             T h e
     STANDARD
           BEARER .
              A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





     . ..Few things do as great harm to the cause of
     the gospel as does the ungodly testimony of
        _  F -...
     the &es of the members of the church. Men
     must see the good works of those who
     believe the gospel of Christ Jesus and glorify
     God in heaven.
     See "The Urgency of the Preaching of the
                                            Gospel' ' - page 329





c                                                 Volume LVIII, No. 14, April 15, 1982    -


314                                                              THE STANDARD BEARER



                           L       -
                                            A                                                                   THESTANDARDBEARER
                                  CONTENTS                                                                              ISSN 0362-4692
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       Moses' Keeping of the Passover . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 14                Department   Editors:  Rev. Wayne Bekkering, Rev. Wilbur  Bruinsma, Rev. Arie
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       The Depth of Apostasy in the Netherlands. . . . .317                          Lubbers, Rev. Rodney Miersma, Rev.  Marinus  Schipper, Rev. James  Slopsema,
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MEDITATION

                         Moses' Keeping of the Passover
                                                                       Rev. H. Veldman


                  "Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest He that destroyed the
              firstborn should touch them.  "
                                                                                                                                               Heb. 11:28

  The preaching of the cross, according to I Corin-                                    al, regenerated child of God, however, this preach-
thians 1:`18, is foolishness to them that perish. Actu-                                ing has become the wisdom and the power of God;
ally, of course, it is the wisdom and the power of                                     through it he has been saved, by the Lord's irresis-
God. This preaching of the cross speaks of a power                                     tible grace.
that saves. But it is foolishness to them that perish,                                     This surely applies to this text. How foolish it
to the natural man. He cannot, being carnal, dis-                                      was, apparently, to keep the Passover, sprinkle the
cern the things of the Spirit, of God. For the spiritu-                                blood upon the doorposts and expect the salvation


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                315



of the Lord during that night! And when Israel left        believable folly of opposing the Jehovah God of
Egypt immediately thereafter, what a foolish route         Israel, the one and only Lord of hosts, must experi-
they took, to head for the Red Sea; it is no wonder        ence the wrath of God in ten devastating plagues,
that Pharaoh must have thought that Moses was              and refuse to let Israel go because of its refusal to
corn-pletely  beside himself. However, the foolish-        acknowledge the living God and His authority to
ness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of         command Israel's release, even then when divine
God is stronger than men.                                  wrath and desolation are visited by God upon the
               ITS PREPARATION  I                          land. For this Egypt was prepared. Egypt no longer
                                                           had a king who was sympathetic to Israel.  .Now a
  The passover  in this text was, of course, the feast     king had ascended the throne who knew not Joseph
of Israel's deliverance, when the angel of the Lord        and hated Israel; God placed him uponthat  throne.
passed over Israel because of the blood upon the           God raised him up, hardened his heart to make His
doorposts and smote all the firstborn of Egypt, man        power known. Jehovah led this king and hispeople
and beast. For this deliverance, preparation had to        in the way of the folly of sin, in order that the folly
be made. First, Moses must be prepared. This pre-          of sin might be fully revealed, and the Lord would
paration required forty years. Secondly, Israel must       reveal Himself as the one and only  1iving'God.
be prepared. Years were also required for this pre-
paration. And, thirdly, Egypt must be prepared. We           And so all things are now ready for Jehovah's
must bear in mind that the peculiar `feature of Is-        manifestation of Himself. Moses had been prepared
rael's deliverance was that it was exclusively the         in the desert-which was also true of Elijah the
work of Jehovah and perfectly in harmony with His          Tishbite, of John the Baptist and of the Saviaur.  The
unchangeable love and righteousness.                       time was ripe for Israel's exodus.
  First, Moses must be prepared. Qace he thought                              ITS KEEPING
himself ready. At the age of forty he had resolved to        Literally we read: "Through or by faiths he made'
visit his people in their affliction. Then he had slain    the passover." Later, in Canaan, Israel  -kept,
an Egyptian. He had done this believing that his           observed the Passover. Here it was made, brought
people would recognize in him their deliverer; he          into existence. The meaning is that Moses, through
had expected Israel to rally behind him. He                divine inspiration, instituted it, -called it into exis-
believed that the time had come when he would              tence.
iead.his people in their deliverance. However, rude
had been. his awakening. It became evident to him            First, the  passover  was the feast of Israel's de-
the next day that his people rejected him and would        liverance. With nine mighty plagues the Lord had
have exposed him to the king of Egypt as the slayer        devastated the land, and the tenth was at hand. The
of the Egyptian. And he had fled to  Midian. And           time had come for the tenth and most devastating
now he spends forty years in the land of  Midian.          plague. All the firstborn, from the greatest to the
Finally he is called by Jehovah at the burning bush.       least, also the firstborn of the cattle, would be
Now he is ready to deliver Israel. He had learned          struck by the destroyer; a howl unprecedented
patience, walking behind Jethro's sheep for forty          would be heard throughout the land. of Egypt, and
years; now he is deeply aware of his own incompe-          Israel would be begged to leave. Israel would not be
tence, recoiling from the task of leading his people.      touched. The Lord had made a distinction between
Now he no longer places his trust in himself and/or        Israel and Egypt, and that night it would become
his people. All his confidence in himself is gone. He      .very plain who were the people of God in that land.
has become a fit instrument to be used by the Lord.        From now on Israel would commence to live as a
                                                           separated people, consecrated unto the Lord; for
  Secondly, Israel must be prepared. Forty years           thisreason they were to eat the Passover.
ago they werenot ready for their deliverance. Israel
must cry unto the Lord for deliverance; they must             We know how the passover was kept. The tenth
be conscious of their utter misery and helplessness;       of the month they were to separate a lamb from the
they must long for deliverance, and their sole ex-         flock, not older than a year and not younger than
pectation must be from Jehovah. And now the time           eight days short of a year, without blemish. Four
has become ripe also for them. They cry unto the           days later they were to sacrifice it, not cut it into
Lord for deliverance, and the Lord always hearkens         pieces, nor break a bone of the animal. The blood
to those who cry unto Him.                                 they must strike on the doorposts and upon the
                                                           upper doorpost; they were to roast it whole; not
  Thirdly, Egypt must be prepared. Egypt must be           more than twenty and not less than ten may eat of
prepared, for what? Egypt, the world power at this         it. Whatever was left of the lamb must be burned.
time, must fill its measure of iniquity, must reveal       And they were to eat it as ready to depart out of
the utter folly of sin. This world power, in unbe-         Egypt, their loins girded and their shoes on their
lievably foolish pride, must actually commit the un-       feet and standing with their staves in their hands.


316                                           THE STANDARD BEARER



These instructions Moses had received from the                             ITS POSSIBILITY
Lord.                                                        Apparently, this  passover was an act of folly!
  The significance of this feast is plain. Israel is       First, God's selection of Israel was not because
now consecrated as a people to their covenant God.         Israel was any better than Egypt. Why should the
Until now they had not been a separate people,             Lord favor Israel, us, above the world? Are we any
living in a land not their own. They had not yet           better? Of course not! Secondly, had Pharaoh given
been delivered, and the world did not yet know,            any indication that he would release the people?
and certainly did not believe, that Jehovah had a          How the land had been devastated! And had the
people. Now they are to be consecrated as a people         king given any sign that he was relenting? Had he
to the Lord. The Lord was to deliver them, lead            not become more obdurate and rebellious with the
them into a country of their own, consecrate them          passing of each plague? Had he not commanded
unto Hirnself as His covenant people. This would           Moses in his last interview with him to remain out
take place through the Passover. It would be the           of his sight? How foolish it would be for Israel if
feast of their deliverance. The angel of the Lord          Pharaoh now would not let them go! Imagine, they
would pass over Israel, but he would destroy the           were eating of the passover as if they were depart-
firstborn of Egypt, and Egypt would beg them to            ing! And what if, on the morrow, the king would
leave the land, heaping upon them gifts of silver          not let them go? What if Pharaoh would change his
and gold. Israel's deliverance would be accom-             mind? What would they be able to do about it? How
plished and it would be accompanied by the de-             could Israel, unarmed, oppose the mighty king of
struction of the enemy.                                    Egypt?
  Moreover, the passover  had also a typical signifi-        Their keeping of the  passover was possible only
cance. Of course, the cause of Jehovah's selection         by faith! First, it was surely a confession of sin.
of Israel lay not in the people but in God alone.          Indeed, this sprinkling of the blood was a sign, not
They surely were not worthy of it. It is only be-          for God, but for the people. With this they con-
cause the Lord loved them with an unconditional            fessed their own sin and unworthiness. And this
and unchangeable love. Fact is, the sprinkling of          confession is possible only by faith. Only when we
the blood was never revealed to the Egyptians.             see and acknowledge our sin can we confess our
Israel alone received this revelation. And this em-        sin. Secondly, Israel embraced the word and
phasizes the typical character of Israel's deliver-        promise of the Lord. Israel believed that the Lord
ance out of Egypt. The blood upon the doorposts is         would deliver them that night and lead them out of
a symbol of the blood of Christ. This deliverance is       the Egyptian house of bondage. Israel believed that
a symbol of our deliverance out of the bondage of          the blood upon the doorposts was a symbol of
sin through the blood of Christ; Israel's departure        another Blood that was to come, and that the Lord
into Canaan is a symbol of our deliverance into the        would surely fulfill His word of promise. And
heavenly Canaan through the blood of Christ, and           believing, Israel's faith was surely the evidence of
also through-the wilderness of this world, by God's        things unseen and the substance of things hoped
almighty grace.                                            for, the taking hold of the invisible, of that which
  This Passover, now, Moses kept or made. To be            appeared absolutely impossible. And this is surely
sure, also Israel observed this feast. But in this text    the faith of the church throughout the ages.
the emphasis falls upon Moses, inasmuch as he,               We look not upon the things that are seen. All we
directed by God, instituted it and therefore made it       see is sickness and death and the grave.
in the land of Egypt. Then, to whom was the blood
upon the doorposts a sign? It was surely not a sign          We look upon the invisible God, God's faithful
to Jehovah. It was not a sign to direct the angel of       word and promise.
the Lord as he destroyed the firstborn wherever the          We believe in Jesus; He will lead us safely home.
blood was not upon the doorposts. The Lord needs
no signs to direct Him on His way. Besides, it was
night in the land of Egypt. The blood, of course,
was a sign for the people. It was a sign whereby Is-
rael embraced the significance of the Passover. 0,                   Take time to read
Moses undoubtedly did not understand it fully, and
Israel surely did not; besides, thousands there were
who simply "went along." Yet, they realized one             The Standard Bearer
thing: it was because of the blood that they were
selected, and that blood was a symbol of the Blood
that was to come. Israel embraced Jehovah's love of
them, only purely for Jesus Christ's sake.


