law. He gives them eternal life, the end of which will
actually happened, and it is happening today, that          be life and glory in the new creation, body and soul.
men who have had the gospel entrusted to them and           Shall we be ashamed of the gospel, then? God forbid.
who ought to preach it and defend it are ashamed of         We glory in it and in the cross that it proclaims. We
it. In their shame, they are silent about the gospel and    are ready to preach it everywhere and to anyone.
teach other things. Or, they go to work on the gospel         There is another reason why we are not ashamed of
to change it into something that they like better. For      the gospel, nor allow ourselves to be silenced by the
the gospel in its pure, unadulterated form is offensive     opposition and the ridicule of those who find the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


gospel offensive. This is the dreadful fact that, apart      although it comes out of man's own evil nature, is a
from the gospel, there is on earth only the most             judgment of God upon man. God's wrath falls upon
disgusting, ruinous wickedness of men and, burning           men because they have changed the truth of God into
over all, the wrath of God revealed from heaven.             a lie and worship and serve the creature more than
Apart from the gospel of Christ, outside of the sphere       the Creator, Paul writes in verse 25. In His wrath,
of salvation enjoyed by believing the gospel of Christ,      God gives men over to sin; "God gave them up unto
there is the spiritual, death of immorality and the          vile affections," according to verse 26. Our troubles
eternal death of God's terrible wrath. This is our           and woes and wars and even our astounding increase
experience. This has been man's experience through-          of sin are our just punishments from God  `for our
out history: read any good history book. This is the         ungodliness, our refusal to glorify and thank God,
testimony of all the bad news that our world is full         and our denial of the truth of Him. The end of it all is
of. This is what Paul goes on to say in Romans 1:            death, physical death and everlasting death in hell.
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven                  This is man's life (death, rather!) apart from the
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,          gospel. From this, the gospel, and only the gospel,
who hold the truth in unrighteousness." (vs. 18)             saves those who believe. Therefore, we are not
Then, he exposes the wicked behavior of mankind. It          ashamed of the gospel.
reads like a description of our society: sexual filth,         The Church must preach the gospel. This is her
particularly homosexuality; covetousness; murder;            one, great task. Our great need, as sinful men, is to
deceit; backbiting; hatred of God; pride; disobedience       hear the gospel, to heed it by a true and living faith,
to parents; and, at the very end, the wickedness of          and to be saved by the power of God.
people who take pleasure in other people who do
these things, that is, the wickedness of loving to             When this Word of God is proclaimed, there are
watch these things, read these things, and listen to         some who believe, and receive the Word with gladness
these things for entertainment and of making folk            unto the saving of their souls, in distinction from
heroes of the vilest sinners.                                others who put it from them and judge themselves
  Who can challenge this indictment of the world? of         unworthy of everlasting life, even contradicting and
our society? This is the life of men apart from the          blaspheming. This is due solely to God's gracious,
gospel.                                                      eternal ordination of them to eternal life. (Acts
                                                             13 :44-48) The gospel is the gospel of grace.
  But matters are still worse. For this corruption,

SIGNS OF THE TIMES



                           Then Shall the End Come
                                                   Rev. J. Slopsema

  The title of this article is taken from the words of       But once that has been accomplished, then the end
Christ spoken in Matt. 24: 14: "And this gospel of the       comes.
kingdom shall be preached in all the world unto all            To understand this we must see that Christ cannot
nations; and then shall the end come." This was in           come at just any time. All things must be ready. The
response to the question of His disciples, "Tell us . . .    time must be ripe. In the first place, all the elect must
what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end         be gathered and brought to salvation. And in this
of the world?" One of the signs of Christ's coming is        present dispensation God has His people in every
the preaching of the gospel to all the nations.              tribe, tongue, and nation. They must all be  .gathered
   And of all the signs of Christ's coming mentioned         before Christ can come again. But in the second
by the Scriptures, this sign of the preaching is the         place, the cup of iniquity must be filled so that the
chief and most important. For  first  the gospel must        world becomes ripe for judgment. Sin must grow and
be preached in all the, world unto all nations; and          develop until the sin of man's wicked heart manifests
then  shall the end come. The second coming of Christ        itself in the worst possible way. This in turn means
and the end of all things wait for and are dependent         the rise and culmination of the Antichrist. For when
upon the spread of the gospel. The end cannot come           Antichrist shall come and establish his universal
until the gospel has been preached to all the nations.       kingdom of darkness, sin will have been manifest as


  230                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



 sin. The terrible wickedness of man's heart and his               world, most of them oral only, which makes life.
 enmity against God will have been fully revealed. And             difficult for Christian missionaries sworn to spread
 man will be ripe for final judgment. Upon these two               the word of God as widely as possible. Most Bible
 things, therefore, the day of Christ depends  - the full          societies, in fact, concentrate mainly on getting ade-
 ingathering of the church and the filling of the cup of           quate translations into major written languages. But
 iniquity by the world. When these two come to pass                the Summer Institute of Linguistics has a longer
 - and they will be accomplished simultaneously  -                 reach. For the past 42 years, following the teachings
                                                                   of its founder W. Cameron Townsend, S.I.L. teams
 then the end comes: not before, not afterwards, but               have been seeking out tiny, isolated tribes in remote
 then.                                                             corners of the world. Witb. a little help from tape
    And the preaching of the gospel to all the nations             recorders, phonetics and the science of linguistics
 is the chief means Christ uses to accomplish this. It is          they create written language out of the primitive
 through the preaching of the gospel that Christ, first            spoken word; eventually they teach the tribesmen
 of all, gathers His church from among the nations.                how to read primers written in the vocabulary they
 This is symbolized in Rev.  6:2 by the drive of the               talk, and present them with a readable New Testa-
 white horse. "And I saw, and behold a white horse:                ment printed in their native tongue.
 and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was                        "As a labor of love and an example of global
 given him: and he went forth conquering, and to                   evangelism and literacy instruction, the overseas work
 conquer." As the white horse runs its course through              of S.I.L. and its U.S. counterpart, known as the
 the  nations and as its rider shoots his arrows of the            Wycliffe Bible Translators, cannot be matched. It has
                                                                   brought reading and Bible translations to 90 pre-
 Word into the hearts of God's elect, they are brought             viously illiterate tribes, and is currently at work with
 to faith and conversion and salvation in Christ. In like          650  more."
 manner, the Apostle Paul teaches us in I Corinthians            What catches our attention here is, first of all
 1 that the preaching of the gospel is the power of            evidence of the running of the white horse of  thi
 God unto salvation. Christ gathers His church from            book of Revelation. The gospel is being spread
 the nations by the preaching.                                 throughout the world. It is true, of course, that the
   But in the second place, Christ also uses the               emphasis in this article is upon Bible translating
 preaching to bring about the development of sin in            rather than preaching. Yet all this work of the S.I.L.
 the world. The gospel not only has a positive effect; it      presupposes and is in the context of the preaching.
 also has a negative effect. It not only softens; it also      And it may also be true that from our Reformed
 hardens. It not only brings the elect to repentance; it       perspective this work of the S.I.L. may not be all that
 also  brings the reprobate to rebellion and defiance          we would like it to be, both from the viewpoint of its
 against God. The Word of God is a two-edged sword:            content and its method. Nevertheless, the fact re-
 it cuts two ways. It is a savour of life unto life and a     mains that what we have here is further evidence of
 savour of death unto death. And, therefore, it is            the running of the white horse.
 through the preaching that the necessary develop-               But what catches our attention here, in the second
 ment of sin in the world is also accomplished.               place, is the evidence of how close we are to the end
 Without the drive of the white horse the- sin of             of time. The spread of the gospel is a fairly accurate
 natural man could not develop as it ought. The               gauge to determine how close we are to the end. For
 Antichrist would not come. The cup of iniquity               in the days of the Apostles the preaching of the
 would not be filled; and neither could the world be          gospel began in Jerusalem. From there it spread and
made ripe for judgment.                                       has continued to do so throughout the New Dis-
   Clearly, then, the  se,cond coming of Christ depends       pensation. Never has the gospel stood still. Always
upon the preaching. The end of all things must wait           the white horse has continued its victorious march in
until the white horse has fully run its course and the        a westward direction. And, according to Christ Him-
gospel is proclaimed to all the nations, having its           self, when the gospel shall have been universally
two-fold effect. Only then  can  the end come. And            proclaimed so that all nations shall have received the
then  shall  the end come.                                    witness of the gospel, then the end comes. By paying
   It is in this connection that we find a rather             attention, therefore, to the spread of the gospel, we
interesting article in the "Religion" department of the       can get a fairly accurate picture of where we are in
Jan.  9,  1978 issue of  Time  magazine. The article is       history.
entitled, "Beyond Babel." We quote the opening                   And just how far has the gospel advanced today? It
paragraphs:                                                   has advanced to the point where organizations such as
          "The tongues of men have proliferated consider-     the Summer Institute of Linguistics are turning to
    ably since the Tower of Babel helped explain how the      isolated tribes here and there, who have no written
    sons of Noah came to converse in so many different        language, and are providing them with Bibles! And
    languages. Today there are 3,000 languages in the         that speaks volumes. That tells us that the gospel has


