           The
:_:;  STANDARD
           BEARER. `1
           A REFORMED SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE





   .  .  . there can  be  no question but that the

 Doleantie was a reformation
   r  -                                               because it  con-
 stituted a return to our historic Reformed
 confessions, the Three Forms of, Unity, and
 thus to the truths of the Word of God. This is
                                                                  -
 the very essence of reformation. The State
 Church had departed, both in doctrine and
 in discipline, and that, too, in its official acts
 as church. The Doleantie changed this.
 See "The Centennial of the Doleantie"
                                                              - page 5


                                               Vol.  LXIII, No. 1, October 1, 1986  -


2                                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER




                                                                                                                        THE STANDARD  BEARER
                                   CONTENTS                                                                                   ISSN 0362-4692
                                                                        -                        Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
     Meditation  -                                                                                Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.
                                                                                                        Second Class Postage Paid at Grand Rapids, Micii.
        Our Christian Stewardship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2               Editor-in-Chiefr   Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
                                                                                       Department  Editors:  Rev. Ronald Cammenga,  Rev. Arie den Hartog, Prof. Robert
     Editor's Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5    D. Decker, Rev. Barry Gritters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman C. Hanko,
                                                                                       Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev. . Kortering, Rev. George C. Lub-
     Editorial  -                                                                                                                            1
                                                                                       bers, Rev. Thomas C. Miersma, Rev. James S opsema, Rev. Gise  J. Van  Baren,
                                                                                       Rev.  Herman  Veldman,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
        The Centennial of the Doleantie (2) . . . . . . . . . . . , .5                 Editotial   Office: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
     Question Box  -                                                                                       4975  Ivanrest Ave., S.W.
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MEDITATION
Cornelius Hanho


                                     Our Christian Stewardship

                      Ques. 110. What doth God forbid in the eighth commandment?
                     Ans. God forbids not only those thefts, and robberies, which are punishable by the magis-
                  trate; but he comprehends under the name of theft all wicked tricks and devices, whereby we
                  design to appropriate to ourselves the goods which belong to our neighbor: whefiher it be by
                  force, or under the appearance of right, as by unjust weights, ells, measures, fiaudulen:t  mer-
                  chandise, false coins, usury, or by any other way forbidden by God; as also all covetousness, all
                  abuse and waste of his gifts.
                      Ques. 111. What doth God require in this commandment?
                     Ans. That I promote the advantage of my neighbor in every instance I can or may; and deal
                  with him as I desire to be dealt with by others: further also that I faithfully labor, so that I may
                  be able to relieve the needy. Reid. Catechism, Lord's Day 42


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                3



   The earth and the fulness with which it is stored,        single day. This manna contained all the necessary
         The world and its dwellers belong to the Lord;      vitamins, all the nutrients necessary for their daily
   For He on the seas its foundation has laid,               existence. One would think that Israel would live in
         And firm on the waters its pillars has stayed.      perfect contentment and thankfulness for God's
   This same Lord upholds and governs all things as          providential care in a waste and howling wilder-
Almighty God, Sovereign Ruler over the wide and              ness. Yet even then they murmured, complaining
vast domain and His universe! He, and He alone               that they wanted meat, and that their souls longed
has claim to all the work of His hands!                      for the onions, garlic and leek of Egypt. For forty
                                                             years they. grieved God with their bitter com-
   In a very special sense, His people are His               plaints.
peculiar possession. He lays claim to them saying,
"I have chosen you, redeemed you, called you by                 We have another example .in Elijah sitting at the
name; you are Mine!                                          brook Cherith, waiting each morning and evening
                                                             for the arrival of the ravens, which were sent of
   To which we respond in faith: Yea, Lord, I am             God to supply him with his daily ration of meat and
Thine with all that I have!                                  bread. After one year he was sent to the widow of
   We are dependent creatures!                               Sidon, who was about  ko starve to death. For two
   When God created man, He made him a needy,                and a half years Elijah, the woman, and her son
,dependent creature to live out of God's hand. As            were fed with a daily supply of oil and meat. No,
long as sin had not entered into the world this              their table was not laden with luxurious pies and
created no serious problem. Adam and Eve ate                 rich cakes; yet they had their daily bread, while
from the fruit of the trees of the garden, which             thousands around them died  iof starvation. To-
brought forth abundantly. They received their dai-           gether they learned to pray each day anew: "Give
ly bread in thankfulness to their God. There was             us this day our daily bread!" And they also saw,
but one tree in the entire garden from which they            even including the former pagan widow, that this
were forbidden to eat. Through the instigation of            daily ration pointed them to Him who is the Bread
Satan this became a snare to them. They became               of life, who feeds us even unto all eternity!
rebels, declared their independence to do as they              The Psalmist declares that he has never seen the
saw fit. The Lord in His just wrath cast them out of         righteous without food, while Paul assures us,
the garden, and gave them over to die a prolonged            "Godliness with contentment is a great gain. For
but certain death. Spiritually they had separated            we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain
themselves from God's fellowship and brought                 that we can carry nothing out. But having food and
upon themselves His condemning judgment. They                raiment let us therewith be content." I Tim. 6:6-8
died!                                                          We are stewards in God's house!
   Given over to his sinful nature, man became a
thief. Rather than to listen to God's command, "Six            There is a sinful obtaining, but there is also a sin-
days shalt thou labor and do all thy work", he               ful misuse of God's gifts.
devises all sorts of get-rich schemes, such as lot-            Proud man is selfishly greedy. He banishes God
teries, gambling, dishonest business transactions,           from his thoughts and sets himself up as if he were
fraudulent merchandise, oppressing the employee,             God. He claims to have inalienable rights, the right
or refusing to give a full day's labor for an honest         to live, the right to be cared for, whether that be by
wage, strikes, boycotts, and various other attempts          the government or some other agency. Especially
at dishonesty.                                               when the government is so ready with its hand-
   The Lord says, My people, whom I have de-                 outs, every one tries to obtain all that he can. The
livered from the bondage of sin and the power of             world owes him a living; no, a living that compares
death, love Me! Thou shalt not steal!                        with the Joneses. He claims the right to make use of
                                                             his possessions as he pleases. We  think.of the rich
  We live out of Father's hand!                              man who sits mulling over the abundant produc-
   A striking example of that we see in Israel's             tion of his farm. What shall I do?  1'11 build bigger
journey through the wilderness to the promised               barns, I shall lay up my goods in store for many
land. In the waste lands of the Sinai peninsula God          years. I shall assure my soul that I have found in-
rained manna from heaven, a new supply every                 dependence, freedom from want and freedom from
day. Very literally Israel was reminded that they            fear. We all know how God answered this fool. We
ate out of the hand of Jehovah, their faithful cove-         know so very well, and yet he is not foreign to any
nant God. Never did they lack food, no, not for a            of us!
                                                               We have a stewardship to fulfill. Jesus gives us
Cornelius Hanho  is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    the parable of the talents, in which the man travell-
Reformed Churches.                                           ing to a far country (this was spoken on the eve of


