                                                             . .




STANDARD
     BEARER
      A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE

  How hard it is for us to live the glorious
truth that all things work together for our
good. It is -easy to say it and to teach it. It
sounds good and is worth knowing. But does
your soul really take hold of it when things
are dark? Do you see the darkness as sent in
God's providence for your good? Do you
see it as a wisely designed tool in the hands
of  a Master Workman to bring forth a thing
of `beauty and joy for you? Do you see
enemies and pain and  .suffering as that
which is provided by God in His grace for
your everlasting joy in a land free from all
suffering and characterized `by the peace of
victory over all the enemies?
     See "Providentially Protected People"
                                                      - page 65

                                          Volume -LV, No. 3, November 1, 1978 -
                                                    ISSN 0362-4692


-50                                                             THE STANDARD BEARER


                                                                                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER
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M E D I T A T I O N




                                           Glorying in. Tribulation.
                                                                         Rev.  A4.  Scliipp&  .'


                     `And not only so, but we glory in tribulatibn  also: knowing that tribulation worketh
                 patience; and patience experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed;
                 because the ldve of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto
                 us. "                                                      .-    -_                                                                            Romans 5:3-5


       Justification,. that is, our justification before God                                     It means that we; who in ourselves are ungodly and
- that is the theme on which the apostle speaks in                                        totally depraved sinners and therefore worthy to be
the context.                                                                              cast into everlasting destruction in hell, are neverthe-
                                                                                          less declared by God to be perfectly innocent, as
       Most marvelous and gracious truth!                                                 though we had never transgressed any of God's


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    51



commandments and had fulfilled all that He had                 especially the suffering which is to be imposed upon
required of us.                -'     '                  ._    the children of God because they are united to Jesus
   Justified we are before God by faith through our            by a living faith. As the word for tribulation in the
Lord Jesus Christ.                                             original suggests, tribulation is a pressing together, a
                                                               squeezing that is caused by pressure from without.
   Beautiful Saviour, and complete Mediator!                   For those who can understand the Holland language,
   Who was delivered unto the torments of hell                 the word "benauwd" or "benauwdheid" drastically
because of our offenses; and who was raised from the           demonstrates what tribulation implies. It means to be
dead as evidence that He had fulfilled all righteous-          so- squeezed. or pressed together that you cannot
ness for us. So that our justification was accom-              breathe. It means to be so oppressed that you despair
plished in His death, and attested to in His glorious          of life. Anxiety is so great that the breath of your life
resurrection.                                                  is taken from you. Such is the idea of tribulation.
   This grace we received out of faith, that wonderful            True it is that the children  .of God experience
gift of God to all His own, whereby we are united to           tribulation in the form of the sufferings of this
Christ in Whom is all our salvation, and whereby we            present time which is common to men. From the
are given that certain knowledge and hearty confi-             cradle to the grave the sicknesses and pains, the
dence that all our sin and guilt is gone forever, and we       diseases and consequent sufferings of the flesh fall on
are assured that in God's sight we stand as those who          the children of God. They too lie upon beds of
never sinned, and had always fulfilled all righteous-          affliction, sometimes for many years, until life is
ness.                                                          pressed out of them and the frail tent in which they
   As a fruit of this justification the apostle mentions       dwell collapses, and. they are carried to their graves.
two things: first, we have peace with God. The war             The children of God are not exempt from these
that existed between the Holy God and us the                   sufferings' which are common to men, and sometimes
rebellious sinners is ceased, and the state of blessed         it may appear that the Lord metes out more to them
harmony now is established. They who were enemies              than the children of the world. The writer to the
now are mutual friends. Secondly, we rejoice in the            Hebrews notes that He does this in His love: for
hope of the glory of God. And this means not only              whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth.
that we expect to see the glorious God, but more                  But the apostle evidently has in mind more particu-
particularly that we shall dwell forever in the glory          larly the tribulations that are imposed on the children
which He prepares for us. This glory is the object of          of God by the wicked world. That world seeks to
our hope in which we now rejoice.                              destroy the church and to deny  Uhe people of God
   But will not that hope of glory become dim and              their very life in the world. They are persecuted and
even fade away when tribulation comes? Tribulation,            killed all the day long.
which includes not only the sufferings of this present         Prophetically the Scriptures everywhere predict
time but also especially the tribulation that will come        that as time runs to its  -end these tribulations will
to us because we are the justified children of God,            increase in their intensity. Under such tribulation, it
will it not bedim the eye of hope of glory?                    is predicted, the believers will not be able to buy or
  .This question the apostle answers in the words of           sell, and their very lives may be required of them. So
our text.                                                      intense shall be their suffering that if God did not
                                                               shorten the days the very elect of (God would be lost,
  Not only do we rejoice in the hope of the glory of           for it shall be humanly impossible to endure. In the
God, but we glory also in tribulation.                         measure that the believer lets his light shine in the
   Strange glorying!                                           darkness, so shall his tribulation be.
   Glorying in tribulation? How can that be? Has the             Now in that tribulation, the apostle says, we glory.
apostle failed to understand the awful implications of
tribulation? Is the apostle perhaps making light of the          Strange rejoicing, indeed?
fact that Jesus said: In the world ye shall have tribula-        Utterly inconceivable it is to think of anyone who
tion? To glory in tribulation is to rejoice in the fact        would, rejoice in. suffering and tribulation as an
that in the present world, and especially as the world         experience, unless it would be one who belonged to
runs to its end, we are bound to bear intense                  some heathenish tribe which prided itself in being
suffering.                                                     able to endure pain. We have heard, for example, of
                                                    ,          the American Indian, who sought to gain the leader-
  Strange boasting, indeed!                                    ship of his tribe by enduring more pain than others
  For, as- we already suggested, tribulation includes          among his people. But this is utterly abnormal. No
not only all the suffering that is rampant in our.world        man, be he saint or sinner, rejoices in suffering
as a result of man's falling into sin and death, but           naturally. Nor does the apostle have this in mind. The


52                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


apostle is not looking at the tribulation as such, but         the matter is, the more we suffer the tribulation the
he has in mind the result of tribulation. And tribula-         more our hope of glory flourishes.
tion has results because it works. Therefore rejoicing           Our knowledge therefore is not merely theoretical,
in tribulation is not strange at all.                          something we learn about through instruction, but it
      It is a well-founded rejoicing!                          is the knowledge of experience. Through the experi-
      We know, says the apostle, that tribulation works.       ence we understand God works in us the hope of
And he goes on to,show how and unto what it works.             glw.
      First of all, tribulation we know worketh patience.        And that hope, the apostle says, maketh not
Patience is a spiritual fruit of grace. It is not a natural    ashamed.
quality, common to men. Though the natural man                   And that means our rejoicing in the hope of glory
under trying circumstances may set his face as steel,.         is not something which in the end brings us to
stoically feign that he is insensitive to pain, this is        disappointment. Not so is it that we rejoice in vain
nothing more than silent rebellion, indifferent sub-           when we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
mission, which ends up in the proud boast that he, in          Positively it means we shall have that for which we
distinction from others, is able to endure. Patience,          hope.
on the other hand, is a grace, peculiar to the children          How terrible that would be were we at last to be
of God, according to which they are enabled to bear            ashamed!
up under the burden of suffering because they are
wholly subjected to the will of God in their lives. Not          Imagine, boasting in the hope of glory, and then
only is this grace in evidence when the child of God is        even boasting in tribulation because we know that
called to endure the sufferings of this present time,          tribulation works to bring us to that glory - and then
but also this grace shines forth when he is required to        when we expect to enter into the perfection of that
suffer tribulation for Christ's sake. Then the patient         glory, there would be none! What a disillusionment
know that all things work for good, and with this              that would be! Not only would God's promise of
confidence they persevere to the end. Tribulation              eternal glory fail, but all our suffering in tribulation
works out to the end.                                          would be vain, good for nothing.
      Secondly, we know that patience too works  - it            But so it will never be!
works experience, or, better translated,. triedness,             We shall never be ashamed!
approvedness. The latter refers to the state of having           And why are we so certain of this? Not only
been tried and found to be true, genuine.                      because the hope is real. Not only because we are
      And thirdly, the apostle says, we know that tried-       assured that tribulation works to bring us to that
ness or approvedness works hope. Hope is expectancy            glory. But to this the apostle adds: because the love
of and longing for the fulfillment of the promise of           of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
the glory of God. There is no doubt in hope as the             Ghost which He has given us.
Bible speaks of it. W.hen man speaks of hope there is            Not our love for Him, but His love for us!
in that speech always an element of doubt. When we
say, for example, that we hope to do this or that, we            0, indeed, we love Him, but only because He first
imply that we are not sure we will do it. Something            loved us. And His love became manifested when He
may happen that may make the doing impossible. But             gave His Only Begotten Son unto the death of the
the Word of God speaking of, hope has in mind                  cross for us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died
something that is absolutely sure and certain.                 for us, and thereby brought about our justification
                                                               before God. In His glorious resurrection He attested
      So it becomes abundantly clear that tribulation          to our complete innocence. In His love He has chosen
cannot rob us of our hope, but it accomplishes the             us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world,
very opposite - it strengthens and quickens our hope.          has justified us, called us out of darkness into His
So, too, it becomes evident that our rejoicing in              marvelous light, sanctifies us, and will glorify us. And
tribulation has a solid basis. It rests not on feeling, or     that love He now sheds abroad in our hearts when the
fickle emotion, but on the certain knowledge of faith.         Spirit of Christ takes up His abode within us.
      We know, says the apostle, that tribulation works.         The apostle, so it appears, already anticipates what
And it works because God works in the tribulation in           he is going to say about this love when he would
us. He it is that causes tribulation to work out in our        come to the eighth chapter, of this epistle. From it we
lives the grace of patience. He causes the grace of            can never be separated. Neither life nor death, nor
patience to work out in our experience approvedness,           angels, nor  ,principalities, nor powers, nor things
so that we know we stand before God as the objects             present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
of His approval. He makes the approvedness to                  nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
establish within our breasts the grace of hope. Fact of        from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                               53



 Lord. Love, that spiritual bond of perfection, shall           Forever we shall bathe in the perfections God has
 remain intact in us, and never let us go, not even in        prepared for all His children in Christ Jesus our Lord,
 the darkest hour of tribulation.                             and which now in principle He works in our heart
    Therefore we shall never come to shame, to. utter         through the Holy Spirit He has given us.
 disappointment, when we hope for glory. And there-             So also God shall be glorified when He shall behold
 fore we also glory in tribulation because we experi-         in us all His perfections!
 ence how it works to bring us to that glory.                   Amen!
    Never shall we be ashamed!