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          3 1 7



EDITORIAL

                               The Depth of Apostasy
                                      in the Netherlands
                                                    Prof. H. C. Hoehsema




  Sometimes that attitude of a church with regard                   confession or life view, such as worship services and
to things pertaining to a Christian walk and with re-               certain religious institutions. However, Christian or-
gard to discipline furnishes a clearer index of its                 ganizations and institutions, such as service organiza-
spiritual level and life than does its attitude toward              tions, are not included among the exceptions and
sound doctrine. It is not that the latter is no index,              would have to comply.
nor that the latter is not important. Nor is it true               Before I continue with the report, let me call at-
that the two are unrelated: there certainly is a reci-           tention to the language used here. It is euphemistic
procal relationship between soundness in doctrine                language, designed to call by nice, unoffensive
and uprightness of walk, even as there is such a re-             names that which the Bible calls by its right names
lationship between apostasy in doctrine and a                    and designates as  sin.  Sexual preference? A term
decline in sanctification of life. The two go hand in            like this suggests an option between a heterosexual
hand. But sometimes, I say, deterioration and devi-              or a homosexual life. And even the latter term, you
ation in the area of sanctification and discipline               know is rather bland with respect to the sin ques-
serve to indicate more clearly a church's apostasy-              tion. The Bible speaks of vile affections, of women
perhaps simply for the reason that they are more                 changing the natural use into that which is against
graphic and more repulsive.                                      nature, of men burning in their lust toward one
  Of this I was reminded by a recent report in the               another, of working that which is unseemly, of
RES News Exchange which was enough to make one                   men burning in their lust toward one another, of
vomit.                                                           working that which is unseemly, of abusers of
                                                                 themselves with mankind. And marital lifestyle?
  Those of us who have followed the Dutch scene                  The reference is neither to marriage nor to a "life-
will be aware of the key areas of doctrine in which              style." The reference is to "shacking up  (hohhen)"
the Gereformeerde Kerken (hereafter GKN) have                    or to unmarried couples living together as though
departed in recent years. They have virtually re-                they were married. The Bible calls this living in for-
written the doctrine of Holy Scripture. They have                nication! Let us beware that we do not allow our-
excised from the Canons the doctrine of reproba-                 selves to be lulled to sleep by this "polite" language
tion (and thus principally election, too). They have             that has become so common in our day. It is de-
failed to discipline those who deny the whole Bibli-             signed to cover up the sinfulness of sin.
cal scheme of creation, the fall, and redemption.
They have failed to discipline a denier of the atone-              Now we continue with the report:
ment. Time after time they have failed in their call-                 The Council of Protestant Christian Education has
ing to maintain the Reformed faith.                                 declared that school boards should have the right to
  But the report to which I now refer is enough to                  exclude from employment homosexuals and unmar-
turn one's stomach.                                                 ried people living together. The Association for Chris-
                                                                    tian Schools (Unie "School en Evangelie") issued a
  Here is the story.                                                statement against any discrimination on the basis of
                                                                    sex, homosexuality, or extra-marital cohabitation, but
   (Amsterdam) The "Bill guaranteeing equal treat-
   ment" recently introduced by the Duth government is              the chairman of the Association, Dr. K. de Jong, took
                                                                    an opposing position. The Society of Christian Instruc-
   meeting with strong but mixed reactions from
   churches and confessionally oriented groups. If it be-           tion (Christelijke Onderwijsbond) also rejected all
                                                                    forms of discrimination. It did recognize, however,
   comes law, the bill would forbid discriminatory treat-
   ment, particularly in the area of sexual preference and          that in extreme cases school boards may exclude
                                                                    homosexuals and cohabiting married (sic) people.
   marital lifestyle. An exemption from the law would be
   allowed for activities which are based on a religious           Can you imagine Christian schools that "do not


318                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



discriminate" against those. who walk in such sins                     population no longer agrees that such lifestyles should
and. that allow their children to be trained-sup-                      be condemned, the administration wishes to protect
posedly in the fear of the Lord-by the words and                       those who practice these lifestyles from discrimina-
the example of such persons? Evidently in some                         tory treatment. That the government clearly sensed a
Christian school circles in the Netherlands it is                      problem is indicated by the fact that churches and re-
more important not to "discriminate."                                  ligiously-oriented organizations are exempt from the
                                                                       law in their hiring and membership policies. On the
  The report goes on to describe briefly the reac-                     other hand, a Christian hospital would no longer be
tion of some others:                                                   allowed to refuse employment to someone who is a
                                                                       partner in a so-called common-law marriage or who
         The agitation which the bill has caused is not limi-          lives in a homosexual relationship.
       ted to the schools, but has spilled over into the
       churches. Deputies of the "Liberated" Reformed                    Runia's major difficulty with the proposed law is its
       Churches in the Netherlands have criticized the bill           failure to see that religious convictions and lifestyles
       because the proposed law would publicly brand the              based on them are inseparable. The mixed reactions
       churches as communities within which the evil of dis-          the bill so far has received mirror this failure. Some
       crimination must be allowed. The Central Office for            opponents feel that the law does not go far enough and
       Catholic Education is of the opinion that the law               churches should not be exempt, for nondiscrimination
       attacks the evil of societal discrimination too "absolu-       is a universal human right. Others maintain that
       tistically."                                                   Christian organizations and the like should also be
                                                                      exempt. Runia states that in effect the bill discrimi-
         Spokesmen for the Evangelical Alliance spoke out             nates against those who for conscience' sake cannot
       sharply against the proposed law. In reaction, the Pro-        accept as bona fide employees practicing homosexuals
       testant Foundation for Responsible Parenthood ap-              and unmarried couples living together. Though sym-
       pealed to the Netherlands Reformed Church (NHK)                pathetic to its intent, he contends that in its present
       [Hervormde Kerk, HCH] and the Reformed Churches                form the law goes too far. He agrees with Professor I.
       (GKN) to declare themselves in favor of the antidiscri-        A. Diepenhorst in an interview in Trouw that the ma-
       mination bill and thereby take a firm position against         jority may not impose its views on the minority.
       the Evangelical Alliance.
  Although the RES News Exchange furnishes only                      It is evident that even Runia's mild opposition to
a scant report of the various reactions, some of                   this bill can hardly be said to be based on principle,
which sound extremely mild on this issue, it seems                 at least if this report is accurate. In the first place,
as though there are only a few voices raised in disa-              he evidently confuses the matter of motivation and
greement.                                                          occasion, or reason. It can hardly be said that the
  The report then goes into more detail concerning                 "motivation" for a bill like this must "be sought in
some of the reactions in the GKN:                                  the shifting viewpoint on sexual relations...." The
                                                                   latter might be the occasion. It must not be over-
         The moderamen of the GKN asked the government             looked that the  motivation  involves a moral
   to extend the time in which responses may be sub-               judgment with respect to the sins of  homosexual-
   mitted. It also asked the Churches' Commission for              ism and fornication-whether in the sphere of
   contact with the government to study the bill. Dr. A.           church, education, or society at large. In the second
   de Kuiper, General Secretary of the NHK and the Rev.
   A. C. Hofland, President of the General Synod of the            place, while it may be true, as Runia suggests, that
   GKN, both made a personal statement that they                   in effect the bill discriminates against those who for
   oppose the exclusion of homosexuals from Christian              conscience's sake cannot accept as employees prac-
   education. Hofland emphasized that a distinction                ticing homosexuals and unmarried couples living
   should be made between how a person is by nature                together, the matter of discrimination, or so-called
   and the ethical decision he [e.g., a homosexual) takes          reverse discrimination, is surely not the fundamen-
   regarding what he is. It is wrong, said Hofland, to dis-        tal issue. It is surely a mistake to look at all this in
   criminate against someone because he is a homosexu-             terms of its being a mere social issue of discrimina-
   al but a school board needs the freedom to decide               tion versus non-discrimination. In the third place, it
   whether the ethical decision a homosexual makes fits            can hardly be said that Runia is principally opposed
   into the position of the school.                                to the law when it is reported that he is sympathetic
  About the reaction of Prof. Klaas Runia, who is                  to it, but contends that "in its present form the law
considered a moderate in the GKN, the RES News                     goes too far." In other words, curtail its extent a bit,
Exchange reports:                                                  and then it is all right to grant practicing homosexu-
                                                                   als and practicing fornicators a legitimate place in
   . ..In Runia's judgment, the motivation for the pro-
   posed law must be sought in the shifting viewpoint on           society.
   sexual relations that has occurred in recent decades in
   the Netherlands; specifically: the right of unmarried             But Prof. Runia's position is mild. Read the fol-
   couples to live together and the freedom to live in a           lowing report concerning action by supposedly Re-
   homosexual relationship. Now that a large part of the           formed men:


                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER                                                   319



        In contrast to Runia, the council of the Theological             I ask: does not God Himself discriminate and ex-
     School in Kampen (where Runia teaches) [And I may                 clude them from His kingdom? And does He not re-
     add: where a host of theological giants in the Re-                quire of His church to use the keys of the kingdom
     formed Churches once taught. HCH] and the council                 of heaven and exclude them as long as they con-
     of-the Theological Faculty of the Free University in              tinue in such sins?
     Amsterdam [Abraham Kuyper's school! HCH] have
     protested the idea that Christian schools may use "the              And what kind of view of the state and society
     freedom of education to bar homosexuals and co-                   underlies these views? It is one thing when a world-
     habiting unmarried couples from a place in Christian              ly government begins to promote non-discrimina-
     education." Freedom of education is too precious a                tion of this kind. It is quite another thing when
     possession to be used for this kind of discrimination.            allegedly Reformed men not only support and
     Runia's Kampen colleague, Dr. J. C. de Moor, has dis-             promote the government's position, but even com-
     associated himself from this declaration of the school            plain that it does not go far enough. And all this is in
     on the point of cohabiting unmarried couples and has              the name of the view that any discrimination of any
     resigned as Chairman of the Board. His point is that a
     person cannot choose to be a homosexual or a hetero-              kind in society is wrong! They are more interested
     sexual but he can choose whether or not to cohabit.               in the social gospel of non-discrimination than in
                                                                       the laws of God!
   Is it not amazing! And tragic!                                        Meanwhile, if you had any doubts as to the low
   Those who openly and blatantly and brazenly                         estate to which things have fallen in the GKN, I
walk in moral filth and refuse to repent of this may                   trust that these doubts have been dispelled by this
not be discriminated against, not even in Christian                    thoroughly nauseating report of their attitudes on
schools and churches!                                                  such a clear issue of morality.