4                                               THE STANDARD BEARER



Christ's crucifixion) entrusted to his servants all his       assured that all other things will be added unto us
goods. These are the gifts that God entrusts to us            by our heavenly Father?
day by day. They include our span of life, our                  We think of the widow who went to the temple
health, strength, home, family, friends; our task in          with her two mites clutched in her hand. She felt
life with the ability to think, to will, to act; our auto-    that she had to give expression of her love and
mobile, all our luxuries, our place in God's church,          thanks to God for all His Fatherly care over her. Yet
and even our contact with our neighbors, whoever              she had only two mites, barely enough for her ear-
they may be. To one God gives five talents, to                thly existence. One wonders, did she debate with
another two, and to most of us one, each according            herself along the way whether she should give but
to our ability. "For we are God's workmanship,                one mite, and keep the other for herself? But when
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which                she approached the treasure chest, her heart over-
God hath before ordained that we should walk in               whelmed her with thanks for all that the Lord had
them." (Eph.  210) All that we are and all that we            done for her. Giving little thought to what she was
have belongs to the Lord, even as we rejoice in the           doing, she cast her aZI into the kingdom. Would not
fact that we are not our own, but belong with body            God who cares for the sparrows also care for her?
and soul, for time and eternity to our faithful Savior
Jesus Christ! We are privileged to labor in God's               Here is a lesson in humility clothed in godly fear!
House, in His fear, and to His glory! In the great            True humility means self denial, self surrender to
day of days each of us will be called to give account         our God, even as we confess: "All that I am belongs
of our stewardship, also with that one talent en-             to Thee, 0 my God!"
trusted to us! And every man will be judged accord-             This creates in us child-like trust. Jesus warns,
ingly!                                                        "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we
     All that I am belongs to Thee,                           eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall
       Thy wisdom, Lord, hath fashioned me;                   we be clothed? (For all these things do the gentiles
     I give my Maker thankful praise,                         seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye
       Whose wondrous works my soul amaze.                    have need of all these things" (Matt.  6:31, 32).
     God is always first!                                       This, in turn, arouses true contentment, living by
                                                              faith out of God's hand. Elijah and the widow ex-
     When Elijah was sent to the widow of Zarephath           perienced that their bread was certain, even while
he met her at the gate of the city, picking up "two           the famine ravaged the land! Does not our heavenly
sticks" for a final meal with her son, before they            Father care for us, 0 we of little faith?
both starved to death. When she assured the proph-
et that she had only a handful of meal and a                    Contentment gives thankfulness. While thank-
small amount of oil, enough for one last meal, the            fulness expresses itself in giving! Freely we have
man of God told her: "Make me a cake  first!" If it           received, freely we can give! Upon which our Lord
were not that he was sent of God, this would sound            assures us: "I was an  hungred,  and ye gave me
cruelly selfish. Yet this widow, who had until now            meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a
been a pagan idol worshipper, is given in her heart           stranger, and ye took me in: .Naked,  and ye clothed
by the Spirit to accept Elijah as sent by his God, and        me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison,
makes a cake for him first! There we learn our first          and ye came unto me" (Matt.  25:35, 36).
lesson in the basic principles of the kingdom of                Well may we pray, "Lord, teach me to live also
heaven! God is first!                                         according to this commandment!"
     The Lord through the prophet Malachi accuses
carnal Judah of robbing God! "Wherein", they ask,
"have we robbed God?" To which the response is                     The Standard Bearer
given: "In your tithes and offerings!" They were
not always liberal and honest in giving a tenth of
their income to the Lord. Their offerings were not                   makes a lovely gift
always the best of their flocks and herds. God had
second place in their lives. Pride, selfishness, and             for the sick & shut-in.
greed demanded for themselves the first place.
;: Is God always first in your life and mine? Do we                        Give a gift of
set aside our contribution for the kingdom, our
alms for the needy and our school tuition or dona-
tions, and only then see what is left for our daily               the Standard Bearer!
needs? Do we live according to the command of
Christ, "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven,"


                                              THE STANDARD BEARER                                                5


                                         Editor's Notes

  Anniversaries.  Speaking of anniversaries, this              Business Manager.  Were you surprised by the
year is not only the centennial of the Doleantie. It is      "Special Tribute" to our Business Manager in the
also the centennial of the birth of two theologians:         September 1 issue? I was also. However, first of all,
Herman Hoeksema and Karl Barth. While we are                 as Editor I wish to add my personal word of ap-
on the subject, we note that this year also marks the        preciation for the labor of love of brother Vander
450th anniversary of the first edition of John               Wal. During the 18 years of his service I have had
Caivin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.               numerous contacts with him about matters pertain-
          w  *  *  *  *  t  *  *  *  *                       ing to our Stcmdard  Bearer, as well as in connection
                                                             with our other publications and our radio work.
  New  Volume.  With this issue we begin a new
volume, Volume 63. There will be no extensive                And I always found Henry - through long acquain-
changes in the departments of our Standard Bearer            tance I always called him that  - to be a man
                                                             devoted to the work, the acme of cooperation, and a
this year, and only one change in our Staff. As              man who went the extra mile in this work. Per-
already announced, Mr. Ben Wigger, a member of
our Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church, has              sonally, I will miss him. That is, when he finally
                                                             ends his work. That brings me to my second note.
agreed to serve as our Church News Editor. A                 You probably noticed that no mention was made of
hearty welcome to our Staff, Ben! This. year we              his successor. No, we are not without a Business
again plan to present three special issues, and the
.first of these will be on the first step of the Order of    Manager. Brother Vander Wal will continue on an
Salvation: Regeneration. We are also planning a              interim basis until the Board of the R.F.P.A. is
new series of Guest Articles; but these will be kept         ready to announce his successor.
as a surprise when they appear.

EDITORIAL




             The Centennial of the Doleantie (2)



  The separation from the State Church brought               the eventual size of the separation, having op-
about by the Doleantie was not a small one. It could         timistically expected the reformation to sweep the
be argued, of course, that in comparison with the            church and even to bring about internal reforma-
large State Church of some two million members at            tion, without separation, in the State Church).
that time, the Doleantie was relatively small  -
about five per cent at first. But in comparison, say,          The church of Amsterdam was a single, city-
with the beginnings of the Christian Reformed                wide organization, with 28 ministers, a single
Church in 1857 or with our Protestant Reformed               general consistory for the entire city of 136
Churches in 1924-25, the Doleantie was a very                ministers, elders, and deacons, and a total member-
large movement; and from this point of view it may           ship of 165,000, with 10 sanctuaries and 4 chapels.
be said that the Doleantie had a very good and en-           When the Doleantie came about in Amsterdam, it
couraging beginning (although some historians                involved 75 officebearers of the Amsterdam  Con-
claim that Abraham Kuyper was disappointed at                sistory (well over half, therefore) and 7,000  mem-