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





                          Preaching The Instrument
                                          of Reformation


    Often when we consider the great Reformation of           back to the church, and important as it may be that
 the sixteenth century we confine our thinking to             the Bible at the time of the Reformation became
 those two great principles of the Reformation, that of       more and more available to the members. of the
 the sole authority of Holy Scripture (the formal             church, and that, too, in their own language, it was
 p.rinciple) and that of justification by faith only (the     not that Bible as such that brought about reforma-
 material principle). And while. it is certainly correct      tion. In fact, it is safe to say that if that other
 to recognize these as the principles of the Reforma-         ingredient, the preaching of the Word, had been
 tion  - and even highly necessary and profitable to          missing, there never would have been a Reformation.
 call attention to them and re-emphasize them in our          The preaching of the Word was the indispensable
 time  - it is a mistake to  confivze our thinking to         instrument  - the sword, if you will  - of the Refor-
 them. There is another facet of the Reformation              mation.
 which is of utmost importance both-as a principle and          This is simply a fact of history.
 from the practical point of view. It is important as a
 principle: for it is a principle of all reformation. From      It was even true already of the so-called  pre-
 a practical point of view it is important: for without       Reformers. What was it that attracted-thousands to a
 it there can be no reformation today.                        Wycliff, a Huss, a Savonarola prior to the Reforma-
                                                              tion? It was the fact that they  preached,  and that in
    I refer to the preaching of the Word.                     their preaching the return to the Word began. By this
    It was the preaching of the Word which constituted        means many were brought to repentance, and the
the  instrument  of the Reformation and which must            soul's need of hungering and thirsting children of God
 needs be the instrument of all reformation. Important        was satisfied.
 as the so-called formal principle of the Reformation           But this was even more emphatically true of the
 may be, it was not Holy Scripture as such which              great reformers. They were not mere theoreticians.
 served to accomplish the `Reformation. Important as          They were not mere theologians. They were not mere
 the fact may be that the Reformation gave the Bible          polemicists. They were not primarily exegetes and


54                                                THE STANDARD BEARER



commentators. They were not merely administrators             of life, but has not reached the stream and fountain-
and leaders who possessed a certain' charisma. They           head.
were not primarily men of the pen, though it is said
that a man like Luther produced a small .or large                "The preaching of Luther soon excited movement.
volume every fortnight after the crucial year of 15 17,       Wittenberg on the Elbe . . . was the chief seat of
and though it is well-known that Calvin was a tremen-         learning in the north of Germany, and students as
d  ousl y prolific writer. No, they were primarily            well as town's-men flocked to hear him. They felt the
p r e a c h e r s !                                           newness and boldness of his style and even of his
                                                              doctrine. His sermons did not treat of ceremonies and
      The Reformation was, first of all, a reformation of     fasts, but addressed the moral and spiritual nature of
the preaching of the Word. It was that in two                 his hearers with unmistakable meaning and directness.
respects. One, it restored preaching to its proper place      He was taking aim at the heart, with arrows which
- the primary place - in the life of the church. Two,         reached their mark; and men love this in
it restored to the preaching its proper content, so that      preachers. . . .
it became once more true preaching of the Word of
God in Christ.                                                   "Then came the breach with the Papal system
                                                              through his opposition to indulgences, and this led
      It was thus, secondly, -that the Reformation was a      him to the simplicity of the Gospel, and to the
reformation through preaching, so that the fire of the        central truth of his preaching -justification by faith.
Reformation was rapidly kindled throughout all Eu-            He now found firm footing, and his preaching gained
rope, the authority of the pope was toppled, the              a power which roused all Germany and shook the
authority of Holy Scripture was acknowledged anew,            souls of men. There had been nothing like it since the
and the blessed truth of justification by faith only          day of Pentecost. On his way to Worms, to meet the
was enjoyed and savored anew by God's children.               Diet, he could not escape.from the crowds. At Erfurt
      This is exemplified in Martin Luther, first of all.     where he had commenced in the little refectory, the
                                                              great church was so crowded that they feared it
      John Ker writes of him in his History of Preaching      would fall.  `At Zwickau, the marketplace was
as follows, pp. 150, ff.:                                     thronged by 25,000 eager listeners, and Luther had to
      "It is remarkable that Luther was at first unwilling    preach to them from the window. When the Reforma-
to preach. Like Moses, he did not recognise  his work.        tion was finally established, regular pastors were
He distrusted himself, or he had not yet the impelling        placed at Wittenberg, the well-known Bugenhagen
fire of Jeremiah and Paul: `It was as a fire within me';      and others. Luther had pressing work  - the care of
`Woe is unto me if I preach not.' It was at the               the Church and all the controversies, the training of
command of his superior, under the vow of obedi-              preachers, translating the Bible, writing pamphlets
ence, that he first preached in the refectory or              and volumes, giving counsel to princes and people;
dining-room of the cloister at Erfurt, and afterwards         but nothing could keep him from preaching, at home
in the little cloister church of Wittenberg. (The room        and wherever he went, on Sabbath-days and during
was thirty feet long and twenty feet broad.) But              the week. He continued to preach all his lifelong,
when he once began, the` spirit of preaching grew             though broken in health - in this, too, like Knox -
upon him, and at the request of the town's-people, he         and so enfeebled that he often fainted from exhaus-
agreed to preach in the town church of Wittenberg,            tion. But to the end he retained his wonderful power.
which afterwards became so famous, and in which he            The last time he ascended the pulpit was on February
lies buried side by side with Melanchthon. This was           14th, 1546, a few days before he died."
about the middle `of 1515, two years before his                 We shall have more to say about Luther's preaching
rupture  .with the Romish Church. Some of his ser-            later. For there are questions to be asked and an-
mons of this period were composed in Latin, and for           swered about the preaching of the Reformers which
the learned, discussing the nature of the Eternal Word        are very instructive. But we only wanted, at the
and His relation to God the Father, with references to        moment, to make the point that Luther was, above
the Schoolmen. He has not a definite idea of the              all, a  preacher.
Scripture doctrines, nor of what preaching should be.
But he is growing. He preaches more frequently,                  The same is true of John Calvin, who is, after all,
sometimes four sermons a-day, in German, and on               closer to us as Reformed people. He was pre-
practical subjects: on the Ten Commandments, the              eminently a preacher.
Lord's Prayer, Repentance, the True Life. He presses             In his  History of the Christian  Chukh,  VIII,
the importance of the Bible and of Christ, but he has         p. 269, Philip  Schaff cites in a note the following
not yet gained a clear view of Christ's Cross and its         information from a French historian, Paul -Henry:
meaning, nor of justification without the works of            "Henry says that the Geneva library contains  forty-
the law. He has glimpses; he sees rivulets of the river       four manuscript volumes of sermons of Calvin; but


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                       55


the librarian Diodati informed him afterwards that                  time, he conferred greater benefits on them. Their
there are only nine volumes left, namely, the sermons               frielidship  and intimacy was not less hateful to the
between the years 1549-`5  1, 1555-`56,  1560-`61."                 wicked than delightful to all the pious; and, in truth,
  We must bear in mind that in those days it was                    it was a most pleasing spectacle to see and hear those
common practice to have preaching every day. In the                 three distinguished men carrying on the work of God
three churches of the city of Geneva, a comparatively               iri the Church so harmoniously, with such a variety of
small city of 20,000 by our standards, there were                   gifts. Fare1 excelled in a certain sublimity of mind, so
preaching services not only on the Sabbath, but on                  that nobody could either hear his thunders without
every day of the week.                                              trembling, or listen to his most fervent prayers with-
                                                                    out being almost carried up to heaven. Viret pos-
  One biographer of Calvin reports -that during his                 sessed such suavity of eloquence, that his hearers
second sojourn in Geneva Calvin preached every day.                 were compelled to hang upon his lips. Calvin filled
However,  Schaff quotes the reliable and first-hand                 the mind of the hearers with as many weighty
report of Theodore Beza, as follows, p. 445:                        sentiments as he uttered words. I have often thought
  "During the week he preached every alternate, and                 that a preacher compounded of the three would be
lectured every third day; on Thursday he presided in                absolutely perfect. In addition to these employments,
the meetings of Presbytery (Consistory); and on                     Calvin had many others, arising out of circumstances
Friday he expounded Scripture in the assembly which                 domestic and foreign. The Lord so blessed his minis-
we call `the Congregation.' He illustrated several                  try that persons flocked to him ,from all parts of the
sacred books with most learned commentaries, be-                    Christian world; some to take his advice in matters of
sides answering the enemies of religion, and main-                  religion,' and others to hear him. Hence, we have seen
taining an extensive correspondence on matters of                   an Italian, ati English, and, finally, a Spanish Church
great importance. Any one who reads these atten-                    at Geneva, one city seeming scarcely sufficient  to
tively, will be astonished how one little man (unicus               entertain so many guests."
homunculus)  could be fit for labors so numerous and
great. He availed himself much of the aid of Fare1                     In a later installment we shall give further attention
(who was pastor at Neuchatel, HCH) and Viret (who                   to this preaching of the Reformation and shall con-
was pastor at Lausanne, HCH), while, at the same                    sider its place and significance.