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  231



 been almost universally proclaimed. That tells us that        That means salvation and final glory in the perfected
 the white horse of Revelation has about completed its         kingdom of our God. Do you look for that with eager
 drive. Missionaries, churches, Bible societies do not         expectation? Do you long for that? Then, rejoice!
 turn their attention to "isolated tribes in remote            For the precious object of your hope is about to be
 corners of the world" unless the gospel has already           realized.
 been proclaimed throughout the main and more                    But, in the second place, this means that we must
 accessible civilizations of humanity. And this asser-         for the meantime arm ourselves with the whole armor
 tion is born out by the facts. It is simply a fact that       of God. For the days in which we live are evil. And
 the Word has been proclaimed in every country of the          they shall continue to increase in wickedness until the
 world. It is simply a fact that indigenous churches           very end. Even now all things appear to be ripe for
 have also been established in every land. The                 the coming of the Antichrist, whose coming shall
 modern-day missionary has an almost impossible task           mark the fulness of the development of sin in man.
 to find a field where the gospel has not already              But this should not surprise us. This tremendous
 preceded him.                                                 growth of sin in the world is merely the negative
   And that indicates but one thing: the end is not,           effect of the spread of the gospel into all the world.
 can not be, all that far off. For "this gospel of the         As the gospel is more and more proclaimed, even to
 kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a              the remote corners of the earth, we can expect sin to
 witness unto all nations; and then the end shall              grow and develop by leaps and bounds. We must not
 come." We should not put the day of Christ's coming           be surprised by all these things. And neither must we
 into the far and distant future. To do so is simply not       be alarmed. For this is the work of our Lord, Who
 to recognize one of the key signs of the times.               even now sits at the right hand of God. He it is Who
   And what does this all mean practically speaking?           sovereignly brings all these things to pass. He is
   This means, first of all, that the church has cause         preparing all things for His second coming. And He
 for rejoicing. The day of the Lord is at hand! We can         will certainly care for and preserve His church in the
 see Him coming, even through the spread of the                midst of them. But, nevertheless, it is our calling as
 gospel. All evidence points very clearly to the fact          the saints of God to fight even to the end and to be
 that before long we will see Him on the clouds of             faithful. Let us, therefore, put on the whole armor of
 heaven with His holy angels. And that means deliver-          God that we may be able to withstand in the evil day,
 ance from this present weary night of sin and death.          and having done all, to stand.

 FROM HOLY WRIT



               Exposition of the Book of Galatians
                                                     Rev. G. Lubbers

 THE IRREPRESSIBLE QUESTION: WHY THEN                            Then the law cannot be a way of salvation! As we
 THE LAW? - (Continued, Gal. 3 : 19)                           said in the former essay, the law was there for the
                                                               transgressions' sake. Concerning this we must make a
   The great inheritance which is ours in Christ Jesus         few more observations of an exegetical nature.
 cannot be ours "out of law." Such was not the
 specific term of the covenant ratified by God to                Bishop Trench in  his New Testament Synonyms
 Abraham by oath. It was by promise, pure and                  has a very interesting study of the term "transgres-
 simple, which for its fulfilment was wholly to be a           sion" (parabasis)  in the writings of Paul. He insists, as
 work of God in Christ Jesus. It was "graced" by God           do both Lightfoot and Greijdanus and others, that
 to us. That was its perpetual and unchangeable                the words "for the transgressions' sake" do not mean
 character. The verb in the Greek is  "kecharistai,  "  the    to convey the thought that the law came in order to
 perfect indicative deponent active, underscoring that         prevent  transgressions on the part of the people of
this was the completed condition of the promise and            God, but rather the law came as the "power" of sin,
 covenant from the time of Abraham till the coming             that the great transgressions of the Old Testament
 of Christ, which could not be changed by the                  saints might come to manifestation in all their hor-
 presence and actuality of the centuries of the law.           rible sinfulness, as these culminated in the crucifixion
 God  had given it  by grace  to Abraham. That stands          of the Son of God. That is the only way one can
 unchanged and unmoved!                                        interpret the great and consummate sinfulness of