TRANSLATED TREASURES

                    A Pamphlet on the Reformation
                                                 of the Church
                                                             Dr. A. Kuyper



[In discussing the positive side of the question, i.e., the renewal    tioned in the church of Christ; and the medical way
or reformation of the church, Kuyper has discussed the need            which we have placed over against the juridical is
for spiritual awakening in the hearts and in the lives of the          not opposed to this, but is rather opposed to the
individual members. In the last paragraph he insisted that this        surgical.
was essential to all church reformation. He proceeds now in
the following paragraphs to the discussion of church renewal.            The matter is this.
This is a lengthy paragraph and we will divide it into separate          If one wants to compare the ecclesiastical cor-
articles.)                                                             ruption of the church with corruption in our
54. Concerning Reformation By- Gradual Church                          bodies, then medicaZ  treatment leaves the organism
      R e n e w a l .                                                  undisturbed, while  surgical  treatment, attempting
   Alas, church corruption seldom limits. itself to                    to save the entire organism, disturbs a part of the
deterioration in grace among the church's teachers                     organism with the surgeon's knife. If now we re-
and members, but almost always drags along with                        frain from surgical treatment in order to restrict
itself a cooling of love and godliness, the falsifying                 ourselves for the time being to the medical, then
of doctrine, and the general collapse of church                        medical treatment is, obviously, not always of the
government. Thus it is necessary, in the second                        same kind. Everything depends upon the nature of
place, to investigate what must be said concerning                     the sickness to be cured. Sickness can affect either
the second kind of reformation which we call,                          one of the organs, or, without having affected any
"gradual church renewal."                                              organ, it can be a weakening or a sapping of the
                                                                       strength of life. If this last be true, medicine tries to
   We do not mean by this merely the nursing of a                      cure that weakening through giving nourishment,
sick church.                                                           or to cure this evil sapping of strength through
   Neither diagnosis nor nursing ought to be men-                      purging. If, on the other hand, one of the organs is


320                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



affected, then medicine is used to keep the remain-         The ministers in Jesus' church are surely not only
ing organs from being affected along with the sick        preachers of the Word who can justify themselves
one, and, as far as possible, medicine is used to         before God when they only preach the Word on the
expel the disease and to restore the affected organ       pulpit and to a part of the families. They are by vir-
to its original health.                                   tue of their office also church rulers, and as such are
  If one now applies this metaphor to the church of       bound to the exercise of discipline and the main-
God, then also, in connection with that church, a         tenance of good order in matters of the church. To
sickness is imaginable which comes about by               have the notion that the preaching of the Word is
means of contempt of grace, which manifests itself        enough, while the task of church rule is left un-
only in individuals, but which leaves the organism        done, comes down to nothing else than a preaching
of the church unaffected. Nothing may or can be           of that Word to others while the minister is himself
used against this evil other than the pure preaching      disobedient to the calling of his office, and this
of the Word in the pulpit, as well as in the homes.       without any twinge of conscience.
If, on the other hand, the corruption is of such a          Yet, warning must be raised against another one-
kind that not only the members but also the orga-         sidedness, namely, against the attempt and effort of
nism of the church itself is affected, then this          those who, without any consideration for backslid-
method is insufficient, and good medicine must be         ingin grace and with a conscious minimizing of the
applied to it to restore the affected organism to its     powers which lie in the Word, imagine, in  Phari-
original purity by expelling or destroying the evil       saistic pride and great unspiritual shallowness, that
element.                                                  the seriously ill can be cured by magic if only they
  How one must do this depends, naturally, on the         would cut off heretical elements and energetically
nature of the organism. The skillful physician            revise the regulations of the church.
works on the lungs differently than on the liver, on        He who judges in this way knows neither his
the kidneys differently than on the heart. There-         own heart nor the needs of the congregation nor the
fore, it must be asked, also in connection with the       powers of the kingdom of heaven. What appears in
church, if corruption creeps into her organism,           the organism is hidden yet more deeply in the
what are the channels, the ways, the procedures,          hearts and families, and church renewal shall never
which the organism possesses to drive out, heal,          be anything else but a visible sham if the cure does
and restore? The answer is: these methods are of          not begin with the punishment of sin and the re-
two kinds. The exercise of ecclesiastical discipline      newal of the covenant. The punishment of sin does
and the improvement of ecclesiastical ordinances.         not begin with the world nor with the undecided,
Thus it is as clear as day that the curbing of evil       but it begins with the people of the Lord them-
through reproof, suspension, and excommunica-             selves, and among that people each begins within
tion of unfaithful office-bearers, or also through re-    his own heart.
proof, censure, and, if need be, the banning of un-         Without that spiritual background each attempt
faithful members of the church, no matter how             towards church renewal is plagued by unfruitful-
juridical, belongs to the medical way of church res-      ness. Then one can indeed put on a veneer, but
toration. This is just as true as the fact that the       never can bring out the lustre. Without personally
strengthening of the power of life takes place            clinging to grace, there may be a great deal of put-
through the preaching of the Word.                        tering and fumbling, but one does not cause the
  Nursing care is surely not a method of healing,         church to grow.
but is either neglect of duty or the helplessness of        Bureaucratic men, knowledgeable in the law,
hopeless despair. The physician who limits himself        who, in cold irresponsibility, plan together and de-
only to diagnosis is not worthy of this office. And       vise how to take away the existing evils, may de-
the question whether one wants to treat the matter        liver piles of nicely organized regulations, but will
medically, whether preaching of repentance and            never be considered worthy by the Holy Spirit to
conversion is sufficient, or rather, whether to pro-      build the Lord's spiritual house.
ceed to the exercise of discipline and the revision of
the Church Order, depends not on personal opini-            One sees an extremely painful example of this in
on, but only on the nature of the corruption which        the Hague Synod.
the church shows itself to have. If evil only finds         How these gentlemen have struggled and
expression in despising grace, then only a call to re-    squirmed in order, by means of always new stipula-
pentance is needed. But if the disease has penetra-       tions and always nicer regulations and ever more
ted more deeply and has affected the organism it-         efficient measures, to heal the rupture in the
self, then one must not stand by doing nothing, but       church and to even out the roughness in the
must put his hand to discipline and the Church            church. And yet what other fruit have they seen
Order.                                                    from their diligent industry and unmistakable


                                                 THE STANDARD BEARER                                              321



     talent and far from scanty exertions, than  increas-      by His church. The Word of God was not  recog-
     ing dissatisfaction, a continual diminishing of           nized by them. They sometimes spoke of grace, but
     power, and a further eating away of the gnawing           they did not understand it experientially. Prayer
     cancer of sin.                                            had become a form to them and the Holy Spirit did
       Is  this due to their lust and good will, or less       not preside in their gatherings.
     ability, or lack of prudence?                                And, naturally, in circumstances such as this,
       He who thinks this is mistaken.                         one plows on rocks.
       Most of the gentlemen who applied their                    Church decline is a punishment of God, a plague
     strength to this idle and purposeless work were           which He brings on us and lays on His people for
     men of much good will; most decidedly they  sur-          their sins. Just because of this the Lord cannot take
     passed most of us in ability, and they were astute in     this plague from us unless beforehand he who feels
     judgment. No, what they lacked was the  know-             guilt confesses it and is reconciled in the blood of
     ledge of the disease and the means of healing. They       the cross. Without that conviction of sin there can
     sought in the skin that which was deeply hidden in        be no true repentance and conversion. And where
     the kidneys. They ignored their own heart. They           this renewal of the covenant is lacking, how can
     themselves did not have the sense of falling in guilt     one hope for a better church?
     before a God Whose name was dishonored in and
     THE LORD GAVE ifHE WORD



                               Missionary Methods (11)
                                                  Prof. Robert D. Decker



       In his book,  The Planting and Development  of          rect. His methods not only make good sense but are
     Missionary Churches,  Dr. John L. Nevius makes a          in harmony with Scripture.
     strong plea for the planting and development of in-
     digenous churches. By this Nevius meant that con-            Nevius continues by giving a brief summary of
I    verts should be gathered into congregations which         the work of the Baptist and the Presbyterian Mis-
     are native to their land and independent of the           sions in China. Preaching tours were organized by
     domination or control and support of the sending,         Protestant missionaries in the year 1860. Though
     "foreign" church. To achieve this goal Nevius ar-         difficult to determine with certainty, it appears that
     gued vigorously and convincingly that the converts        Dr. Nevius began his work in China in the early
     and newly organized churches must be allowed to           1870s under the auspices of the American Presby-
     develop naturally and with as little interference on      terian Mission. China was struck by a severe
     the part of the foreign missionary and the church         famine in the spring of 1877. For three months the
     which sent him as possible. In this connection            missionaries devoted almost all of their time to
     Nevius strongly contended that the missionary             famine relief. They distributed aid to some thirty
     ought to use as little paid help as possible. Leaders,    thousand people from more than three hundred vil-
     from the new converts, should remain in their daily       lages. This represented a turning point in the work.
     occupations. With the thrust of this we agree.            "The famine relief presented us (the missionaries)
     Allowances would, however, have to be made for            to the people in a new and favorable light, and gave
     some modifications caused by the varying circum-          fresh impetus to our work of evangelization. The
     stances in different countries. For example, among        establishment of stations may be said to have fairly
     the educated and civilized Chinese of his day             begun after the famine, though a spirit of inquiry
     Nevius had little difficulty finding capable and re-      had been awakened before" (p. 31).
     liable leaders for the mission stations. That would          On matters of mission policy or missionary
     no doubt be quite different for the missionary            methods all of the missionaries, both Baptist and
     working among some primitive Indian tribe in              Presbyterian, were essentially agreed. All of the sta-
     South America. But up to this point Nevius is cor-        tions (potential churches, not yet organized)


322                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



provided their own houses of worship. This meant           by the mission and in part by the converts. For the
that neither the Baptist Board nor the Presbyterian        rest the work was done by volunteer Chinese lead-
financed the construction of church buildings for          ers. Mind you, this was not in the early stages of the
the Chinese fields! The converts built their own           work. These fields were established mission fields.
churches. This is a fact well worth our attention.         If it be true that Nevius began his labors in China in
For the sending church to build churches on the            the early 1870s then the work had been going on for
foreign field is a serious error. This fosters a spirit    some twenty years.
of dependence on the part of the mission church.           The chief characteristic of the "Nevius method or
The missionary and his sending church impose               plan" is that the care of the various mission stations
themselves upon the native Christians. The latter          is entrusted not to paid preachers set over them and
soon come to believe that they cannot stand by             resident among them, but to leaders belonging to
themselves. This makes it extremely difficult for          the stations. Nevius gives the following summary
the native church to be truly indigenous. This also        of his method: "These leaders are simply church
makes it extremely difficult for the newly orga-           members among church members, pursuing their
nized church to do its own work of missions and            daily calling as before conversion. They form a very
evangelism. Remember, an American missionary               important link in the chain of influences starting
in China is a foreigner to the Chinese. An Ameri-          from the foreign missionary. Next to the missionary
can-built church in China is conceived of as an            is the native helper, who is generally a well-instruc-
American and, therefore, foreign institution. Our          ted Christian of some years' experience. He is
churches ought to learn from this! This is not to say      under the control and direction of the missionary,
that we may not contribute toward the building of          and acts for him in supplementing his labors and
churches on mission fields or toward other mission         carrying out his instructions. Next to the helper is
causes. But we must not build churches for the con-        the leader, through whom principally the helper
verts. We must not do for them what they can and           brings his influence to bear on the Christians and
ought to do for themselves. If we wish to be instru-       inquirers generally" (p. 32).
mental in gathering churches by the preaching of             In the next seciton of his book Nevius explains
the Word, churches which are indigenous to their           how his method was actually put into practice in
own land and culture, churches which will by the           the mission in China. It is our intention to present
grace of God become centers of missions and evan-          this material and then offer some evaluation of it.
gelism, then we must emulate these missionaries to         His goal in all of this Nevius states in these terms:
China of a century ago.                                    "It is our aim that each man, woman, and child
  None of these mission stations was staffed by a          shall be both a learner from some one more ad-
resident, paid preacher. One or more of the mem-           vanced, and a teacher of some one less advanced"
bers of each station voluntarily conducted the             (p. 32). To achieve this goal, "the missionary does
worship services on the Lord's Day and attended to         nothing which the helper can do for him, the helper
the general spiritual needs of the company of con-         does nothing which the leader can do, and the
verts  to.which he belonged. All of this was done          leader does nothing which he can devolve upon
under the supervision of the foreign missionary            those under him. In this way much time is saved,
who visited the stations periodically. In all of these     the gifts of all are utilized and developed, and the
stations much emphasis was placed on catechetical          station as an organized whole grows in knowledge,
instruction. The converts were systematically              strength, and efficiency. The leader constantly su-
taught the truths of Scripture. Special instruction        perintends, directs, and examines those under him;
was given to the voluntary leaders so as to enable         the helper directs and examines leaders and their
them to teach others. The statistics at this point are     stations; and the missionary in charge has a general
interesting. By the 1890s the Baptist Mission con-         supervision and control of the whole" (p. 32,33).
sisted of approximately one hundred or more sta-             In practice this was implemented as follows. Dr.
tions and the Presbyterian Board supervised some           Nevius himself visited each local station twice per
one hundred fifty stations. The Baptist stations ac-       year. If this seems insufficient it must be remem-
cording to Nevius multiplied largely through the           bered there were approximately one hundred fifty
voluntary labors of unpaid Christians. Their staff of      stations under the Presbyterian Board! Nevius
Chinese workers consisted of one native pastor             claims he was able "to examine carefully into the
who had been converted and baptized some twenty            circumstances of each one of them and the progress
years previous to this, four evangelists who were          in knowledge and performance of Christian duties
paid by the mission, and two elders who were paid          of each Christian and inquirer" (p. 33). One of his
by the native Christians. To care for his one hun-         helpers had charge of forty stations, each of which
dred fifty stations Nevius had a staff of only two         he visited regularly every two months. The other
paid, Chinese helpers. These two were paid in part         helper had charge of ten stations and devoted part


