      A REFORMED SEMI-MOII;ITHLY MAGAZINE
f





     SPECIAL SEMINARY ISSUE

                                             . . . . . a greenhouse,
                                             or seed plat, where
                                             plants are pro-
                                             duced for later
                                             transplantation
                                             into our churches.-


                                      Volume  LVII, No. 2, October  15,198O


26                                                            THE STANDARD  BEAREk



                                                                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER'
                                 C O N T E N T S                                                                       ISSN 0362-4692
                                                              :                              Semi-Tohthly,  except monthly during June, July. and August.
                                                                         .                    Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
      Meditation-                                                                                  Second  Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
                                                                                   Editor-in-Chief:  prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
         Seeing the Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26      .Departmeni   Editbrs:  Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, Rev. Arie
      Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29    denHartog,  Prof. Robert D. Decker, Rev. David J. Engelsma, Rev. Richard
                                                                                   Flikkema, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman  Hando, Rev. John A.  Heys, Mr.
      Editorials-                                                                  Calvin  Kalsbeelc. Rev. Kenneth Koole, Rev. Jay Kortering, Rev. George C.
                                                                                   Lubbers, Rev.  Rpdney  Miersma, Rev.  Mar+us.Schipper,  Rev. James Slopsema,
         The "Greenhouse" on Seminary Hill . . . . . .29                           Rev. Gise J. Van paren, Rev. Ronald Van Overloop, Rev. Herman Veldman.
                                                                                   Editorial  Office:  Pr0f.H.C.  Hoeksema
         Our Pre-Seminary Department. ; . .I. . . . . . `. ~31                                      4975 Ivanrest Ave. S.W..
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         Office Assistants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .,. . : . . . . .32       Church News Editor: M;. Calvin Kalsbeek
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MEDITATION


                                                       Seeing the Light
                                                                          Rev. C. Hanko

                                                     "In thy: light shall we see light. " Psblm 36:9.

      The sweet singer of Israel is singing  !a hymn, a                                     Lord,' Thou preservest man and' beast; since
song of praise to God under the inspiration of the                                              Thou art ever kind,
Holy Spirit. Throughout the ages the church has                                            -Beneath the shadow. of Thy wings we may a
repeated this song of praise, even as we do today in                                           refuge find.
the well-known words,
       Thy mercy and Thy truth, 0 Lord, transcend                                           With  #the abundance of Thy house we shall be
           the lofty sky;                                                                       s a t i s f i e d ,
       Thy judgments are a mighty deep, and as the                                          From'rivers  of unfailing joy our thirst shall be
           mountains high.                                                                      supplied.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 27



    The fountain of eternal life is found alone with       dazzling brightness of His own glorious perfections.
       Thee,                                               Before Him the-angels hide their faces, the saints
    And in the  .brightness  of Thy light we clearly       bow in adoration. Holy is His Name! He is the Holy
       light shall see.                                    One. of Israel Who is holy in all His dealings with
   Who can fathom the animated joy that floods the         His people and with the wicked. Righteousness and
 soul and comes to expression in this hymn? It             truth belong to Him. He thinks righteous thoughts,
 provides us with a foretaste of the eternal: song of      speaks righteous words, and deals righteously
 Moses and the Lamb, standing, as it were, at the          always. In Him is infinite knowledge and wisdom.
very portals of heaven. We sing to our Almighty            He is eternal, immutable.  He.  is' self-sufficient,
 God, Whom we worship and adore. We sing to                sovereign over all His wide and vast creation. He is
Jehovah, our eternal, unchangeable covenant God,           God. The one, only true and eternal Light.
 Who keeps covenant forever. We declare before
 Him in humble worship His glorious perfections as           .This brings to mind the words of the Savior, "I
 we experience them from day to day in our lives.          am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall
 God's mercy is the keynote of our song. It is higher      not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of
 than the heavens, transcending all human thought          life" (John 8:12). The first creation was made with a
 or imagination, as God in mercy bestows upon us           view to the coming of Christ and the new creation.
 the riches of His salvation. God's faithfulness           God had eternally appointed His Son to be the.
 covers us as a protective cloud by day and a cloud        Christ, the Firstborn of every creature to bring
 of light by night. God's righteousness is as steadfast    many sons to glory through the dark yet glorious
 as the mountains, founded on holiness and truth.          way of sin and grace. All history was planned to
 Therefore His judgments, are just judgments,              serve that purpose even from paradise to Paradise.
 punishing the wicked according to their sins and          It `was with that in mind that God created this
 bestowing blessings upon His people in abundant           present world, bringing forth light out of darkness
 mercies. How precious is that mercy of  o'ur God,         by the Word of His power. This light was the light
 far beyond anything that  wee could cherish in our        of'life.' Adam also was created a living soul, in the
 hearts here below. We are abundantly satisfied            image of God in true knowledge, righteousness,
 with the spiritual bounties of God's  : House,            and holiness. He had the light of his eye whereby
 bounties of spiritual bread and wine in covenant          he could see the amazing splendor of God's
 fellowship with God at His table. From the throne         creation. With the light of his understanding he saw
 flow rivers of pleasure, filling our hearts with joy      the hand of the Creator in all things, so that he must
 unspeakable and full of glory. The climax of our          have cried out: My God, how great Thou art! With
 eulogy is reached in the confession, "With thee is        the spiritual light of love in his heart, which
 the fountain of life: in thy light we shall seelight."    controlled his whole being, he was devoted to God
                                                           as God's friend-servant. In devotion to God he
   "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all"' (I    consecrated his whole being to his God ,with all the
John 1:5). When we look for a definition of light we       earthly creation. But through the fall of Adam
 search in vain. Just as a definition for  life'escapes    abominable sin and horrible darkness settled upon
 us, so also a definition of light defies our under-       this world. When Jesus declared Himself to be the
 standing. We can say something about light, even          light of the world He plainly implied that the whole
 about the effects of light, yet even so we have not       world lies enveloped in the darkness of sin and
 yet expressed what light really is. We speak of light     death. Darkness stands antithetically opposed to.
 as movement, vibration.. We know it produces heat         light. Light is holiness, darkness is vile rebellion;
 and warmth. We need it to see and to move about.          light is righteousness, darkness. is defiance of God
 Dark objects take on shape and form as the pawn of        and of His laws, transgression; light is knowledge,
 a new day spreads its light over the earth. Colors        darkness is spiritual blindness, -the lie; light is life,
 appear in the light. In the light we see one another,     darkness is the isolation of death. To sinners born
 have contact, fellowship, and communion.                  in this world of sin and death Christ proclaims the
 Therefore we can say that light is life. Yet, even so,    glad tidings, "I amthe-light  of the world." He does
we still ask, what is light?                               not merely say that He brings light into the world,
   Scripture directs our attention to  Godl God is         He is the light. He does not allow for the possibility
 Light. The light that God created on the first day of     that there might be other sources of light. He is the
 the creation week is an earthly picture of the light      light. He comes into this world of sin and darkness
 of God.-The sun that was made the light;bearer on         to bring the light of salvation. He enters into the
 the fourth day is a constant reminder to us of Him        very depths of our darkness to bear the wrath of
 Who is the Light of life. God is Light! Who can           God against our sin in the raging torments of hell to
 fathom that? As mere creatures of the' dust we            deliver us and bring usto glory. He is the Captain of
 worshipfully confess that God dwells in the               our salvation Who through the darkness of -death


28                                         THE STANDARD  BEAREB



and the grave marches onward to life and`victory in        inventions God opens up to him in His creation. He
glory. From heaven He sends His Spirit into our            discerns; the laws that are basic for mathematics,
hearts to-draw us out of death into  lifeland out of       science, `languages, etc. `He applies this knowledge
darkness into His marvelous light. We who once             to his own life in the world. Yet, even so, he
were darkness are now light in the Lord (Eph. 5:8).        suppressles  the truth in unrighteousness, for he
He restores in us the image of God in true                 walks indarkness. Knowing God he defiantly asks,
knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. We are             "Who is God, that I should obey Him?" He
spiritually enlightened so that we may see with our        determines for himself what is right or wrong. The
eyes and know with our minds the wondrous                  consensus of opinion becomes the criterion for
majesty and glory of our God as revealed in all the        what is proper, even when it violates all God's holy
works of His hands and in the Holy Scriptures. Our         law. Knowing God he works his own condemna-
hearts are renewed so-that we can devote ourselves         tion, so that he stands eternally before God without
to God with heart and mind, and  with: our whole           excuse. :
being. We know the mercies of God that transcend             True knowledge of God is a God-centered
the lofty skies, and His judgments  :which are             knowledge. This we confess before the face of God
deeper than the sea and higher than the mountains;         when we declare, "In thy light we shall see the
We are satisfied with the abundance of God's               light." This implies that all knowledge in every
house and drink from the rivers of living waters           field of learning is based on God's revelation of
which continuously flow to us from `our Savior             Himself  in the Scriptures. We are not misled by
Jesus Christ.                                              those who argue that there are many interpreta-
      Thus we become disciples, followers of Jesus,        tions of Scripture, and, therefore none can be exact.
walking in the light as children of the light. We          Scripture is its own interpreter. The Holy Spirit
experience Gods approval, having fellowship with           Who testifies through the Scriptures does not speak
God and with the saints, for God's people are our          to one differently than to another. It is our duty
people, and their God is our God. We take the Holy         prayerfully to search-the Word of God from day to
Scriptures as our guide, our road map to lead us           day. We must approach that Word with a docile,
along the perfect way that leads us'to life with God       receptive, heart, asking, "Speak, Lord, for Thy
in His glory. We confess, "Thy  word; is a lamp            servant  heareth.!' Only then are we spiritually
before my feet, and a light upon my path" (Psalm           qualified :to see the light and to walk in it.
119:105). That Word is in our hearts as the message
of God Himself to us, revealing to us  @is eternal           This is /more than a confession. It is our prayer to
mercies and grace as the God of our salvation in           God that $Ie may enlighten our understanding, give
Jesus Christ. God promises to us, as the heirs of          us receptive hearts for His Word, and give us grace
salvation, the riches of grace in Christ Jesus. He         to be shining lights in our families, in the church,
instructs our hearts and minds in wisdom's ways,           and in the midst of the world. In- answer to that
so that in I/Iini we trust, upon Him we wait, in Him       prayer. God feeds us with the fatness of His House.
                                                           We drink of Jehovah's stream of life with joy
is all our joy, our expectation, and our longing. To
live apart from God is a conscious experience of           unspeakable and full of glory:Thus we also live in
death. Of this we become deeply aware when we              anticipation of that day when with the multitude
sin. God's approval means more to us than our              before the throne we will declare in perfection of
earthly existence. Now we see as in a mirror dimly,        glory: "0 the depth of the riches both of the
soon we shall see our God face to face; now we             wisdom a:nd knowledge of God! How unsearchable
know in part, soon we shall know as we are known.          are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! . . .
                                                           For of him, and through him, and to him, are all
      This knowledge of God is the basis, the principle    things: to :whom  be glory for ever. Amen!" (Romans
of all true knowledge. For it is in God's light that we    11:33, 36):.
see the light. All true knowledge is knowledge of
God, theology. It is true that there  isi a certain
knowledge in the world of unbelief, a remnant of                                  THE
natural light that remains after the fall of paradise.
The natural man knows, not merely that there is a           STANDARD BEARER
god, but that God'is God. He cannot escape the fact
that God's  .law is good and that God must be
served. He knows very well the differenc'e  between             makes a thoughtful
good and evil, as is evident from his reaction `to
those who offend him. He knows that it is to his              gif$ for any occasion.
own advantage to remain a bit close to keeping the
law. He takes advantage of the discoveries and