6                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



bers of the Amsterdam Church. [There were a few            siderably different in the case of the Doleantie. It
congregations elsewhere in the Netherlands which           was partly due undoubtedly to the fact of the in-
separated a little earlier than did Amsterdam. But         fluence of Kuyper's prolific writings in  De  Heruut
the Amsterdam Church was the first large church            (The  He&d),  as well as in numerous tracts, which
involved; besides, there is no doubt about the fact        served as a mighty means of instruction in the truth
that the leadership of the entire movement came            for God's people throughout the Netherlands in
from Amsterdam. The initiative for the 1883 Con-           those years. It is a rather peculiar fact of this history
ference (cf. Sept. 15 issue) came from Amsterdam.          that Dr. Kuyper at the time of the Doleantie had
And it was the Amsterdam Consistory (of the                long since left the active ministry and was a
reform group) which called the Conference of               minister emeritus. He had become involved in the
January, 1887.1 Shortly after the conference just          establishment and promotion of the Free Universi-
mentioned, the Doleantie counted some 200 con-             ty, where he had become one of its first professors
gregations and a total membership of 100,000 who           of theology. Besides, he had become deeply in-
had left the State Church. These few statistics will       volved in the Dutch political scene and in the Anti-
furnish some idea of the proportions of the Dolean-        revolutionary Party. But though he was no longer
tie.                                                       in the active ministry, he exercised a strong in-
     It must not be imagined, however, that as a           fluence through his many writings; and he was
reform movement the Doleantie was a simple,                widely read, both by friend and foe, throughout the
peaceful transition which involved no trouble, no          Netherlands. The result of all this was that the
suffering, no persecution. For that was not the case.      Doleantie became a well-established, well-organ-
All the trauma so often involved in the process of         ized, and flourishing movement at an early date.
reformation was involved in the Doleantie also.            Already in June of 1887 a  Synodical Convent was
Reproach for the sake of the truth, bitterness and         held at Rotterdam. There were preliminary Synods
separation across family boundaries, name-calling          of Utrecht in 1888 and 1889. And in 1890 and 1891
(the "Kuyperianen"), and loss of church properties         there were Synods at Leeuwarden and The Hague,
(Though there were long legal processes, the new           respectively.
churches eventually lost all the church properties           The question may be raised, especially in the
and had to begin anew.)  - all these, and more,            light of the fact that in 1834 there had already been
were the portion of the churches and people of the         reformation: did the Doleantie qualify as genuine
Doleantie.                                                 reformation? And if so, on what grounds and in
     Nevertheless, the movement grew and became            what respect? This question, of course, is also im-
well established. In fact, the Doleantie was in this       portant for us and for our churches: for our own
respect different from the Secession of 1834. It was       Protestant Reformed churches are historically
a good many years before the churches of the               related to the Doleantie, and many among our
Secession became a well-organized and unified              membership are descendants of the Doleantie.
denomination. We need not enter into the reasons             First of all, there can be no question but that the
for this now. But the Doleantie was from the very          Doleantie was a reformation because it constituted
beginning well-organized and unified. Basically,           a return to our historic Reformed confessions, the
this was due, of course, to the fact that the Lord         Three Forms of Unity, and thus to the truths of the
Himself preserved and raised up at that time a rem-        Word of God. This is the very essence of reforma-
nant who loved the Reformed faith. But along with          tion. The State Church had departed, both in doc-
this it was due, no doubt, in part to the fact that the    trine and in discipline, and that, too, in its official
Lord provided His church with capable leadership           acts as church. The Doleantie changed this.
at that time. The name of Abraham Kuyper, Sr. is           Already at the Conference of 1883 it had been
best known in this connection. But there were              decided "to admit no one to the ministry in their
others - men such as Rutgers and Lohman, for ex-           churches unless and until such person(s) had
ample. It was partly due to the fact that consider-        signed the three Forms of Unity, with declaration
able planning and communications took place                of hearty accord." And the insistence upon such
already long before the actual separation. It was          subscription by officebearers was characteristic of
partly due also to the fact that there were many           the Doleantie as a reformation movement.
ministers and elders throughout the country who              In the second place, the Doleantie was a return to
were involved in the Doleantie. The latter was in          the truth from the point of view of the offices and
this respect different from the Secession. The             government of the church. The State Church was
Secession, especially in its early years, was plagued      collegialistic. There was one church, and the
by a severe shortage of ministers of the gospel, so        various congregations were branches of that one
that its few ministers were overwhelmed by                 church, the whole being governed by hierarchical
demands for their preaching. This was  con-                boards and synods. The Doleantie insisted that the


                                               THE STANDARD BEARER                                              7



local congregation constitutes the church, and the          mental principle of church government of the
denomination is a federation of autonomous chur-            Doleantie and, eventually, of the Gereformeerde
ches which has agreed to function together accord-          Kerken  - the principle for the maintenance of
ing to a set of rules and usages and on the basis of a      which especially Dr. F.L. Rutgers was famous. It is
common confession. In accord with this, the offices         also the reason why the GKN were called "Kerken
of minister, elder, and deacon reside in the local          (Churches)" rather than "Kerk (Church)." And it is
congregation; and the powers of those offices like-         the reason why our denomination today is called
wise reside strictly in the local congregation. Only        Protestant Reformed Churches (not "Church"). It is
that local congregation, through its officebearers,         also the reason why the Christian Reformed
can and may preach the Word, administer the                 Church, until it departed from this principle,
sacraments, exercise discipline, and administer the         formerly called itself the Christian Reformed Chur-
mercies of Christ. This, in fact, became the funda-         ches of North America.                           HCH

QUESTION  BOX
Cornelius Hanko





       Children At The Table Of Communion



   Recently a reader of the  Standard Beaver  asked         and ordinary bread, and must recognize the bread
some questions regarding children partaking of the          at the supper as signifying the body of Christ,
Lords Supper. When I answered him, I informed               which is broken as a complete atonement for all of
him that if he was not fully satisfied, he was              our sins. This implies an awareness of sin and guilt,
welcome to come again. He now writes:                       a need for pardon, and a confidence that we have
   "Thank you for answering my questions con-               the forgiveness of sins in the death of Christ.
cerning children and the Lord's Supper. I do appre-           In the second place, (a) does not entirely
ciate your explanation of our churches' position on         eliminate (b). It will always remain true, that
this question. I have some further questions on this        whoever examines himself will do so according to
matter."                                                    his capacity. The question really centers on
   I will treat these questions in the order given.         whether or not a person is capable of some degree
                                                            of honest and sincere self-examination that is trust-
   "1. I Cor.  11:28, 29 may be interpreted either as       worthy and dependable. A child is actually still too
(a) barring from the Lord's table those who cannot          immature to make a sound judgment of himself,
examine themselves as can an adult, or (b) requir-          and still too unstable to make his judgment depend-
ing a self examination according to one's capability        able.
(Luke  12:48). On what Scriptural basis do we
choose the first interpretation over the other?"              "2. Your answer states `From this it must
                                                            become evident that our children cannot par-
  First of all, let me state that the word that is used     ticipate in the Lord's Supper until they come to
in the original for examining one's self means "to          years of discretion, for the simple reason that they
test, to try, to prove, as metal is tested, with the ex-    cannot give expression to their conscious faith in
pectation that the good will appear." One must be           the measure required by the self-examination.'
able to discern between the bread at communion              Does this mean that our elders must bar from the
                                                            Lord's table all those who do not or will never have
Cornelius Hanko is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    this ability, whether by reason of immaturity, men-
Reformed Churches.                                          tal retardation, senility, or other disease?"