                                          THE STANDARD BEARER                                               323



of his time to evangelistic work outside of them.         more than three quarters of an,hour" (p. 33). This is
The remaining stations were without the care of a         followed by the "Scripture storyhour." A member
native helper. These were visited only by the mis-        of the station previously appointed tells the story.
sionary. The forty stations under the one helper          The leader than quizzes the group on the facts, and
were divided into seven geographical groups of            practical applications are drawn. A more advanced
from four to seven stations. The helper visited           catechism class on doctrinal subjects followed this.
these groups once every two months, spending                Leaders were sometimes formally chosen by
about a week in each. On Sundays the helper led a         their stations. "More generally, however, they find
combined worship service for the group. One               themselves in this position as a natural result of
object of the combined service led by the helper          providential circumstances" (p. 34). Sometimes the
was that the leaders of the individual stations were      leader was the originator of the group. It happened
thus taught how to conduct the services of their          too that leaders were replaced by later, more gifted
stations during the seven or eight weeks when they        converts. In any event, Nevius claims, "Christian
were without the helper. Two services were held           sympathy, and responsibility grewup  spontaneous-
each Lord's Day, one in the morning and the other        ly" (p. 34). The chapels of worship were built and
in the afternoon. The same order of worship was           owned by the natives. Often these were not even
followed for both services. The morning worship           separate buildings but added to the houses of the
was preceded by an informal Sunday School in              leaders.
which the emphasis was on Bible knowledge,
memorization of the Scriptures, Bible stories for the       We shall continue this in future issues. Some
children, etc. The worship services consisted of          comments by way of evaluation are in order as
singing, reading of the Scriptures, exposition of the     well.
Scriptures, and prayer: "the whole occupying not

THE DAY OFSHADOWS


                       Dwelling Safely in Goshen
                                               Rev. John A. Heys



  Slowly, as the strong, plodding oxen drew the           indeed is prophetic, for out of Judah's loins came
wagons which Joseph had sent for his father, Jacob        the Christ Who is the Head of His Church and the
made progress toward Egypt, leaving the promised          King of all kings and Lord over all lords. The man in
land of Canaan behind him. Upon arriving in Egypt         whose line of descendants Christ is to be born did
he sent Judah to inform Joseph that they had              manifest kingly dignity and a gift for, leadership and
reached Egypt, and to seek to make sure that they         rule.
settled in the land of Goshen.                              Judah it is who persuaded the other brothers to
  That he sent Judah and not Reuben is note-              sell Joseph rather than to kill him, and so to enrich
worthy. Judah was his fourth son while Reuben             themselves with silver (Genesis 37:26). Judah is the
was his firstborn. And it is to be observed that          one who spoke up when his father "chewed them
Judah is coming more and more to the foreground           out" for telling this ruler in Egypt that they had a
in this account of what happened in this portion of       younger brother at home (Genesis  43:3). Judah
the Day of Shadows. Indeed there is that shameful         steps forward and speaks words which move his
act of Judah recorded in Genesis 38 that reveals to       father to let them take Benjamin along to Egypt
us that he went in unto what he considered to be an       (Genesis 45:8). In Genesis 44: 1 we read of Judah as
harlot and actually was his daughter-in-law, to           the head of the eleven brothers. For we read, "and
whom he had promised his youngest son to raise up         Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house."
seed for his dead brother, and whom he had disap-         We do not read that Reuben and his brethren came,
pointed in that he failed to give her this son when       but Judah and his brethren. Not the oldest and the
he was grown. But after falling into this sin, which      younger brethren, but Judah and brethren both
Judah confessed, he is presented on the pages of          older and younger than himself is the way Moses,
Holy Writ as taking leadership in the family. This        as infallibly guided, recorded this procession to


324                                          THE STANDARD BEARER



Joseph's house. There it is Judah who speaks and         that Jacob sends Judah so that his face may be
says, "What shall we say unto my Lord? what shall        directed to  Goshen, that is, that he may know the
we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God has       way to  Goshen. He needed directions in this
found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold we        strange land. He had no road map and no Egyptian
are my lord's servants, both we, and he also with        guide to tell them whether to turn to the south or go
whom the cup is found" (Genesis  44:18). And in          further west. He must know in what direction he
Genesis  44:18 we read that, "Then Judah came            must face to reach the land designated by Joseph
near unto him (Joseph), and said, Oh my lord let         (Genesis 45: 10).
thy servant I pray thee speak a word in my lord's          We find that Joseph first spoke of this land of
ear...."                                                 Goshen, and he told his brothers, before they left
  Nothing strange is it now then to read in Genesis      Egypt to go and get their father, that they should
45:28 that Jacob sends Judah "before him unto            settle in  Goshen. Jacob sought the land of  Goshen
Joseph, to lead his face to Goshen." And it was not      because of the instructions his sons brought home
because Reuben lay with Bilhah, Jacob's                  from Joseph. But above all and first we must bear in
concubine, that he is replaced by Judah. Later           mind that God chose this part of Egypt for His
Jacob calls him unstable as water. But Judah also        people. Yes, we may add that this is the section of
committed that adultery with Tamar of which we           the land that the Egyptians also wanted these
spoke a moment ago. A bit later Jacob also says of       Israelites to settle in, because they were shepherds,
Judah that the sceptre, or ruling rod, would not de-     and shepherds were an "abomination unto the
part from between his feet until Shiloh (Christ)         Egyptians" (Genesis  46:34). It was the odor of the
should come. There was now already ruling ability,       sheep that clung to their clothes that made the
leadership evident in Judah. This will be sanctified     Egyptians abhor and loathe shepherds.
in David and Solomon and have its perfect fulfill-         It is claimed by some that  Goshen was geogra-
ment in Christ when He is born "The King of the          phically near where Joseph had his residence. This
Jews" and so worshipped by the wise men.                 is possible but must not be given as the sole reason
  No, Judah did not give something to that Christ        why he chose  Goshen. The statement in Genesis
Child. His gift of leadership was not handed down        45:10, "And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen,
by Judah through all these generations to be deposi-     and thou shalt be near unto me" can be taken in a
ted in the Christ. Judah gave Christ nothing. Christ     relative sense. Surely being in the land of  Goshen
gave Judah all that he had. But God was indicating       they were nearer to Joseph than way up there in the
what line of Jacob's sons would bring forth the          land of Canaan. However, Joseph's reason for
Leader, The Peace Maker, or Prince of Peace. Jacob       choosing this land was not a fleshly one and a self-
began more and more to lean upon Judah; and from         ish one but a spiritual reason, and one that con-
all that we have quoted it is evident that the other     cerned itself with the whole covenant people, yea
brothers also looked to him for leadership. And it       with the cause of God's covenant as his father's
was all officially declared when Jacob, moved            family represented it in that day.
infallibly by the Spirit, prophesied those words con-      As we pointed out above, it was first of all God's
cerning the sceptre not departing from Judah until       choice and then Joseph's in the love of God. There
the Prince of Peace is come. Jacob did not suddenly      are a few texts which appear later in Scripture that
see God's purpose in Judah when he blessed his           apply here. There is Numbers 23:9 where we read,
twelve sons and pronounced that the ruling rod           "From the top of the rock I see him (Israel), and
would not depart from Judah till Shiloh is come any      from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall
more than suddenly he saw that Reuben was unsta-         dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the
ble as water, and that instruments of cruelty were       nations." Then, too, there is Deuteronomy  33:28,
in the habitations of Simeon and Levi. God had           "Israel then shall dwell in safety alone." There is
shown him now already which son it was to whom           also that New Testament passage in II Corinthians
He had given the gift of leadership.                     6:14-18 where the church is warned against being
  In this connection it may also be stated that Jacob    unequally yoked with unbelievers and called to
did not lean so heavily on Judah and did not send        come out from among them and be a separate
him to inform Joseph of their safe arrival because       people. Nor should we overlook the similar circum-
he had been the spokesman before Joseph. Jacob           stances when Israel came up out of Egypt some
saw leadership in Judah; and when Jacob lined up         four hundred years later and entered the land of
his sons to pronounce the blessings of God upon          Canaan which was full of unbelieving idol worship-
them, God revealed by His Spirit that The Leader of      pers. We read in Exodus  23:32, 33, "Thou shalt
God's people would come out of his loins.                make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
                                                         They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make
  But equally important and interesting is the fact      thee to sin against Me; for if thou serve their gods, it


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                                325