232                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



Israel. Such was, shocking as it may seem, the                keeping of the law no flesh was justified before God.
purpose of the law-giving at Sinai; therefore was it          (Psalm 143 : 2) They looked for another righteousness
added to the promise. Writes Trench, among other              "without law." (Rom.  3:20, 28) For Christ is the end
things, "In the language of Paul this  parabasis  (trans-     (telos) of the Law for righteousness to everyone that
gression) of the commandment distinctly given, is             believeth. (Rom.  10:4) Thus they understood Deuter-
more serious than  hamartia  (sin) (Confer Rom.  2:23;        onomy 30: 11-14. And the law-giving must serve that
I Tim. 2: 14; Hebrews  2:2; 9: 15). "A bit later Trench       exalted end of pointing beyond itself to the promise,
writes, "He who, being under no expressed law, is, in         to the Seed, Christ.
Augustine's language a `peccator'; he who, having
such a law, is  "praevaricator". . . . Before the law         THE INFERIORITY OF THE LAW CLEARLY SET
came men might be the former; after the law they              FORTH IN THE MANNER IN WHICH IT WAS
could only be the latter. In the first there is  implicit,    ORDAINED. (Galatians 3: 19,20)
in the second there is  explicit  disobedience" See             The apostle proceeds to state something more
Trench's Synonyms, page 229.                                  about this "law" which was only till the Seed should
  We believe that a careful study of such passages as         come. He points out that this law is inferior to the
James  2:9 and I Corinthians 15: 57 will bear out that        "promise" in  the  very manner  in which Israel received
such is the intent of Paul here in this passage when he       this law. God did not give this law directly by Himself
says "for the transgressions' sake."                          as He "gave" the promise, but He ordained it through
                                                              two  creaturely  agencies!  The angels are creatures, and
  Paul adds that this power of the law will obtain            Moses is a creature. That this law is "ordained"
"until the Seed should come." After Christ (the Seed)         (diatassein   = giving orders in detail) by angels shows
has come, this law-dispensation will end because it           that this was a work which was less glorious than that
then has served its God-intended purpose. When the            giving of the promise. This could be relegated to the
promise is fulfilled the law falls away. Then it has          "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them
served its pedagogical purpose. of being a tutor to           who shall be heirs of salvation." (Heb. 1: 14) To these
Christ. The law then is, in its pedagogical purpose, no       angels God never said: "Sit on my right hand, until I
longer needed. For the Seed is the One to "whom it            make thine enemies thy footstool" (Heb.  1:4, 5, 13).
was promised." This was promised to Christ when               This  Zesser  matter in the economy of  salvation.can be
God confirmed the promise over and over to                    performed by the "ministering spirits," be they
Abraham and to his "Seed," which is Christ. (Gen.             Gabriel and Michael and all their hosts together.
12:7;  13:15;   17:7;  22:18) Such were the terms of the      Concerning this inferior way of giving the "law"
Covenant. And hence this word stands. That is why             when compared with the giving of the "promise" we
the apostle writes "the promise hath been made." He           shall see more presently.
employs the perfect tense, impersonal passive. This
emphasizes that this promise was. thus in its  com-             Now Moses, in the book of Exodus, does not
pleted state  all along. It had never lost one iota of its    inform us of the presence of angels at Sinai at the
validity throughout all the centuries that the law said       time of the law-giving. But that is no argument that
"do this and thou shalt live." It was ever given to           they were not present there in that awful glory,
Abraham by the sovereign grace of God which ex-               which caused even Moses to say, "I exceedingly fear
cludes all works of merit. (Rom.  11:5, 6) And,               and quake." (Heb.  12:21) When Moses climbed the
according to Scripture, this promise is in Christ for         Mount of God to receive the law, the Lord was there
the elect, the remnant according to election, the             with his "saints." Moses tells us in Deut.  33:2 "The
believers. Otherwise grace is no more grace and works         Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto
is no more works!                                             them; he shined forth from mount  Paran, and he
                                                              came with the  ten thousands of his saints:  from his
  When the Seed has "come," once and for all, in His          hand went a fiery law unto them." It was a very
lowly birth, suffering, death, and resurrection, then         spectacular and glorious sight. The whole mountain
the dispensation of this "law" ends. We are crucified         range was lit up by the brightness of the LORD'S
with Christ. Through law we died unto law! And                presence. And the Lord was there with ten thousands
what we now live we live by the faith of the Son of           of his saints. This was a very great Theophany,
God, who loved us and died for us. Hallelujah! (Gal.          indeed! Good Bible scholars point out that the term
2:20, 21) What we now live we live by the faith of            "saints" in the Old Testament refers to the angels of
the Son of God!                                               God, while in the New Testament the term refers to
  This law, therefore, had a good purpose. It showed          the glorified children of God who will accompany
the necessity of grace as the fulfilment of the promise       their Lord Jesus, to judge the living and the dead. For
in Jesus Christ, and by this law the saints, the              the usage of the angels in the Old Testament see I
believers, reached out and saw in hope that their sal-        Kings 22: 19; Job.  1:6; Daniel 7: 10. These surround
vation was in the Promised "Seed" alone. In the               the throne of God. They are the assembly of the


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                  233


"Holy Ones" about God's throne. (Psalm  80:6, 8;                is: God-Christ-the angel-John  - the seven churches.
68: 17) The Chariots of God are twenty thousand,                Only in this latter case it is not the law-giving but the
even thousands of angels; the LORD is among them                prophetic Word concerning the triumph of the King-
as in Sinai, in the holy places. In Acts  7:53 Stephen          dom of God and of His Christ.
tells the Sanhedrin of their rebellious heart that they           The point is that the law-giving, glorious as it was,
did not walk as such as had received "the law by the            was inferior to the giving of the Promise. That is
disposition of angels." And the very great sin of not           pointed out when the apostle says "now a mediator is
obeying the law is underscored by the writer to' the            not of one, but God is one." This phrase has given
Hebrews when he says, "For if the  word spoken by               much difficulty to interpreters. We are told that there
angels  was steadfast, and every transgression and              are between three and four hundred different inter-
disobedience a just  recompence of reward. . .  ."              pretations. After much reflection and research we
(Hebrews 2: 2)                                                  believe that Lightfoot and Greijdanus give the proper
  From the foregoing it is quite evident that the law           interpretation. The apostle, according to them, is here
was given by angels. All the commandments were                  saying that "the  mediator"  in any given case among
given by angels. This was a "fiery law" written in              men is always an in-between-man. There are always two
tables of stone, and there were many commandments               or more parties where he is needed. Such it is in
both in the Levitical ordinances as well as in the civil        human-relations here on earth. He is ever dealing with
laws of Israel. They were all given as the  Zaw-prescrip-       human and divine stipulations and conditions which
tions  for Israel. They were of such a nature that they         must be met shall he mediate. But such is not the case
could be given by such angelic emissaries from                  with God in dealing with His people in His giving and
heaven. The promise could not be given to us by such            fulfilling of the Promise. The very term in the Greek
in-between-agents. Yes, this  law  had a glory, but it          verb for "to promise" is always in the  middle  voice.
-had no glory compared with the glory of God in the             In Greek this means that the action of the doer is
promise.  (II Cor. 3:6-10) And this inferiority, we are         somehow in relation to himself. God gives His
told, is seen even in the very law-giving itself!               promise and fulfils it. He does this all alone. He,
  There is one more fact of this law-giving which the           therefore, gave the promise to Abraham and appeared
text which we are considering underscores. It was               to him in Ur of the Chaldees as the "God of glory"
placed in the "hand of a mediator": Moses. John                 without any angels or men representing Him. The
writes, "The law was  giverz   through Moses, but grace         "Angel of the LORD" came to Abraham's tent in
and truth became  (egento  from  ginomai: to become)            announcing the birth of Isaac, telling him that
through Jesus Christ." (John 1: 17) And so this                 nothing is impossible with God. (Gen.  18:9-15. See
"mediator" here does not refer to Christ, the Media-            also Luke  1:37) When God gives and fulfils His
tor of God and man (I Tim.  2:5, Heb.  12:24)  but              promise He is one. He is the sole giver and fulfiller of
refers to Moses, the man of God who climbed up to               His Word. Behold, then, the excellency of the
Mount Sinai and who returned to Israel with the law.            promise over the law even in the manner in which the
Here in the law-giving the order is:  God-angels-               one was "ordained" and the other "given."
Moses-Israel. See a similar order in Rev. 1: 1 where it