THE VOICE OF OUR, FATHERS





                                          The- Sacraments
                                                   Prof Robert D. Decker





          "We believe, that our gracious God, on account of our weakness and infirmities hath ordained the
          sacraments for us, thereby to seal unto us his promises, and to be pledges of the good will ,and grace of God
          toward us, and also tq nourish and strengthen our faith; which he hath jotied to the Word of the gospel, the
          better to present to our senses, both that which he signifies to us by His Word, and that which he works
          inwardly in our hearts, thereby assuring and confirming in us the salvation which he imparts to us. For they
          are visible signs and seals of an inward and invisible thing, by means whereof God worketh in us by the
          power of the Holy Ghost. Therefore the signs are not in vain, or insignificant, so as to deceive us. For Jesus
          Christ is the true object presented by them, without whom they would be of no moment. Moreover we are
          satisfied with the number of the sacraments which Christ our Lord hath instituted, which are two only,
          namely, the sacrament of baptism, and the holy supper of our Lord Jesus Christ."
                                                                                Article XXXIII, 2%~ Belgic  Confession


 56                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



       This article is an introduction to a rather lengthy    God's grace to us, but rather pledges which believers
 section of our  Confession  dealing with the sacra-          `give to God of their faith and obedience. Other
 ments. The lengthy treatment of this subject is to be        sectarians separated themselves from both Rome
 explained by the fact that the question of the               and the Reformers and taught that the Holy
 sacraments was a burning issue at the time of the            Spirit works grace apart from any means at all. In this
 Reformation. Moreover the question of the sacra-             conception there was no room at all for the sacra-
 ments was not only an issue dividing the Roman               ments nor for the preaching, for that matter.
Catholic Church and the churches of the Reforma-                We shall be presenting the Reformed view of the
 tion, but it was an issue that also divided the various      sacraments as we consider this and the following
 branches of the Reformation: Lutheran, Calvinistic,          articles of our Confession. But it must be understood
 and Zwinglian. While the question of the sacraments          at this point that the Reformed view must not be
 may not persist as such a burning issue today, still         considered to be (as, it sometimes is) a compromise
 there is a good deal of misunderstanding concerning          between the views of Luther and Zwingli or between
 these holy signs and seals of God's grace. For this          the objectivism of Rome and the subjectivism of the
 reason we may be thankful for the  Confession's              Anabaptists. The Reformed conception as presented
 careful, detailed treatment of this subject.                 in these articles of the creed are an accurate reflection
       Beginning in Reformation times and continuing          of the truth of Scripture. The Reformed teach that
 through the years, some five views concerning the            by means of the sacraments God works grace in the
 sacraments have prevailed. (Anyone interested in             hearts of His people, not in some physical way, but
 further study of this may consult P.Y. De Jong's, The        spiritually. The Reformed also insist that Christ insti-
 Church's Witness To The World, voli II, pp. 333ff.)          tuted these sacraments for the Church. They are
 The first view is that of Roman Catholicism. Grace,          church ordinances which are celebrated by the
 according to Rome, is inherent in the elements of the        Church, in the Church, and for the Church.
 sacraments. This means, and this is actually Rome's
 position, that the sacraments are the means which              In the light of the above it is evident that the
                                                              article was written against the position of both Rome
 actually confer grace upon all who partake, whether          and the Lutherans. Both of these teach that the
 believer or unbeliever. In the course of time this led       power of the sacraments is in the signs and seals
 to the decline and neglect of the preaching of the           themselves., Grace is in the water of Baptism and in
 Word. By its seven sacraments the Church dispensed           the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. All who
 God's grace through its clergy. For this reason,             partake receive this grace. The article is also directed
 outside of the Church of Rome there can be no                against the Romish position of seven sacraments. The
 salvation.                                                   seven sacraments according to Rome are: Baptism,
       Luther took a similar position, though he stressed     Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction,
 that the sacraments were intended only for believers.        Holy Orders, and Marriage. Overagainst this we con-
 Lutherans teach that Christ is present in and with the       fess: "Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of
 elements of the sacraments. This position led to the         sacraments which Christ our Lord hath instituted,
 Lutheran  oonceptions of baptismal regeneration and          which are two only, namely, the sacrament of
 the physical presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, a      baptism, and the holy supper of our Lord Jesus
 view which came to be called consubstantiation.              Christ." This is Scripture. Scripture teaches that
       Zwingli took a much more radical approach. Over-       Christ instituted the sacrament of baptism when He
 against both Rome and Luther, Zwingli stressed that          commissioned the Church of all ages as represented in
 the sacraments were badges of initiation into and            the Apsotles to go into all the world teaching and
 fellowship with Christ's church. By their use the            baptizing. (Cf. Matthew 28: 19, 20 and parallels) And
 believers pledged themselves to a life of Christian          Christ broke the bread and said, "This is my body";
 discipleship and warfare. The sacraments are not             and Christ poured the wine and said, "This cup is the
 means by which God strengthens faith. For Zwingli            new testament of my blood." Christ gave us these
 the sacraments remain "bare signs" or representations        elements and told us to eat and drink them in
 of what God has done for us in Christ. In other              remembrance of Him. (Cf. Matthew 26:26-30; Mark
 words, according to Zwingli the sacraments were not          14:22-25; Luke  22:19, 20; I Cor.  11:23-29) Christ
 means of grace.                                              instituted these two sacraments only and none other.
       Quite similar to the Zwinglian view is that of the       It is equally evident that the article is written
 Anabaptists. The difference between the two is that          against the Zwinglian position which makes of the
 Zwingli stressed the corporate character of the sacra-       sacraments mere memorials. Overagainst this position
 ments as church ordinances, while the Anabaptists            we confess: "Therefore the signs are not in vain or
 remained individualistic in their approach. The sacra-       insignificant, so as to deceive us. For Jesus Christ is
 ments according to these are not signs and seals of          the true object presented by them, without whom


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                     57



they would be of no moment."                                  sacraments nourish and strengthen our faith:
   Positively, the sacraments are essentially two             "           thereby assuring and confirming in us the salva-
                                                               .  .  .
things: signs and seals. A sign is a visible part of God's    tion which he (God) imparts to us."
creation which points to an invisible reality. The
whole creation is made up of signs. That is true                   It is of utmost importance to remember that
                                                              Scripture teaches and the 
because the earthly was made by God to be a picture                                            Confession affirms that the
                                                              sacraments are "joined to the Word of the gospel."
of the heavenly. The seed is a picture of the reality of      They have no legitimate place, no purpose, and no
regeneration, the rainbow of God's covenant faithful-         efficacy apart from the Word. They are joined to the
ness, etc. That is why we sing with the Psalmist: "the        preaching of the Word. There is no hidden power in
heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament               the sacraments themselves as such. They are only
sheweth his handiwork, day unto day uttereth speech           means, supplementary means. The preaching of the
and night unto night sheweth knowledge." But the              Word is -the chief means and to it the sacraments are
sacraments are  special  signs. They are instituted by        joined. The preaching serves both to work and to
our gracious God as means of grace. God has set them          strengthen faith, while the sacraments only
aside as means by which He nourishes and strengthens          strengthen this faith. Thus the Confession speaks in
our faith. .Thus  they point to the invisible realities of    terms of the sacraments nourishing, strengthening,
salvation through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ          assuring, and confirming faith and salvation. But the
Who, in terms of the  Corzfession,   is "the true object      preaching of the Word is always first and of primary
presented by them, without whom they would be of              import, for without the Word we cannot even under-
no moment."                                                   stand the sacraments. Still more, without the Word
   The sacraments are also seals. A seal is a mark of         preached there can be no faith for "faith cometh by
authority by which the genuineness of something is            hearing and hearing by the word of God." (Romans
indicated. The seal of the government, for example,           10:13-17)
marks the genuineness of the document upon which it
is placed. The sacraments are God's seals by which His             Therefore too the sacraments presuppose the
own sovereign authority marks the reality signified as        presence of faith. They are of no avail to a spiritually
being absolutely genuine. The sacraments are seals of         dead person. Just as the eating of food presupposes
the promise of God in Christ which means they mark            life in a person, so does the use of the sacraments
that promise as being objectively true and real and for       presuppose the life of Christ (faith) in a person. Thus
the believer personally. Thus the sacraments are more         the outward sign of the sacrament is applied inwardly
than signs, They are also seals or pledges from God           to the heart through the operation.of the Holy Spirit.
Himself that His promise in Christ is genuine and             He causes us to see through the signs and seals the
sure.                                                         cross of Christ. And He applies that cross in .such a
                                                              way that we know that it is for us.
  The  Confession  also speaks of the reason the
sacraments are given to the church. They are gra-,                 Finally, just as is true of the preaching of the
ciously  given to us by God on account of our                 Word, so the sacraments have a twofold effect. They
weakness. That weakness is our inability to compre-           strengthen the faith of the elect. But, no less do they
hend spiritual truths and our weak faith according to         have an effect upon the unbeliever. The sacraments
which we tend to doubt the promises of God. Thus              are means to harden the unbeliever in his sin, and that
our  Confession  stresses that the sacraments present         results in greater condemnation to those who though
better to our senses that which God has spoken of in          baptized despise the cross, and to those who partake
His Word and worked in ,our hearts. In this way the           of the table of the Lord in unbelief.

                                                         -

         T h e
         STANDARD BEARER
         makes a thoughtful gift
           for any occasion.