                                           THE STANDARD  BEARER                                              29





Special Issue                                             number of letters they received recently. Let's keep
For the most part, you will not find the usual            it up. And while we're at it, let's include our home
departments in this issue of our magazine.-This is a      missionaries on the mailing list. I am sure that Rev.
special issue, designed to acquaint our readers with      and  Mrs; R. Van  Overloop in Birmingham,
our Theological School and its activities. We hope        Alabama and Rev. and Mrs. S.  Houck in East
the contents of this issue will indeed serve to           Lansing, Michigan will not spurn your letters. You
acquaint you, near and far, a little-more fully with      can find all the addresses in the Yearbook, found in
our school. By the way, visitors are welcome at the       the back section of the 1980 Acts of Synod.
school. This holds true both for visitors  from the
Grand. Rapids area and for visitors from our              Join The RFPA Book Club
outlying churches..                                       We remind you again that the next RFPA publica-
                       '                                  tion.,,  The Voice Of Our Fathers,  will go to RFPA
                                                          Book Club members at a special first-time-only
Write OUr Missionaries                                    discount of 30% off the regular price of $18.95. But
As some of you (who wrote) have learned, Rev. and         you must join the Book Club before the book gets on
Mrs. den Hartog were overjoyed at the large               the market. Hurry!

EDITORIALS
Ppof H.  C.. Hoeksema


           The "`Greenhouse" on Semipary.Hill

  Officially the name of our  .seminary   : is the        operation, and supervision of a seminary is part of
Theological School of the Protestant Reformed             the official work of the church. And no church or
Churches. But often we simply refer to it `as "the        group of churches can long exist and maintain its
seminary" or "our seminary." This  issue1 of our          identity as church, i.e., continue to. manifest the
Standard Bearer  is designed to  teil you something       mark of the pure preaching of the Word, unless it
about our school, to tell you not only who are there,     can turn to a seminary for ministers trained to
but also what is accomplished there and what the          preach in faithfulness to the Word of God and the
purpose and goal of our seminary is.        1             confessions of said church.
  If you consult our Church Order you will' find no         All of which brings us to the subject of the nature
mention of any mandate to establish and operate a         and purpose of a seminary.
seminary, nor any mention of its purpose. You will          If you consult a good dictionary, you will
find mention, however, of the office of professor of      discover that the word  seminary  comes from the
theology and mention of the task of such a                Latin noun  seminarium,   which in turn is related to
professor. The latter, of course, presupposes the         the Latin' word  semen,  seed. And the primary
existence of a seminary, or school, in which such a       meaning of the word, now obsolete, is "a piece of
professor teaches. Hence, our Protestant Reformed         ground where a seed is sown for producing plants
Churches have from their beginning insisted upon          for transplantation; a nursery; a seed plat." From
establishing and operating a Theological School,          thence it has come to have its meaning of "an
and they have insisted that the operation of such a       institution for the training of candidates for priest-
school is the calling and task not of  any-iprivate       hood or ministry." Our Dutch forbears recognized
organization, nor of a society of parents  (a:s is the    this idea of a seminary already as long ago as the
case with our Christian day schools), but of the          time of the Arminian controversy, prior to the
church institutionally. Essentially, it belongs with      Synod of Dordrecht, when they expressed concern
the calling to preach the Word. The establishment,        about the  "pZantsoenhof"   of the Dutch churches


 3 0                                                           -r-HE S T A N D A R D   BEARER



 being corrupted by a teacher such as Arminius.                                          a) The sovereign and unconditional election of
   So that is the idea of a seminary. It  is a green-                                  G o d .
 house, or seed plat, where plants are producedfor                                       b) The total depravity of man.
                                                                                       c) The particular and complete atonement of
 later transplantation into the churches.                                                   Christ made only for the elect.
        One could, of course, expand on that idea and                                    d) The irresistible power of the grace of God in
 stress several elements in the figure  ,of speech                                          the work of salvation.
 implied in the name "seminary." For example, ,it is                                     e) The preservation of the saints.
a  sheltered  place, where `the plants (students) can                                3) `The everlasting and unconditional covenant of
 safely grow without being exposed to the adverse                                  grace established by God with His elect people  and.-.
 influences `of the elements until they  iare strong                               their elect seed in Jesus Christ.-
 enough to withstand them. It is a place with. a                                     Further, the Three Forms of Unity historically
 salutary atmosphere, designed as to soil and air and                              maintained in the Reformed Churches (The Heidel-
 water and light and heat to produce healthy plants,                               berg Catechism, The Belgic Confession and The
 that is, doctrinally and spiritually sound and                                    Canons of Dort) are the confessional basis of the
 capable preachers. Then again, a greenhouse is a                                  Protestant-Reformed Churches and of the Seminary.
 place designed to induce forced and rap'id growth,                                  It is apparent that, while these truths are the great
 so that plants for transplantation, will be produced                              truths of the Protestant Reformation and subsequent
 quickly and on a timely basis, .as they are needed.-                              Reformed theology, they are, at the same time, most
 And thus, one could go on and  <point out several                                 generally ignored and denied in this day. In this the
 similarities betwe'en a greenhouse for plants `and                                Church has been unfaithful to' her Reformation
 the "greenhouse" of the churches.                        :       _                heritage.
   But rather than enter into detail in this fashion,                                It is further -apparent that the sturdy defense of
                                                                                   these truths  .is the urgent calling of the -Church-a
-having pointed out the idea of a seminary, let me                                 calling which comes with increased force in these
 quote from our official BulletinKatalogue  as to the                              troubled times.
 description, the basis of instruction,' and, the
 curriculum of our Theological School:                                               The Seminary of the Protestant Reformed Churches
                                                                                   stands firmly committed to these truths of  God!s
                                                                                  . Word,- seeks diligently to defend them and develop
         THE SEMINARY...in brief...                                                them further, and founds all the instruction offered in
           At the very beginning of the Protestant Reformed                        the school upon them. In this way can the  Seminary
         Churches, the need was recognized for a theological                       serve the preserv&ion of the truth in the midst of the
         school in which men could be prepared for the                             Church and be an instrument, under the blessing of
         ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Although the                      Almighty God, to prepare men for the ministry of the
         need was obviously recognized and met because the                         gospel of Jesus Christ.
  I ..Protestant-Reformed  Churches believed it to'be their                        Curriculum
         solemn calling to prepare `men for  the. ministry,
         nevertheless, the establishment  -of a separate                             A complete course in all the branches of theology is
                                                                                   offered. As appears from the catalogue, the emphasis
         seminary was also closely connected with, the reasons                     in the curriculum is on Dogmatics and Exegesis. This
         for the organization of the Protestant `Reformed                          is not without good reason. Dogmatics is important
   Churches as a separate denomination. This  denomin-                             inasmuch as all- the life of the Church flows out of
   ation  was formed to maintain the truth of Scripture                            sound doctrine and a clear and concise understanding
         against the errors of Arminianism particularly, which                     of the faith "once delivered. to the saints." Sound and  :
         have for many years vitiated the ministry of the                          effective preaching is preaching of  the-  truth.  .But
        `Church. The seminary is therefore dedicated  to`                          Exegesis is no less important inasmuch as there can be
         preserve and develop the `truth of the Word of God                        no true Dogmatics except the truth be gleaned from
         and to provide an education in this truth  .in all                        Holy Writ. The strength of the Church of Christ is her
         branches of theology. More specifically, the seminary                     preaching; and the strength of her preaching is
         maintains this truth as it has been historically main-.                   exegesis since the Word of God alone must. form the
         tained since the time of the&eat  Protestant Reforma-                     content of all the preaching of the gospel.
         tion, especially the Reformation of John Calvin. There
         is no need therefore for apology in pointing out that                       The remainder of the curriculum is not decorated
         these principles and truths of the Calvin Reformation                     with subjects which can be called "frills"; nor are
        form the heart of all the instruction offered.                            subjects included which are only indirectly related-to
                                                                                   the preparation of men for the ministry; the subjects
        Basis of Instruction                                                       themselves and the material offered are conducive to
           The truths upon which this seminary therefore                           study  and. research, are composed of solid material
        stands are briefly:                                                        able to qualify one intellectually and spiritually for
           1) The infallible inspiration of the  H.oly.  Scriptures                the work of the ministry.
        and their absolute authority in doctrine and life.                           A student graduating from the school and receiving
           2) The five points of Calvinism:                                        his diploma ,may  expect that the diploma indi,cates  a


                                                 TM!  STANDARD BEARER                                                        31



   full seminary training which will equip him to  !abor         as possible, .along  with the continuing spiritual decay
   with the rich heritage of Calvinistic and Reformed            evidenced in existing public and private. postsecond-
   thought.                                                      ary educational institutions, has prompted the
     Further, the desire to offer our potential ministers        Protestant Reformed Churches to expand its offerings
  as much distinctively Protestant Reformed education            in the Theological School to include pre-seminary,
                                                                 college-level, work.