8                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



     This question can best be answered by referring                     Already at the Convention of Wezel, 1568, the ques-
to one who has long been considered an authority                      tion arose: Who are to be admitted to Holy Commun-
on Reformed Church Polity, Dr. F.L. Rutgers, who                      ion? The Convention answered: No one shall be ad-
writes in his "Kerkelijke Adviezen" (Ecclesiastical                   mitted to the Lord's Table unless he first shall have
Advice), volume II, page 150: (translated)                            made profession of faith and shall have submitted
                                                                      himself to the discipline of the Church. This ruling
        You ask me whether a consistory may grant permis-             was reaffirmed by the Synod of 1578 (Dordrecht) in
      sion to partake of the Lord's Supper to one who is a            slightly different words, and rewritten by the Middel-
      member of the congregation and desires to partake of            burg Synod of 1581 in the wording as we still have it
      Communion, but is retarded, yet is said to be "faithful         in article 61 today.
      in church attendance," receives a blessing from the               From the foregoing it becomes evident that the
      worship service, and gives a good testimony at family           Reformed Churches from the Reformation era on
      visitation.                                                     have held that attendance to the Lord's Supper is not
         My answer is that I do not fully understand what             free to all. It is not a matter to be left to the judgment
      objection the consistory can have to grant this permis-         of the individuals. The office bearers are guardians
      sion. Naturally, I am not acquainted with the person            over the Lord's Table. They must only admit those
      involved, but from your information it is clearly evi-          whom they believe to be worthy. Erastus and the
      dent, that this person is not so seriously handicapped,         Remonstrants - those defending the tenets of Armin-
      that he would disturb the service with foolish remarks          iansim - held that the attendance or non-attendance
      or actions. You also give evidence that he has some             should be left to the individual conscience. Some
      knowledge of the fundamental truths, which apply to             adhering to the Reformed faith seem to hold to this
      the Lords Supper, [sin, deliverance and thankful-               theory . . . .
      ness), and even has some idea of self examination. If             Yet not all baptized members of the Church were
      that is the case, I would say that the consistory cannot        permitted to go to the Lord's Table. If all baptized
      refuse him. It has always been maintained in our                children would be true to their baptism and manifest
      churches, and properly so, that a member of the con-            true faith in Christ and loyalty to His Word in con-
      gregation can be a child of God, even though he is              duct, then as soon as children would come to years of
      mentally or poorly developed, so that the rule has              understanding they might approach unto the Lord's
      always been applied that in cases where it proves im-           Supper without first securing permission to do so. But
      possible to memorize questions and answers, or to               conditions are never ideal. There is always some chaff
      give an answer to a specific question, no more is re-           mixed with the wheat. There are Esaus among the
      quired than a mere "yes" or "no" to the questions               covenant-keeping young people of every Church. And
      pertaining to the admittance to the Table of the Lord.          so Voetius [another recognized authority on Church
     The next question is:                                            Polity  - C.H.) in answer to the question whether not
     "3. W. Walker, in his book, History of the Chris-                all baptized individuals should be considered as en-
tian Churches, writes on p. 99, `The sense of the life-               titled to partake of the Lord's Table, answered "No".
giving quality of the Supper led, also, to the custom                 Said he in substance: Faith may be present potentially
                                                                      without having yet developed into actual faith. And
of infant communion, of which Cyprian is' a wit-                      actual faith is necessary for the proper celebration of
ness.' On p. 274 he writes, `The abandonment of                      the Lord's Supper. The essence of faith may be pres-
the cup was rather a layman's practice due to fear                   ent by regeneration, but the fruit of regeneration,
of dishonoring the sacrament by misuse of the wine                   conversion, must be present.
        Similar considerations led to the general aban-             And a final question:
donment by the Western Church, in the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries of the practice of infant                  "4. Since our covenant children are not allowed
communion, which had been universal, and con-                     to come to the Lord's Table, would you please ex-
tinues in the Greek Church to the-present.' Would                 plain the significance of Communion for them?"
you please comment on this?"                                        Children are the silent observers at the Table of
     This author obviously sees a "life-giving quality            Communion.
in the Supper," which operates apart from faith. I                  Their presence at the Communion service helps
question whether he regards the sacrament as a                    them to understand that the sacrament is a means
sign and seal, but rather as a power in itself. The               of grace, added to the preaching of the Word to
benefit is derived from a mere eating and drinking.               strengthen the faith of the believers. This, along
In that case no understanding of the holy supper                  with the instruction in the catechism and in the
and no self examination are required. Our Re-                     home, helps them to have a better insight into the
formed church fathers had their own reasons for                   signs, which are also seals of God's promises. Their
barring children from the Lord's Supper, as is evi-               inquisitive minds will raise questions already at an
dent from "The Church  Order Commentary" by Id-                   early age, opening the way for the parents to
zard Van Dellen and Martin Monsma, from which I                   prepare them for the time when they, too, can
quote the following:                                              participate.


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                             9



  Moreover, they are also taught the importance of          Finally, and most important of all, there is the
the Lord's Supper and its proper observance. This         operation of the Holy Spirit present in the heart of
takes place already during the preparatory week in        the child even at that early age. Just as a child
the home. I can well remember that when we were           receives a blessing from the preaching of the Word,
children our parents impressed on us that prepara-        which he hears, he can also receive a blessing from
tory week meant that we also should examine our           what he sees, even though in a very small way. The
walk of life, and were reminded of this when we           Holy Spirit does certainly create in that young
stepped out of bounds. The celebration itself must        heart, as it comes to maturity, a growing desire to
make a lasting impression on the child of God, even       become an active partaker of the Holy Supper.
though still very young.                                    I hope that this may be of some help to you.

GUEST ARTICLE
Richard G. Moore





                                Fellowship of Saints



  In this new season of congregational activities, it       What is the basis for our fellowship together as a
is good to consider the blessings we have in the          congregation? What is the common strand that
fellowship of saints. And in this connection to ask       binds the members of the church to one another?
the questions: With whom is our fellowship? With          What is the oneness that so unites the children of
whom do we commune? From the time of the fall             God? And in answer we may say at the outset that it
there have been two seeds in the midst of this            is not based upon the blood relationship in which
world. The seed of the woman and the seed of the          we may stand to one another.
serpent. And as God's people our f4lowship is not           Our fellowship together as a congregation may
to be with the world which is the  SI  bed of the ser-    not be based upon the fact that we may be relatives,
pent. Rather the Word admonishes us to love one           or that we are of the same national heritage. The
another, for love is of God. And therefore, the focus     fact that we may be Dutch or German, etc. is not
of our life of fellowship is to be with one another in    the basis for true communion in the church. And
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to be with the fellow        the fact that our parents have attended church here
saints, and is precious                                   is not the ground for our fellowship in the body of
  In Philippians the second chapter this fellowship       Christ, although we thank God when He gathers
of the saints is referred to when we read in the first    His church in our midst through the lines of contin-
two verses; "If there be therefore any consolation        uing generations. And earthly ties are a reality
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship      also in the church. But this does not unite us
of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfill ye      together with Christ Jesus our Lord.
my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same              Nor does our union come from our philosophical
love, being of one accord, of one mind." And this         perspective, nor from our social activity; that is,
chapter goes on to admonish us to care for one            that our fellowship comes from our desire to
another. In particular this must characterize our         discuss certain philosophies, which may be inter-
life in our congregations.                                esting. Nor do we seek the communion within the
                                                          church for social expression  - for our discussion
Richard G. Moore is pastor of the Protestant Reformed     groups, banquets, entertainment, etc. Although cer-
Church of Hull, Iowa.                                     tainly as God's children we enjoy discussion of the