      58                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER


 ALL AROUND US
      Rev. G. Van Baren





                                                R.C.A.  and  Women  in  Office


            Most of the main line denominations in this land                               .not about to wait any more," Brouwer  said. "So
 have accepted women as elders and deacons and                                             they're just going ahead. They argue that the book of
 ministers of the gospel. As the emphasis upon the                                         church order doesn't have to be amended. But
 infallibility of  the  Bible declines, so also grow prac-                                 opinion about that is divided."
 tices which clearly are coridemned in Scripture. The                                         Although the denomination's  govern&g synod
 Reformed Church in America has been undergoing a                                          dedlared  in 1958 that- there was no  .theological or
 struggle in this regard too. Officially, the church does                                  Biblical reason not to ordain women, subsequent,
 not allow women in the office of ministry  - though                                    repeated synod actions specifically to authorize it
 they have served as elders and deacons for some time                                      have  regularly failed to gain ratification by regional
 already. However, the R.C.A. does  have a few or-                                         units, sometimes by a single vote.
 dained women in spite of the official position of the                                      Six times, over the years, the mtiasure.cleared the
     church. This situation has  crkated  a measure of                                     top governing body, only to fall short of the required
 tension in the R.C.A.  - understandably so.  An article                               two-thirds ratification by regional "classes"  - a
     appeared on the church page of the Grand Rapids                                       necessary'30 out of the 45 of them. Twice, it got 29,
 Press-  last July 22, quoting Rev. Dr. Arie R. Brouwer,                                   each time failing to get the 30th because of a tie vote,
 the "new chief executive of the denomination." The                                        in California in 1975 and in the Seattle area in
     article states:                                                                       1976.
                A long-smouldering conflict in  .the Reformed                                 In each instance, the measure lost because of a
                                                                                           single person's vote. . . . .
             Church in America over the ordination of women has
             veered suddenly into some unprecedented initiatives                              Already, one woman, Valerie De-marinus, was
             on the home fronts.                                                           ordained June 25 by the Brooklyn "classis", and
                                                                                           another,  L'Anni  Hill-Alto of Fairlawn, N.J., wife of a
                In some cases, they're ordaining women without                             pastor there, was scheduled for ordination this
             specific denominational authorization.                                        month.
                They claim they don't need it. Opponents insist                               Opponents have filed judicial complaints, challeng-
             it's required, and are launching a battle to enforce it.
i                                                                                          ing the ecclesiastical validity of the ordinations with-
             The confrontation has headed the drawn-out, some-                             out specific `authorization. The protests.go first to the
            times hairbreadth issue toward a possibly splintering                          area "particular" synods before hitting the national
             climax.                                                                       general synod, probably next year.
                "It could mean  a  ,split for us," says the  Rev; Dr.
             Arie R. Brouwer. . . .                           ,                          And so it goes..Clearly the majority in the R.C.A.,
                "That doesn't `mean a big schism,"`he added-in & _ -,_                 and almost unanimously in the East, favor the ordina-
      i n t e r v i e w . "But -if the  den.omination's-  governing.                   tion of women in the office of ministry. It is but a
             synod  everitualry  upholds  the.local,   cusfom$reaking                  matter of a short time before it is officially accepted
.-           .ordinations as legal, "sbme people possibly  may leave  `.          :    in -that- church too. It remains to be seen how much
             the church  becaus'e  of it." .                                           of a "schism" will be created by such action. The
                This is what happened in'the Episcopal Church                          synod of the R.C.A. has taken `other  anti-sci?ptural
             after it began brdaining w-omen this year, even though                    positions in the past without generating any sort of
             such ordinations were officially authorized  - a step          _.         schism - as union with the W.C.C. and N.C.C. and
            `that has repeatedly, and narrowly, lost out in  the                       approval of lodge membership. There seems to be
             Reformed Church..                                     '                   little reason to believe that this further. departure
                "Some people simply got tired of  wtiiting;and-are                     would generate the "schism" mentioned by Brouwer.


                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          59


                                                                                                  B.
                                                     On  Television

   In the  Herald of the Covenant,  Aug. 25, 1978,                    talking about your television. . . .
appears an interesting article concerning television                     What's a Christian to do? Burn their television?
viewing.                                                              Some would say yes, while others say we should bring
       "Be ye not unequally yoked together with  un-                  our television time under the control and authority of
    believers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with            God. Use Philippians 4:8, Galatians 5:22-23,  and I
    unrighteousness? and what communion hath light                    Corinthians lo:31 as standards to evaluate what you
    with darkness?"                                                  will or will not watch.
       With these words, Paul warns us clearly to separate               It is helpful to answer this question, "Will this
    ourselves from those who do not believe. Scripture is             show  instill in my child the qualities of honesty,
    clear, the ultimate line of demarcation in this life              responsibility, respect for authority, the love of God,
    is between belief and unbelief. Most Christians are               decency, purity, chastity, charity, and kindness?"
    aware of this, and perhaps many try to follow this                   Finally, beware those shows that teach you and
    admonition in their daily lives. It would be instructive         your children to laugh at those things which God
    if we could number the marriages that are broken                 hates, by cleverly presenting them as innocent humor.
    because of failure to heed this warning. Yet, the               We  thank Robert S. Hays, author of the article, for
    purpose of this present article seeks to deal with a
    very subtle form of the unequal yoke.                       some thought-provoking remarks. The same  maga-
                                                                  zine, published by Covenant Presbytery of the Pres-
       If given the outright choice, few, if~any, parents         byterian Church in America (in Mississippi), contains
    would place the children in the hands of a babysitter         a continuation of the series of articles on our own
    who had a twelve year record of over 100,000 acts of
    violence, with thousands of murders and rapes, as             churches, `written by Prof. H. Hanko. A brief article
    well as drug abuse, acts of blasphemy against God             also appears giving a general description of the  Chris-
    while worshipping Satan, and whose understanding of           tian Reformed Church, written by Rev. John Vander
    sex was only immoral. Yet, many Christian homes go            Ploeg. This church paper is making an obvious and
    so far as to have several of these "babysitters" in           commendable attempt to become acquainted with
    almost constant- service. You guessed it, we are              other churches in their area and in our country.


                    World  Council  of  Churches  and  Revolution
  The W.C.C. is constantly. embroiled in controversy                 conservative Christians who claim they are actually
concerning grants made  to  revolutionary groups in                  used to support terrorism. Some supporters of the
third-world countries. Most recently a -grant of                     program. who have rejected this argument in the past
$85,000 to a Rhodesian liberation movement has                        are now expressing doubts about the recent grant to
stirred opposition even from some of the liberal camp                the Patriotic Front in light of its alleged involvement
                                                                     in the murders of missionaries in late June.
in that organization. The  Christian News rep,orts in its
issue of Sept. 18, 1978:                                                 In announcing the allocation in early August, the
                                                                     W.C.C. expressed its belief that the "internal settle-
       An $85,000 grant to a Rhodesian liberation move-              ment" in Rhodesia "leaves the illegal white-minority
   ment by the World Council of Churches' Program to                 regime still ineffective control and gives it a veto over
    Combat Racism has stirred widespread criticism, even.            real change for the next decade."
    from individuals and organizations that have tradi-
    tionally supported the program in the past.                     Now, of course, there are many  facets to this
                                                                  whole question. The group now financially supported
       The grant to the Patriotic Front of Zimbabwe,
   made up of two groups headed respectively.by Joshua            by the W!C.C. appears to be communistic in philos-
   Nkomo and Robert Mugabe,  has produced dismay                  ophy and. seems supported by communist countries.
    among many "liberal" church people because it is              And there is the awful fact that this organization,
   seen as a political decision. Since the Rhodesian              W.C.C.,' is giving support to violence and revolution.
    Executive Council, formed as part of the "internal            It goes to show what happens when those who claim
   settlement" announced in March, includes three black           to be of the church become involved in the political
   leaders, many observers feel the W.C.C. has'made  a            activities of nations. When churches refuse to preach
   political decision to side with one group against              Christ crucified, and make their mission in the world
    another.                                                      to reform society, there can be nothing else than the
       Grants from the anti-racism program to liberation          establishment finally of that antichristian church and
   movements have drawn fire over the years from more             k i n g d o m .


60                                              THE STANDARD BEARER


BIBLE STUDY GUIDE





                            E f f e c t i v e   F a m i l y   W o r s h i p
                                                     Rev. J. Korteriug





      Family worship is part of our Reformed heritage.          the quiet days of the past, but now we have to
Some might be inclined to call it Reformed tradition.           contend with moonlighting jobs, extra-curricular
In a sense this is true. The problem with using the            school projects, entertainment, church activities, and
word tradition is that it rings with empty formality.          school functions, so that family worship is possible
If we speak of heritage, it conveys the idea of                only on a few rare evenings. If we try to have it when
something precious and worthwhile. Family worship              we are so rushed, it will be reduced to an empty
is something blessed that has been handed down to us            formality and that is worse than nothing.
from our forefathers.                                             Let's try to avoid both extremes as we consider
      Concerning this family worship, many parents have        some suggestions related to family worship.
become frustrated, disappointed, and even  guilt-                 1. We are speaking of  worship.  This is a holy
laden. Being part of our heritage, it. holds such              activity that places us in intimate and personal rela-
fantastic possibilities.; yet in the daily demands of life     tionship with God. Two things apply here.
it actually produces so little. This is not to say that           First, the activity of conscious worship is con-
many families do not enjoy their devotions together.           nected with the whole of our life. If we are to
They certainly do. We only face honestly what some             worship God, we must be spiritually minded. Yet,
others do not.                                                 that spirituality is not isolated from our every day life
      How does one have effective family worship?              but closely connected with it. If we are not spiritual
      Obviously, the question is more easily raised than       in all we do, we will not be spiritual in our worship. If
answered. In dealing with-this subject we must avoid           we do not live in the consciousness that God sees all
two extremes. The one is an idealism that, presents            we do every moment, expects us to do our best in
such an idea of family worship that it is out of the           every task, and will reward us and chastise us accord-
reach ofthe average Christian home. This can be done           ing to the work we do, our family worship will not
very easily. One'can sit back and come up with many            amount to very much. Did not the holy apostles
ideas which are little more than' pipe dreams and are          instruct us to pray without ceusing,  I Thess. 5: 17, and
so far removed from the practical  eJeryday way of             not to be hearers of the word only, but also doers,
family living that it is either laughed at or, worse yet,      James  1:22? If we live close to God all day, our
despised. Such an approach will do little good. The            moments of public and, private worship will reflect
other extreme is to abandon family worship alto-               the urgency and sincerity that is proper.
gether because any ideal is out of reach. Some.may                Secondly, the Word of God must be in the center
argue this way: society has changed; home life is               of this worship. By this we refer to the actual reading
different today; family worship may have worked in              of the Bible and meditating upon it. One can find