will surely be a snare unto thee." But listen to this:     of manifesting the enmity which God gives His
"And thou shalt consume all the people which the           children against the devil and his spiritual seed.
Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall           And the result is that the things of the world be-
have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve           come a snare to the children of such believers; and
their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee" (Deu-      soon enough, in generations to come, their children
teronomy 7: 16). This, by the way, is one of those         and grandchildren are seed of the serpent. All the
passages which many churches today like to soft            passages above teach that. Erase the antithesis
peddle because it does not fit in with their idea of       which God has made between church and world,
God being the God of love, and because they want           and you do not improve the world. You cause the
to insist that He hates sin but not the sinner. But let    seed of the church to become worldly and in time
them read Psalm 5:5; Psalm 7: 11; Romans 9: 13; and        to leave the church and be, in every sense of the
.Ephesians  5:6 which all speak of persons whom God        word, the world.
hates, with whom He is angry and upon whom His               To prevent this, Joseph sought a place where the
wrath falls, and not simply on their works, wicked-        Egyptians would not enter and where the Israelites
ness, disobedience, and iniquity.                          would be safe from the temptations of the flesh
  And let us not overlook Joshua's farewell                pots of Egypt and its idolatry. Yet there are
message to Israel in Joshua 23 when he declares,           churches today who loathe and despise all such
"Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye         separation of church and world and openly present
love the Lord your God. Else if ye do in any wise go       before their youth the world with its dainties and
back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations,        idolatry. Churches actually despise the gift of
even these that remain among you, and shall make           enmity against Satan and his seed that God in His
marriages with them, and go in unto them, and              grace gives to His Church. In these churches there
they to you; Know of a certainty that the Lord your        is not that antithesis between light and darkness
God will no longer drive out any of these nations          and between elect and reprobate. The whole
from before you; but they shall be snares and traps        human race is one big family, loved by God to the
unto you and scourges in your sides, and thorns in         last individual in it. There are elect, and the rest are
your eyes, until ye perish from off the good land          only potential elect. These will decide for
which the Lord your God hath given you" (Joshua            themselves whether they will let God elect them
23:11-13).                                                 unto life everlasting and salvation in His Son. A
  From all these passages it will be plain that            Goshen for them is an unthinkable thing. In fact for
Jacob's family must live alone. There must be no           them a Goshen is an unchristian thing. After all, the
mixed marriages. Their children are not to be              passages we quoted, including now that one in the
tempted by the idols and idolatrous practices of the       New Testament, are only time-conditioned and do
Egyptians. The antithesis between light and                not apply today. But what does then apply today?
darkness must be kept. The two seeds of Genesis            Do the seven letters to the seven churches in Asia
3:15 (the Mother Promise) must not become one              Minor, and recorded in Revelation 2 and 3 apply?
seed. The only way for them to become one is that          Are there no churches today that are lukewarm and
the seed of the woman changes her spiritual posi-          ready to be spewed out of God's mouth? Is it not
tion. The seed of the serpent cannot change, being         possible any more today that a church lose its first
spiritually dead (Ephesians 2: 1 and John 3:3). Satan      love? Has everything changed since the book of
succeeded in getting the whole human race to hate          The Revelation was written and the times now
God; and all come into this world with thoroughly          decide what holds for us today of what the timeless
corrupt natures, so that even the child of God             God has spoken?
(David) must say that he was shapen in iniquity and          No, no, let us have our Goshens today as well as
that in sin his mother conceived him. No, he does          in the Old Testament dispensation. Let us go back
not mean that it was sinful for his mother to con-         to what Joshua said, "Take good heed therefore to
ceive him, but that what she conceived was a sinful        yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God." And
child, totally depraved because Adam had no                do we love Him when we do not fight for the truth,
spiritual life and gifts to hand down to his posterity.    and let those that insult Him with false doctrines
But the child of God who has been born again and           and bring strange gods into the churches influence
so is spiritually alive still has his flesh. The world     our children and His children? Do we love Him if
has only an old man of sin. No, that is not stating it     we despise the keys of the kingdom which He has
correctly. The world has only a man of sin, and be-        given us? Can we be His friends and at the same
cause he receives no new man in Christ, his man of         time be friends of the world? Is it possible to be
sin cannot be called the  oZd  man of sin. Living ac-      God's friend and Satan's as well? God is light. Do
cording to that old man of sin, the child of God can       we show love towards Him when we approve of
and often does make friends with the world instead         and defend the darkness?


326                                                     THE STANDARD BEARER



     We, too, should therefore seek to preserve the                 Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth
safety we have in our Goshen. Our calling is to stay                abroad" (Matthew  12:30). And if we are one with
away, far away, from all that would tempt us and                    the world in any spiritual sense we are against God
especially our children to become the friends of the                and His Christ. And if we accept the world into our
world, and so be alienated from God, Who in His                     churches we are driving Christ out of them. It is as
holiness cannot fellowship with what is false and                   simple as all that. And it is as serious as all that.
sinful. Jesus said it, "He that is not with is against

ALLAROUND US
Rev. G. Van Buren



                                       The "Shepherd Case"


     Some time ago I reported on the dismissal,                        fluently - gives him an easy access within the circles
without prejudice, of Professor N. Shepherd from                        of our immigrant churches. But more important than
Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia. His dis-                          ethnic pride is our recognition of a fine scholar who
missal apparently was involved with his position                        has acquainted himself with the Reformed theology of
on justification and on the covenant. Comments                         the  Europeon  continent in the sixteenth and seven-
have been appearing in some Reformed periodicals                       teenth centuries and who knows the confessional
-                                                                      tradition in which the Heidelberg Catechism has a
     comments both pro and con. Several letters to the                  dominant place.. . .
editor have appeared in the Banner. One writes in
the Feb. 8, 1982 issue:                                                   Apart from a single expression - is "state of justi-
                                                                        fication" not too static?  - I wholeheartedly agree
         . ..Shepherd is not only an outstanding and  well-            with Prof. Shepherd's covenantal approach. Here I
       versed theologian, as your editorial so well indicated,         see him in line with Dr. Klaas Schilder, and, what
       but also a loving and humble Christian gentleman, as            means more, in line with the Form of Baptism that the
       has been illustrated in his conduct before the board             Reformed Churches in The Netherlands received
       and elsewhere these past six years. Moreover, he is              from the Heidelberg theologians in the Palatinate....
       one of the ablest teachers in theology today, having an            . ..The Reformed confessor who listens to
       ability to impart to his students both an understanding         Shepherd's tapes about  Life in Covenant with God
       of, and his own enthusiasm for, Reformed Truth. My              recognizes his form of Baptism in the way in which
       greatest grief is that future classes at Westminster are        the speaker describes the Covenant as a relation
       by his recent dismissal robbed of his teaching, teach-          between God and man, a relation of union and com-
       ing that built so solidly on that of such predecessors as       munion, a relation comparable to that of husband and
       Murray and Van Til.                                             wife with mutually binding ties of love and faithful-
     J. Faber writes in the Canadian Reformed maga-                    ness. The Covenant is a relation with a promise and
zine, CZarion, Jan. 29, 1982, about the same subject,                  with a demand. I was filled with gratitude and even
and in a series of articles, criticizes the dismissal in               thrilled when I heard how Prof. Shepherd makes an
no uncertain terms. His support goes to Prof.                          eloquent plea for parental Christian schools based on
Shepherd. Among many other things, he writes:                          the doctrine of the Covenant of God with us and our
                                                                       children. Westminster Theological Seminary cannot
         . ..Professor Norman Shepherd is well-known in the            fulfil its historic function without such Reformed
       Canadian Reformed Churches. As a member of the                  teaching. It is needed, more than ever, in the Presby-
       Committee on Ecumenicity and inter-Church Rela-                 terian sector of America, that is influenced by a broad
       tions of the OPC he attended some sessions of our               evangelicalism of Baptistic brand. The danger is that
       General Synod in Orangeville, 1968, the same Synod              now the Reformed doctrine of the Covenant will no
       that decided to establish the Theological College, now          longer be heard. Where was covenantal teaching in
       located in Hamilton. In November, 1980 he was the               the  synodical  churches in The Netherlands after Dr.
       first official delegate of the OPC to visit one of our          Klaas Schilder and others had been silenced?....
       synods. He was well received at the Synod of
       Smithville.. . , and during his stay in Hamilton he pre-       And again from the  Banner  quoted above, W.
       sented a lecture of our College community. His               Robert Godfrey, professor of church history at
       knowledge of the Dutch language - he even speaks it          Westminster, writes from an opposite viewpoint:


                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



          As a minister in the C.R.C. and a faculty member at         represents "restricted covenant theology" in com-
        Westminster...since 1974, I read your editorial with          parison with continental theology.
        considerable interest. I wish to respond to some                Third, it is surely an exaggeration to say that the
        aspects of your presentation and to clarify some of the       PCA dominates the Westminster Board of Trustees. At
        facts of the case.                                            the time of the vote on Mr. Shepherd's dismissal, six
          First, the discussions with Mr. Shepherd did not            out of twenty-four members of the Board were PCA.
        begin because he had said "that saving faith is never         Seven members were OPC and six were CRC. Mr.
        without the works of obedience." That is the position         Shepherd has been opposed by CRC, OPC, RCA,
        of everyone in the discussion as far as I know. The           Canadian Presbyterian, and other members as well as
        discussion with Mr. Shepherd began because in 1975            by PCA members of the Board.
        he taught in class that works along with faith were the         Our struggle for orthodoxy at Westminster has been
        instrument of justification. Mr. Shepherd later said          "tiresome," and some may feel "fruitless." But the
        that he regretted making the statement. But the dis-          struggle for orthodoxy is an obligation the Lord lays
        cussion continued because several faculty members             on His people. Our country is full of dead institutions
        believed that while Mr. Shepherd had changed some             and churches that have given up the struggle. I do not
        of his original expressions, the same theological error       believe that Westminster has rejected the insights of
I       was still present in some of his other writings and           the continental Reformed tradition or has narrowed
        statements.                                                   its position in its struggle. It has only tried to be
          Second, while discussions have also centered on             responsible in preparing men for the gospel ministry.
        Mr. Shepherd`s view of the covenant, I do not see that        Pray for us.
        these discussions have resulted from differences             So two viewpoints are expressed concerning the
        between Reformed confessional theology in Britain          decision to release Prof. N. Shepherd. Strong
        and on the Continent. Except on the issue of the           feelings are involved. It will be worth following the
        Sabbath, I do not see that the Westminster Confession      developments in this case.


                       Johnny Can't Listen to-the Sermon


       One of our ministers from the West sent a maga-                expert, are really miniature parables in which the
     zine,  PuZpit  HeZps,  April, 1982, with some interest-          problem is stated in the first few seconds, resolved in
     ing comments on reasons why many children (and                   the middle segment, and concluded with a moral in
     adults) find it increasingly difficult to listen to a            which the actor(s) fade ecstatically from the screen.
     sermon. This writer places much of the blame on                  Ostensibly a commercial may be selling mouthwash,
     television. Consider for yourself the accuracy of the            but in reality it is selling acceptability to the opposite
     statements:                                                      sex. Likewise, automobile and motorcycle commer-
                                                                      cials are actually selling freedom and independence.
          . ..Pity the poor pastor who has to try to convey the       And these commercials teach children three interest-
        Word of God in mere words and who has to wean the             ing things, says Postman: (1) All problems can be
        flock from milk before being able to present the              solved; (2) all problems can be solved quickly; (3) all
        "strong meat." On TV each night the world's "strong           problems can be solved quickly by means of some
        meat" is readily accessible in just about any strength        technology.
        one cares for! And it is all served up in a way that
        requires no hard work or diligent study to compre-              Little wonder Johnny (or his parents) becomes dis-
        hend. Just sit and watch. It isn't surprising that the        enchanted with the pastor who can't wrap up a
        sermon comes off second best in comparison with               problem, prescribe the proper pill or machine or
        what Johnny has just seen on TV.                              prayer that will solve it quickly, and exit smiling all in
                                                                      28 seconds. The people on TV do it all the time; why
          A third point Postman makes is that television              can't the pastor? Why does he have to spend 30 boring
        commercials are the modern equivalent of the ancient          minutes talking about long-term solutions to life's
        morality play. By the time an American child is 20            problems  - solutions that require something more
        years old he will have seen approximately 1 million           than technological answers?...
        commercials, easily making these the most numerous
        learning experiences he has. And, says Postman, TV              So if Johnny can't seem to listen to the sermon (or if
        commercials are about products "only in the sense             Johnny's father and mother have the same symptoms)
        that the story of Jonah is about the anatomy of               a prime cause could' be no farther away than the
        whales." Commercials, according to this media                 beautiful color TV set in their living room.