          10                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



          Scripture's presentation of the true philosophy, or        on the Sabbath Day as we are gathered under the
          direction of life; and we also may rightly enjoy our       preaching of that Word of truth by Christ Jesus our
          society life. But these things can never form the          Lord. In this way we confess before all the faith
          basis for fellowship within the church. They do not        that unites us together, and we grow in the
          bind God's people together in spiritual union, but         knowledge of the Word that unites God's children.
          may be the fruit of that union!                            For this reason it does make a difference to us
                Rather, we are drawn together in fellowship and      where we go to church! There are doctrinal dif-
          communion exactly because of the fact that we are          ferences between churches that make a big dif-
          saints, and in this we are drawn together and seek         ference and which may not be overlooked. We con-
          out one another.                                           fess together the truth, and any departure from that
                Now we must understand that a saint is not one       truth causes separation from the true fellowship
          who has distinguished himself by some special              and communion of the saints. How precious and
          works of sanctification so that he is in some special      what a blessing that God has preserved His truth in
          way set apart by canonization, such as was done by         our midst! This is cause for great thanksgiving! May
          the Church of Rome. Rather a saint becomes such            we resolve, by grace, staunchly to defend this truth
          because God has set Him apart to live consecrated          of the infallible Scripture!
          to His service. And this God does by an act of His           In the second place, we as saint express our faith
          grace alone as He has redeemed us in Christ and            in our daily lives. Not only do we say with our
          called us by His Word. This results in the saint           mouth that God is holy and ascribe to Him our
          walking before God in all humility, seeking to serve       praise, but we shall also confirm this with our
          Him in all things, and finding all joy in that service.    works. By God's abiding grace we shall live in hum-
                Then we must be given to understand that all         ble submission to His Word. And we shall do this in
          true members of the Church are saints, and are             our home, work, business, government, and in our
          such only because God has made them so. In                 leisure, desiring in all of our lives to glorify God in
          ourselves we as saints are no different from the           thought, word, and deed. This is our calling as
          most carnal of men; and we must be the first to ad-        saints in the Lord Jesus.
          mit that by nature we transgress the whole of the            We often do not do so well in manifesting in our
          law of God and indeed are inclined to all evil. We         lives this sainthood. There are times when we
          are not by nature saints, but are transformed by the       desire to seek God's kingdom in all that we do, and
          grace of God to become saints.                             when our zeal for the truth is very great, and we
                                                                     stand so close to God and love the communion of
                So God, as the sovereign God, by His good            the saints. These are blessed times in our lives
          pleasure alone has determined us to be saints. This        when faith is on the foreground. Yet this we have at
          He did already in eternity, before we did any good         the best of times only in principle, and often
          or evil. And in time God sent His Son to clothe us         become blinded to the true walk of faith by our sin
          with the white robes of righteousness as saints, and       and spiritual fraility. And then, at these times, the
          by His Spirit breathes into us the consciousness of        fiery darts of the wicked do us true harm. We do
          the forgiveness of sins. He turns us from our evil         not fellowship with God as we ought in prayer and
          ways and causes us to begin to seek God in the nar-        in our worship. We fail to serve Him as children,
          row pathway of obedience that leads to heaven              and at these times the wages of sin do not seem so
          itself.                                                    great, and we walk with oh, such weakness.
                The one abiding in Christ, the  saint, speaks the      This was the experience of Paul as his words are
          truth about God. Our God has been pleased to               recorded for us in Rom. 7. In Rom.  7:15 "For that
     I    reveal Himself to us, and He especially sets this          which I do I allow not: for what I would, that, do I
          revelation of Himself forth in the infallibly inspired     not; but what I hate, that do I." And in Rom.  7:18
          Word. Now the saint humbly bows before that                "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,)
          Word of God, and trembles at putting in the mouth          dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with
          of our God Words that which He has not spoken.             me; but how to perform that which is good I find
     ~    This is often done in our day. The Bible often is          not." These words of the apostle express the cons-
          considered anything but the infallibly inspired            tant struggle that we have as regenerated children
          Word of God. It is done through the construction of        of God as we yet dwell in the midst of this world.
          Paraphrased "Bibles". It is done through consider-         We have to daily battle the battle of faith, and this
          ing of the Bible to be time- or social-conditioned. In-    within ourselves. And often we come up short in
          deed we must have nothing to do with this heresy.          this battle, walking in sin. Such a walk in sin
I               Rather, we desire as true saints of God to speak     disrupts our love of God and our love and fellow-
          of the living God only as we are guided to so speak        ship with the saints. May we then in this season be
          in truth from His Word. And we do this especially          given to the seeking of the grace of God in this bat-


                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER                                               11



 tle against sin. For sin impairs fellowship. Saints            How precious then is the faithful preaching of
 and sin do not mix, as is evident in our lives. When         God's word to us, which calls us to repentance, and
 we walk in sin without repentance we do not enjoy            through which the Spirit applies the blessings of
 the consciousness of God's fellowship, nor can               Christ's atoning cross to our hearts. Thus we are
 have true fellowship with God's children.                    assured of the righteousness that is ours in Christ,
    We have need, therefore, to know that we are              experience the love of God for us, and grow in
' right with God. Daily we have need of the                   grace, to fellowship and commune with God and
 assurance that, "being justified by faith, we have           His people. May we,receive  of God the grace to at-
 peace with God through our Lord, Jesus, Christ."             tend diligently the proclamation of His Word, turn
 Righteousness and holiness is the only ground for            often to the Scripture for our guidance, and be
 fellowship with our covenant Father. And only in             given to prayer for this His care. Then indeed, we
 the way of our confession of sin daily, can we with          shall experience a growing communion with our
 clear conscience stand in the presence of God and            God and the saints, which shall strengthen us in the
 enjoy His communion and love. And in this way                battle of faith.
 only shall we enjoy the fellowship of the saints.

 IN HIS FEAR
 Arie den Hartog





                                  Spiritual Mindedness .



    Spiritual mindedness is and should be the great           pride of life. That is all you can say about them. A
 characteristic of the true child of God. When the            true evaluation of their life will reveal this. If you
 Bible uses the term "mind" as in Romans 8, and               hear their speech you will find that it is full of pride
 many other places as well, it refers not only to our         and lust and vanity. They do not speak of God at all
 thinking and reasoning but also to the related               except in cursing and swearing and blasphemy. If
 desires, purposes, and affections of our mind. The           you consider their desires and ambitions you will
 child of God is spiritually minded because the               find that they are worldly. They seek only the vain
 Spirit of God dwells within him. The spirit of God           glory of man and of life without any regard for God
 has transformed and renewed his mind. The Chris-             at all. If you truly examine their works you will find
 tian is led by the Spirit of God. This spiritual             that they are evil altogether. It is not true that their
 mindedness must always be evident in the life of             works are in some sense good and pleasing to the
 the child of God. We are exhorted to walk in the             Lord as some in the church have sought to claim.
 Spirit and not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh.            Paul says in Romans 8:7, "The carnal mind is enmi-
    There is an absolute difference between the               ty against God: for it is not subject to the law of
 spiritual and the carnal mind. Those who are                 God, neither indeed can be." What a dreadful reali-
 ungodly are carnally minded. These have not the              ty this is. In all of his thinking, in all of his pur-
 Spirit of God. They do not know God truly. They              poses, all of his desires and affections the  carnal-
 are none of His. God is not in all their thoughts.           minded man stands at enmity against God. What
 They do not seek after Him. Their entire life is con-        can be more terrible than to be at enmity against
 sumed by carnal ambition. The apostle John in his            the Sovereign Holy Lord of heaven and earth and
 first epistle characterizes their life as being of the       the judge of all men? And to be carnally minded is
 lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and of the        death. The carnally minded man has no life in him
                                                              at all, no life toward God, no spiritual life. He is
Arie den Hartog, a missionary  of  the Protestant Reformed    destined to die eternally in hell. Jude speaks of the
 Churches, is currently laboring in Singapore.                terrible judgment that shall come upon ungodly