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    61



many study helps, some written especially for family           Along with this, it is but a natural transition to
devotions. The idea is that these are to be read for         conclude the meal with devotions. It is a time to open
devotions, probably after reading a verse or two from        the Bible, read. a portion, discuss it so that it remains
the Bible. This can be helpful and spiritually uplift-       a meaningful guide to our feet and a lamp upon our
ing; The difficulty is that we must be careful that we       pathway. After such a quiet moment, how proper to
do not spend more time reading what men have to              bring the needs of the family and all others who have
say about the Bible than reading the Bible itself. Our       needs to God's throne of grace in prayer!
family devotions should corisist of Bible reading. Here        Let me insert here that leadership in this devotion
too, we must be careful, for such reading of the Bible       rests with the husband and father. It surely is in
can become an empty formality. It must be devotion-          keeping with all the Bible has to say about the
al reading, listening to what God has to say, being          headship of the husband and father, about his
sure that we understand it, and applying it to our           responsibility not to provoke his children to wrath,
daily lives. This requires familiarity with the words        but to bring them up in the nurture and admonition
and concepts presented.. If questions are asked, as          of the Lord. This doesn't exclude the wife and
they should be, answers must be available. It is in this     mother. In some instances it may be that she is best
connection that we have undertaken this rubric in the        qualified to read and lead. A husband, however, may
Standard Bearer. The intent of these Bible study             not neglect his duty and pass it off to his wife for no
guides is not that they be read during the family            reason. Also in family worship, she is the h'elpmeet.
devotions, but rather that they be read before a
particular book of the Bible is read for devotions.            3. Obviously, family worship requires time! In the
This will help us understand the central  message of         normal flow of events, we seem to lack time for
the book, it will explain little difficulties that  tiay     spiritual reflection. This is a curse of our times.
arise in the reading of the chapters, and suggest            Assuming that we are speaking of an average family,
questions that will help put into focus the message          father has his working hours, mother her home-
which the Spirit will have us know. Hence these              making, children their school responsibilities. This
articles will not be detailed exegesis of the chapters.      alone fills up most of the waking hours. Add to this
That is presently being undertaken by Rev. Lubbers           evening meetings, school boards, consistory, societies,
in his excellent studies, "From Holy Writ." Rather,          mothers' clubs, social functions of one kind or an-
we will try to be brief and concise and deal with            other, and we feel the squeeze. All these things are
some. of the more obscure books of the Bible.                legitimate concerns. Then sdme still add sports, both
                                                             active and spectator, television viewing, hobbies, etc.
  Thirdly, accompanying this meditation upon God's           No wonder that the evening meal is often hurried.
Word is prayer. This is essential for-effective worship.     Someone sits down and declares, "I have to leave at
After receiving God's Word and discussing it together,       6:30," the implied warning being, "let's get this over
-we must turn to our God and ask for His bles?ing and        with in a hurry."
express our thanks to Him for all He does. Paul
reminds us of this in I Tim.  4:4, 5, "For every               Only one solution appears plausible: the entire
creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if       family has to allow time for family worship and plan
it be received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by    accordingly. If the parents enforce meal time quiet-
the word of God and prayer."                                 ness and devotions, the rest of the family will soon
                                                             learn that it is expected of every member of the
  2. We are speaking here of  family  worship. It            family to be present and participate. This doesn't
necessarily includes husband and wife, but also chil-        mean there can be no flexibility. Rather this is the
dren, if the Lord has so blessed the marriage, at            goal that must  be set before each member of the
whatever age they may be. In discussing this with            family, and effort put forth by all to attain it. If we
families, it appears that meal time is the best time for     really examine ourselves regarding the spending of
such devotions. The fact remains that, as a family           our time, doesn't it all come down to one simple
grows up, the moment when the entire family is at            thing: what our values really are. If we truly value
home at the same time is generally meal time. With
discipline and effort, we must hold onto this. We            family worship, we will see to it that it has a
                                                             meaningful place in our family life, and many other
must not abandon the formal evening meal, and
replace it with casual eating whenever anyone gets           activities can be delayed or denied for the sake of
home, some eating in front of the T.V., others eating        things which are good.
out of a bowl in the kitchen. The evening meal must            We mention the evening meal because it still seems
be preserved at all cost. Most likely that is the one,       that the work routine of most homes allows for this
time the family can sit down and eat and talk                the best.  Iviomings  m'ay find Dad or some of the
together. It is the one time. of the day that family         `children gone from the house before the smaller
conversation can be enjoyed. The members of the              childien are awake. Noons may find mother alone
family can share the activities of the day together.         with the smallest children. This doesn't mean that


 62                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



 morning and noon meals need not have devotions. It             Some families enjoy getting each member of the
 means' rather that they cari verg well'be more flexible.    family involved by reque'sting e&h inember to think
 At these meals mother may take the lead out of              of a question to ask concerning the portion of the
 necessity, or the children may take turns. reading the      Bible that was read. This question is directed to the
 Bible. This may include singing a psalm or favorite         person sitting to his right who must answer it and in
 hymn.                                                       turn ask another question to the one sitting on his
       4. We might conclude with a few suggestions that      right till all had a turn. This helps everyone to pay
 have come our way by means of family visiting when          attention to what is read and to review `the facts. With
 these things were discussed.                                older children these questions can also deal with the
                                                             meaning of what was read as well as facts. These will
       Soine families find it  ~helpful to provide each      require more thought and understanding, but will also
 member of the family with his own Bible, for these          give opportunity to apply  the message to our own
 devotions. Some have included modern translations           lives.
for comparison. The age of the- child enters here, but
 usually it is easier to follow reading if you have a           Most frequently the father interjects questions and
 Bible to look at rather than listening.                     asks the various members of the family what is meant
                                                             by certain things as he reads.. This requires all to pay
       It is helpful to have some study aids handy. This     attention and to think about what is being read.
 might be a large study Bible with information in the
 back, or a Bible dictionary that gives some detail of          Obviously, discipline is required of the children.
 Jewish culture and religious life, the knowledge of         Depending on age, this is certainly possible and
 which helps put meaning into much  Bible reading.           proper. It makes for meaningful worship, and in this
 When questions arise, these can be  consu1te.d. It          way even a young child  learps to reverence God's
 doesn't help much (in fact it contributes to spiritual      Word; he is, taught to sit quietly and pay attention.
 indifference) if we read portions of the Bible and we       This will help prepare him for worship of longer
 don't even know what it is talking about and do not         duration when we take him to church..               .
 care enough to find out.  This contributes to empty            Under the blessing of God such family worship will
 formality and false pietism. -We must. work to over-        be effective for our spiritual well-being and to His
 come this.                                                  glow.                                   _'

 IN HIS FEAR





                                       The Fear of God
                                                 Rev. Arie den Hartog





       Ifi the next few installments in this department I    articles of this department ark meant to deal with an
 would like to deal with the subject of the FEAR OF          aspect of the FEAR OF GOD. Yet I believe that it
 GOD. This subject has been dealt with before, both          would be very worthwhile to direct our attention in
 directly and indirectly,  hi this department.  Further-     some detail again to this most important theme itself
 more, according to the title of this rubric, all the        of the Word of God, the FEAR OF GOD. We shall


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 63



call to mind some of the things that have been said in       Surely this-god is a vain idol of man's imagination. He
the past and hopefully also shed some new light on           need not be feared. But this is not the God that is
this subject. The very essence, or as has been said, the     revealed in the Holy Scriptures to us.
very soul of true godliness is the FEAR OF GOD. The             God is the awe-inspiring sovereign, infinite, eternal,
godly man in the scriptures is described as the              almighty, holy, glorious, majestic, transcendent God
GOD-FEARING man.                                             of heaven and earth. To fear God means, as we shall
  It does not take much observation of the Christian-        see in detail later, to know Him in' all His infinite
ity around us to see that if there is one thing lacking      greatness and glorious perfection.
in the vast majority of Christians it is the FEAR OF           But a much more important concern than ob-
GOD. In Romans 3, after the apostle Paul has                 serving how devoid' the world is of the true fear of
described in detail the depraved and corrupt state and       God is to ask the question, are we truly  GOD-
condition of the natural man, he concludes by saying,        FEARING people? Do we have in our hearts and
"There is no FEAR OF GOD before their eyes." It              souls a profound, all-pervasive sense of the FEAR OF
does not surprise us therefore when we observe that          GOD? Do we really know what that fear of God is? Is
there is no fear of God in the godless and wicked            the fear of God the all dominating and controlling
world in which we live. What is most tragic however is       spirit and motive of our lives? Are we known in the
that, `even in so much of what calls itself Christen-        midst of the world, by all our confession, our con-
dom, and among those who profess to believe in God,          versation, and our conduct, as a people who FEAR
there is very little if any real FEAR OF`GOD.                GOD?
  It is obvious why there is such a lack of the FEA.R          -Scripture abounds with references to and exhorta-
OF GOD in the modern church. Surely this goes hand           tions for us to FEAR GOD. Even -if we were to
in hand with the current apostate vain conceptions of        consider only the passages in which we find the
who and what God is. One could bring up many                 phrase "the fear of God" or "the fear of the Lord"
examples. Modern Christianity presents God as a              space' would not allow us to make mention of them
wonderful benevolent God of love. It is said that God        all. The theme of the fear of God is predominant
loves all men and has a wonderful plan for the lives of      throughout the scriptures. One can well consider the
all men. The love of God is characterized as nothing         many passages of scripture in which the fear of the
more than a-sickly sentimental emotion that is just as       Lord is .mentioned and discover the many aspects of
cheap and devoid of any spiritual attributes as the          that fear of the Lord and its implications. It is hard to
so-called love of men. There is little or no under-          believe that a theme so predominant in the scriptures
standing of the spiritual perfection of the love of          as this one could be so neglected and forgotten in
God, that it is a holy and pure and just and righteous       modern Christianity.
love. The God of modernism is a God Who never                  God is a  God- to be FEARED. "Let all the earth
hates anyone, never is moved with holy wrath, never          FEAR the Lord; let all the inhabitants `of the world
in righteous and holy justice condemns the sinner in         stand in awe before Him." Psalm  33:8. "God- is
his iniquity, never thunders with His terrible curse         greatly to be FEARED in the assembly of the saints,
even over the most wicked man. He is a God Who               and to be held in reverence of all them that are about
only loves, Who only blesses, Whose grace and favor          Him." Psalm 89:7. "For the Lord is great, and greatly
are upon all men. Furthermore the God of Whom we             to -be praised; He is to be FEARED above all gods."
hear from many pulpits is completely bound by the            Psalm  96:4. In the book  .of Revelation we hear the
will and fancy of men. He is dependent upon man              `redeemed saints asking the rhetorical question, "Who
and upon history for the realization of His purpose.         `shall not FEAR thee, 0 Lord, and magnify thy
He is not the Eternal, Sovereign, Almighty God Who           name?"' Revelation 15 :4.
does whatsoever He pleases and does all things in
perfect justice and righteousness. He is not a God of          The Lord must be worshipped and served with
awful sovereign reprobation but One Who can act              FEAR. "Serve the Lord with FEAR and rejoice with
only in dependence on and after the actions of man.          trembling." Psalm 2: 11. To worship the Lord in His
When men stand before God in prayer He is spoken             holy temple' we must come with FEAR before Him.
to and addressed in the most common and familiar of          "But as for me, I will come into thy house in `the
terms. Men can stand in His very presence without            multitude of thy mercy; and in thy FEAR will I
the least regard for His infinite transcendent holiness      worship toward thy holy temple." Psalm  5:7. "0
and majesty. There is no need for the sinner to be           worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness and FEAR
humbled deeply, to cast himself down in the dust, to         before Him all the earth." Psalm 96:9.
plead with God for mercy, because God is hardly any            Moses in his masterful discourse to Israel, recorded
greater, more. holy, or more `just than man is. Is it any    in the book of Deuteronomy, over and over exhorts
wonder that there is no fear before such a god?              the people of Israel to FEAR the Lord. Furthermore