                                                Tomorrow
                                                     Rev. Rodney Miersma

   Tomorrow . . .                                               these subjects so that I can take up this or that
   Tomorrow what?                                               vocation. And if I do not go to some institution of
                                                                higher learning I will have plans for my immediate
   Why, tomorrow we will do this or that and we will            vocation." So we go on, making plans for every
go here and there.                                              sphere of our lives.
   In such a way we make our plans. We all plan,                   Good!
whether we are young or old. However, as youth in
the church of Jesus Christ one has much for which to              We must make plans for we must prepare and make
plan. "When I leave high school I will go to this or            provision for the future. One who does not is a fool.
that college. At the college of my choice I will take              But as covenant young people we must not divorce


234                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER


our plans from the Lord our God who directs all                   even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and
things by His almighty will. James in his epistle has             then vanisheth away." Yes, like a mist; you see it,
something to say on this matter.                                  then you do not. That is our life. We must realize that
          Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we            we are dependent creatures who receive our life from
       will go into such a city, and continue there a year,       outside of ourselves.
       and buy and sell, and get gain:                              Reality, in the second place, is that God controls
          Whereas ye know not what shall be on the                all things by His counsel. This counsel is the living,
       morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour,        active will of God which has power to carry itself out.
       that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth       No man is able to frustrate His purpose; His will is
       away.                                                      done on earth as it is done in heaven. Unless we hold
          For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall    to this truth it is absurd that we even say it. In
       live, and do this, or that.                                addition to being efficacious the will of God is also
          But now ye rejoice in your boasting: all such           all-comprehensive. Every minute detail which takes
       rejoicing is evil.                                         place in the course of history takes place only
          Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and           because God willed it. The Belgic Confession in Art.
       doeth it not, to him it is sin.                            13 explains this truth very beautifully.
                                          James 4: 13-17                 "We believe that the same God, after he had
  James has taken this picture of what was charac-                    created all things, did not forsake them, or give them
teristic of a Jewish merchant. The Jews went all over                 up to fortune or chance, but that he rules and governs
                                                                      them according to his holy will, so that nothing
trading in all of the cities of the world. Now here we               happens in this world without his appointment:
have this merchant  sitting  at home with his family                  nevertheless, God neither is the author of, nor can be
with a world map spread out over the table. He is                     charged with, the sins which are committed. For his       '
explaining to his family how he will take a few                       power and goodness are so great and incompre-
trusted servants and will go to this or that city. Then              hensible, that he orders and executes his work in the
he will do this and that. There is no doubt in his mind               most excellent and just manner, even then, when
as to what is going to happen. He does not foresee                    devils and wicked act unjustly. And, as to what he
anything wrong taking place. The voyage will be safe.                 doth surpassing human understanding, we will not
He will make so much money and return exactly one                     curiously inquire into, farther than our capacity will
year from today. There is no room for frustration  -                  admit of; but with the greatest humility and
all is very definite.                                                 reverence adore the righteous judgments of God,
                                                                      which are hid from us, contenting ourselves that we
  What is wrong?                                                      are disciples of Christ, to learn only those things
  That he made plans?                                                 which he has revealed to us in his Word, without
                                                                      transgressing these limits. This doctrine affords us
  No, but he divorces all his plans for the future                    unspeakable consolation, since we are taught thereby
from God. This is the heart of his sin. He ignores                    that nothing can befall us by chance, but by the
entirely the truth which he claims to believe  - that                 direction of our most gracious and heavenly Father;
God controls everything. His very certainty denies                   who watches over us with a paternal care, keeping all
that God controls all. He is a member of the church,                  creatures so under his power, that not a hair of our
but from his practical life you would never know it.                 head (for they are all numbered), nor a sparrow, can
He denies that his life and calling is fundamentally                  fall to the ground without the will of our Father, in
that of a pilgrim.                                                    whom we do entirely trust; being persuaded, that he
                                                                     so restrains the devil and all our enemies, that
  This basic sin is characteristic in the church, a sin              without his will and permission, they cannot hurt us.
against which we must guard with our whole being.                    And therefore we reject that damnable error of the
As children of God we must not only be listeners and                  Epicureans, who say that God regards nothing, but
hear the Word of God, but we must also be doers.                     leaves all things to chance."
  We must face reality. That, in the first place, means             This counsel has as its very center Jesus Christ our
that we do not know what shall be on  the.morrow.                 Lord. In fact it has meaning and purpose only as it
God is in control and He does not reveal to us His                relates to Christ. God's purpose is to glorify Himself;
purpose for the morrow. In fact it is a mercy that He             but this glory is realized through Christ. Further, all
does not reveal the future to us. If we knew what the             God's counsel is realized through the salvation of the
morrow would be like we would not have the courage                Church in Christ. Applying this to ourselves this
to go on. Christ knew with respect to His life, but               means that our final blessedness -in Christ is the
that only added to His suffering. We must learn to                ultimate goal of this infinitely wise, supremely
live in conscious dependence on Him, bearing only                 blessed will of God.
the burdens of the moment.                                          Thus, all things serve the salvation of the elect of
  This stands to reason, for what is our life? "It is             God. All that God determines to do is for the sake of


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                         235