               : .Our.:PtieZ3ehinary  Department
                                                                     :

  Almost from the beginning  of. its history our             these subjects in addition to an already- crowded
Theological School has included a pre-seminary                seminary curriculum. There are various answers.
department, at least a partial one. Besides,  -more           One is that we think the goal is worth the additional
than once in our history our. churches decided,              work. Another is that we schedule pre-sem subjects
either at the General Classis  or later at Synod, that        in alternate years, so that no  ,professor  teaches
our school should include such a' department.                 more than two pre-sem subjects at a time. A third
During the  1956's -and early  1960's, for various
reasons, among them the fact that most of the
students came to seminary with a college' degree,
the pre-seminary division died out. But through a
combination of-circumstances, as well as out of the
conviction that it was necessary for the welfare of
school and churches, the pre-seminary division of
theschool was revived and expanded.
  What we now `require of entrants. into our
seminary is the equivalent of a complete college
course, or 125 credit hours. But. among these
required hours there is a large number of hours of
required subjects, subjects which we deem
important as basis and  backgroud for: seminary
training. These include Latin (which a student must           is-and this gives  me. the opportunity to introduce
obtain elsewhere), Greek (taught by Prof. Hanko),             him?that   -for the last few years we have had
Dutch (Prof. Hoeksema's department, though it is              assistance. from Rev. C. Hanko,  who  j has been
currently  : being taught by Rev. C. Hanko),                  appointed by the faculty and School Committee to
Philosophy (shared by the. three professors), Logic,          give instruction in Dutch, thus -relieving Prof.
English Grammar and Literature (both of the latter            Hoeksema of. this task. This year Rev. Hanko is
must be obtained elsewhere), Public Speaking                  teaching both Dutch Grammar and Dutch Reading,
(taught, by Prof. Decker), Psychology (taught by              which means that he is at school every morning.
Prof. Hanko), World History (taught by Prof.                  Let me assure you that he is there promptly at 8
Decker), and first-year Hebrew (taught by Prof.               o'clock in the morning, too. How's that for a
Hoeksema) .                                                   retiree! We enjoy his assistance and his fellowship
                                                              very much. Usually he stays around for coffee time
  Just a few words about this aspect of our school.           and chats a bit with faculty and students. He also
  In the first place, why do we maintain a pre-sem            takes his turns leading our weekly chapel service.
department? The basic reasons are given above in              Besides, he admits that this contact helps to keep
the section quoted from our catalogue. And we do              him young!
not hesitate to say `that the quality of our pre-sem            In the third place, a few years ago we moved
department by way of comparison with other                    first-year Hebrew from the seminary to the  pre-
schools is high; this alone justifies its existence.         seminary' curriculum. Traditionally; for some
Besides, there is the intangible benefit that students        reason, Hebrew has always been taught at the
are under our guidance -and training and in the               seminary level, though Greek was taught at  pre-
atmosphere of our own seminary for three or four              sem level. The result was that there was consider-
years before they ever begin seminary.                        able delay in the `ability of students to handle the
  In the second place, you probably ask the                   Old Testament in the original language. This was a,
question how our small faculty manages to teach               handicap for  .both professor and students. Hence,


32                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



senior pre-seminarians now have a year of Hebrew,                In the fourth place, in recent years our students
and this is followed by a second year at seminary              have been able to obtain credit toward their B.A.
level. The change. has been for the better. Perhaps            -degree .-for the courses which they take at our
some day we can move all Hebrew instruction to                 school. This is an added incentive for our students
the pre-seminary division.                                     to get their degree, and we encourage them to do
                                                               so.


                                         O f f i c e   Assistatits

      For many years our school just seemed to run by          sometimes, I suspect, a kind of mother-confessor to
itself. There was no office. There were no records,            some of the students. She began working for us
except in the files of the Theological School                  before we had an office; she typed in Prof.
Committee or of Synod. The school didn't even                  Hoeksema's home office when he was at school.
own a typewriter.                                              Now she works every morning when school is
      All that has changed within the past ten to fifteen      open, and sometimes when it is not. In addition to
years, and it changed even more when! we moved                 all the usual office chores and correspondence, she
to our present building on Ivanrest. It changed                acts as secretary to all three faculty members. They
partly because life at the seminary  simply.became             are furnished with Dictaphones and bring their
busier and more complicated; and it changed                    material to her to be`typed. There is many a lecture
partly, too, because of licensing requirements by              that has passed through her typewriter, and almost
the State of Michigan, and the consequent necessity            all our syllabi have been prepared by .her. I venture.
of record-keeping.                                             ,to say, too, that incidentally to her work she has
                                                               gotten a bit of theological education.
      Hence, at school we have a couple office assis-
tants of the kind that are virtually indispensable               Our other little known helper is Mr. Don
but nevertheless seldom mentioned, nor appreci-                Doezema. One of the  several.hats  he wears is that
ated-the way they ought to be.                                 of registrar at--our seminary. He takes care of all our
                                                               academic records, keeps them up to date, issues
      I refer, first of all, to Mrs. R.H. Meyer, our office    grade reports and transcripts, and performs many
secretary. But she is more  thana secretary. When              other chores which serve to take. the pressure off
occasionally she cannot be at school, things don't             the faculty.,
seem to run normally. Mrs. Meyer is our secretary,
our bookstore manager, our book-keeper, and                      Our thanks and appreciation to both!





                      Know the,standard and follow it-
                             Read The Standard Bearer


                                             THE STANDARD -BEARER                                             33


S E M I N A R Y   DePARTMEiVTS .`..I.-
           Dogmatics and Old Testament Studies
                                             Prof. Homer C. Hoeksenh

                                                              There is a saying that goes, "The New is in the
                                                            Old contained; the Old is in the New fulfilled." The
                                                            underlying principle in that. saying is that the
                                                            Scriptures are perfectly one, and that the Old Testa-
                                                            ment is as much the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the
                                                            revelation of the God of .our salvation in.Him  as is
                                                            the New Testament. If there was one thing that old
                                                            Rev. Ophoff never tired of stressing, it was that
                                                            fact. There is Gospel in the Old Testament! And the
                                                            chief aim of all our Old Testament Studies is to
                                                            teach our students to see this Gospel in the Old
                                                            Testament and to teach them to discover it for
                                                            themselves, so that they may be able capably and
                                                            clearly to proclaim that Gospel to the congregation
                                                            from the Old Testament as well as the New. Old
                                                            Testament preaching has fallen upon evil times and
                                                            has even gone out of style in `many churches;
                                                            perhaps it is even too much neglected in our own
  When I first came to the seminary in i959, I fell         churches, possibly sometimes out-of the fear that it
heir to the Old Testament Studies which had long            is too difficult. This ought not to be. There are
been the realm of our esteemed Rev. George M.               riches of- knowledge and instruction in the Old
Ophoff. Later, in 1965, when the original dogmati-          Testament Scriptures, and Old Testament preach-
cian of our seminary went to glory, some adjust-            ing can indeed be both valuable and extremely
ments were made in the curriculum-division, with            interesting.
the result that the Dogmatics department also
became- my  .responsibility., About these two                 Our Old Testament History courses, four!
-departments I am supposed to write a few words.            semesters in all, are, as the name suggests, designed
                                                            to trace the revelation of the' promise and the
  The Old Testament Studies in our curriculum are           development of God's covenant throughout the old
actually part of a much larger -and very important          dispensation, the era of types and shadows. These
department in our school, the department of                 are mainly lecture courses, in which I am systema-
Biblical-Exegetical Studies., To this department            tically developing the material of that history in
belong various subjects which may, be termed                consecutive lectures, lectures which are, then
"tools," first of all. These tools include, of course, a    published by our seminary in syllabus form. While
knowledge of the Hebrew language, so that the               the student is expected to master all the facts and
student-minister may be able to study the Old Test-.        data of Old Testament History, each semester we
ament in the original. These tools also; include            deal intensively with only one segment of that
Hermeneutics, a study of the principles and correct         history'. At present, for example, I am lecturing on
method of Biblical interpretation. This is Prof.            the Era of the Judges.' At the same time, as we go
Hanko's realm, although our Old Testament                   along even in this subject I try to furnish the
.Exegesis  courses naturally involve instruction            students practical hints  and, suggestions as to how
specifically in the principles and methods ,of inter-       to preach on the material under discussion.
preting the various kinds of Old Testament                    Our Old Testament,Exegesis.courses  are three,in
writings. In a way, to those tools also belong the          number. One semester is devoted to interpreting
courses in Old Testament Isagogics (or Introduc-            historical material, one to interpreting poetical
tion) and in Typology, both of which are currently          books, and one -to interpretation of prophecy.
the responsibility of Prof. Decker.                         Ideally, I suppose, these courses should include
  That leaves the courses in Old Testament History          exegetical lectures also, but rarely does time permit
and the courses in Old Testament Exegesis to this           this. These classes are mainly learning-by-doing
writer.                                                     courses. That is, the students are assigned passages


 34                                        THE STANDARD. BEARER



.of Scripture which they must exegete, always                Hoeksems's.  Reformed  ,Dogmatics.  Hence, our
 working, of course, from the original Hebrew. The           students and your future ministers spend a whole
 rule is' that the quality and  thproughness  of their       semester on subjects which might be covered in
 exegesis must be such that it could serve as the            three or four catechism lessons or a few Heidelberg
foundation of a sermon. The student-exegesis is              Catechism sermons. They must be well-versed and
 then subjected to critique by fellow-students and           thoroughly -founded in  : the doctrines of the
 professor. All of this has the aim of teaching the          Reformed faith which they must teach and preach
 student to be expert in expounding the  ,Old  Testa-        in the future. They are expected to have ,definitions
.ment Scriptures.                                            and Scriptural proofs. at their finger-tips. But our
  The Dogmatical Studies are entirely my depart-             classes are.. not spent merely in reviewing and
 ment at  schpol, with the exception of one course           testing in the material of  Reformed Dogmatics.  I
 taught by Prof. Decker at present, Reformed                 always, tell the students that anyone can study and
 Symbols.. For the rest I rotate constantly through          master Rkformed  Dogmatics at home and without a
 the seven courses of this department; and wherever          professor. .We want to probe the riches of the truth
 we are in the series when a student begins                  and learn to understand as much as possible of it.
 seminary, at that point he begins studying                  And we want to learn to think dogmatically. Hence,
 Dogmatics. The  .courses; in addition to  Introduc-         we go on from Reformed Dogmatics. We question,
tion, which deals with the  .name, (definition,              we' investigate,  we- discuss, we argue-sometimes
 method, `and principles of Dogmatics! are: the              even heretically (as  .long as both professors and
 Doctrine of God, the Doctrine of Man, the Doctrine         students are orthodox when they pass outside the
 of Christ, the Doctrine of Salvation, the Doctrine of-     classroom door)-all to  then end of knowing and
 the Church, and the Doctrine of the Last Things.            understanding and appreciating and growing in the
 Our textbook,,`. as -you might expect, is Herman            riches of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ:
                        :


                             Churclj                       EZistoriealStudies
                                           Prof      Htrman  H a n k o