6 4                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



it is striking how often Moses joins together the fear          The emphasis on the FEAR OF THE LORD is not
of the Lord with the keeping of the Lord's command-        unique to the Old Testament. There are those who
ments and how he emphasizes that the only way of           present the God of the Old Testament as being a
prosperity `and blessing for the people of Israel is to    completely different God from the God of the New
FEAR THE LORD. "Now these are the command-                 Testament. These same people would perhaps say
ments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the          that the fact that God has to be FEARED was
Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye              something that was true in the dark days of the Old
might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:     Testament. Those were days of the threatening of the
that thou mightest FEAR THE LORD YOUR GOD,                 wrath of God and the thundering of His curse. Today,
to keep all His statutes and His commandments which        however, in the New Testament era, God need not be
I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's           FEARED any more. Today we can draw near to God
son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be    with boldness, with- familiarity, and without regard
prolonged." Deuteronomy 6: l-2 "And the Lord com-          for the FEAR of Him. This is surely a mistake,
manded us to do all these statutes, to FEAR THE            however. We find the same emphasis on the FEAR
LORD OUR GOD, for our good always, that He                 OF THE LORD in the New Testament. Ephesians
might preserve us alive, as it is this day." Deuteron-     5:2 1 tells us, "Submitting yourselves one to another
omy 6:24.                                                  in the FEAR OF GOD." Paul tells us in Philippians
                                                           2:12-13, "Work out your own salvation with FEAR
  After having gone through all of life and discover-      AND TREMBLING. For it is God which worketh in
ing by experience the utter vanity of all life without     you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."
God, the writer of Ecclesiastes comes to the profound      Again in II Corinthians 7: 1 we are exhorted, "Having
and wonderful conclusion, "Let us hear the con-            therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us
clusion of the whole matter: FEAR GOD, and keep            cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and
His commandments: for this is the whole duty of            spirit, perfecting holiness in the FEAR OF GOD."
man." Ecclesiastes 12: 13.                                 According to the apostle Peter in I Peter 1: 17 we are
                                                           to pass the time of our sojourn here in FEAR.
  Over and over scripture joins together the bestowal
of the blessings and favor and goodness of the Lord             In the book of Revelation in chapter 14 we read
with the FEAR OF GOD. "The angel of the Lord               that the angel having the everlasting gospel to preach
encampeth round about them that FEAR Him and               unto them that dwell on the earth says with a loud
delivereth them." Psalm 34:7. "But the mercy of the        voice, "FEAR GOD, and give glory to Him; for the
Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that     hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that
FEAR him, and His righteousness to children's chil-        made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the foun-
dren." Psalm 103: 17. "He will bless them that FEAR        tains of waters." Revelation 14:7.
THE LORD both small and great." Psalm 115: 13.
The knowledge and blessedness of the covenant of                Godly men in the scriptures are very often de-
God is joined with the fear of God. "The secret of the     scribed as those who fear God. This is the testimony
Lord is with them that FEAR HIM; and He will shew          that we have of Job: "And the man was perfect and
them His covenant." Psalm 25: 14. The Lord remem-          upright, and one that FEARED GOD, and eschewed
bers those who fear Him. "Then they that FEARED            evil." Job 1: 1. This testimony we read also of
the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord          Cornelius in Acts 10:2: "A devout man, and one that
hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance         FEARED GOD with all His house, which gave much
was written before Him for them that FEARED THE            alms to the people, and prayed to God always." The
LORD, and that thought upon His name." Malachi             conclusion of the description of the virtuous woman in
3:16.                                                      Proverbs 31 is, "Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain:
                                                           but a woman that FEARETH THE LORD, she shall
  The writer of Proverbs' states that the beginning;       be praised."
the principal part of all knowledge is the FEAR OF
THE LORD. "The FEAR OF THE LORD is the                          We have given a very brief overview of some of the
beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom           many references to the FEAR OF GOD, and the
and instruction." Proverbs 1:7. Having set forth this      various aspects and implications of the fear of God as
theme Solomon again and again speaks of the benefit        revealed in the scriptures. It is clear that this theme
of the fear of the Lord. "The FEAR OF THE LORD             cannot be emphasized strongly enough. Our intention
is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of        is, the Lord willing, in our next installment, to go
death." Proverbs  14:27. "Better is a little with the      into the discussion of the subject itself, setting forth
FEAR OF THE LORD than great riches and trouble             what according to scripture it really means to FEAR
therewith." Proverbs 1.5 : 16.                             G      O    D    .


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 65


THE DAY OF SHADOWS





                   Providentially Protected People
                                                Rev. John A. Heys





   We are that.                                            garden of Eden was only a picture and stepping stone
   By God's grace we are a providentially protected        which had to be taken away. God gave that paradise
people. For the God Who called us to be His people         to Adam and Eve and took it away that all God's
cares for us as His people. And His hand that takes        people might be in that better paradise which abides
away from us gives us better treasures than those          forever and whose glories are infinitely greater.
which He snatches away from us. What is more, He             All this is also reflected in the life of Isaac and is
takes away in order that He may give. And He gives in      set before us in Genesis 26. And these things are
order that He may take away that which must for our        written for our comfort as well as for our instruction.
own good be removed.                                       That we night have this comfort in this day and age
   He gave us His Son that our guilt and the curse         God sent a famine in the land of Canaan in the days
might be taken away. He gives us sickness and death        of Isaac. Even this fact has its meaning for us. We
in order that we may have everlasting life in the glory    read in Genesis' 26: 1, "And there was a famine in the
of His kingdom. He takes away from us our earthly          land, beside the first famine in the days of Abraham."
lives in order that we may reach the heavenly. He          Famines were by no means a rare thing in what later
takes away our pride in order that He may fill us with     on became a "land flowing with milk and honey."
His praises. For His giving and then taking away, His      Canaan was not such a paradise; and the land of
taking away and then giving is not some duplicity on       Canaan today is by no means a paradise with lush,
His part, is not the result of fickle, changeable whims    green fields and farms capable of producing an abun-
.and fancies on His part. The giving serves the taking     dance of food. It cannot today be called a land
away. The taking away serves the giving of that which      flowing with milk and honey. It became such and was
is truly good. Job said this in essence when he stated,    prepared to be such for Israel's sake. Under God's
"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away:              blessing the desert can become a garden. Under His
blessed be the name of the Lord." He is blessed in         curse the most promising soil, according to man's
both because they always are part of one work. In          standards, will produce nothing. The rains must come
fact, as Paul writes it, each deed of God, each act of     at the right time and in the right amount. He must
dealing with His people works together. for good to        give it and measure it out to make any land a garden.
those that love Him. The giving does not clash with        He did that for Israel when His Church was in that
the taking away; and the taking away does not negate       nation, and when His people were in that land.
the giving. They work together to bring God's people         Egypt was a far more promising land in that day;
to the promised glory in the paradise of which the         and Isaac intended to go there for his food  evenas


       66                                             THE STANDARD  BEARER



       Abraham had*done  before him. But God appeared to            more than mere providence. They are works of a
     him and forbad leaving the promised land. God                  gracious providence. In His providence He arranged
       provided for him right there in Canaan along the             that Abimelech would- find Isaac sporting with his
       eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Here the            wife, and so would find out that he had lied about
       Philistines dwelt, and here were green fields, cooler,       her being his sister. Abimelech did not just happen to
       moisture-laden air off the Sea, and fields to raise food     see this. God arranged all the details in His providence
       for man and beast: We are not told why Isaac did not         and in His grace that brought Isaac and Rebekah
       consider going there. It may have been fear of the           where God had brought Abimelech so that he would
       Philistines who later on became one of the most              see this husband-and-wife activity that exposed the lie
       formidable enemies of Israel. Recall Goliath and the         of a brother-and-sister relationship. He uses also the
       fear that gripped Israel and Saul because of him. It         sins of His people. These are not excluded from the
       may be the example his father set by going to Egypt.         "all things" of Romans 8 that work together for good
       Fathers often forget that children see and learn from        to those that love God.
       their inroads into Egypt. Abraham did it and got back           Abimelech was angry and at once called Isaac to
       safely into the promised land. Why should his son not        the palace for a rebuke. Take it out on Isaac he could
       try it as well?                                              not. Touch him and drive him out of the land back to
             Here in the land of the Philistines we find again      the famine-plagued areas of Canaan around Hebron
       that truth of God's providential care over His people        he cannot do. Not that he did not want to do that.
       consisting in this that He uses the chaff to serve the       Not that the thought of it did not enter his mind. Not
       wheat, the sinners to serve His saints, the world to         either that Isaac did not exactly deserve all this and
       serve the Church. And let us make no mistake about           more, for as Abimelech points out, the wrath of God
       it, God provides the unbeliever and the world for the        could have fallen on his whole kingdom, had some
       believer's good and for the Church. He does not              one taken Rebekah and committed adultery with her.
       overrule the world of sinners but rules over the world       The explanation we find in Psalm 105 : 12-l 6, "When
       of sinners. He does not find them and use them, but          they were but few men in number; yea very few, and
       He raises them up and brings them into being at the          strangers in it. When they went from one nation to
       right time and in the right place for the ,-good of His      another, from one kingdom to another people; He
       people.                                                      suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, He reproved
             So often we look upon our enemies as nothing           kings for  -their sakes; saying, Touch not mine
       more than enemies; and that they even in their               anointed, and do my prophets no harm."
       enmity and opposition to us are God's tools and                 But Isaac, we read, "Waxed great, and went for-
       servants for the good of His Church we fail to see;          ward, and grew until he became very great." Words are
       and we miss comfort we. could have. God provides the         multiplied so that we do not overlook. or minimize
       Philistines and God provides Abimelech for Isaac's           the fact that God took such good care of Isaac. He
       sake. And that means for our sakes today, for out of         was protected but also prospered in material wealth.
       Isaac comes Christ, and out of Christ come all ,of our       God provided protection but also great possessions
       blessings. How hard it is for us to live the glorious        for Isaac. And he went back to Hebron not simply as
       truth that all things work together for our good. It is      a man who survived that great famine and could now
       easy to say it and to teach it. It sounds good and is        `slowly and steadily build up his herds and enrich
       worth knowing. But does your soul really take hold           himself with goods, but he returned as a very wealthy
       of it when things are dark? Do you see the darkness          man. In His providence and grace. God took away the
       as sent in God's providence for your good? Do you            bread of the region of land where Isaac had settled in
       see it as a wisely designed tool in the hands of a           order to give him much more in the land of the
       Master Workman to bring- forth a thing of beauty             Philistines.
_      and joy .for you? Do you see enemies and pain and               All this God did in covenant faithfulness. For when
       suffering as that which is provided by God -in His           Isaac turned away from the eastern shores of the
       grace for your everlasting joy in a land free from all       Mediterranean Sea, where the Philistines dwelt, and
       suffering and characterized by the peace of victory          returned  .inland to the regions south of Hebron,
       over all the enemies?                                        where Abraham had dwelt,, God appeared to him and
             It is in His grace that God does all this. For note    said, -"I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not
       that Isaac, walking in his father's sins, also lies about    for I am, with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply
       his wife, and in that respect alone deserves no              thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake." Abimelech,
       protection. He sought to protect himself; well let him       under that providential hand of God, had called Isaac
       take care of his own problems then! No, God does             to himself for the second time and told him to "Go
       not deal that way with His people. He works in His           from us; for thou art much mightier than we." He
       providence in His grace. With them His works .are            was living in Gerar. From thence, because the