His people. This is the supreme truth of the gospel          I know, there are times when we wish we could
that shines undimmed and catches at our hearts with          control our lives. We are not satisfied with the will of
its astonishing blessedness. No wonder that Scripture        God and we want badly for things to be different.
constantly extols the greatness of God's will. And no        But deep down we know that this is not good. For if
wonder that the songs of the Church are eternally            we were given the direction of our own lives, we
raised in praise to God for His glorious works. And          would surely never arrive in glory.
again, no wonder that Scripture again and again tells           "If the Lord wills. . .  ."
us that all  things  are for our good, that nothing can
be against us if God is for us, and that all things are         That is a confession that only the child of God can
ours even as we are Christ's and Christ is God's             make, a confession that is worked by grace, implying
                                                             a particular attitude of the heart. "Thou wilt guide
  However, in the face of this glorious truth, what do       me by Thy counsel." This portrays an attitude of
we do? We boast.                                             humble dependence, of absolute reliance.
  Yes, that is right, we boast!                                 Moreover, this confession is  .a comfort to God's
  By nature we are no different from the Jewish              people. It is not a sigh of resignation, a simple
merchant. This is especially true of a young person.         acknowledgement of the fact. No, it is rather a
Apparently he has a long life ahead of him and he            testimony of the fact that we are led by our Father's
boldly makes plans accordingly: Very typical that is         hand. He seeks our good; He knows our place in
of a high school graduate. "Now I have acquired a            glory; and He knows the best way to lead us there.
diploma; the world lies before me, and I am going to         Guided by His counsel we shall arrive safely  oq the
become this or that and accomplish great things."             shores of eternity. We say: "Whether we live, we live
However, when one makes such claims for himself he           unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the
is boasting because he does not have the ability to          Lord; Whether we  lite therefore, or die, we are the
determine the morrow. In reality this is rebellion            Lord's."
against the will of God.' Swagger and strut however             "If the Lord wills. . .  ."
you please, but it is all empty boasting. God alone
determines all for both the elect  dnd the reprobate.           0, I know what you are thinking. "Must I include
  All this kind of boasting is evil, rotten, morally          that phrase every time that I `say something? I will
                                                             appear as some pious  fuddy-duddy."
unsound evil  - an active, vicious evil  that destroys.
And, lest we forget, we must be reminded that this              I agree.
sin is a sin of commission, not omission. It is not             An over-emphasis will cause this truth to become
merely a matter of forgetting to bear in mind "If the         trite and meaningless. However, we must always be
Lord wills. . .  ." Rather, it is a willful exultation        conscious of this truth whether we express it verbally
against God and an attempt to destroy Him. For                or not. The absence of this expression reveals a sinful
when we talk as if we control the morrow, it is              nature whereas its presence reveals the inmost longing
boasting which is evil.                                       of our heart, namely, what God wills, for His will is
  But, youth, all this is not meant to discourage you.       realized in Christ unto the salvation of His people.
ALL AROUND US                                                                                                `-..


                                             Presbyterian Charismatics
                                                    Rev. G. Van  Baren

  The  Presbyterian Journal,  December 14, 1977,                 be the first congregation of any Presbyterian de-
reports on the organization of a congregation of                 nomination openly formed expressly to be a charis-
charismatics within the United Presbyterian Church               matic congregatibn.
USA. This appears to be the first congregation organ-               With upward of 300 persons in attendance from
ized in this way. The article states:                            the first regular Sunday worship service, the New
       A new congregation. formed by Presbyterian                 Covenant congregation had a charter membership
    charismatic leaders has been approved here as a              class of some 147 persons, representing over 13
    mission fellowship of the United Presbyterian Church          different denominational backgrounds.
    USA with the clear understanding that the new                   The congregation has called the Rev. . . . In a letter
    church is to be charismatic-oriented.    *                    to the chairman of South Florida presbytery's Com-
       New Covenant Presbyterian Church is thought to             mittee of Missions, Strategy and Property, the Rev.


I 236                                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER
           James I.  McCord,  president of Princeton Seminary,                                  byterian Church can incorporate into its historical
           wrote of Mr. . .:                                                                    framework new dimensions of Christian ex-
               "(He) is a solid Presbyterian, Reformed in                                       perience. . .  ."
           theology and polity, and he is a devoted and loyal                                 The same  Presbyterian Journal  contains a number
           churchman. He believes and has demonstrated that                                 of articles by ministers in support of the idea of the
           the charismatic dimension of the Christian life can be                           work of the Holy Spirit as seen in speaking with
          channeled into the Church, to the enrichment of the                               tongues and healings. It appears that this charismatic
           entire congregation."                                                            movement continues to infiltrate and affect the
               In its petition to the presbytery to be organized as                         churches of our day  - including those of various
          a UPCUSA church, the steering committee of the new                                presbyterian denominations. We too ought to be on
          congregation stated: "It is our ardent desire that this                           our guard against  this error which has disturbed
          new work be a prototype of how the United  Pres-                                  others. Remember: it is still around.
                                                                     Another  BrBight  Idea
        The  Banner  of January 6, 1978 reports in the                                         he hopes to raise his one billion dollars from "new
     c o l u m n   b y   D i r k   B u u r s m a   o n   t h e   n e w   c a m p a i g n        sources not being channeled into other Christian
     planned by Bill Bright:                                                                    organizations. . . ."
              Bill Bright, head of Campus Crusade for Christ                                  So, we're in for another one of those tremendous,
          International, is not a quitter. His much-ballyhooed                              world-wide campaigns. There is to be much ado about
          effort to evangelize the United States called "Here's                             evangelizing the world with a billion dollars of con-
          Life, America" had about the impact of a limp                                     tributions  - with what result? One would think that
          noodle. Most observers feel that it made even less                                evangelism requires the power of billions and the
          impact than Key `73 and Evangelism Thrust, other                                  influence of great names. But where is to be found
          nationwide efforts to reach the masses with the
          Christian gospel.                                                                 the power of the cross? Only recently the report was
                                                                                            given that more than 85% of those who make "com-
              Now, undaunted by the failure of "Here's-Life,                                mitments" to Christ, never enter into the door of a
          America," Bright has announced a new plan which
        will cost one billion dollars. "It's a goal that I have                             church after these "commitments." Is it not an
          held dear for more than 30 years - to fulfill the great                           indication that the "evangelization" going on is not
          commission."                                                                      God-centered or Christ-centered, but rather,  man-
                                                                                            centered? The "Here's life, America" campaign sug-
              In order to obtain financing for his plan, Bright                             gested itself the trouble. The bumper sticker used in
          has contacted a group of wealthy  evangelicals, in-
          cluding such people as entertainers Roy Rogers and                                that campaign proclaimed: "I found it." It is ques-
          Dale Evans, Dallas oilman Nelson Bunker Hunt, and                                 tionable to what the "it" referred. But the greater
          the co-founder of the Holiday Inns, Wallace A.                                    problem was that "I found this." It was not, "Christ
          Johnson. No doubt other affluent businessmen will                                 found me." Therein lies the explanation of the failure
          hear the telephone ringing.                                                       of this "Bright" campaign. And if, as it is highly
              Bright intends to use television and radio in reach-                          hkely, the new "Bright" campaign is conducted the
          ing foreign cities, and in a press conference announc-                            same way, it will be indeed a billion dollar failure.
          ing his ambitious program, he stressed that the cru-                              The sad part is that this is such a waste of monies in
          sade would not be political. Bright also indicated that                           the name of evangelism.