                                                             again and again-with the gravest of consequences.
                                                             We `see this  .happening  in the world all the time.
                                                            That which brought the -Roman Empire to its knees
                                                             a, millenium and a half ago is bringing upon
                                                             America and Western civilization the same destruc-
                                                             tion.. . .
                                                               But if this is true  .in world history, it is much
                                                             more true in the history of the Church of .our Lord
                                                            Jesus Christ.  ,. And the consequences are more
                                                             serious. We are speaking, after  .all, of the  Church,
                                                            that one body of believers in-the-world which is so
                                                            important that all`historyhas to do withit -and.with
                                                             it alone. The Church-which will not learn from its
                                                             own history is a Church doomed to makethe  same
                                                            mistakes which brought ruin and desolation upon
                                                            the cause of Christ in the past. How else can one
   There is an old dictum (I am probably not                explain that the  .same  `old `heresies which raised
 quoting it exactly)  .which goes; "He who will not        their ugly heads in'. years gone by are heresies
 learn from history's mistakes is doomed to repeat          which reappear  .in today's Church world? Is the
them." In a sense, we take this dictum: very                true and essential divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ
 seriously in the Seminary. It holds true; and was          denied today? Indeed it is. But the heresy is no
 originally formulated with a view to, world. history.      -different from that which brought havoc in the
Nations and peoples who do not know history and             Church over 1500 years ago. Arminianism, as our
have no appreciation for what has happened in the           Canons say,. is the age-.old heresy of Pelagianism
past are ignorant of the sins of long  -ago: In            resurrected out of hell. Yet Arminianism controls
ignorance of them, the same sins are repeated               the life of the Church in large measure up to our


                                            Tl+E  f3TANDAR.D  BEARER,                                             35


present time. The evils are as great; the devastation      persecution under the heavy hand of imperial
brought about by it is as terrible.                        -Rome; how the evils in the Roman Catholic Church
  I suppose that `many -would be shocked to' learn         began in this period already when the calendar of
that our Seminary has no fewer than six semesters          the Church was crowded with, holidays for saints,
devoted to a study, of `the history of the Church..        when men sought. holiness by sitting for years on
Church History is not considered all that important        the top  .of  p,oles or letting bugs bite them in the
in today's Theological Schools. This is not to say         desert sands of North Africa, when a heirarchy of
that there is no instruction in Church History; but,       clerics arose in the.Church to rob the people of God
as often as not, this instruction is cursory and           of their office of all believers.
considered relatively unimportant. The reason is              The second course leads the students into those
obvious. Today the plea is made for a gospel which          strange years called the  Middle  Ages, when popes
is relevant to our modern times and can'address             fought'with kings for power and riches,' when the
man as he lives in the Twentieth Century, in our            truth seemed. almost lost in' the- errors, of Romish
modern scientific age-an age when old  truths,are           thought, when those who defended the, truth of
out-of-date and when new-truths are called for. If          Scripture were tortured and burned at the stake,
the history of the Church is studied at all; it is          when Rome ruled the world. and the antichrist, sat
`studied because it is always somewhat interesting          upon the "throne of Peter." There is much to learn
to erect museums which have on display ancient              here too; but there is great difficulty in finding the
artifacts and which will satisfy people's curiosity as      true Church of Christ. It ,is not always so easy to see
.to how others lived in bygone `years. So, presum-          that there are always. seven thousand who have not
ably, students who aspire to the ministry of the            bowed the  ,knee to  Baal. And just as newspapers
Word ought to have some  ,passing acquaintance              record, only the bad things that happen, for these
with the oddities of the Church of long ago so that,        things are. the news, so history records only the
if necessary, they will be in a position to satisfy the     history of  .a church become corrupt-so corrupt
curiosity of their parishioners should the question         that she lost completely the  .power to reform
ever arise: "How did  people,.do these things once          herself. But the Church was there, sometimes to be
upon a time?" And so Church History has taken a             found in  .the strangest places; God preserves  His
back. seat to more contemporary studies; and,               Church.                    _.                        ,
indeed, there is, in many areas of the Church's life,         The third course deals with the Reformation and
a concerted and deliberate attempt made to                  concentrates upon the mighty and glorious work of
disparage Church History and to wean the people             God in restoring the Church to doctrinal purity.
of the Church from their heritage.                          The names of the great men of God ring down the
  A total of six semesters! That is a great deal of         centuries: Luther, Calvin, Knox, Beza, Cranmer,
time to be spending on the past!                            Ridley; Latimer, and a host.of others.
   What do we do with all that time?                          The fourth course must cover all the -history of
   The regular Church History courses are four in           the Church from the Reformation till today, but. it
number. The first course deals with  the.history  of        will give to the students most of all a knowledge of.
the Church from the time of the apostles to :the time       their own unique heritage: the Reformed faith as
of the Semi-Pelagian controversies of the Fifth and-        that developed in the Netherlands and in this
Sixth Centuries. In this course the students are            country. It will bring the students to our own
required to learn about the history of the  post-           Protestant Reformed Churches and the place in the
apostolic Church; the,history of the great trmitarian       history of the Church which-God has given to us.
and Christological  .controversies which filled the           Added to these courses are two more which trace
Church  ,with turmoil but brought forth the great           the history,of the development of doctrine from the
creeds of Christendom: The. Nicene Creed, the               time of -the apostles till  the present.  Thes,e  are
Chalcedonian Creed, and the  s&called Creed of             separate courses and are.mtended to concentrate
Athanasius. They will be exposed to the bitter             especially upon the  truth.as the Spirit of Truth led
battle which, the great Church father Augustine            the Church into her confession of that truth. So
waged against the heresy of Pelagianism; the father         once again the student is led through the whole of
of all Arminianism. They will have to know how              New Testament  times; now to look at all  - this
the, devil sought. by devious means to destroy the          history from the viewpoint of the doctrineswhich
Church through every conceivable heresy and how             developed until the present.
God raised up great men who ,stood- fearlessly for
the truth though all the world was against them.              Why are all these courses so important?
They will have to learn how the Church argued and             There are many answers, to this question, a few
.fought  about the dates when Christmas and Easter          of which ought to be mentioned.
would be celebrated; how the saints endured bitter            Presupposed in all this is a particular view of
                                                                                                              t  ._


3 6                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



Scripture. Those who take the position that historv       leads that Church into all truth. The history of the
                                L                   L
-whether of the Church or of  doctrine+is relative-       Church is the demonstration of the marvelous
ly unimportant do so with a definite view of              work of grace. It is the exciting adventure of the
Scripture in mind. This view of Scripture is not          marvelous work of grace. It is the exciting
always explicitly stated, but it lurks in the back-       adventure of-the full realization of the work of
ground for all that. History is irrelevant because        Christ in the salvation of the elect. Amid the cries of
Scripture does not set forth an objective,; fixed, and    martyrs who loved not their lives unto death, in the
authoritative body of doctrine to which the Church        crash of' the battles for the defense of the faith,
can hold in every age. Just as many of: the things        through the triumphs and tragedies of a Church
taught in God's Word are time-conditioned (the            living in every age,. one.comes face to face with the'
views of the people of Bible times, irrelevant to         truth: upon the rock which is Christ God builds His
modern man), so the doctrines which the Church            Church and the gates of hell cannot prevail against
confessed are the passing fads of a particular era,       it.
conditioned by the times, relevant for the moment,         It is necessary  to know that truth. When Israel
but ever changing and never sure. The Church              forgot the wonders which God performed for the
today needs new doctrines, new truths, new                nation, Israel went apostate. When the Church
expressions of her confession if she is to be truly       does not know her heritage, the  .Church loses her
relevant. Gomarus is as outdated.as  Augustine and        heritage and joins Laodicea in being spit from the
Calvin as outdated as Athanasius; Knox is as out-         mouth of Christ. A Church which has no.
dated as Gottschalk and, presumably, Luther is as         appreciation for the blood of martyrs will not be
outdated as Paul.                                         faithful until death. A `Church which does not
  The importance of Church History is based upon          understand' the subtleties of Satan in his fierce
the firm conviction that Scripture is the infallibly      ,attacks against the truth will be easy prey for every
inspired Word of God which is given.to  the Church        wind  `of. doctrine. A Church which does not
as the revelation of Jehovah God in the face of our       appreciate and give thanks to God for the work of
Lord Jesus Christ. It contains the whole mystery of       the Spirit of Truth in leading the Church into all
salvation which to believe is to be saved. It is          truths will be a Church that despises the truth and
everlastingly sure and fixed and relevant for the         sells her heritage for a mess of worldly pottage. A
Church in every age. The history of the Church and        Church which will not learn -from the mistakes of
of her doctrine is the history of God, through the        the past is doomed to repeat them. But a Church
preaching of the Scriptures and by the work of the        which lives ,out of her past is a Church vibrant with
Spirit of Christ in the Church, gathering, defending,     life and power in this present age to fulfill her
and preserving His Church until the end as He'            calling before God.


                           New Testameht Studies
                                             Prof Robert D. Decker

                                                                 In the Protestant Reformed Seminary there is a
                                                          great deal of emphasis on Biblical-Exegetical
                                                          studies. There is good reason for this. No one can
                                                          function in the ministry without a thorough know-
                                                          ledge of -the Scriptures and the skill to expound and
                                                          apply those Scriptures to the needs of the church.
                                                          The minister. is the servant (the Apostles called
                                                          themselves.  `islaves")  of the Lord Jesus Christ.
                                                          Christ, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, cares for
                                                          thei sheep through the office of the minister. This
                                                          means, among other things, that the minister must
                                                          feed the flock of God and care for the flock of God
                                                          with the Word of God. He must bring to the sheep
                                                          the Word of Christ and nothing else. This is what
                                                          the people of God need. If the minister is to do this
                                                          he must know the Word of God and he must be
                                                          able. to explain and apply the Word of God to the


                                      /-
                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   37


concrete needs of the people of God. It'is the aim of      `inestimable. Exegesis provides the basis and
the Biblical-Exegetical studies to prepare the              content of a sermon. In these courses the student
student for this work.                                      acquires the -skill he-needs to interpret the  Scrip-
  Before a student is able to exegete (explain,             turescorrectly in order to proclaim the gospel.
interpret) the New Testament he must acquire the              Two more courses are taught in New Testament
proper tools with which to work. For  this reason           studies, both of which are taught by the under-
there is heavy emphasis placed on the study of the          signed. The first is a one-semester course in
original language of the New Testament, the Greek           Isagogics. This is an introduction to the books of the
language. Beginning already at the pre-seminary             New Testament. Subjects covered are the date of
level, students are trained in Greek grammar and            composition, authorship, and contents of each of
syntax. Their study of Greek grammar  arid syntax           the New Testament books. But emphasis is placed
continues in the first year of Seminary with special        on the canonical significance of each  .book. How
emphasis on syntactical-exegetical points, In this          does each book fit into the whole of the New
one-year course the student gains experience in             Testament? What. is the unique message of each
reading selected passages from the Greek New                book?  The, second subject is New Testament
Testament. Also in the first year of his study the          History. New Testament History begins with a
student is given a two-semester course in Biblical          study of the inter-testamentary period, the four
Hermeneutics. This course is a study of the                 hundred years preceding the birth of Christ. This
principles `and correct method of Biblical interpre--      .' period spawned the many sects and institutions
tation.  Included is an introduction to the principles      and philosophies of which we read in the New
and methods of textual criticism. The views of the          Testament. Among these are: the Pharisees,
liberal higher critics are presented and criticized.        Sadducees,  synagogues, Herodians, the Epicureans, .
Prof. Hanko teaches the above subjects.                     and Stoics. The course covers the history  .of the
  The student also receives two years of instruc-           Gospel narratives, the history of the Apostolic
tion in New Testament Exegesis, one year; from              Church in the Book of Acts and the historical
Prof. Hanko in the Pauline Epistles and the book of         passages of the Epistles. The necessity of these
Revelation and one year from the undersigned in             courses ought to be self-evident. The purpose is to
the Gospels, Acts, and General Epistles. Passages           give the student a working knowledge of the New
are assigned to the student who must mterpret              `Testament. This will benefit the minister in every
them and present his material `in class for                 sphere of his work. It will be of special benefit for-
discussion and criticism by the professor., In addi-        the minister's, catechism teaching and his leading of
tion the professor presents exegesis of his own on          Bible study societies in the church;
selected passages. The value of these courses is`