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER             .                                   67 .


herdmen of Gerar strove  ,with him about wells  .of         Isaac was forty when he took Rebekah  ,to wife; and
water which God gave him, he, moved inland to               he was three score when Reb.ekah bear him these twin
Beer-sheba. And in great need of that assurance from        sons. This incident occurred during those twenty
God Isaac was. For Abimelech came there to visit him        years.
with the captain of his army and with a friend. Isaac
asks him, "Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate            And after another forty years it became evident
me and have sent me away from you?" It did not              that God's covenant promise is particular `and that the
look good. And Isaac needed that assurance of God           providentially, protected people -is a special people
that God would be with him. He needed the assur-            among the seed of Abraham. We read that when he
ance that the covenant promise given to his father,         was forty years old Esau took to him wives that were
Abraham, was also God's promise to him. With that           a- grief of mind  unto~ Isaac and Rebekah. The one
assurance he can face Abimelech confident that the          whom God hated before he was born or had done
covenant faithfulness of God will be his to enjoy.          good or evil  - according to Romans 9: 11-13  -
                                                            showed that he hated God. Yes, they had God's
  Undoubtedly this whole incident preceded that             covenant promise to -cheer them as strangers in a
which is recorded in the. latter part of chapter 25,        strange land. But they had grief of heart also. And so
namely, the birth of Jacob and Esau and the selling of      it will be for God's people here below when He
the birthright by Esau for a mess of pottage. There is      exercises providential care over them. For God's grace
no mentioning of these children with Isaac and              is very particular. Whom He sovereignly wills He
Rebekah in Gerar. In fact that lie of Isaac could           hardens. And to whom, He wills sovereignly to show
hardly be a means of seeking safety with those two          mercy He shows. mercy. And though we cannot yet
sons there. Abimelech would have seen the actions of        fit all the pieces together, He is fitting them together,
these sons in relation to their parents long before         and, we by faith insist that they work together for
Isaac's sporting with Rebekah. Scripture does not           good to those that love Him. In His providence He
purpose to be a  book'of records  .of vital statistics,     makes .no mistakes.. In His grace He makes no mis-
even though it is accurate in all its historical detail.    takes. We make a mistake, and a serious one, when we
After all, there were twenty years between Isaac's          question His ways and accuse Him of wrong.
marriage. to Rebekah and the birth of these sons.

GUEST ARTICLE





                                 The R.&formation
                       A Return to Preaching
                                                 Rev. W. Bekkering





  We say that the Reformation was a return to               door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. But the
preaching, and so it was; but that is true because God      foundation was already laid, for Luther had been
used the preaching to effect the Reformation. Often         preaching the Word for seven years in Wittenberg.
we think that the Reformation began on October 3 1,         Luther was above all a preacher. The Word of God
15 17 when Martin Luther nailed the 95,Theses  on the       captured Martin Luther  - not overnight of course,


68                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



but as he began to read and study the Scriptures he          foundation of Rome. Luther saw that the Word of
came more and more under their power.                        God alone was trustworthy, and upon that Word he
      Luther did not become a preacher when he became        took his famous stand at Worms in 152 1:
a priest in 1507. A priest was not automatically                Unless I am refuted and convicted by testimonies of
required to preach. Luther began his preaching in               the Scriptures or by clear arguments (since I believe
15 10 with fear and trembling, which showed that he             neither the Pope nor the councils alone; it being
understood the seriousnessand importance of preach-             evident that they have often erred and contradicted
ing God's Word. Soon the little chapel where he                 themselves), I am conquered by the Holy Scriptures
preached could not hold the crowds that came to                 quoted by me, and my conscience is bound in the
hear him. The council of Wittenberg then invited                word of God: I can not and willnot recant anything,
                                                                since it is unsafe and dangerous to do anything
Luther to preach in the City Church where. he                   against the conscience. Here I stand. God help me!
continued pastor until his death in 1546.                       Amen.
      Luther preached often, not only on Sunday but on         Luther's faithful confession at Worms emboldened
weekdays as well. He preached in such a way that the         many adherents of the Reformation. During the year
common people could understand, and thus he                  that Luther was hidden at the Wartburg Castle over-
opened to them the Word of God in its clarity,               zealous and radical men thought to help along the
simplicity, and authority. The power of Luther's             Reformation of the church with the arm of the flesh.
preaching lay in its biblical content. The Scriptures        This worked a great confusion,. and the Reformation
were for Luther the majestic Word of the King and            was threatened with disastrous failure.
therefore the sole and infallible authority. Luther
viewed himself as a messenger of the King, and his             The "ox cart" that was returning the gospel of
work as that of announcing the King's message                grace to God's people had now run upon a rocky road
faithfully. That gave Luther's preaching a freshness         and seemed sure to be overturned. Would Luther now
that distinguished it from the stale scholasticism of        respond as Uzzah did in Israel? Would Luther put
his day. That gave it an air of authority that com-          forth the arm of the flesh in order to stabilize the
manded respect and obedience. But above all that             cause of God?
message pierced into the hearts of the people of God           Luther was fervently summoned to return to
and nourished their faith. Once again the sheep              Wittenberg to save the cause. He left Wartburg at the
heard the voice of the Good Shepherd and they                risk of great personal danger, even death itself, for
followed Him.                                                Worms had declared him a dangerous heretic and
      Rome had all but silenced the Shepherd's voice, for    excommunicated him.
she ascribed more power and authority to herself and           How would Luther handle the explosive situation
her ordinances than to the Word of God, and would            once in Wittenberg? Would he advise `physical force?
not submit herself to the yoke of Christ. This the           Would he recommend psychological counseling for
Belgic Confession, article 29, tells us is a mark of the     the troublemakers? Would he do nothing, so as not to
false church.                                                offend any? No! He would preach! Luther dared to
      Rome's departure from the foundation of the truth      preach because he believed in the preaching. Eight
over the centuries finally led her to the point where        sermons in eight days he preached, and the power of
she considered the preaching unnecessary, or periph-         God that had begun the Reformation now stabilized
eral at best. Rome began to lay another foundation in        it. In the second sermon Luther sets forth the
institutional power and glory. She could- make in-           underlying principle of the whole Reformation:
fallible declarations by a general council; she had a           Summa summarum, said Luther, I will preach, speak,
priesthood that could miraculously reproduce Jesus              write, brit I will force no one; for faith must be
Christ by transubstantiation; she had tradition that            voluntary. Take me as an example. I stood up against
                                                                the Pope, indulgences, and all papists, but without
was more authoritative than the Scriptures - why did            violence or uproar. I only urged, preached, and
she need the preaching of the Word? Rome's worship              declared God's Word, nothing else. And yet while I
was complete without the preaching. Yet for all of              was asleep, or drinking Wittenberg beer with my
Rome's pomp and power Luther could find no rest                 friends Philip Melanchthon and Amsdorf, the Word
for his soul. Rome said, "Peace, peace, when there              inflicted greater injury on popery than prince or
was no peace." God caused Martin Luther to see and              emperor ever did. I did nothing, the Word did every
ask for the old paths, which is the good way; the way           thing. Had I appealed to force, all Germany might
in which there is rest for the soul. The Reformation            have been deluged with blood; yea, I might have
was a return to preaching.                                      kindled a conflict at Worms, so that the Emperor
                                                                would not have been safe. But what would have been
      Luther's faith was strengthened in the  preaching         the result? Ruin and desolation of body and soul. I
when he saw that God used it  to) smash the false               therefore kept quiet, and gave the Word free course


                                                  THE  STANDARD.BEARER                                                 69



   through the world. Do you know what the Devil                may have been alright in Luther's day when men were
   thinks when he sees men use violence to propagate            not nearly as well educated as they are today; but
   the gospel? He sits with folded arms behind.the fire         many now believe that the preaching needs to be
   of hell, and says with malignant looks and frightful         aided by man's wisdom. In Luther's day men sought
   grin: Ah, how wise these madmen are to play my               to add to the preaching with the arm of the flesh, and
   game! Let them go on; I shall reap the benefit. I            the devil delighted. In our day men seek to add to the
   delight in it. But when he sees the Word running and         preaching with the mind of the flesh, and the devil is
   contending alone on the battle-field, then he shudders
   and shakes for fear. The Word is almighty, and takes         very pleased because the mind of the flesh is enmity
   captive the hearts.                                          against God, for it is not subject to the law of God,
                                                                neither indeed can be. The mind of the flesh is the
  Do we have that same reformational faith in the               wisdom of the world and not the wisdom of the
preaching? Do we have the confidence that by the                Word. But it pleased God by the foolishness of the
lively preaching of His  Word, applied by the  Holy             preaching to establish the Reformation, and now it
Spirit, Christ gathers, defends and preserves His               pleases Him to preserve the church, reformed accord-
church?                                                         ing to the Word of God, through that same Word
  Preaching has fallen upon bad times  in our day.              preached.
Few in our day trust the preaching any longer. Many
preachers, even in the historical line of the Reforma-            Reformation Day is a good time for us to renew
tion, add to or take away from the message of the               our faith in the preaching so that our faith may
King of the church; The simple preaching of the Word            through the preaching be renewed.