328                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER



  And in another article on a similar subject, found                     conflict. It is teaching that profanity is the language of
in the  Presbyter>an  JoumaZ,  March 3, 1982, other                      the respectable. But these are only surface messages.
impressive claims are made against television:                           The real message is deeper.
         My concern about what is happening in our                            It is teaching that hardly anyone goes to church,
       country has led me to the area of television. Why                 that very few people in our society are Christian or
       television? Because it is the most pervasive and                  live by Christian principles. How? By simply censor-
       persuasive medium we have. At times it is larger than             ing out Christian characters, Christian values and
       life. It is the only true national medium.                        Christian culture from the programs. It is teaching
                                                                         that people who claim to be Christian are hypocrites,
         Network television is the greatest educator we                  cheats, liars, or the like. It does that by characteriza-
       have. It tells us what is right and wrong, what is                tion.
       acceptable and unacceptable, whom to believe and
       not to believe, whom to trust and not trust, and whom            The article continues by giving many concrete
       we should desire to emulate. In a recent interview             examples of the above. It points out further the
       most teenage boys said they wanted to be like Burt             godlessness evident in the actors and actresses on
       Reynolds! The medium sold them.                                TV. And it continues by advocating a certain
         We speak of educational television as if it is a             boycott in connection with the worst of the
       separate channel. Not only is PBS educational tele-            offenders. All of this does give pause for thought.
       vision, but so are CBS, NBC, and ABC. All television is        What are we, and our children, being taught daily?
       educational. That being true, what is it teaching?             How are our own attitudes and morals fashioned
         It is teaching that adultery is an acceptable and            by what is shown on TV? And, does it interfere
       approved lifestyle. It is teaching that violence is a          with our religious duties and responsibilities? The
       legitimate way to achieve one's goals or to resolve            answers are troubling indeed.
QUESTION BOX


                                        Catechism Preaching
                                                             Rev. C. Hanko




  One of our readers writes:                                            The question centers in the words "as much as
  "My question concerns article 68 of the Church                      possible" in article 68 of the Church Order. Did our
Order which reads: `The Minister shall on Sunday                      fathers mean to say that the Heidelberg Catechism
explain briefly the sum of Christian Doctrine com-                    should be preached every Sunday, barring only a
prehended in the Heidelberg Catechism so that as                      few exceptions, or did they intend to convey the
much as possible the explanation shall be annually                    idea that the Catechism should be preached every
completed, according to the division of the                           Sunday, but allowing the minister to use his own
Catechism itself, for that purpose.'                                  discretion in regard to exceptions to this rule?
  "Are the words `as much as possible' to mean a                        Considering this question from the viewpoint of
positive or negative connotation? This also raises a                  the time in which the article was adopted, one can
number of questions, such as, What does Rev. H.                       only conclude that our fathers did mean to `empha-
Hoeksema mean in his preface to the Triple Know-                      size that the Catechism must be preached
ledge when he says, `For more than twenty-seven                       whenever this is possible, that is, every Sunday,
years I have faithfully preached once a Sunday                        with only rare exceptions. The fact is that, shortly
(except on special occasions) on the Heidelberg                       after the Reformation, Catechism sermons were
Catechism'?                                                           usually preached in the afternoon service and were
  "Is it possible to have Catechism preaching at the                  poorly attended. People who had recently broken
afternoon or evening service if impossible in the                     with the Romish Church had still not broken with
morning service because of Easter, a fill-in                          the bad habit of visiting the tavern or enjoying
minister, Christmas, baptism, pulpit exchange,                        some other entertainment on Sunday afternoon.
vacations, etc., etc.?"                                               Besides, there were many who did not enjoy


                                         THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 329



doctrinal preaching. So the afternoon services were      special occasions it is fitting that two sermons are
poorly attended, and ministers often gave up             devoted to the occasion, such as Resurrection
preaching on the Heidelberg Catechism. Therefore         Sunday, Pentecost, and other church holidays that
the Synod decided that the Heidelberg Catechism          occur on Sunday. Both the minister and the congre-
had to be preached every Sunday, allowing for as         gation may be convinced that this is necessary to
few exceptions as possible. In fact, the statement       satisfy the spiritual needs of the congregation.
was made that the minister should preach a Cate-           It is with this in mind that the late Rev. Herman
chism sermon even if his family were the only            Hoeksema in his long and richly profitable ministry
members present.                                         did not preach from the Heidelberg Catechism with
  In our churches Catechism sermons have                 the intent of finishing the material in one year.
become quite customary and our people seem to            Besides realizing the importance of stressing the
enjoy them. Especially our elderly people thrive on      significance of the resurrection of Christ and of the
Catechism preaching, even though they have been          outpouring of the Holy Spirit when the occasion
through the Catechism with the minister many             offered, he was also convinced that no minister can
times. Therefore many people would certainly not         do full justice to the material of some of the Lord's
object if the minister were to preach a Catechism        Days in a single sermon. This is true, for example,
sermon even on special occasions, as long as he had      of Lord's Day 3, which covers so much material
one sermon that fitted the occasion. This would          that a minister can readily preach three sermons on
also be fully in harmony with the Church Order.          this one Lord's Day.
  But there are practical considerations. On               Since there is no definite principle involved here,
preparatory Sundays the entire congregation              the churches have understood this "as much as
cannot attend both services. Therefore the minister      possible" to mean that the Heidelberg Catechism
is often asked by his consistory to preach two pre-      should be faithfully preached from Sunday to
paratory sermons, especially with a view to those        Sunday, with no doctrine left untreated. But this
who cannot attend both services. On communion            does not mean that a minister must feel himself
Sunday an appropriate sermon is required in con-         bound to finish the discussion of the entire
nection with the administration of the Holy Supper       Catechism within the 52 weeks of the year, since
and also for the  applicatory service. Most Lord's       this is simply impossible. Personally, I have taken
Days would not fit very well with the requirements       the liberty to preach more than once on a single
of these special services. There are also Sundays        Lord's Day, to devote two sermons to preparatory
when the minister is filling a classical appointment     services as well as to communion and applicator-y
elsewhere or is away on vacation. The consistory         services. I have almost without exception devoted
could request the fill-in minister to preach the        the entire Sunday to whatever church holiday fell
Catechism on those Sundays, but the visiting             on that day. The result was that it often took two
minister might find this extremely difficult,           years, rather than one, to cover all the material in
especially since the minister likely is treating the    the Catechism and to do justice both to the Cate-
Catechism from a specific aspect. Moreover, on           chism and to special occasions.

IN HIS FEAR

                    The Urgency of the Preaching
                                      of the Gospel
                                            Rev. Arie den Hartog



  The great work of the preaching of the gospel of      of the established church. It includes the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ is the glorious and wonderful     the ordained ministry who are especially the
work which the Lord has given to His church. This       ambassadors of the Lord. In the broadest sense it
work involves the bringing of the glad tidings of       also includes all of the accompanying labors of the
salvation in Christ Jesus both in the sphere of the     members of the church as they support the
established church and on the mission field outside,    ministry through their own efforts, through their


330                                        THE STANDARD BEARER



prayers, and through their gifts. It includes also the    to the Jew first and also to the Greek." In I Corin-
testimony of the lives of the members of the church       thians 9: 16 he says, "For though I preach the gospel
as they are called to walk worthy of the gospel of        I have nothing to glory, for necessity is laid upon
the Lord Jesus Christ and as they are called to en-       me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the
courage and exhort one another. The work of the           gospel!" Many more verses could be quoted.
preaching of the gospel is therefore very really the        The great urgency of the preaching of the gospel
work of the whole church and everyone of her              must be heard and felt in every sermon. The
members.                                                  preaching is not merely an intellectual discourse on
  There is great urgency in the work of the preach-       some doctrine of the scriptures or an interesting
ing of the gospel. This urgency must constrain us         retelling of some things that happened in history
and compel us all as members of the church, it            concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. The preaching is
must overwhelm us. It must fill us with holy zeal to      indeed the presentation of the doctrine of God and
be faithful and diligent to perform our calling.          of the Lord Jesus Christ and it is a recounting of the
Because of the urgency of this work we ought to be        wonderful things which God did in history long
ready to exert ourselves to the very utmost. We           ago; but with that must always come the authorita-
must be ready to make great sacrifice of our monies       tive and urgent command of God to repent and
and our energies, especially we ought to be ready to      believe all that which is preached.
give our very selves to this work. There are no             There is great urgency that men everywhere hear
sacrifices too great to make for this work because of     and believe, repent and turn unto the Lord with
its great urgency. Over the centuries of the history      fear when the gospel is preached. This is true not
of the church many faithful saints of God have            only on the mission field but also in the established
suffered severe persecution for the cause of this         church. For' this reason the office bearers of the
work, many have given their life's blood for it.          church must labor night and day to convince,
  Do we as churches and as people of God have a           beseech, and persuade men; they must command,
real sense of the urgency of this work? There is          exhort, admonish, warn, comfort, and counsel with
always a great danger that we become cold and             all fervency and diligence. In this again we have the
complacent towards this great work of our Lord            apostle Paul  `as our instructor. In II Corinthians
Jesus Christ. How easily we become satisfied              5: 11 he writes, "Knowing therefore the terror of the
merely with our own life and salvation and with           Lord, we persuade men"; and again in verse 20 of
the status quo in the church of which we are              this same chapter, "Now then we are ambassadors
members. It is surely an awful thing when this            for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us;
attitude prevails in the church.                          we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to
                                                          God." To Timothy the apostle writes in II Timothy
  Our Lord Himself stresses the great urgency of          4:1-2, "I charge thee therefore before God, and the
this work in the great commission so called in            Lord Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the quick and
Matthew  2819, 20, "Go ye therefore, and teach all        the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; Preach
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,        the word; be instant in season, out of season;
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching           reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and
them to observe all things whatsoever I have com-         doctrine."
manded you: and lo, I am with you  alway, even
unto the end of the world. Amen." Our Lord surely           Wherein does the urgency of the preaching of the
expressed the great urgency of the preaching of the       gospel consist? At the outset we must of course
gospel when He, looking at the multitudes before          have a proper God-centered view of this urgency.
                                                          We must have nothing of the conception of this
Him and being moved with compassion, said to His          urgency that is so common in the church world.
disciples, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the       This is the idea that the work of evangelism after all
labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the      is dependent upon man. If man does not do it then
harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His       it will not be accomplished. Those who hold to this
harvest" (Matthew 9:37, 38).                              idea speak of winning the world for Jesus by the
  The apostle Paul, the greatest missionary of all        great efforts of man. These teach further that the
times and our example, often spoke of the urgency         work of the preaching of the gospel is accomplished
of the work of the preaching of the gospel. In            by sensational gospel rallies and fantastic
Romans 1:14-16 he states, "I am debtor both to the        campaigns of men. According to them men must be
Greek, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and       persuaded to believe through emotional appeals
to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to     and all sorts of gimmicks and tricks. We want
preach the gospel to you at Rome also. For I am not       nothing at all of any of this and believe that it is all
ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power      an abomination unto the Lord.
of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;        2 We believe that the preaching of the gospel is