I                                                                   Diapers  to  Diplomas
        Outlook  of January 1978 quotes an interesting                                         patently absurb  - a statement I make as the father of
     article from the Nov. 28, 1977 Lutheran  Christian                                        five who are being raised satisfactorily even though
     News worthy of our consideration too:                                                     the Lord has not supplied the $350,000 to $535,000
              The Planned Parenthood Association has pub-                                      the Zero Population Growth people maintain we need
                                                                                               to rear them  - many couples have swallowed the
          licized alarming figures clearly designated to dis-                                  anti-child propaganda poison and are so intimidated
          courage childbearing. According to their highly sus-                                 that they feel even having one child would demand
          pect statistics it's supposed to cost from $70,000 to                                unbelievable financial sacrifices and interfere too
          $107,000 to raise a child from diapers to college                                    much with their modern American materialistic and
          diploma. The larger figure includes lost earning power                               pleasure-mad lifestyle.
          of the mother sacrificing her career in order to be                                     How sad to hear in premarital counseling even our
          "just a housewife."                                                                  Lutheran youth claiming they can't afford to think of
              Although such figures overlook young people work-                                having children for several years and then to see them
          ing their way through college and in general are                                     drive off in expensive cars to luxuriously appointed


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                237


   apartments with color TV and stereo! Have we                  diapers to (high school and/or college) diploma.
   parents, pastors, and teachers perhaps become too            The above ought to serve as reminder of the calling
   mired in materialism ourselves that we can't convince      of children of God in their marriage union. I fear that
   our offspring that receiving children as precious gifts    we too are being influenced more than we want to
   of God and bringing them up in the nurture and
   admonition of the Lord is much more satisfying and         admit by all of the propaganda of the world. We see
   God-pleasing than piling up property and possessions       today in our churches sometimes a greater emphasis
   which so soon rot and rust away?                           and desire to possess material things than to receive
                                                              children of the Lord. Christian young people ought to
      Wisconsin Synod couples, blessed with fertility,        ask themselves the question too before entering mar-
   need not feel guilty about bringing children into a        riage: why do I desire this union? If it is that two
   world allegedly threatened by the specter of over-
   population, not if they are truly Christian parents and    may live together more profitably than one, with two
   give this sin-corrupted world what it needs most  -        working in order to earn for the "good life," and if
   youngsters properly trained to live their Christian        the intent is then to refuse to have children or wait a
   faith, to talk about their Savior, to witness by word      long time to have such, then we have greatly confused
   and deed to the Gospel of the crucified and risen          our priorities. Covenant children involve- time  - but
   Lord Jesus.                                                above all, eternity. Earthly possessions fade away and
      Christian parents, who seek first the kingdom of        in the last day all about us shall be consumed with
   God and His righteousness, will surely receive, as         that fiery heat. But children of the Lord are part of
   Jesus promised (Matt.  6:33), the material things          the body of Christ who shall praise the Lord forever-
   needed to adequately provide for their children from       more in glory. Where are our priorities?

                                                More  From  Outlook
  This same issue of  Outlook  contains several articles      Church" consisting of conservatives of all of the
worthy of consideration. The subject matter also              Reformed churches of the land. But this remained
reflects what is of burning concern to this magazine          only a "dream." Specific action, God-required action,
and. within the Christian Reformed Church. Not                was not presented. And so, many conservatives who
coincidentally, there are two articles which treat the        looked to the  Outlook  for leadership, found that it
subject of the dance. Two articles touch upon the             accurately painted the troubles, but stopped short of
idea of the infallibility of Scripture. A lengthy quota-      providing the kind of leadership necessary for proper
tion from Geerhardus Vos is presented on the subject          church reformation.
of reprobation. `The articles are instructive, but also         Now the Rev. Peter De Jong of the Dutton,
reflect the pathetic situation where these are not            Michigan Christian Reformed Church has been asked
simply discussed as `errors which confront the liberal        to serve as managing editor. Whether this involves also
churches of the day; rather, these are truths being           full editorial responsibilities, I do not know. We can
denied within their own denomination.                         only wish him God's rich blessings in what must be a
  The  Outlook  also reports that they have a new             very difficult position. And it would be our prayer
editor,  or,`as  they put it, a "change of drivers." The      too that he may provide the kind of leadership so
Rev. J. Vander Ploeg served as editor for the last            essential for the many who are troubled by the
seven years. It was a position he took over after             apostasy within the churches. We as churches would
having served for many years as editor of the  Banner.        also much like him, and others, to see what we have
Through his editorial writings, the Rev. Vander Ploeg         suggested for many years, that there is a clear-cut
has correctly pinpointed many of the ills of his              relationship also between current trends and that
denomination. The diagnosis, however, seemed easier           view of common grace adopted by the C.R.C. in
to present than the cure. Perhaps that is understand-         1924. At least. we would hope that the idea is no
able. The closest to a "cure" that Rev. Vander Ploeg          longer rejected out-of-hand.
proposed was the formation of a "United Reformed


          The STANDARD BEARER
          makes a thoughtful gift
          for a shut-in.


238                                                            THE STANDARD  BEARER



                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                           NOTICE!!!!
   The Mens Society of the Hull Protestant Reformed Church extends              The Northwest Iowa Protestant Reformed School,  Doon, Iowa, will
its sympathy to one of its members, Mr. Tim R. Kooima, in the passing       be in need of three  (3) teachers for the School term of 1978-79.
of his father, MR. SAM T.  KOOIMA. May our covenant God comfort             Teachers needed are for the Lower Room  - Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd
him with His Word and Spirit in the assurance that  - "All things work      grades, Middle Room  -  3rd, 4th and 5th grades, Upper Room  -  6th,
together for good to them that love God."  (Remans  8:28j.                  7th and 8th grades. Application can be made by writing to:  - The
                   Rev. M. Hoeksema, Pres.                                  Northwest Iowa Protestant Reformed School,  Doon.  Iowa 51235  (c/o
                   Mr. Alvin Kooiker, Sec'y.                                Mrs. Ed Van Egdomj or to: - Henry Bleyenburg, 909  - 12th St., Rock
                                                                            Valley, Iowa 51247.
                  .RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                          NOTICE!!!!
   The Adult Bible Class of Faith Protestant Reformed Church extends
to Mr. Paul Bruckbauer its deep sympathy in the recent loss of  ,his            The Hull  (Iowa)  Protestant Reformed Christian School is in need of
mother, MRS. MARY BRUCKBAUER. May the Lord sustain this                     a teacher for grades 3, 4 and 5 for the 1978-79 school year. Please
brother in this need.                                                       c o n t a c t   M r .   A l v i n   K o o i k e r ,   Boyden,   I o w a   5 1 2 3 4   o r   p h o n e
                                          Adult Bible Class                 712-725-2491.