                    Practical-,Theological Studies'
                                            Prof Rdbert D. Decker                    .,


  All of the courses in this  branch of the  curricu-       nature. Practice must alwavs be rooted in the
                                                                                            1
Ium, with the exception of two, are taught by the           theological principles of the Word of God.
undersigned. Prof. Hoeksema currently teaches
Homiletics and Prof. Hanko teaches  Catechetics:              What is Homiletics? The name is of Greek deri-
When the seminary initiates the new four year               vation  land refers to  the. art of preaching. What,
curriculum in the 1981-1982 term these will                 therefore, is Homiletics all about? A man may have
become the responsibility of the undersigned. All of        a theologian's mind, a vast knowledge of the
these courses, as is indicated by the name of this          doctrines of the Word of God. He may possess a
branch of study, are practical in nature. They deal         keen insight  .into  the. Scriptures. He may even
with the practical aspects of the minister's work           possess. the ability to exegete the Word of God. If,
and calling. And they deal with the life `of the            however, he lacks the ability and skill to convey the
church: its preaching and teaching, its mission             message of the Word of God to God's people he will
work, its government and discipline, the care of its        be a failure in the ministry. He needs the skills
individual members in crisis (e.g. sickness, grief,         necessary to  `I...declare the whole counsel of God
etc.). Finally, all of these courses are theological in     publicly.. . ' ' (Acts  20:20, 27). This is what  Homile-


38                                             :THE STANDARD BEARER



tics is all about. The student learns. the history,            purpose of this course-of study is quite obviously to
principles, and methods of .preaching.  Emphasis is            preparethe student to lead the congregation in the
placed on the latter. The student learns how to for-          proper worship. of God Who is a Spirit and Who
mulate the content of his exegesis into: a sermon             must be worshipped in spirit and in truth (cf. John
which can be effectively delivered in the `pulpit. He         4:24).        .'
is taught how to find the theme of a text or passage             "Poimenics" is a word derived from the Greek
.and how to divide that main thought logically (in            which means to shepherd. It is the name of a course
Reformed circles that is usually three points). The           which purposes to instruct prospective ministers in
student learns how to construct a sermon outline.             the art of pastoral care of the sheep of God. The
He needs an outline that is orderly and logical,              .principles of pastoral care, as these are taught in the
otherwise he will -have difficulty preaching. The             Scriptures, are taught as well as the more practi-
fruit of  .all`this instruction (or lack of it!) becomes       cal methods of pastoral care. This course deals in a
apparent in the Practice Preaching course. This is            rather practical way with such duties of the mini-
taught all six semesters under the present curricu-           ster as visiting the sick, family visiting, comforting
lum by the faculty under the chairmanship of the              the sorrowing, visiting the widows and widowers,
Rector, Prof. Hoeksema. Each student must                     caring for those who have emotional problems such
prepare and deliver two sermons per semester on               as depression or anxiety, counseling those with
texts assigned by the faculty. The student delivers           marriage problems. In our stress-filled,  pressure-
the sermon before faculty and students; The                   packed, fast-paced, and exceedingly immoral and
sermon is then criticized extensively from both a             sinful age more and.more  of these problems are sur-
positive and negative point of view.  The: student's          facing in  the. churches and occupying more and
delivery  .is also evaluated. When. the student has           more of the minister's time. Partly for this reason
progressed to the point where the faculty deems               then seminary has expanded this course so that,
him ready, he is,licensed  .by the faculty to speak a         beginning in the 1981 term, it will be a full-year
word of edification in the worship services of the            course of instruction.-
churches.
      Catechetics belongs to the Practical-Theological           In Principles of Missions the student is taught the
branch of studies. This course is a study `of princi-         principles of Scripture upon which mission work is
ples of catechetical instruction and teaching                 based. Included in this is the Biblical basis for
methods employed in the training of catechumens.              mission work, the definition of mission work, the
Emphasis. falls ,upon .the importance and necessity           character, purpose, and necessity of this work in
of catechetical instruction. in the church and its.           the present day. In the light  of, the open doors
place from the viewpoint of the catechumens as the            which God has given.to our churches, this course
seed of the `covenant. The membership of the                  has become a very significant one in the seminary
church consists of believers and their seed. Accord-          curriculum. Our churches will need in the future
ing to Scripture God establishes His covenant with            men trained not only for the pastorate but also for
us and our children (cf. Acts  2:39). For this reason         work on the mission fields, both foreign and
the instruction of the children of believers is a cru-        domestic.  This, course too has been expanded and,
cial part of the official wbrk of the minister. Theo-         beginning in the 1981 term, will be a two-semester
logical students must be trained in this highly signi-        course of study. The second semester will concen-
ficant aspect of the ministerial calling. Throughthis         trate on the Biblical methods  `of doing mission
means God brings the children of the covenant to              work.
the consciousness of their faith so  -that when they           Finally among the Practical-Theological studies
arrive at years of discretion they may confess their          is a course called Church Polity. This course covers
faith in the LordJesus Christ. By.means of cateche-           two semesters and is a study of the principles. of
tical instruction (the means  ,of grace)  Gob gathers         church government as taught in the Word of God
His church in the. lines of the generations  : of             and relating to the institutional life of the church on
believers. To prepare the student for this  work'is.          earth. An `article by article study is -made of the
the purpose of catechetics.                                   Church Order adopted by the Synod of Dordrecht,
      In a course called Liturgies  a-study is made'of the    -1618-1619,  and used in the Protestant Reformed
Liturgical Forms used  in. the Protestant Reformed            Churches.. God is a God of order and "all things
Churches (Baptism F,orm, Lord's Suppers Form, Or-             must be done decently -and in good order in  the-
dination  -Forms;.  etc.). The history, content,  inipor-     churches" (I Corinthians  14:40). The aim of this
tance, and doctrinal teachings  of- these Forms are           course is to prepare the student to lead the church
covered. Included in this course is a study of the            and. to govern the church together with the elders
Biblical principles  ,of worship and a' study of the          according to the principles of government found in'
various elements of the worship service: prayer,              the Scriptures.
Psalm, singing, offerings, preaching, etc. The                   It is our prayer that the seminary may continue


                                           THE STANDARD. BEARER                                             39



as it has in the past to train adequately and properly    tions will flourish and-the name of God `will be
young men to be' under-shepherds of  the. Great           praised. To that end we earnestly covet your
Shepherd of the Sheep.  In- that way our congrega-        p r a y e r s .   :
                                                                              . .


              b--htroducing Our  Stu'deht  Body
                                                                                           A.





      Setiinary Department                                      Pre-S&in&y Dkpartment
From left to right: Kenneth  ,Hanko,  ,Thomas             From left  `.to right: Charles Terpstra, Russell
Miersma, Everett Buiter, Deane  Wassink,  -Barry          Dykstra, Kenneth W. Kuiper, Brian. Dykstra;
Gritters, Lau Chin Kwee (our Singaporean student),        Steven Key.                .'
and Jeffrey- Nesbitt (a student from  t,he Free
Reformed denomination). Not pictured: part-time
student Richard De Ruiter.
                                                                         ,                       :
A STUDENT's  VIEWPOINT                                          : . .
                                                                   .,
                                                          .:
                      i                AttendingOur.Seminary                                          `.
                                  I             Thomas Miersma

  What&  it like to attend our seminary,  `to sit in
class, and to study there as a student? In one sense,
these are easy questions to answer. It is much like
any other school. We have classes from Tuesday to
Friday ! mornings, Mondays being reserved for
practice preaching. We usually have coffee break at
about ten  o!clock and on Wednesdays,  attenyd-
chapel. The rest of the time is devoted to home-
work, study, and preparation. This description is
somewhat deceptive, however. In the first place,
the course load at our seminary is generally much
heavier than at many schools and seminaries.
Secondly, much more is demanded of students in
the way of individual study. The material which we
learn at our seminary is not simply. handed out in