                                            THE STANDARD BEARER                                               331



truly a sovereign work of God. It is a work which          Almighty and faithful that He saves and keeps all of
He accomplishes according to His sovereign                 His own unto everlasting glory and blessedness,
purpose to save those whom He Himself wills for            this is a God-glorifying gospel. We as a Reformed
the glory of His own name. God is the One Who has          church have been entrusted with such a wonderful
chosen certain men unto everlasting salvation even         God-glorifying gospel. Ought we not, above  all
from before the foundations of the world. He deter-        churches on the earth, be fervent and zealous to
mines where and when the gospel of Christ Jesus            preach this gospel. For the sake of the honor and
must be preached. He calls men unto the work of            glory of our God we seek to keep this gospel in all
the preaching of the gospel that brings men unto           the purity of its glorious truth, but we also seek to
repentance and salvation. God accomplishes all of          publish it wherever the Lord gives us opportunity,
His purpose. He saves all those whom He is pleased         that all men may know of the great glory of our
to save. None of His elect ever go lost. It is not the     God.
case that if men do not do the work of the                   The sincere and fervent desire for the glory of
preaching of the gospel then many millions who             God ought also to make the members of the
otherwise would have been saved will perish. If a          church see the urgent need of living worthy of the
particular church or minister is not faithful to           gospel in all of their lives. Again and again the
preach the gospel then the Lord will raise up              scriptures emphasize that we must live holy and
another. He will accomplish all of His purpose and         blameless lives so that the name of God is not
it will never fail.                                        blasphemed on our account. The great glory of God
  But we must not conclude from the sovereignty            in the preaching of the gospel is supported by the
of God that therefore there is no urgency in the           glory of God as it is evident in the lives of Chris-
preaching of the gospel and we need not be faithful.       tians. When those who confess the truth of the
God is pleased to call His church to carry out the         glory of God live lives of ungodliness and world-
great work of the preaching of the gospel. We have         liness and wickedness then God's name will be
a tremendous responsibility to be faithful in this         blasphemed. When there is hatred and strife in the
work. God's people must always be filled with a            church between the members, surely the name of
fervent desire to do this work by the grace of God         God is greatly blasphemed. Few things do as great
to the full extent of their ability. The Lord will         harm to the cause of the gospel as does the ungodly
surely judge the church severely that does not faith-      testimony of the lives of the members of the
fully perform its calling.                                 church. Men must see the good works of those who
  There are various aspects of the urgency of the          believe the gospel of Christ Jesus and glorify God in
preaching of the gospel on which we want                   heaven.
especially to focus. First of all, in this work we seek      Secondly, the great urgency of the preaching of
the glory of God. It is the very genius of the             the gospel is derived from the fact that in this work
Reformed and Christian faith that it seeks in all          we must obey the command of God and of the Lord
things the glory of God. The truly Reformed Chris-         Jesus Christ as His faithful servants. It is urgent
tian has a burning zeal for the glory of God. In the       that the church and all her members see
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ the glory of God is        themselves as the servants of Christ Jesus. How
particularly revealed. Through the preaching of the        especially this must be the case for the office
gospel the Lord is revealed as the sovereign               bearers of the church who are in particular the
almighty God, the God of righteousness and truth,          ambassadors of Christ! Just notice how often the
the God of infinite love and tender mercy, the God         apostle Paul in his epistles speaks of being the
of unchangeable faithfulness. When we as a church          servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. How over-
and as individuals are diligently engaged in the           whelmed he was with this consciousness. The
work of the preaching of the gospel we are thereby         church must be constrained by an earnest desire to
showing forth the glory of God. We understand of           be faithful unto her Lord in the great work of the
course that this is true only when we preach the           preaching of the gospel which He has called her to
gospel of sovereign grace. A gospel that exalts man        perform. It is the will of the Lord that the gospel be
in his works and his great abilities is not at all God-    preached unto all nations. The Lord will not return
glorifying, and to publish such a gospel is a              until this purpose has been fulfilled. In the day of
blasphemy in the sight of God. The gospel of a sal-        judgment every man will be judged according to
vation that is founded upon sovereign eternal              the measure of his faithfulness to the Lord. It ought
election, and which involves the deliverance of the        to be the great desire of every sincere child of God
sinner who is by nature totally depraved and damn-         to hear in that day from the mouth of the Lord,
worthy only according to the wonderful sovereign           "Well done thou good and faithful servant, enter
grace and mercy of God speaks of the great glory of        thou into the joy of thy Lord."
God. A gospel that declares that God not only first
saves men by sovereign grace but is also so                  Thirdly, the urgency of the preaching of the


332                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



gospel is in the fact that this gospel is the pow,er of    everlasting salvation in Christ Jesus.
God unto salvation unto all them that believe. By            The urgency of the preaching of the gospel is
means of the preaching of the gospel God is pleased        motivated by the compassion which the church
to bring men to repentance, faith, and salvation.          must have for lost sinners and the fervent desire for
Our Reformed confessions beautifully emphasize             their salvation. So great was the desire of the
this. We find this in several places in the Heidel-        apostle for the salvation of his fellow Jews that he
berg Catechism. Let me just quote from Lord's Day          could wish himself to be accursed for their sakes.
25. "Since then we are made partakers of Christ            Do we have such an earnest desire for the salvation
and all His benefits by faith only, whence does this       of men?
faith proceed? From the Holy Spirit who works
faith in our hearts by the preaching of the gospel."         It is through the preaching that we earnestly call
Also in the Canons of Dordt we find again and              men everywhere to believe and be saved. Day and
again the emphasis that the preaching of the gospel        night we must not cease to call men with the gospel
is God's means unto the saving of men. In the first        if peradventure the Lord will save them. We must
head of doctrine we read in article 3, "And that           give our all for the preaching of the gospel unto this
men may be brought to believe, God mercifully              end. With all diligence we must warn, admonish,
sends the messengers of these most joyful tidings to       exhort, and persuade men everywhere so that some
whom He will and at what time He  pleaseth by              might be saved.
whose ministry men are called to repentance and              This same urgency is connected with the preach-
faith in Christ crucified." Article 5 of the second        ing of the gospel in the established church as well.
head teaches: "Moreover the promise of the gospel          Indeed it is a dreadful thing that there will be those
is that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified shall      always in all churches who hear the preaching
not perish, but have everlasting life. This promise        again and again and yet continue in their sins. For
together with the command to repent and believe            such the judgment shall be all the more terrible.
ought to be declared and published to all, nations         Therefore with great urgency the gospel must also
and to all persons promiscuously and without               be preached in the established church. The word of
distinction, to whom God out of His good pleasure          God says, today if you will hear His voice harden
sends the gospel." Article 14 of the fifth head            not your heart, for how shall we escape if we
teaches: "And as it hath pleased God, by the               neglect so great a salvation.
preaching of the gospel, to begin the work of grace          In conclusion let me ask some practical ques-
in us, so He preserves, continues and perfects it by       tions. In light of the great urgency of the preaching
the hearing and reading of His Word, by the                of the gospel are there sacrifices too great for us to
meditation thereon, and by exhortations,  threaten-        make? Dare we say that, especially in the age of
ings and promises thereof as well as by the use of         affluence in which we live? Are there enough
the sacraments." It is particularly amazing how            ministers of the gospel in our midst? Why is it that
often the Canons speak of the preaching of the             there are always so very few? Do the young men in
gospel and the great urgency of it for the salvation       our churches see the great urgency of this work?
of men.                                                    Are we ready to give our lives for this great work?
  What a wonderful thing it is that it pleases God         We have seen the wonderful things which the Lord
to use the preaching of the gospel to bring men unto       has wrought on the mission field here. What a
repentance and salvation. What a wonderful thing           tremendous need there is for the preaching of the
it is that we as a church are called to perform the        gospel, especially of the gospel of sovereign grace
task  of  preaching the gospel. Knowing this we see        which God has given to us. Let us pray earnestly
the urgency of the preaching of the gospel. We             for this work without ceasing. Let us be ready to
know the awfulness of sin and the terrible misery          make any and all the necessary sacrifices. There is
that follows from it. We know the terrible                 no greater work in all the world than this.
judgment of the just and holy God against sinners.
We     know      the    dreadfulness of        eternal
condemnation in hell. We see the terrible darkness          The Standard Bearer
in which this world lives. What a wonderful thing
that through the preaching of the gospel men are
delivered from all of this, and made partakers of the         makes an excellent
wonderful salvation that is in Christ Jesus. We who
have the blessed privilege of laboring on the                         gift for the sick
mission field have experienced this in a particularly
wonderful way. What an unspeakably wonderful                             or shut-in.
thing it is to witness men and women brought out
of the horrible darkness of heathen idolatry unto


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                              333



SIGNS OF THE TIMES



                 The Final Judgment of the Elect
                                               Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma




  After that great and notable day of the Lord             tribes of the earth mourn," or Joel  2:2 which also
when Jesus shall appear to gather His elect people         speaks of that day as "a day of darkness and of
from the four winds there will take place one final        gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness,"
wonder of grace  - the Final Judgment of this              they draw a horrible picture of the Judgment Day
world. Paul speaks of that Judgment in II Corin-           in their minds. Christ is pictured as One Who
thians 5: 10: "For we must all appear before the           comes only to gain vengeance upon the sinner. He
judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive        is a dreadful King Who in His anger delights in
the things done in his body, according to that he          casting sinners into the deep abyss of hell. In fear of
hath done, whether it be good or bad." This final          that men often react with this denial that the saints
wonder stands intimately related to that great             will be judged.
resurrection from the dead. With the coming of                In a certain sense, we can understand such a
Christ all that are in the graves shall hear His voice     reaction too. During the Middle Ages the Judgment
and come forth. They then shall stand before Christ        Day was used as a threat to keep the lives of the
and be judged; they that have done good will be            people holy. The Romish Church kept its laity
given life and they that have done evil damnation.         living in constant terror that if they strayed in the
Just as a7Z shall .be raised from the dead, so also aZZ    least sense from the traditions of the church, in the
shall stand before the great white throne of Christ        Judgment Day they would be punished severely by
and be judged. No one will escape judgment, in-            an angry Judge. Terror of the Judgment became the
cluding the very elect people of God.                      motive for performing good works. Such a con-
  Many today, in opposition to this, are quite             ception of the Judgment Day is still to be found in
surprised and even irritated when this truth is            some churches today. However, if that is the con-
declared. The children of God standing before God          ception of the Judgment it is no wonder that the
and the world and having their sins exposed for all        reaction would be one of going to the opposite
to look upon? God would not put His people                 extreme and denying altogether the judgment of
through such shame ! God's children standing               the elect. The child of God must not live in terror of
before a vengeful God Who is filled with anger             that day. The fear of hell is not what must motivate
toward the sinner? How frightening! Indeed, that           the child of God to do good works. One will never
crushes all comfort and hope in the heart of a child       gain heavenly glory merely because he is afraid of
of God! That simply is not true, they would                condemnation in the Final Judgment. Besides, the
contend; the elect will not be judged in the Judg-         child of God must never go through life filled with
ment Day. Jesus has died upon the cross and shed           terror and gloom. He above all people must be
His blood as a covering for our sin. That sin is, as it    filled with comfort and the joy of his salvation. Cer-
were, hidden from God's eyes and we are no longer          tainly this picture of the Judgment is twisted and at
held accountable for it. Why then would God                best incomplete.
require of us to give an account of our sin in the
Judgment Day? In that day we will be presented               On the other hand, however, neither may we
before all as having no spot or wrinkle or any such        deny that God's elect will stand in judgment. The
thing. To stand before God in judgment would be            passage which was quoted earlier in II Corinthians
senseless.                                                 5: 10 plainly states, "we must all appear before the
                                                           judgment seat of Christ." Surely, we cannot deny
  Those who reason this way, however, do not               the plain testimony of Scripture. Paul writes in
really understand the purpose of that final day of         Romans 14: 10, "But why dost thou judge thy
judgment. When they read such passages as                  brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy
Matthew  24:30 which says, "Then shall all the             brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment


334                                         THE STANDARD BEARER



seat of Christ." The elect shall be judged; and their          Jesus Christ! All men will have to acknowledge that
sins - every one of them - shall be exposed. Their             the work of Christ in His death and resurrection
judgment is public. When Paul writes in II Corin-              was worthy and sufficient to save His people from
thians  5:lO that all must "appear" he speaks of all           sin and death and make them rightful heirs of
"being manifested or exposed" before the judg-                 eternal glory! And in that public justification of
ment seat of Christ. All the blackness and sin of our          Christ and His work all who belong to Christ from
hearts shall be brought out into the open; or, in the          eternity will share. In that day the righteousness
words of Jesus, "For nothing is secret, that shall not         which has been freely given us by the grace of God
be made manifest; neither anything hid, that shall             through the death and resurrection of our Lord will
not be known and come abroad." In that day God                 be seen by all. The wicked shall have to acknow-
shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ                 ledge that though our sins were many, in Christ we
(Romans  2:P6). In this respect the judgment of the            are made worthy recipients of heavenly glory!
elect is no different from that of the ungodly.                Surely that day will not be one of gloom and dark-
                                                               ness for God's children. It will be a day of glorious
  Yet, all of this does not discourage or frighten the         victory! We will triumph over our foes  - those
child of God. This Judgment does not overshadow                who mocked us and persecuted us for our faith in
the joy which he experiences in this life. Let us not          the Lord Jesus Christ. The Judgment Day is not a
misunderstand, those who are rebellious and                    day at the thought of which we tremble in fear. It is
hardened in their sin indeed tremble at the know-              a day to which we should look forward in joy and
ledge of the Judgment. And they ought to tremble               anticipation. Not only will our righteousness in
also! Scripture is clear in Romans 2:3-5, "And                 Christ be completed in that day but we will also
thinkest thou this, 0 man, that judgest them which             hear Christ say to us, "Come ye blessed of My
do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt            Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
escape the judgment of God? . . . But after thy hard-          the foundation of the world." We will receive our
ness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto                   eternal reward and our hope will be fulfilled. That
thyself  wrath.against the day of wrath and revela-            is the comfort of God's saints, a comfort found not
tion of the righteous judgment of God; Who will                in avoiding their own judgment but receiving it.
render to  .every man according to his deeds."
Nevertheless, the repentant child of God who
serves God with reverence and godly fear will
never tremble before this "revelation of the              I
righteous judgment of God." He will not because                                T&he time to read.
he understands that this is the very purpose of that                     The Standard Bearer
Judgment Day: the revelation of God's righteous-
ness. In that glorious day all the works and ways of
God, especially  His,dealings with the moral deeds
of men, will in `the `consciousness of every man be
justified. How often we wonder why God has done
certain things in  ourlife and in the history of this
world! We know that all things are directed by Him
to glorify His own Name and also unto the salvation
of His people. At the same time, however, many
things remain hidden, especially God's actions with
respect to the works of His rational, moral
creatures. In the day of judgment all  will, be
revealed to us as well as to the wicked. Even the
wicked  man`will have to admit that all of God's
dealings with men were just and good.
  Included in this glorious revelation of God's
justice and righteousness will be the public justifi-                        RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
cation of Christ and His cause. It is exactly in this            The Consistory and Congregation of the Hudsonville Protestant
that the Judgment Day becomes for the child of God             Reformed Church expresses their sincere Christian sympathy to Rev.
a day of triumph and victory. There is no doubt that           G. Van  Baren and family in the recent loss of his sister, ALICE VAN
each of God's saints will bow before the great white           BAREN, whom the Lord took to Glory March 24, 1982.
throne of Christ and will see his sin as he never-did             May they be comforted by the truth expressed in Romans  8:18  -
before. It is true too that his sin will be revealed           "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy
                                                               to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
publicly to all. Yet as all look upon those sins they                                                     Gerrit Holstege, Vice Pres.
will see each one covered in the atoning blood- of                                                        Perlin  Shut, Clerk


                                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                                                 335



                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                                      NOTICE!!!
   On April 18, 1982, our parents, MR. AND MRS. JOHN VANDER                    The Scholarship Fund is taking applications for future teachers
WOUDE, will celebrate, the Lord willing, their 25th wedding anni-           and/or ministers for the 1982-l 983  schoolyear.`)f  you are interested
versary.                                                                    please contact Mike Lotterman, 1382 Su-Lew Dr., S.W., Grand
  We their children, are sincerely thankful to our Heavenly Father for      Rapids, Ml 49504 for the application forms. Also an essay of 300
blessing us with these God-fearing parents who have brought us up           words or more is required on the topic, "My responsibility to Christian
and instructed us in His ways. We pray that God will always be near         education or my responsibility to the Christian ministry in perilous
them and continue to bless them in the years to come.                       times in the light of II Timothy 3."
   "For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth              Deadline for applications to be received is June 1, 1982.
endureth to all generations." (Psalm  100:5)

                                            their children,
                                                Rod and Sandy Kooiman                                 IN MEMORIAM
                                                Jim Vander Woude               On March 12, 1982, it pleased our heavenly Father to take unto
                                                Tom Vander Woude            Himself our beloved fellow saint, last charter member of our con-
                                                Joan Vander Woude           gregation, MR. RICHARD  NEWHOUSE at the age of 94 years.
                 WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                           "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."
                                                                            (Psalm. 1 16: 15)
   On March 21, 1982, our beloved parents, grandparents, and
great-grandparents, MR. AND MRS. NEIL DYKSTRA, celebrated their                                                     Council and Congregation of
60th wedding anniversary. We are truly thankful to the Lord for the                                                 Hope Protestant Reformed Church,
privilege of having shared this joyous occasion with them. We are                                                     Walker, Michigan
grateful for the many years of love and covenant instruction which
they have given us, and we pray that our Heavenly Father will
continue to bless them and keep them in His tender care.                                   RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever: with my mouth will I       The Faith, Hope and Love Society of the South Holland Protestant
make known Thy faithfulness to all generations." (Psalm 89: 1)              Reformed Church mourns the loss of a faithful member, ALICE VAN
                                                                            BAREN, whom the Lord took from our midst to eternal glory on March
                                        Rex and Ann  Clawson                24, 1982. We express our sympathy to the bereaved family and pray
                                        Jeanette Voss                       that our Heavenly Father's love will sustain and comfort them
                                        Jim and Marge Dykstra               through every coming day.
                                        John and Marilyn Dykstra
                                        Lou and Jane Dykstra                   "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
                                        Tom and Nell Dempsey                worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
                                        Twenty-one grandchildren            (Romans  8:18)
                                        Seventeen great-grandchildren                                                     Rev. David Engelsma, Pres.
                                                                                                                          Mrs. Denise DeJong, Sec'y.

              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                               TEACHER NEEDED
   The Faith, Hope, and Love Society of the South Holland Protestant           The South Holland Protestant Reformed Christian School is in need
Reformed Church expresses their sympathy to Mrs. Theresa Lenting            of a half-day teacher for the 1982-83 school year. Application can be
in the death of her mother MRS. CORA SIKMA.                                 made by writing or phoning before May 1.
   "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Psalm                                                 Jack Lenting
116:15                                                                                                                   170314   Wausau Ave.
                                                Rev. D. Engelsma, Pres.                                                  So& Holland, Illinois 60473
                                                Denise DeJong, Sec'y.                                                    Phone:  (312) 339-0628




                                                 YOU ARE INVITED!!!
                                           To the Annual Spring Lecture
                                          to be held, the Lord willing, at
            The South Christian Auditorium, Cutlerville, Michigan.
                                        Thg Speaker - Prof. R. Decker.
                             The Theme - The believer and his Bible.
                                   Thursday, May 6, 1982 - 8:00 P.M.
                     -Plan now to attend - and bring your Friends-
                                                                                       The Lecture Committee


  THE STANDARD BEARER
       P.O. Box 6064                                                                    S E C O N D   C L A S S
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49506                                                        POSTAGE PAID AT
                                                                                    GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.





336                                        THE STANDARD BEARER


                         News From Our Churches
  Along with the report of Classis  West which was       heat and humidity) the work has been! When we
printed in our April issue, Rev. Engelsma sent the       arrived January 12 at  3:15 PM with our winter
following informative paragraph: "On the day             clothes, we stepped off the plane into 86 degree
before  Classis,  a large group of ministers, elders,    weather; and it has been in the high eighties every
missionaries, professors, seminarians, and visitors      day since. Nights are sometimes cool. The humidity
participated in an Officebearers' Conference             feels like 100% most of the time. Last Sunday I
arranged by the committee from the West, Rev. W.         drove (on the left side of the road) to Waterworks -
Bekkering and Rev. R. Cammenga. There was                about 10 miles to the east  - and dropped off the
excellent representation from both  Classis  and         Lubbers. Then we two went to Cave Mt., drove
from the Seminary. Papers were given on `The             half-way up on winding, twisting, steep and rough
Textual Problem of Holy Scripture' and on `The           .roads, parked the car at the path to the church, and
English Translation of Holy Scripture.' These con-       walked up a steep path with sharp rocks for 20
ferences are profitable inasmuch as they provide an      minutes before we got to the top where the church
opportunity for mutual instruction and for good          is. The message was well received. Going down
fellowship around the truth of the Reformed Faith        took more time, because of the steepness and
which we all love and are called to maintain. The        danger of turning an ankle on the rocks, as well as
committee is to be encouraged to work at setting up      slipping on the wet grass and rocks. We drove
future conferences."                                     down the mountain after the God of all mercy
  We have also learned that the papers presented         brought us safely down, picked up the Lubbers and
at the above mentioned conference will be printed        went to the Henden House where we had our sand-
in a forthcoming issue of the Protestant Reformed        wich dinner in our rooms at 2 PM. At night we
Theological Journal. Standard Bearer readers who         went to Belmont where I preached again with the
are interested in these and other excellent articles     Lubbers in the audience. A typical Jamaican
should send to the Theological School of the             Sabbath." On more trivial matters (trivial, depend-
Protestant Reformed Churches, 4949  Ivanrest             ing on how you look at it) Rev. Heys wrote: "My
Avenue, Grandville, MI 49418, and ask that their         wife and I each got a hamburger (with npthing  else)
names be added to the mailing list.                      and paid $9.42 Jamaican money or $5.45 our
         * * * * * * * * * *                             money! Coffee is $1.50. A box of All Bran is $5.95
                                                         Jamaican money which is about $3.50 our money. "
  From our calling churches we learn that Rev.             Also of interest from Holland we noticed that for
Kamps has declined the call from Redlands, Cali-         the Sunday evenings of January 7 and 31 the
fornia; and Rev. Bekkering has declined the call         bulletin sermon titles were the same: "Draw Near
from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Since these              to God." Further investigation revealed that the
declines, both  Redlands and Edmonton have               February 7 morning sermon entitled "Trusting in
formed new trios from which both have called Rev.        God Alone" was given also on February 14, as was
Koole of our Randolph, Wisconsin church.                 the evening service of February 7, "The Supreme
         * * * * *  * * * * *                            Trial of Abraham," preached on the evening of
After laboring in Jamaica for better than two            February 14. At first glance one might wonder how
months, Rev. and Mrs. Lubbers and Rev. and Mrs.          Rev. Miersma managed to get by with these sermon
Heys have returned to Michigan. Holland bulletins        reruns, and then in such close proximity! Or was he
of February 7 and 14 included some interesting cor-      testing his congregation to see.if they listen? There
respondence that Rev. Miersma received from Rev.         is a good explanation for these supposed reruns,
Heys which should open our eyes just a bit to what       and I'm sure our Michigan readers know what it is,
their labors in Jamaica involved: "Almost a month        since many of our Michigan churches cancelled
of work will have gone by when you receive this          services due to a rash of weekend blizzards.
letter, and intensive and exhausting (because of the                                                     C.K.