                  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                              NOTICE
   The Adult Bible Class of Faith Protestant Reformed Church ex-                Covenant Christian High School has an opening on its faculty next
presses their heartfelt sympathy to its member, Mr. Bill Lafferty, in       year  (1978-1979)  for a teacher certified in the area of business
the loss of his mother MRS. DOROTHY LAFFERTY.                               education. Applicants may address inquiries to Mr. Henry Boer, 7871
   May he experience that the strength of the Lord is always sufficient.    Emberly Drive, Jenison, Michigan 49428.

                                          Adult Bible Class                                 OFFlCEBEAREliS CONFERENCE
                              NOTICE!!!                                         Any officebearers or former officebearers interested in the subject
   Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will meet on            of Post-millennialism are invited to the all-day conference to be held,
March 1, 1978, at South Holland, Illinois, at  8:30 A.M. Delegates in       D.V., on Tuesday, February 28, at 9 A.M. at the South Holland
need of lodging should inform the Clerk of the South Holland Council        Protestant Reformed Church. In the morning session Rev. Dale Kuiper
of their need.                                                              will present a Critique of Post-millennialism. In the afternoon session
                                              Rev. David Engelsma           Prof. H. Hanko will offer a Biblical-Exegetical Study of the Millennial
                                           Stated Clerk                     Question. There will be a fellowship supper in the evening.




             The
       STANDARD BEARER
        makes a thoughtful gift
                  for any occasion.


                                     News From Our Churches

  First Church in Grand Rapids extended a call to                           '60s teaching, preaching, and evaluating the field.
Rev. Meindert Joostens of our Faith Church in                               The emissaries will then return with a report to the
Jenison, Michigan. A special congregational meeting                         Mission Committee and the 1978 Synod of our
for the purpose of calling a minister from a duo of                         churches.
Rev. Joostens and Rev. James Slopsema was held                                  The address of Rev. Ronald Van  Overloop  and
after the evening service on Sunday, January 22.                            family is 100 Sparks Road, Christchurch 2, New
  Again this year the Mission Committee of our                              Zealand. Rev. Van  Overloop  is spending about nine
churches has sent emissaries to the island of Jamaica.                      months preaching for and working with the Christ-
Rev. Bernard Woudenberg, pastor of our church in                            church congregation. Rev. Van Overloop's address
Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Elder Clare Prince and                             was found in the Hope Church bulletin of Redlands,
their wives left for the island on January 18. They                         California. Rev. Van  Overloop  is pastor of Hope
plan to spend about four weeks visiting the churches                        Church in Walker, Michigan.
with whom our churches have worked since the early                                                                                                                 K.G.V.


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                          239


                                                                                       I     4
Faith Church, Jenison, Mich.                Church  Didtory                                               bveland,  Colorado
Clerk:      Mr. David Ondersma,                                                                           Clerk:      Mr. Milton Alsum,
            6761 Brookwood Drive,                                                                                     5201 Beryl Lane,
            Grandville, Michigan 49418                                                                                Loveland, Colo. 80537
                                              Treas. :     Harlow Kuiper,                         `,,"                Phone: (303) 667-7272
Treas.:     Mr. Andrew Brummel,                            1836 Waterbury, S.E.,
            2381 Oak Hollow Drive,                         Grand Rapids, Mich. 49508                      Treas.:     Mr. John W. Heys,
            Jenison, Michigan 49428                        Phone: (616) 455-9584                                      1831 N.U.S. 287,
                                                                                                                      Berthoud, Colo. 80513
First Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan          Southwest, Grand Rapids, Mich.                                          Phone: (303) 532-3425
Clerk:      Mr. T. Looyenga,                  Clerk:       Phillip J. Lotterman,                          PeIla, Iowa
            1125 Adams St., S.E.,                          871 Rushmore St.,
            Grand Rapids,  Mich. 49507                     Jenison, Mich. 49428                           Clerk: Mr. Bernie Menninga,
                                                                                                                      608 E. 2nd St., Apt. 215,
Treas.:     Mr. Donald Knoper,                             Phone: (616) 457-0005                                      Pella, Iowa 50219
            1805 Edgewood, S.E.,              Treas.:      Kenneth Kuiper,                                            Phone: (515) 628-4397
            Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                   1820 Berkley Ave., S.W.,
                                                           Wyoming, Michigan 49509                        Treas.:     Mr. Vernon DeVries,
First Church, Holland, Michigan                            Phone: (616) 243-4019                                      R. #3,
                                                                                                                      Knoxville, Iowa 50318
Clerk:      Terrence Elzinga,                                                                                         Phone: (515) 842-5397
            10335 Riley St., R. #2,           Doon,  I o w a
            Zeeland. Michigan 49464           Clerk:       Peter Van Den Top,                             Lynden, Washington
            Phone: (616) 772-4036                          R.R. 2,                                        Clerk:      Frank De Boer,
Treas.:     Roger Berends,                                 Rock Rapids, Iowa 5 1246                                   7489 Bylsma Rd.,
            2780 North 112th Ave.,                         Phone: (712) 472-2924                                      Lynden, Wash. 98264
            Holland, Michigan 49423           Treas.:      Robert Blankespoor,                                        Phone: (206) 354-2421
            Phone: (616) 772-2805                          R.R. 2,
                                                           George, Iowa 5 1237                            Treas. :    Herman Boonstra,
Hope Church, Grand Rapids, Mich.                           Phone: (712) 475-8560                                      909 Meadowlark Lane,
                                                                                                                      Lynden, Wash. 98264
Clerk:      Jon Huisken,                                                                                              Phone: (206) 354-2591
            3324 Barrett                      Edgerton, Minnesota
            Grandville, Michigan 49418        Clerk:       Andrew Brummel,                                Randolph,  Wisconsin
            Phone: (616) 531-5283                          R.R. 1, Box 41B                                Clerk:      Henry DeVries,
Treas.:     Leon Garvelink,                                Edgerton, Minn. 56128                                      644 First St.,
            1539 Ferndale Ave., S.W.,                      Phone: (507) 442-5201                                      Randoloh. Wise. 53956
            Grand Rapids, Mich. 49504         Treas.:      Ronald Brands,                                             Phone:i414) 326-5685
            Phone: (616) 453-1583                          R.R. 1, Box 40,
                                                           Woodstock, Minn. 56186                         Treas.:     Jack Regnerus,
Hudsonville,  Mich.                                        Phone: (507) 879-3494                                      444 Grove St.,
                                                                                                                      Randolph, Wise. 53956
Clerk:      Mr. Perlin Schut,                                                                                         Phone: (414) 326-3734
            7700 Hickory Drive,                Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
            Jenison, Mich. 49428
            Phone: (616) 457-1346              Clerk:       Mr. Dave Zylstra,                             Hope, Redlands, Calif.
Treas. :    Mr. Gerald J. Miedema,                          R.R. #2,                                      Clerk:      Mr. Ed Gritters,
            2088 Timberlane,                                Ardrossan, Alta. TOB OEO                                  934 College Ave.,
            Jenison, Mich. 49428                            Phone (403) 922-4554                                      Redlands.  Calif. 92373
            Phone: (616) 669-0008              Treas.:      Mr. Fred Tolsma,                                          Phone: (714) 792-4923
Kalamazoo, Mich.                                            1103  - 68th St.,                             Treas.:     Mr. Bud Van Uffelen,
                                                            Edmonton. Alta T6K 3K3                                    25867 Mission Rd.,
Clerk:      Maurice Klop,                                   Phone: (463) 462-8866                                     Redlands,  Calif. 92373
            7125 West Main St.5                                                                                       Phone: (714) 796-1712
            KaIamazoo, Mich. 49009
            Phone: (616) 3752373               Hull, Iowa
Treas.:     Jeffery Steenholdt,                Clerk:       Egbert Gritters,                              South Holland, Illinois
            2724 Rollins Hills.                             R.R. 1,                                       Clerk:      Mr. Louis R. Regnerus,
            Portage, Mich. 49002                            Hull, Iowa 5 1239                                         15562 Langley Ave., So.,
            Phone: (616) 327-1654                           Phone: (712) 439-2194                                     South Holland, III. 60473
                                                                                                                      Phone: (312) 596-0599
Covenant, Prospect Park, N.J.                  Treas. :     Ralph Brummel,                                Treas.:     Mr. Gil Van Baren,
Clerk:      Mr. Tom Nelson,                                 R.R. 1,                                                   15921 Parkside Ave.,
            12-64 Burbank St.,                              Hull, Iowa 51239                                          South Holland. Ill 60473
            Fairlawn, N.J. 07410                            Phone: (712) 439-2587                                     Phone: (312) 331-3818
            Phone: (201) 797-8993
Treas:      Mr. Clarence De Groot,             Hope, Isabel, S.D.                                         Trinity, Houston, Texas
            176 Prescott Ave.,
            Prospect Park, N.J. 07508          Clerk:        Mr. Art Reichert,                            Clerk:      Mr. Russell E. Wimberley,
            Phone: (201) 278-6791                            R.R. #l,                                                 823 Glenchester,
                                                             Isabel, S.D. 57633                                       Houston, TX 77079
Southeast, Grand Rapids, Mich.                               Phone: (605) 466-3723                                    Phone: (713) 461-3759
Clerk:      Dowie Vander Schaaf,               Treas.:       Mr. Milton Collmann,                         Treas.:     Mr. R. Coleman Simpkins,
            2059 Eastgate, S.E.,                             P.O. Box 126,                                            22015 North Fork Dr.,
            Grand Rapids,  Mich. 49506                       Isabel, S.D. 57633                                       Katy, TX 77450
            Phone: (616) 452-4056                            Phone: (605) 4664522                                     Phone: (713) 371-2985