4 0                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



the form of class lectures with perhaps some sup-             comes up  *in Dogmatics class is liable to be
plemental reading. Rather, it is gathered through             considered also from the point of view of its place
much study and careful and gradually more precise             in church history, or in the unity of the Scriptures,
exegesis. These student efforts are brought to class          or in its practical application to the idea of cate-
where they are criticized, evaluated, and brought             chism instruction. This makes studying at our
together in a unity. The nature and amount of this            seminary a rich and challenging experience.
work varies naturally with the type of course and               The instruction at our seminary is directed to
the subject material.                                         preparing men for the ministry in our churches.
  What is more difficult to describe about attend-            This means that there is a pastoral direction and fo-
ing our seminary is the nature and character of the           cus to our studies. The focus is not scholarship as
classroom instruction. There is a-unity of thought.           an end in itself, but it is the work of the ministry
and purpose which runs through all of the classes.            which receives the emphasis at our school. As a
This.has  its focus in the Scriptures as the infallible       result, while our seminary indeed stresses the need
Word of God. The Bible is the center of all our               for careful scholarship, it does not lose itself in
studies. It is the authority before which we must            .remote  academic study, but relates doctrine to life,
bow in all our labors. God's Word is constantly               and instruction to the work of the ministry. Our
open in class. Further, it is approached with rever-          studies all come together therefore in Exegesis and
ence and not with a sterile intellectualism. The             Practice Preaching. It  his in these classes that the
Scriptures are studied in their unity, in their diver- .,     hours of student study crystalize.  Student presenta-
sity, and in their central focus `in the revelation of        tions in class and practice preaching are thoroughly
God's purpose in Christ. This means that much of              evaluated and criticized. This is done with a view to
our work is exegetical and in connection `therewith           the improvement in precision and accuracy of
involves much use of the original languages of                Scriptural interpretation, clarity of presentation,
Scripture. This aspect of Biblical study, of exegesis,        and quality of delivery. This aspect of our school-
of respect for the Scriptures as -the Word pf God, is         work is the most challenging and sometimes the
one which makes study at our seminary both en-,              most discouraging part of our work. This is so
joyable and rewarding spiritually. This element               because it is here that the question of one's own
which is- sadly lacking in much of the reformed               calling to the ministry comes most clearly to the
world around us is central in our seminary. There is          foreground. Head knowledge at this point is not
a fine line between. preaching.and lecture. The lec-          enough. Usually one's own sharpest critic is one-
tures we receive often have a definite sermonic               self, and the encouragement and direction of the
character,. and it is not an exaggeration to say that         faculty and the mutual support of fellow students
some of the finest preaching in our churches occurs           play a vital role at this point. Criticism is both
in the instruction in our seminary classrooms.                positive and negative, occasionally sharp, but done
  Intimately connected with this is the consistent            out of Christian love and concern, not only with a
and pervading Reformed emphasis of our in-                    view to the `welfare of the student preacher, but
struction. There is a unity of Reformed understand-           also with a view to the needs of our churches for
ing and vision at our seminary. Our rich Reformed             welLgrounded  and thoroughly furnished ministers
heritage is studied as to its origins, development,           of the Word. Throughout there pervades a sense of
and content. The creeds and confessions are often             purpose and devotion to the cause of God's king-
before us in class. We seek to, explore the riches            dom and the welfare of His Church.
which our Reformed fathers were led to see in
God's Word, to build upon that foundation, and to               Because of the amount of work connected with
appreciate our distinctive heritage as Protestant Re-         being a student at our seminary-roughly 90 hours
formed Churches. While in many Reformed                       a week in a good week, more when tests or sermons
seminaries the heritage of the reformation is a dead          are due-one would think that the seminarian's
tradition which is being discarded;- at our school it         social life would be somewhat limited. While this is
is a living, vital, and dynamic reality, a world and          true to some extent, yet this is partially offset by the
life view which colors the whole of our work.                 size and, closeness of the student body. Ours is  a-
                                                              small seminary and classes are also small. There is
  There is also a basic unity and integration of              therefore a close fellowship of students and faculty,
instruction at our seminary. This often manifests             both in and out of class. Because of the small class
itself in class. Often an aspect of the truth of the          sizes, the discussions. in class take on a  personals
.Word of God which- is being `considered in one               character, and there is room for student questions
discipline will also be  ccnsidered  in another class.        and concerns. There is further the daily coffee
As a result, the same idea is discussed from- several         break together, prayer together,  and. chapel
different points of view and in relation to different         worship. In addition, there is the mutual sharing of
areas of study. A question, for example, which                problems  and. difficulties among the students, the


                                           THE   STANDkRD  BEARER                                                       41



occasional after-school football game, and visiting              great strength and'help. The words of encourage-
with one -another. In  ,addition the students and                ment and interest expressed by members of our
faculty occasionally gather for a potluck or picnic,             churches are also greatly appreciated.
We also have a student club, which  wasi revived                     Attending our seminary is a time of spiritual
last year, at which students and faculty gather to               growth, and learning. The basic tools necessary for
present papers. of theological interest and  .for dis-           the-work of the ministry are being acquired, and a
c u s s i o n .                                                  basic foundation in the Word of God and Reformed
Still it must be acknowledged that the daily                     truth is being -laid. One becomes aware as one stu-
routine class and study leaves little in the way of              dies of the many depths and riches in the Reformed
free time. There are the normal problems of life,                heritage--and the Scriptures which one has not yet
finances, home  and. church which also  Idemand                  explored. As a result, one becomes aware that semi-
attention. Hence it is that if any one thing:perhaps             nary is only a beginning, the beginning of a lifelong
characterizes the students' life it is business and              work. That- work is done in a spirit of prayer and
work. As most of the students, both seminary and                 reflection upon one's calling to that work, that if it
pre-seminary, are married, it is often the wives and             be God's will, He may have a place for us in His
children who are overlooked. When the flesh                      Church in the work of the ministry. To that end we
grows weary through much' study, the-encourage-                  covet the prayers of our churches,  t,hat God may
ment of our wives  who;- must' often carry on the                bless the work of our seminary, that we may be
duties of the household without us,. is a. s,ource of            thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

F~OM~T@l THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL COMMITTEE                                                                          ..

            The Seminary: The View from the TSC
                   ,                            Mr. Jon H&ken


When I was appointed to the Theological School            ,-      -.,            ,                     -.
                                                                                                 .*
Committee seven years ago, I was assured by the           F                 :         .)
                                                                                            `
                                                                                            .
"old guard" members that the  committee,met  just
four or five times a year, that its meetings were
short, that the work and time required would be
minimal. What a surprise that turned out to be! The
Theological School Committee now meets on a very
regular monthly basis,. with an agenda that is
usually  full;with meetings that have, on occasion,
lasted beyond reasonable expectations.
   All this was occasioned by the fact that  the-
period from  1973-1980, during which time I have
served on the TSC, has been marked by change. In
fact, the key words in my involvement with the
seminary as a member of the TSC have been
"transition" and "change." Several things are of
note here. Most obvious, perhaps, has been the
change of sites. Since its inception in 1924, with a
minor break during the 1953 controversy, the                               This physical move certainly did occupy the time
seminary  ,held its classes in the basement of First             of  .the TSC. Under the able leadership of Mr. Tom
Church, Grand Rapids-nearly fifty years of exis-                 Newhof, Sr. and with the excellent work of the
tence without a real place to callits own. The new               Building Fund Treasurer, Mr. Dick Teitsma,
building on Ivanrest in Grandville changed all that.             however, the task seemed to most of us to be of no
The transition from basement dwellers to'dwellers,  '            great magnitude.
on a hilltop not. only was a notab1.e  one but, to its                     Work is seldom, however, without its reward.
occupants;an enjoyable one.                                      There seemed to be a new interest, a new zeal for a


                                            .'
                                                  -     ;




 42                                                          THE STANDARD BEARER-



 time among our people and congregations for our.                        tions of the other; but particularly important in this-
 seminary. For' many it was the first time that they'                    regard is that the TSC had gained a much better
 had visited the place where. our young men are                          insight, into. the needs of the faculty  Andy: the
 trained for the-ministry. This enthusiasm made the                     `seminary. A second, probably more important,
work of the TSC seem much easier.                                        result is that there-is more change yet to come. The
       The physical move from -First Church to the                       final product of these deliberations is that, begin-
 seminary building on  Ivanrest came just in time.                       ning with the 1981-82 academic year, the seminary
For God would have it that our student body grew                         programwill be expanded to four years with new             -
 to its all-time-high shortly -after the building was                    courses, new faculty assignments, and new oppor-
-finished.  This, too, was a marked change from pre-                     tunities for our students.
 vious times. It was common in years past to have                          Transition and change have indeed brought work
 but two or three students enrolled for courses:~Who                     to the faculty of the seminary and the  TSCL
 would ever have dreamed that the numbers `would                         problems unique to new situations had to be ad-
 be  in.the teens?                                                       dressed; policies had to be made, planning for the
       With higher enrollment.. came an increased                        future had to be done. One worries sometimes
 burden upon  man already overloaded faculty: This                       about change in any- institution, but the result of all
 necessitated more change. The faculty' size was                         this activity on the part of the TSC and the faculty,
increased by one with the addition  .of Rev. Robert                      the occasion of which was transition and change,
Decker, whom Synod called to be Professor of Prac-                       has been, I am convinced, progress for the theologi-
tical Theology and New Testament. I                                      cal school of our churches. When change brings
                                                                         progress, change is for the better. I say this not be-
       With. this, too, the TSC busied itself. Finding  a,              -cause I .was-involved; but because; upon reflection,
house, dealing with reassignment of course loads,                        one can see that God through His Spirit caused this
and evaluating this new situation fell upon the TSC.                     all to be. God's grace has been abundant in the
   New building, new students, new professor-one                         work of our faculty and of the TSC.
 can easily see that the seminary-was in a period of                    : But, this is not  just,+a subjective feeling on my
 change and transition. And, it was a joy for me as a                    part. That progress can be measured objectively.
member of the TSC, to see the excitement "on the  ..  `.                 One certainly can not argue, for example, that the
hill." It was a privilege to serve on the TSC and to -                   construction of the new facility was regression. To
participate in its work during this period.                              those  who. knew the old and now have seen the
   Remarkable,. I think, too, is the fact that just as                   new, this is an obvious fact. There has-been pro-
the'seminary and its perscnnel  were going through                       gress, moreover, in other -areas as well. There- has
change, so too was the TSC itself. As was                                been progress with regard to the academic program
mentioned above, meetings `have become regular,                          and with regard to the quality of that program. The
lengthier, with agenda of- substantive  ,issues.                        addition of Prof. Decker relieved an obviously
Because of this, the TSC was required to: take a                         heavy' load from Professors Hanko and Hoeksema
much more active -part in the operation of  :the                         so that they, `in turn, could devote more time to the
seminary. What had for the most part been done by*                       courses which they were assigned to teach. There
the faculty alone was now being  donein  conjunc-                       was progress also as measured by'the acceptability
tion with, and oftentimes with the leadership of,                       of pre-seminary courses for transfer to the degree
the  TSC                                                                programs of institutions such as Calvin College and
   One item alone, I believe, substantiates[ this.fact.                 -Hope College. -Our young men  no'longer  need to
In 1976, Synod  `had received a request for  yet,                       forfeit .the A.B. degree but may work out a program
another professor.. Synod did not accede to this re-                    with these institutions. This has put the stamp of
quest but answered instead with a mandate to the                        approval of quality institutions of higher education
TSC to prepare a long-range study on the seminary.                      upon our pre-seminary course. Further, the new
For three years this issue was  before.the. commit-                     four-year seminary program, although not yet
tee. Proposals, counter-proposals, drafts of reports.  :                implemented, will also' prove to be, I am sure, a
and, eventually, final documents were considered                        step forward. Still more. Students keep coming to
at length by the faculty and the committee. The                         the doors. Not only our own students but also those
point is that the  .work was accomplished through                       from other denominations and from other
joint effort by the faculty and the TSC.                                countries. The name of the seminary, the quality of
   This cooperative effort had good results. The first                  .the academic program, and the unique perspective
result was that there developed a much closer asso-                     which its training has. and gives, have become
ciation and relationship between the faculty and                        known to others.
the TSC. Both came away from these meetings with                           All this so far has been pretty upbeat and posi-
a better understanding of the problems and  situa-                      tive. For good reason. Most of the activity with


                                                                                                       :
                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 4 3


which I have been associated hasbeen  exactly that.            What about those of you who do not have -as
  The work, however, has not been without its                great a contact with. the seminary as those who
anxieties and disappointments. As an example;-               work directly with it? My hope and prayer is that
consider that during this year the TSC `was faced            you remember often the seminary'in your prayers
with two professors with calls and one who had- to           and with your material gifts. The seminary must
make the important decision about permanent                  prosper at all costs. The future spiritual health and
tenure. Some anxious moments were spent  ,over               strength of our churches depends upon it. The
these matters: Then, too, there were the  .worries           people of God must insist upon quality programs
over students who  did-`not perform, well a,cademi;.         and quality student-products. We must see to it, in
tally; and there are always those` worrisome                 this regard, that our professors are given the time  :'
problems about budget and finances.                          -and'the  means to "develop the truth" as they are
                                                             mandated to do  bythe form of installation.
  Ail this, however, has been overshadowed by the'
fact that God has richly blessed our semina1r-y  these         One of the -duties ofthe TSC members is to visit
past years and He has not only supplied our needs           . the seminary for  the. purpose of evaluating the
but has caused us to prosper and-progress. Thus the         -work done there by faculty and students. It  .is
view I express of the seminary from the  ivantage            always an enjoyable experience. One can tell that
point of the TSC is a veiy.positive  one. ,The.experi-      -the professors and students appreciate our
ence thus far has been exceedingly rich with great           presence because there is interest being shown in
spiritual rewards.                                           the important work of the seminary. The invitation
                                                             is open to all of you to do the same.