12                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



sinners: "Behold, the Lord  cometh with ten                  prayer to God in which he truly meets with God
thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon            and talks with God and learns of God. It will be the
all, and to convince all that are ungodly among              great delight of the spiritually-minded man to fre-
them of all their ungodly deeds which they have              quent the house of God for he knows and ex-
ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches            periences that God dwells there. He diligently at-
which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.               tends unto the preaching of the Word of God
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after              wherein God's truth is made known and explained
their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great              to him. He will make good use of the many ex-
swelling words, having men's persons in admira-              cellent books and Christian literature that is avail-
tion because of advantage" (Jude 14-16).                     able today. He will not waste his time reading the
      We were also once carnal by nature and subject         carnal trash of this world nor watching the evil and
to the same judgment. But the Lord has chosen us             carnal movie pictures of the world on TV and on
to be His people according to His grace in Christ.           the video and in the theater. If one were to examine
He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings. He           our life carefully, would he find us to be truly
has sent forth His Spirit in our hearts and renewed          spiritually minded?
our minds. We must never forget how awful it is to             Spiritual mindedness stands in contrast to all
be carnal. We must always remember how wonder-               worldliness and materialism and covetousness.
ful and blessed it is to have been  made,spiritual.          How much is our mind on earthly things? How
Paul exhorts us in Romans  8:9, "But ye are not in           much of our time and energy is spent in gaining
the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of    material wealth of this world? How little is spent in
God dwell in you." Therefore we must always                  obtaining spiritual things? Yes, we must be in-
show ourselves to be a spiritually-minded people.            volved in an earthly occupation. We must study to
      There is a real and constant danger that we will       prepare ourselves for such an occupation. We may
again become carnal. Sin still dwells in our bodies.         seek to establish ourselves in our career. We may
We must not let sin reign again in our mortal                seek to advance our business and seek to make our
bodies. We must not obey the lusts of sin in our             farm prosper. But at what point are we becoming
bodies nor yield our members to unrighteousness              carnal when we do this? How much may we give
unto sin (see Romans 6). We must always                      ourselves to these things? If we are truly spiritually
remember that to live after the flesh means death.           minded all the things of this world are secondary.
"But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of        Spiritual and heavenly things are primary. We are
the body, ye shall live" (Romans 8: 13).                     ready to sacrifice and even to lose all earthly things
      As children of God we must strive always to be         for the heavenly. Are we? That is what it means to
truly spiritually minded. But what does it really            be spiritually minded.
mean to be spiritually minded? A spiritually                   The spiritually-minded man is deeply concerned
minded man minds the things of the Spirit of God.            about himself. His concern is not merely to im-
He thinks about these things, he desires these               prove himself and advance in this world. His great
things, he sets his affection on these things. This          concern is to advance in sanctification and obe-
spiritual mindedness will come out in his conversa-          dience to the Lord in his life. The  spiritually-
tion and walk. Let us give some examples of this to          minded man is by the Spirit of God convinced `of
determine whether we are truly spiritually minded.           his own sin. He knows the seriousness of sin and
By the Spirit of God is the knowledge of God. There          the great offense it causes against God. Therefore
is no higher joy and blessedness for the Christian           he hates his sin, he seeks to flee from it. He is very
than to know God, to know Him in a deeply                    deeply concerned, very earnestly desirous about
personal and rich way. Without the Spirit of God no          overcoming his personal sins and weaknesses. He
man can know God. (See I Corinthians 2). Through             longs to be made spiritually perfect before the Lord.
the Spirit we learn of Him, what and who He is.              The remnants of the sinful nature within him are
The spiritually-minded man desires to know God               the source of constant struggle for him. With all his
more and more. He hungers and thirsts after the              might he strives against the sin that remains in him
true knowledge of God. He will not be satisfied              and prays earnestly to God to overcome it. He is not
with a shallow and superficial knowledge of God.             satisfied with sitting still in his sinful nature. He
He seeks to know the deep and wonderful things of            strives for change and progress in his Christian life.
God such as His sovereign grace and love, His wis-           He desires to be made more and more conformable
dom and knowledge, His wonderful predestination,             to the image and example of the Lord Jesus Christ.
His perfect righteousness and holiness. The spiritu-         His great ambition in life is to be holy as the Lord
ally-minded man will therefore search the scrip-             our God is holy. He desires to be a humble and
tures diligently and eagerly for therein God reveals         faithful and obedient servant of the Lord. He
Himself. He will have regular tim.es of devotion and         desires to be made a vessel fit for the master's use.


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                13



He desires that the Lord God might be glorified in       of the church to be offended and to stumble and
all of his life.                                         fall. When offenses arise between brethren he
  You can distinguish the spiritually-minded man         earnestly desires by the grace of God to bring peace
from the carnally-minded man in his daily conver-        and reconciliation. The spiritually-minded man
sation. Eavesdrop on the home of those who are           sees the great importance of taking an active part in
truly Christian. Listen to the conversation. In the      the life and work of the church. He desires to serve
home of the carnally-minded man you will find that       the Lord in her midst. He does not make himself so
the conversation always centers in worldly things,       busy in his business or farm that he has no time to
material things, careers, business, farms, making        attend church meetings and join in the fellowship
lots of money, sports, pleasure, and vacations. In       and life of the church.
the home of the carnally-minded you will constant-         The spiritually-minded man knows that the work
ly hear foul gossip and slander and evil speaking. It    of evangelism is part of the great task of the church
will be different and must be different in the home      of Jesus Christ here on earth. He knows that the
of children of God. Their speech about and towards       gospel must be preached not only to the members
one another will be seasoned with grace. The             of the church but also to the community. His great
spiritually-minded man constantly speaks of the          desire is that the name of God be exalted in the
truth of God that he loves so deeply in his heart. It    preaching of the gospel. His earnest desire is the
is inevitable for him. It is spontaneous. What his       salvation of his fellow man, even as many as the
heart is full of his mouth overflows with. If you        Lord will call and save according to His purpose of
hear two spiritually-minded Christians speaking to       election. Therefore the spiritually-minded man is
each other you will often hear them encouraging          actively involved in programs of evangelism in his
and exhorting and edifying each other with the           church. He desires also personally to give a faithful
Word of God. They will speak with each other of          testimony of his Lord in his life. He desires by his
the wonderful things of God, of His blessed prom-        testimony and good works to bring others to the
ises, and of the joy and hope of His salvation.          Lord. He is not ashamed of the gospel which is the
  You will find that a truly spiritually-minded man      power of salvation unto all them that believe. He
thinks often of the church of Jesus Christ. The          speaks boldly which is the power of salvation unto
church belongs to the things of the Spirit of God.       all them that believe. He speaks boldly and
She is gathered and defended and preserved by the        courageously for his Lord to those whom he meets
Word and Spirit of God. The spiritually-minded           in the daily intercourse of life.
man loves the church. He is concerned about her            We could go on in our description of the truly
welfare. He is concerned that the truth and right-       spiritually-minded man. Are we truly such people?
eousness of God be maintained in her midst. He is        Is this clearly evident in our life. "To be spiritually
concerned that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ       minded is life and peace. . . . For as many as are led
be faithfully preached by her. He seeks to maintain      by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God"
her peace and unity by walking in love with his          (Romans  8:6, 14).
brethren. He is concerned lest he cause a member

TAKING HEED TO THE DOCTRINE
Herman Veldman




                           The Apostles' Creed (7)
          Our Faith in Our Almighty Father (2)


   In our preceding article we asked the question        the Lord without this creation. After all, did not the
whether God became richer when He created the            Lord have something after He created the world
world, whether God with the creation is richer than      which He did not have prior to the creation of this