N E W S   S P E C I A L





                                      Edmonton Calling
                                                     Mr. Marcel Stmayer





  As in other years, we also this year received visitors        area.  Our people have visited  Pella, Iowa;  Doon, Iowa;
from our churches. There were brethren and sisters              Loveland, Colo.; Lynden, Wash.; Victoria, B.C.; and
from: Victoria, B.C.; Isabel, S.D.; Lynden, Wash.;              South Holland, Ill.
Loveland, Cola.; South Holland, Ill.; and Hudsonville,            We have just remembered, with thankfulness, that
Mich. It is good to visit with these brethren and               our congregation was instituted three years ago, and
sisters, and experience the real, communion of the              it is good to reflect, on the past. When instituted the
saints. And it is with pleasure that we bring into              congregation, consisted of 34 souls, (five families). At
practice the admonition of the Lord from I Peter 4:9.           present we have 64 souls, (13 families); 27 confessing
  We further had visitors from the Netherlands.                 members. Our total growth was three families from
These visiting relatives came from: The Hague, South            other churches, and four young families by marriage
Holland; and Vlissingen, Zeeland. Further, there were           (in  ternal) plus, of course', our minister's family
visitors from: Lemmon, S.D.; Chiliwack, B.C.;  Ban-             (which helps quite a bit  - 12). During these three
croft and Toronto,  Ont.; and from out Alberta                  years we experienced the blessing of receiving our
-Lethbridge, Calgary, Brooks, Innisfail, Red Deer,              own  ministe?-; the baptizing of seven infants; three
Lacombe, Cold Lake, Nearlandia, and the Edmonton                marriages here, and one marriage in Loveland; three


 70                                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



 professions of faith. But also in our first year we were                 (local daily) has also produced some visitors. Just
 reminded that we do not have a continuing city here,                     recently we have started a weekly fifteen-minute
 but are looking for a better land, as one of our young                   message on Sundays over one of the area radio
 members was taken away by death.                                         stations. So far we have not had any response, but we
    During the last eight months we further have two                      know that God's Word will not be void, but that it
 families (10 souls) worshipping with us two times                        will do that which is pleasing in His sight, and that it
each Sunday, and one elderly widow who is with us                         will be quickened.
 most afternoon services. We pray the Lord, that if it                       We are blessed with an active young people's
is pleasing to Him they may be. added to our number.                      society, presently fourteen of our own and an average
 Besides the above we generally have other visitors;                      of five others, of which three attend regularly our
 therefore our average attendance including visitors is                   church service. Our `young people meet on Sunday
 seventy-eight. One Sunday this year we had ninety-six                    evenings, alternating at the homes of our members.
in attendance..                                                           On Monday evenings they often go swimming, and on
    Ours is a church in its first love, a congregation                    Friday. evenings they often end up at the Boston
 that has just come out of years of arguments and a                       Pizza for food and fellowship. Winter activity also
trying to call an apostate church back to the law and                     includes bowling or skiing. Even this summer when
to the testimony. And especially our older members                        there was no Young People Society meetings, they
all in one way or another know how the Lord led                           met-most Sunday nights at one or the other homes  _
them out, and brought them into this new fellowship.                      for fellowship. And another teenager from one of our
Each can witness of personal experience in this; but                      churches visiting with them remarked that they are
also each must (a holy wanting) testify that it is the                    like brothers and sisters; actually how beautiful a
Lord's doing, and that it is marvellous in our eyes.                      testimony, when outsiders notice that. Catechism
None of us would have come out had not the Lord                           classes have also been attended more or less regularly
pulled us out with a strong hand and an outstretched                      by three outsiders; even there the Lord instructs
arm. And then looking at ourselves we can only say                        others.
with the church past: Waarom was? op mij gemund,
grote God van dood en leven, dat Gij my ontferming                           In writing this all, one cannot help but be re-
gunt.                                                                     minded of a hymn, "Count your blessings, count
    Once a month we send out a letter to approximate-                     them one by one, and `see what the Lord has done."
ly 800 addresses, some to other places from which we                      Ours is a very young church, a church on the
receive addresses. So a few each month go to Calgary,                     hoistings, a small church, a church in the middle of
                                                                          nowhere, as far as sister churches are concerned.
that rival city of Edmonton, 190 miles to the south                       Lynden is  800. miles away, and Isabel at least that.
of us. And out of this has now come contact with five                     Ours is a church in a great and fast growing city (4th
families of which three just recently were visited by                     in Canada), a church surrounded by apathy, and
our minister. He was very well received and they                          enmity. But also a church, as the above shows, given
requestedtapes and other literature and even made a                       much work by the Lord, a church of brothers and
monetary contribution. Some of these families are                         sisters that may witness of the real oneness we have in
already worshipping once a Sunday, and reading                            Jesus Christ our Lord. As we are again fed from week
Dutch Sermons in a home. We pray that the Lord will                       to week with the meat of the gospel and grow back in
also blessour small efforts there. One is reminded of                     knowledge. We can only say, Yes, that is as it was
the words of our Lord in Rev. 3 :2 : "Be watchful, and                    when we were young; we do not hear any thing new,
strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to                     but that which has been forgotten. And that again
die."                                                                     gives peace, and we go on. Saens tranquillis in Undis,
    Our regular monthly ad in the Edmonton Journal                        Edmonton is calling. YES, pray for us.


              `RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   The Mr. and Mrs. Society of Faith Protestant Reformed Church,             The Sr. Mr. and Mrs. Society of Hope Protestant Reformed Church
Jenison, Michigan, mourns the loss of one of our faithful members,        of Walker, Michigan, wishes to express their-sympathy to their fellow
MRS. GARY BYLSMA, who entered into the Eternal Rest on October            members, Mr. and Mrs. James Huizinga in the loss of her sister, MRS.
1, 1978.                                                                  KAREN BYLSMA.

   We express our sympathy to Gary in the loss of his wife. May God          May they be comforted by the words of II  ,Cor.  4:17   - "For our
comfort him and us by His Word and Spirit:' "As for me, I will behold     light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more
Thy face in righteousness, I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy     exceeding and eternal weight of glory."
likeness." (Psalm  17:15).

                                 Rev. W. Bruinsma, Pres.                                                  Prof. Herman Hanko, Pres.
                                 Mrs. J.  Schipper,  Sec'y.                                                 Mrs. Gordon Ondersma, Sec'y.


                       THE STANDARD  BEARER                  71





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





72                                            THE STANDARD BEARER


                                News From Our Churches

      Candidate Michael De Vries has accepted his call      which is interested in the truth as taught in the
from our Southwest Church. All of the June gradu-           Protestant Reformed Churches.
ates of our Seminary have now received and accepted           The Fall Mass Meeting of the Eastern Men's and
calls to serve in our churches. Candidate Flikkema          Ladies' League was scheduled for October 10 at
accepted his call to serve as pastor of our church in       Southwest Church. Rev. C. Hanko was to speak on
Isabel, South Dakota. Candidate Bruinsma accepted           "God's Providence in 1953 and Our Calling to In-
the call from our Faith congregation in Jenison,            struct Our Children."
Michigan.                                                     The annual Reformation Day lecture sponsored by
      Rev. and Mrs. John Heys have received their visas     our Michigan area churches was scheduled for Octo-
from the New Zealand government. They plan to               ber 19. Rev. B. Woudenberg, pastor of our church in
leave on October 13 for Christchurch, New Zealand,          Kalamazoo, Michigan was to speak on "Is the Refor-
and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church there. Rev.
Heys plans to labor in New Zealand for about eight          mation Being Maintained?" At.`this writing, the loca-
                                                            tion of the meeting was "under wraps." Perhaps it
months, continuing in the work begun by Rev. Van            will be held in the new Southwest Church building.
Overloop. This work is undertaken at the request of         You will probably notice that many of the special
the Contact Committee of our Synod and the Christ-          church meetings in the Grand Rapids area will be
church Session (consistory). Until further word is          scheduied  at Southwest in order that our people in
sent from New Zealand, mail for Rev. and Mrs. Heys          this area may see the new building.
can be sent in care of Mr. A. W. Young, 12 Barrow-
clough  St.,  Christchtrrch  2, New Zealand. Air mail         The P.T.A. of Hope School and the P.T.F.A. of
costs 3 1~ and arrives in about 12 days. Surface mail       Covenant High School had interesting programs
takes at least a month.                                     planned. Rev. C. Hanko was to speak for Hope on
                                                            "Motivation In the Home" on October 19. Prof.
      Rev. Heys' congregation in Holland, Michigan, will    Decker was to speak on "The Biblical Concept of
make no small sacrifice in "loaning" their pastor for       Discipline" for Covenant on October 27.
an extended period. Rev. G. Lubbers has agreed to
teach Saturday catechism classes and Rev. C. Hanko            Rev. R. Miersma, pastor of our church in  Pella,
the evening classes. Pulpit supply will come from our       Iowa, had surgery performed on his shoulder in early
Seminary and our neighboring churches during the            September. He fell and dislocated his shoulder in an
absence of Rev. Heys.                                       accident which  occured in South Holland, Illinois.
      Bulletin announcements for our Holland Church           Our church in Lynden, Washington is among those
should be sent to the clerk: Mr. Terry Elzinga, 10335       of our churches which vary the time of the Sunday
Riley St.,, Zeeland, Michigan 49464.                        worship services with the seasons of the year. Lynden
                                                            schedules worship services at 10 A.M. and 2 P.M.
      Our Holland Church scheduled a special program        October- through April,, and 10 A.M. and 8' P.M. May
on Wednesday evening, October 4.  Rev:  VanOver-
loop reported on his work in New Zealand with slides        through September.
and narration, in order that the Holland congregation         The arrival of a bulletin from Lynden was a kind of
might "know a bit about the work that their pastor          special event. It is the first bulletin or any kind of
will be doing there." This was planned not only as an       news from that congregation in over three years. The
.informative meeting for the congregation but also a        bulletin did not arrive directly, however, but through
farewell gathering with a view to Rev. and Mrs. Heys'       the good offices of the California correspondent for
departure the following week.                               this column. Nor have bulletins arrived from Doon or
                                                            Kalamazoo during the tenure of the present News
      Rev. and Mrs. Veldman planned to leave for Skow-      editor. This is a column for ALL of our churches.
hegen, Maine, on October 4 for an extended period of        How about it Doon, Kalamazoo, and Lynden?
time. They plan to labor with a small group there                                                        K. G. V.