                             -Our *?C'ht$ologicai J6tir&d
                                                 Prof. H. Hanko      I
  I recall vividly the time, at a rather informal             Because  theJournal is distributed-free of charge
faculty meeting, when Prof. Hoeksema and I talked            (the financing' is borne  by'our Churches through
a bit about the possibility of publishing a Seminary        Synodical `subsidies for the Theological School) we
Journal. The time was. about fourteen years ago,             never really advertised our  Journal  or made any
and we hesitated long before entering this new              effort  to: `enlarge our subscription lists; In fact,
field. We wanted to publish a Journal which would            several years after we began publishing we sent a
be somewhat more "scientific" in character than              -letter to `all  the. subscribers asking them if they
the  Standard Bearer;  i;e.,`which  would deal more,         wanted to'continue to receive the  Journal.  Those
technically with matters of theology than  ,would~a   :.     who- failed to respond were taken from the sub-
paper with. greater popular appeal. But  ~ our               scription list.
hesitancy was born out of fear that due to time,and                       :'
ability we would'not be able to sustain the,publica-            Nevertheless,. our subscription `list has now
tion of such a paper; and we wondered long and               grown  to. over 500. Every month brings in new
loudly whether it would have any appeal' at all in           subscriptions along-with letters which speak of the
the ecclesiastical world.                                    appreciation which people have for the  JourizaZ.   A
                                                             few statistics,- while in themselves rather cold,
  It was with trepidation, therefore, that we                nevertheless give you some idea of the work of our
ventured into this field some thirteen years, ago. We        paper.  df the 500 subscriptions about 140 go
put out a very modest paper, in mimeographed                ,overseas.  and the rest to subscribers in this land.
form, bound with plastic binding- and with soft              Thirty-four different states are represented in the
covers. We mailed out about 75 copies, mostly to             subscription list along with 25 foreign countries.
our own ministers and to various men within our              These -countries include: Korea, Taiwan, New
Church whom-we thought would be interested in                Zealand, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, Egypt,
receiving the paper. We did not know how long the            Germany, Finland, Ireland, Scotland, England,
JoumaZ,would last or how well it would be received.         `.Brazil, Mexico, San Salvadore, and Canada. The
  But God put all our fears and doubts to shame.             denominations represented in the. subscription lists
He has blessed this modest venture beyond our                cut across every major denomination in this
boldest imaginations and has ,given to the Journal a         country `and abroad. In fact, far over half of the
place of some  ,importance among theological                 Journals  go- to subscribers outside our own
papers.                                                      Churches.


                                                                                                                               `_

     4           4                                           THE STAND.ARD BEARER



          How new names are added remains a puzzle to                                 One problem which -we constantly face is the
     us. We receive letters from many new subscribers                              stream of requests for back issues. Only seldom are
     who tell us of seeing the Journal in the home of a                            we able to supply these requests. We usually print
     friend, of spotting.it on the shelf in some!library, of                       more than are needed,, but this supply is surprising-
     hearing about it .from an acquaintance,: of seeing                            ly soon exhausted. We therefore have to fall back
     some reference to it in other ecclesiastidal periodi-                         on copying on our copy machine; but this is a costly
     cals. God works in strange and unexpected ways-to                             and timeconsnming  process. In some cases, where'
     bring the Journal into the homes of others.                                  the demand for back articles was especially great,
          As those of you who receive this paper Iknow, the                       we have made reprints and made them available to
     format has been radically altered a couple of years                          all who are interested.
     ago. The Journal is no longer mimeographed and                                   An interesting project which we just finished
     bound with plastic but is printed professionally and                         was the republication of part of Turretin's "Dogma-
     stapled. The size has been reduced from.?% x 11 to'                        tics."
I                                                                                           Although Turretin's original work was in
     6 .x 9. This is more professional looking and makes                        Latin, through the- cooperation of Rev. Engelsma
     mailing much easier.                                                         we obtained for our use an English translation of

                                                                                                            G r a n d v i l l e ,   Mich.
                                                                                                            O c t o b e r   1 ,   1980
                Prof. H. Hanko,
                Grand Rapids, Michigan
               Dear Prof. Hanko:                                     '
                         As the student body of the seminary, we,wish to express to
               y o u   o u r   h e a r t f e l t   cong:atulations  o n   y o u r   c o m p l e t i o n   o f   twenty-
               five  years.of labor  in'the ministry of the Word in our churches.
                         We thank you especially for  your.work in the seminary and
               pre-seminary departments of our school during fifteen of those
               t w e n t y - f i v e   y e a r s .     God has used you and is still using you to
               prepare men for the  minis,try.                               We greatly appreciate your
               diligence in your work  .and the excellence, not only academic
               b u t   a l s o   s p i r i t u a l , wh?ch characterizes both your own work
               and the standard of the work which you demand of us.
                        Most of  `
                                          all, we give  .thanks  to our merciful God Who has
               c a l l e d   y o u   t o   l a b o r   t h e s e   yearsin  b e h a l f   o f   o u r   c h u r c h e s   a t
               l a r g e . -   I t   i s   o u r   p r a y e r   t h a t   H e   w i l l   c o n t i n u e .   t o   b l e s s   a n d   t o
               s u s t a i n   y o u   i n   y o u r   tas,k  a n d   c a l l i n g ,   t h a t   you.may  c o n t i n u e   t o
               grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,
               Whom to know. is life  et,ernal.
                        May God give you  all that you need to continue your work
               among us.
                                                           Your' students and sons in Christ,


                                                       TilE STANDARD BEARER                                                            4 5


part of Turretin's massive work. This  ,,English                                If any of our present readers would like to have
translation we reproduced and bound-some in                                 this work, please send in your order. We would
hardcover and some in soft cover. This work is now                          prefer that.you send your money with the order. It
completed and a large number of these manuscripts                           saves bookwork. The cost is our cost; we are
have already been mailed out. Aware that the                                making nothing on the project. The soft-bound
demand would not be great, we printed about 150                             books are selling for $12.95 and the hardcover
copies of this work; but to our surprise, the demand                        books for $24.95. Get your order in soon or it will
has been greater than we anticipated. Although we                           be. too late.
have not advertised at all yet, already over half of                            We seek from all our readers their continued
them are gone. And we are beginning to `wonder                              prayers for our Seminary and, more particularly,
whether we will have sufficient for all who desire                          for the work of the  JournpZ.   The work is, finally,
a copy.                                                                      God's work, and without His blessing it can never
                                                                            be of profit.


                                                                                                       October 1, 1980

           Prof. H. Hanko,
           G r a n d   R a p i d s ,   M i c h i g a n
           Esteemed Brother in Christ and Colleague:
                    This month marks  .a s i g n i f i c a n t milestone for you and  fo.r
           the churches of our denomination:                                    f o r   i t   i s   t h e   t w e n t y - f i f t h
           anniv,ersary of your ordination as Minister of the Word  and.
           Sacraments in our Protestant Reformed Churches.                                                  We take this
           o p p o r t u n i t y   t o   c o n g r a t u l a t e   y o u   o,n  t h i s   o c c a s i o n ,   t o   e x p r e s s
           o u r   t h a n k s g i v i n g   t o   o u r   c o v e n a n t   God~for  h a v i n g   g i v e n   y o u   t o
           our churches for  .these twenty-five years, and to wish you
           God's blessing in the future time of your ministry.
                    W h a t   i s   e s p e c i a l l y   s i g n i f i c a n t   t o   u s   a s   y o u r   c o l l e a g u e s ,
           however, i's that September marked another anniversary, the.
           f i f t e e n t h   a n n i v e r s a r y   of,your  i n s t a l l a t i o n   a s   P r o f e s s o r   o f
           Theology at our seminary:.                           For  fiftee~n years you have served
           our  chur.ches--frequently:  beyond the call of duty--in the im-
           p o r t a n t   w o r k   o f   trainingiyoung  m e n   f o r   t,he  m i n i s t r y   ,in  o u r
      c h u r c h e s .         O n e   o f   u s   has:  c o - l a b o r e d   w i t h   y o u   f o r   a l l   o f   t h o s e
           f i f t e e n   y e a r s , and  the- other for seven of those years.' We
           have, therefore, been thrown into closer contact with one an-
           other than are most  ministers.in  our churches.                                               D u r i n g   a l l   o f
           our contacts we have come to esteem youhighly as a brother
           a n d   r e a l   f r i e n d   i n   C h r i s t , -   a s   a   f a i t h f u l   a n d   d i l i g e n t   co-
           l a b o r e r , and--not the least--as a champion of the Reformed
           f a i t h .    We  take this occasion  publicly.to express our ap-
           preciation and esteem, asalso our thanks to God for His gifts
           in you.          May the Lord  in: His good providence continue to sus-
           tain you in faithfulness to His Word and to the heritage which
           He has given us as churches, and thus make you  a. blessing to
           our 'churches through your seminary labors in-future years.