14                                            THE STANDARD BEARER



universe? First of all, the Lord cannot and did not        cerning the creation of the world and God's eternal
enrich Himself when He created all things. On the          counsel, whether the Lord became richer when He
one hand, this would imply a certain poverty on the        created all things, we stand before an unfathomable
part of God before His creation of the world, a cer-       mystery. After all, we are dealing here with the liv-
tain lack, something which He did not have prior to        ing God, the relation of the Infinite to the finite, the
His calling all things into existence. There is no lack    Eternal to the temporal,  (the Absolute to the
in God. He is the God of eternal Self-sufficiency.         relative, the Creator to the things He created. God,
On the other hand, however, the world is but a mir-        we understand, is incomprehensible, infinitely ex-
ror in which is reflected in a creaturely measure the      alted above all our human puny understanding. We
goodness of our God. How can a mirror enrich the           read in Job  3626, "Behold, God is great, and we
Lord? A mirror simply reflects that which exists           know Him not, neither can the number of His years
eternally and fully and completely within the alone        be searched out." In Psalm 145:3 we read, "Great is
living God. God, we repeat, is the God of eternal          the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and His
Self-sufficiency.                                          greatness is unsearchable." And in Isaiah 40:15-18,
      Besides, we must bear in mind that God has           28 we read, "Behold, nations are as a drop of a
willed and planned all things from before the foun-        bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the
dation of the world. This is God's counsel, some-          balance: behold, He taketh up the isles as a very lit-
thing which is beyond all human understanding              tle thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor
and comprehension. God's counsel is not merely a           the beasts thereof for a burnt offering. All nations
dead blueprint. This is true as far as an earthly ar-      before Him are as nothing; and they are counted to
chitect is concerned. His blueprint is a dead blue-        Him less than nothing, and vanity. To whom then
print. If all we had were a blueprint of an house, we      will ye liken God? or what likeness will you com-
would quickly freeze to death. The blueprint is            pare unto Him? . . . Hast thou not known? Hast
nothing, merely a design or plan; the building itself      thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord,
is the reality. But this does not apply to the Lord.       the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not,
With God, God's counsel is the living reality. God,        neither is weary? There is no searching of His
in His counsel, has conceived of all things. All men       understanding." How, then, shall we comprehend
and all spirits (good and evil) stand eternally before     His work? We read in Job  11:7-g,  "Canst thou by
Him. They all stand before Him also in their rela-         searching find out God? canst thou find out the
tion to one another. And this is not all. God has also     Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven;
conceived of all things, in the heavens above, upon        what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst
the earth beneath, and in all the waters under the         thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the
earth. He has willed all creation, animate and in-         earth, and broader than the sea."
animate, living and lifeless. He has willed the
whole world of plants and vegetation. In His                 Concerning this relation between God's counsel
counsel appear every wind and storm, all raindrops         and His creation, we wish to add a few remarks to
and snowflakes, all things, also in their relation to      what was stated in our preceding article. First of all,
each other. Indeed, we must conceive of this plan          as far as God's counsel is concerned. God's counsel
or counsel in the supralapsarian sense of the word.        is eternal. Now we probably think of God's counsel
He has willed the Christ, the Mediator and Head of         as some sort of a blueprint that was drawn up by
His own; He has willed all the elect with Christ as        God at some moment before the creation of the
their Head; and He has also willed the devil and all       world. We ourselves are creatures of the dust. And
his host. All the reprobates, light and darkness, life     we think, shall we say, in the area of time. Eternity,
and death, sin and grace are all within this counsel       however, is not the same as time, neither is time a
of the Lord. This counsel of God is therefore the ab-      part of eternity; eternity is not time endlessly
solute, living reality. Whereas we see but the             stretched out. God created time. So, God's counsel is
smallest part of it as this counsel unfolds, God sees      not something that was drawn up, that did not exist
this living reality eternally in all its fulness. What     before it was drawn up, and which is no longer of
an amazing truth this is, incomprehensible and             value when once it is being realized and carried
beyond all human understanding. Indeed, God's              out, as is the case with our blueprints. But God's
counsel is  the  living and absolute Reality. Known        counsel is the eternal and living and almighty mind
unto God are all His works from before the founda-         and will of God with respect to all things, in time
tion of the world. This is surely implied in this          and in space. God never was and never will be
wonderful first article of our Apostles' Creed.            without His counsel. He is the eternally decreeing
      Of course, when we consider the question  con-       God. In the second place, God's counsel is  all-
                                                           comprehensive. We also referred to this in our
Herman Veldman is a minister emeritus in the Protestant    preceding article. It embraces all things, this eternal
Reformed Churches.                                         and infinite knowledge of the Most High. How


                                             THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 15



completely beyond all human understanding is also          as the eternal reality of all things is eternally before
this truth! We are aware of only a small part of the       His face and mind.
world at any given moment. We are children of                        * * * * * * * * * *
time. And as children of time we see only a very
small part of the world, and that only on the sur-            We would now call attention to an amazing state-
face, and whatever we see comes and goes. For us           ment at the conclusion of Answer 26 of our Heidel-
the world of the past is gone and the world of the         berg Catechism, which answer is the Catechism's
future is not yet; we live in that indivisible moment      explanation of the first article of our Apostles'
which we call the "present." But the counsel of            Creed, relative to our faith in God the Father,
God is ever before the Lord. He is constantly seeing       Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
His eternal and all-comprehensive plan. And He                This is an amazing confession of faith. Imagine
sees this reality, not as an experience that comes to      what we read here at the conclusion of this answer:
Him from the outside of Him, but as the sovereign          God will provide me with all things necessary for
decree of His own will. All things, from the begin-        soul and body, and, further, He will make what-
ning in Paradise, throughout history and culminating       ever evils He sends me, in this valley of tears, turn
in the antichrist and our Lord's return upon the           out to my advantage. This is indeed an amazing
clouds of heaven, stand eternally before His eternal       confession.
and sovereign mind. Is it not this that we read in            To understand the amazing character of this con-
Acts  15:18: "Known unto God are all His works             fession we must bear in mind that we are not stand-
from the beginning of the world?" And this is not          ing in the original Paradise, in the midst of earthly
all.                                                       perfection, as did Adam. Adam had nothing to fear.
   In this eternal counsel the Lord also sees all          Death was nowhere at hand. There were no
things in their proper relation to each other. Eter-       enemies to threaten his life. The evils whereof we
nally the Lord sees the first Paradise in its relation     read in the Catechism's explanation of the
to the second Paradise. And we must bear in mind           believers' faith in God were not in existence. To the
that we must not introduce the element of time into        contrary, we are in the midst of a valley of tears. Of
this counsel of the Lord. There are in the counsel of      this valley we read in this twenty-sixth answer.
God no firsts or seconds or thirds, etc., timewise.        And this means that, seemingly, God is doing the
There is in God no before and no after. It is not so       exact opposite. Today we hear voices to the effect
that the Lord decreed something today and then             that our evils do not come from God. This, how-
something else tomorrow. All God's counsel, we             ever, as is evident from this answer, is not an opin-
understand, is eternal. There is in this will of God       ion shared by our fathers. We read here of these
no order of time, only an order of importance, what        evils that it is God Who sends them unto us. And
we, therefore, call a logical order. And in this           this means that the Lord, instead of causing all
logical order, the order of importance, the order in       things to work together for our good, is seemingly
which everything occupies its proper place, the            doing, we repeat, the very opposite. Surely, all our
greatest purpose is the glory of God's Name, His           sorrow and misery and grief and death are not ac-
Self-revelation and praise, in the divinely sovereign      cidental. These evils do not befall us by chance.
way of sin and grace, through Jesus Christ, our            The living God is doing all this; the Lord is there-
Lord. This is the supralapsarian conception, em-           fore executing us every day. The Lord is seeking
phasizing that all things have been divinely or-           our good and welfare? Fact is, it is by His wrath that
dained as means unto the end. This is the divine           we are being consumed, even as we also read it in
wisdom, the eternal Reality of all things. Eternally       the ninetieth psalm. Instead of giving us all we
the Lord knows and sees all of history, all things in      need, causing all things to work together for our
the heavens above and upon the earth beneath and           good, He appears to be against us, executing us
in the waters under the earth, all men, saints and         every moment. We may and can never separate all
sinners, including the devil and all his host, in their    these evils from the living God Who alone is in
relation to one another and as serving the glory of        sovereign and absolute control of all these things.
God's Name, and all this from the beginning even             And now we confess this wonderfyl truth. How
until the end of the world. This is God's counsel or       can this be? First of all, my heavenly Father is the
will or good pleasure, the eternal, living Reality of      Creator of the heavens and of the earth. Secondly,
all things. And in the light of this we may perhaps        He surely realized His counsel in Paradise. We are
somewhat grasp the thought that the creation of the        now in this valley of tears? Well, this valley of tears
world did not make God any richer, inasmuch as             is from Him, our Father in Christ Jesus, and it is
the eternal reality of all things is constantly and        from Him as from our Father in Christ Jesus. He is
eternally before His divine mind. Indeed, the crea-        saving us, not from this valley of tears but exactly
tion of the world did not enrich the Lord inasmuch         through it. And, finally, this heavenly Father also