THE STANDARD BEARER
          P.O. Box 6064                                                    ;         /  Gc~~;&H.
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                               I





240                                          THE STANDARD BEARER
                                Report of Classis East
  Classis East met in regular session on January  l 1,     J.A. Heys, February 12  - H. Veldman, February 26
1978 at Southeast Church. Covenant was represented         - G. Van  Baren, March 12  - M.  S&ripper, March 19
by one delegate, the other churches had two delegates      - M. Joostens, April 9  - B. Woudenberg, April 23  -
each. This was the first meeting of the three sched-       H. Veldman, May 7  - A. den Hartog; FIRST: January
uled for 1978 and the agenda reflected the fact that       29  - G. Van  Baren, February 12  - M.  Schip.per,
there would be no April meeting to consider those          March 5  - J. A. Heys, March 19  - H. Veldman, April
things directed at Synod. Rev. A. den Hartog pre-          2  - G. Van  Baren, April  16.  - J.A. Heys, April 23  -
sided.                                                     M. Joostens, May 7  - B. Woudenberg.
  The agenda also reflected increased activity on the        Subsidy requests were made by Kalamazoo in the
part of local consistories. Four overtures to Synod        amount of $9000 and by Covenant in the amount of
were presented and treated. Two overtures were             $8500. Both requests were approved and forwarded
presented by Hope. The first requested that Synod          to Synod.
rescind the actions taken in Article 77, 78, and 214         Classis voted for  synodical delegates with following
of the 1976 Synod which deal with the  minister-on-        results: MINISTERS:  Primi  - A. den Hartog, J.A.
loan arrangement with New Zealand. This overture           Heys, M. Joostens, G. Van Bar-en; Secundi  - C.
was sent to Synod with the approval of  Classis.           Hanko, M.  S&ripper, H. Veldman, B. Woudenberg;
Second, Hope requested the Synod of 1978 to in-            ELDERS:  Primi  - J. De Zeeuw, J.M. Faber, J. King,
struct its  St,udent Aid Committee to survey our           D. Ondersma; Secundi  - J.B. Lubbers, G. Pipe, G.
seminary students to determine their financial need        Scholten, H. Vander  Kolk.
so that the churches, according to Article 19 of the
Church Order, can provide more adequately for them.          -In' other voting, Rev. Van  Baren was elected to
This overture was sent without comment to the              serve a three-year term on the Classical Committee,
Synod.                                                     Rev. Heys was elected as a  primus delegate ad
                                                           examina, and Rev. Joostens was chosen as a secundus
  The two other overtures were from Southwest and          delegate ad examina. Rev. H. Veldman and Rev. J.A.
Hudsonville. Southwest requested approval for the          Heys were chosen as church visitors with Rev. C.
emeritation of their minister, Rev. H. Veldman. This       Hanko as alternate.
request  Classis granted and, if Synod approves, Rev.
Veldman's emeritation will take place in June.               Classis was in executive session to consider requests
Hudsonville's overture concerned changes in the            from two consistories re discipline matters. After
Emeritus Committee constitution. Hudsonville pro-          discussion, both requests were granted;
poses that the Emeritus Committee constitution be            In other business, Covenant requested and was
changed to reflect the obligation that the churches as     granted permission to contact the churches in  Classis
a whole have in supporting our emeriti ministers           East for  `, collections for their building program (a
rather than just the church the minister has last          similar request will be made via the Synod to  Classis
served.  Classis approved the overture and forwarded it    West), the Finance Committee approved expenses of
to Synod for consideration.                                $3 18.12. The questions of Article 41 of the Church
  Hudsonville also requested payment of a sum of           Order were asked'and satisfactorily answered.
money to Rev. C. Hanko from the Emeritus Fund.               Classis will meet next on May 10 at Holland. Rev.
This request was approved.                                 Veldman closed the meeting with prayer.
  Kalamazoo, Hope, and First Churches requested                                          Respectfully submitted,
classical appointments. The following schedule was
approved: KALAMAZOO: January 22  - M.  Schip-                                            Jon J. Huisken
per, February 5  - M. Joostens; HOPE: January 29  -                                      Stated Clerk