                                                     W i t h   l o v e   in,the  L o r d   J e s u s   C h r i s t ,


46                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



                                O              u          r                 Growin@ibrary
                                                    Prof H. Hanko



      During the many years the Seminar-v had  .its            not have a pressing need for our own library
home in-the  basemeni of First Church,:  ;ei-y little          facilities in these areas.
was done to the library. This was due simply to the               Secondly, while Synod has appropriated a certain
fact that the facilities in the basement were so small         amount of money each year for library expansion,
and cramped that there was no space for books.                 the support of the library fund has come mainly
The little library that the Seminary had was                   from private gifts. This has been a wonderful
 composed chiefly of standard works which every                encouragement for the Seminary and we take this
student soon bought for himself.          i                    opportunity to express our thanks to all of you who
      Shortly after the Seminary moved to its present          have donated so graciously to the cause of the
location on Ivanrest, plans were  madeito begin a              library. Books are expensive and it seems as if
major expansion of the library. During the years               money does not go `very far when books are
that followed, literally hundreds of books were pur-           ordered. Will you continue to remember the needs
chased so that at present -there is no comparison              of the Seminary Library?
between the library of former years and Iour library             Thirdly, while we purchase for the library all the
today.                                                         worthwhile new books which are published, our
                                                               main purchases consist of the acquisition of old
                                                               books from book dealers in this country and
                                                               abroad. We try, as much as possible, to keep up on
                                                               what is available  .through catalogues from book
                                                               publishers and book stores mainly in America,
                                                               Netherlands, and Great Britain. Insofar as funds
                                                               allow, we purchase .-what is available and what
                                                               would be worthwhile additions to our library.
                                                                 .Finally,  when we first began to expand our,
                                                               library, we put. the whole library on the Dewey
                                                               Decimal System. It became increasingly plain,
                                                               however, that this system was by no means ideally
                                                               suited to a theological library. After some lengthy
                                                               investigation, especially of libraries of other
                                                               Seminaries in the country, we decided to change
                                                               over the library to the -Library of Congress
                                                               numbering system. This is  ,the system followed by
                                                               almost all the Seminaries in the country, and being
  There are several news items (if such; they may              a part of the system would help us to have access to
be calIed)  concerning our  library.which  may be of           books difficult to find which other libraries possess.
interest to our people.                                        All the major libraries  are.being  put into a central
      In the first place, even though our  i Seminary          computer system which will. list books by the
program has been expanded to include  Pre-                     library of Congress system. Much of this work was
Seminary courses, we  ..have  - limited the books              done this summer by some of the students, and
which we have purchased almost exclusively to                  Calvin College was very helpful in getting this
theological  ..subjects. The  library. is,. for the            system introduced into our library.
Seminary, not for Pre-Seminary studies, `We did                  It will also be of some interest to our readers to
this,  .first, because the Seminary  -was the most             know that the library has begun  an' archives
important, and that-branch. of the library needed              program. Already a' reader-copier has been
expansion before anything else. We hope the time            .purchased  which will enable the library to make
comes.when  the other areas of our library can also            `use- of microfilm. Work is being done to begin a
be begun and developed, but that time is not yet.              collection of all material which will be of historical
Secondly, because our students are still taking                interest in our Protestant Reformed Churches.
much of Pre-Seminary work in other colleges, they              Much work must still be done in this area but a
have access to the libraries in these colleges and do          beginning has been made.


                                                         Tl-iE STANDARD BEARER                                                                      47


             ANlilVERSARY  CQNGRATULATlONi                                                     RESOLUTION OF SYMt'ATHY
   The Theological School Committee extends to Professor H. Hanko                The con&story  and-`congregation of the Hudsonville. Protestant
our hearty and sincere congratulations upon the completion of-25           Reformed Church express their sincere and heartfelt sympathy to the
years of faithful ministry of the Word of God in the churches, the last    childie'h`and   grandchildrenin the death of their mother and grand-
15 years of which have been spent as Professor in the Theological          mother, MRS. CHRISTINE`VOS::
Seminary.                                                                         For she was a mother in Israel. She and her husband, the Rev.
   We give thanks to our faithful, covenant God who has given him          Gerrit Vos, have a special place in the hearts of all our people.
this great privilege and opportunity, and has furnished him with grace            "I Lvill say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in
to serve in this glorious ministry.                                        Him will I trust." (Psalm'91 :2).
   Our prayer is that our Lord may bless and provide for Professor and                                The-Consistory of the Hudsonville
Mrs. Hanko as they continue to serve in the midst of the Kingdom.          `;                         Protestant Reformed Church.
                       Theological School Committee                                                         Rev. G. Van Baren, Pres.
                        of the Protestant Reformed churches                                                 H. Boer, Clerk
                         Rev. M.  DeVries, President
                           G. Feenstra, Secretary                                                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                 RESOLUTJON bF S.YMPAiHY                                          On October 7, 1980 our parents, MR.  & MRS. PETER FISHER
                                                                           celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. We are thankful to our
   The Martha Ladies Aid Society of the Hull Protestant'.Reformed          covenant Lord for these fine Christian Parents and their Christian
Church wishes to express its sincere sympathy to  Mrs.  Bernie             instruction.
Driesen in the passing of her mother, MRS. JOHN HOEKSTRA.                        We pray'that the Lord will continue to bless them in years to come.
   "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were          their children & grandchildren,
dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens." (II Corinthians 5:l).                                    Barbara Fisher
                        Rev. R. Cammenga, Pres.                                  Albert&Joyce Fischer
                        Mrs. Egbert Gritters, Sec'y.                                 Christopher & Michael                         -
                                                                                  Eugene & Kathleen Braaksma
                                                                                     Erika, Erin & Peter
                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                           Henry & Marlene Van den Top
                                                                                     Henry Derek                                  Randolph, Wisconsin
   The Ladies Society of the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed
Church expresses its sincere sympathy to Mrs. John B. Lubbers in the                                            NOTICE
loss of her sister, MRS. DAVE-EMELANDER.
   "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance              Reformation Day lecture by Prof. H. Hanko:
                                                                                    Subject: "Reformed Yet Always Reforming"
shall be forever." (Psalm 37:lB).                                                   Date:      Oct. 30 at B:OO P.M.
                                       -Mrs. H.W. Zwak, Se&.                        Place:     Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church





                                         Report 
                                                          1 of'Clasz$s West

                                              September i6,' 1980                 The agenda  ,of  Classis  was light and the work,
                                                                            largely routine. The Reading Sermon Committee
   Classis West of the Protestant  Refqrmed-                                (Edgerton Consistory) informed  Classis  of .a need
Churches met in Pella, Iowa,on September 3, 1980..                          for fresh reading sermons;  Classis asked each
Eleven ministers and twelve elders represented the                          minister to prepare one reading sermon a year to fill
churches of the West. Rev. G. Lubbers and Rev. R.                           the need. In response to-the report of its Board of
Van Over-loop were present and were given                                   Trustees, Classis approved that the Board ask for an
advisory vote.                                                             official inventory and report of an estate willed to
   Rev.  R; Cammenga, president of the previous                             Classis.
Classis,  led in opening devotions and in the consti-                             Classis adopted the following classical appoint-
tuting of the  Classis.  He spoke to the  Classis on I                      ment schedule for Redlands: Oct. 19, 26, and Nov.
Cor.  15:58: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be                            2-Kuiper;`Nov.  9, -16, and 23-Cammenga; Jan. 1.1,
ye stedfast, unmoveable, always aboundmg `in the.                           18, and  25-Koole;  Feb. 8, 15, and 22-Bekkering.
work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your                            Redlands is advised to seek the help of an emeritus
labour is not in vain in the Lord." -                      :                minister in December and, if this proves impos-
   Several elder delegates signed the Formula of                            sible, to seek the services of Rev. J. Slopsema on
Subscription: D. Abma (Pella);  0.. Boonstra                                Dec. 7, 14, and 21 and supply from the seminary
(Lynden); and T. Jansma (Hull).                                             during the holidays.


                                                           j


                                      7





  THE STANDARD BEARER
       P.0. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506





                  .
 4%                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

   Hull informed Classis  that it has no further need             the case and advised the Consistory to proceed with
of the special committee of Classis  appointed by the             erasure.
March, 1979  Classis  to help Hull, Hull thanked                     The expenses of this Classis were $4,747.40.
Classis for the help that was given. The committee
was dismissed.                                                       Classis  will meet next in Loveland, Colorado on
   In executive session,  Classis  treated the request            Wednesday, March 4, 1981, the Lord willing.
of a Consistory for Classis' advice on the erasure of                               Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk
a member by baptism.  Classis heard the details of                                  Classis West


                       News Prom Our Churches

.Along with the above Report of Classis  West, Rev.               would'be forthcoming, and not to disappoint Rev.
Engelsma sent the following item of interest:                     Schipper, who made mention of his interest in the
   "Most of the -delegates to  Classis  West came  a              Spanish letter during his speech to the R.F.P.A., we
day early, to attend an officebearers' conference on              now relay the latest. At the risk of seeming anti-
Tuesday afternoon and evening. The conference                     climactic we must inform you that the whole thing
was set up by the conference committee, Rev. W.                  -was a mistake: The letter's author apparently wrote
Bekkering and Rev. R. Miersma. The subject of the                 the wrong post office box number on his envelope.
conference was `The. Law and the Gospel.' Two                     One respondent, who recently returned to the U.S.
papers served as a basis  .for discussion. Rev. G.                from El Salvador and now resides in Jackson,
Lubbers introduced his paper on `The Law and the                  Mississippi, sent the following interpretation of the
Gospel.' A paper by Mr. M. Cimo, a member of the                  letter to our business manager:
Trinity Prot. Ref'd. Church of Houston, Texas, on                 "My dear friends:
`The.Law of God' had been distributed to the dele-                Hope you are well. I would like to ask you a favor. I
gates prior to the conference. (Copies' of these                  would like to get some sample of your published
papers are available from Rev. Bekkering.) The                    books. Also if you could get for me a book titled, El
discussion was lively, stimulating, and brotherly.                Crimen La droga y yo (Crime, drugs and I).
The committee is to be commended for  iarranging
the conference and encouraged- to arrange similar                 I really need the above title. Have tried in  vai,n to
meetings in the future."                                          get it down here. Hope you can help me."
  Elected to serve on the Reformed Free                              Another respondent, this one from Pittsburg,
Publishing Association Board at the annual meeting                Pennsylvania, even went through the work of
of September  18 `were George  DeVries, Arnold                    composing a response .in Spanish which he
Haveman,  and William A. Lafferty. Rev., Schipper                 suggested be sent back to Panama. You may have
spoke on the topic, "The Standard Bearer as a                     noticed that at the outset we called this whole-thing
Responsible, Witness.  "' In his closing remarks Rev.             a "mistake." That the author of the letter from
Schipper emphasized that it is our responsibility to              Jackson, Mississippi would disagree with the use of
continue the work of the Standard Bearer as a faith-              that particular term is clear from the following P.S.
ful witness of the truth, for, he said, "This is the              in his letter to Mr.  VanderWal: "I think this fellow
standard we are required to bear in the world."                   intended this letter for David Vila of CLIE and
That's quite a responsibility!                                    goofed on the P.O. Box number, but God is so great
                                                                  that who knows? Maybe this might be the way to
  So as not to make a liar of our former news                     bring the P.R. down to Central America."
editor, who wrote that more on the Spanish letter                                                                    CK