16                                                       THE STANDARD BEARER



sustains all things. Hence, we have nothing to fear.                 things unseen.
Our almighty Creator-Father is in absolute control.                    The Lord willing, we will continue with this first
He is constantly leading and guiding us. We are                      article of our Apostles' Creed in our following arti-
always in His hand. We believe this; and faith is the                cle.
substance of things hoped for and the evidence of

ALL AROUND US
Robert D. Decker




                                                            Euthanasia
                                                    Why Knock Rock?
                                             Points Worth Pondering



Euthanasia:                                                                  Abortion is common. Pornography is open. The birth
      For most of us the Netherlands is the "land of                         rate is way below replacement level, and direct
                                                                             euthanasia took the lives of 20,000 people there last
our fathers." Some of us were born there. When we                            year.
think of Holland we think of the Reformed Chur-
ches and the Reformed Faith. Certain names come                                Euthanasia is not legal - yet. But it is widely prac-
to mind like Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck,                                 ticed. Several doctors have been arrested, and one
                                                                             convicted, for killing patients. But that doctor's  one-
the Canons of the Synod of Dordrecht 1618, 1619,                             year sentence was revoked and he is still seeing pa-
et.  al. But things have changes in the "Vaderland"                          tients and perhaps still killing some of them.
and the change is bad. One of my colleagues, the
Rev. Robert C. Harbach, called my attention to the                             How? Well, current practice is that a patient, or any
                                                                             person, will decide that they want to die. A doctor will
May 29,1986  issue of National Right To Life News in                         be called to the home, or to the patient's hospital bed.
which the following article appeared. The author is                          If the doctor thinks that the person is making a free
J.C. Willke, M.D., president of the National Right                           decision, and if the doctor agrees that death is a good
To Life Committee.                                                           idea, he gives that person a lethal injection.
         Last year, one-sixth of all people who died in                        Sounds incredible, doesn't it? But it is happening. I
       Holland were directly killed by their doctors. When                   was told about one doctor who admitted to killing
       that statement was made last January on the CBS                       over 50 people. My informant, a pro-life physician,
       news program, 60 Minutes,  frankly I didn't believe it.               shook his head and estimated that it could be closer to
       So, when Barbara and I were recently in Holland, we                   500, as this doctor of death is called by families when
       investigated. Sadly we return knowing it is probably                  their own doctor refuses.
       true.                                                                   While the courts have allowed widespread euthan-
         Barbara and I went to Holland at the invitation of                  asia, it is still technically illegal. To "remedy" this, in
       Evangelisch   Omroep   - the Dutch evangelical televi-                February 1986, a bill was introduced into the Dutch
       sion station. The Dutch  evangelicals  are one of the                 Parliament that would have made it legal. The only re-
       two main new forces opposing abortion and euthan-                     quirements would have been that the patient re-
       asia in that nation. The other is a string of 138 well                quested it, and that the killing be done by a licensed
       organized women-helping centers.                                      physician.
         Both of these are growing rapidly, and - I believe                    We were told that currently, "euthanasia is ad-
       -just in time, for that solid little nation is well on the            ministered' only if the person is of sound mind and
       way to moral deterioration. Although its neat country-                requests it. Among those I spoke to, however, this was
       side is dotted with churches, they are largely empty.                 judged to be a cynical lie, for people who  pro-
                                                                             euthanasists want most are those no longer sound of
Robert D. Decker is professor of Practical Theology and                      mind, such as those in a coma, those senile with
New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.                           Alzheimer's and the like. Indeed, I was told that, in


                                                    THE STANDARD BEARER          _.                                              17



   practice, the doctors-of-death were also acting on re-             During the rest of the seminar, the brothers focus
   quests from the families or social agencies.                     on what they call "rock's fatal flaws": escapism and
     For example, I heard one story told of an ailing old           suicide, rebellion and sadomasochism, nihilism and
   man who was quite wealthy. A doctor was called,                  hedonism, drugs and sex, and Satanism. Examples of
   came to his house, and killed him. The story was that            song lyrics, quotations from popular music magazines
   he had requested euthanasia. Not many people really              [Rolling  Stone,   for one], and interviews reinforce the
   believed that story, however, especially when they              authors' contention that "the general direction in rock
   saw his wife and children begin to freely spend the             and roll is away from the Lord Jesus Christ." The
   money he had worked so hard to save . . . .                     prevailing attitude in rock and roll is no longer a seem-
                                                                   ingly innocent escapism or naive pleasure but "Let's
  Can it happen in this country? Given the history                 get crazy! Let's get wild!" total abandonment.
of the abortion issue, not only can it happen, it is
likely that it will. This ought not strike fear in our                Their main concern is the music of such groups as
hearts. Rather it ought to move us to pray the more                Kiss, Prince, Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, Scorpion,
fervently for Jesus' return. These things and more                 Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, the Rolling Stones,
are signs that the end is very near. (cf. Matthew 24)              Berlin, Quiet Riot, AC/DC, Ozzie Osborne, Ratt, Billy
                                                                   Idol, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, even some music by
Why Knock Rock?:                                                   pop-rock groups like the Pointer Sisters, the Doobie
                                                                   Brothers, Hall and Oates, the Bee Gees  - music
  John Worst, music review editor of  The Banner                   whose lyrics often deal very explicitly with sex,
and a professor of music at Calvin College wrote an                homosexual love, rape, incest, suicide, masochism,
article under this title in the August 11, 1986 issue              sadism, transvestism, drug trips, or other sorts of
of  The Banner.  Our young people ought to know                    perversion. The main themes heard and attitudes ex-
what Rock is. Here are excerpts of what Dr. Worst                  pressed in so much of this music are "Do it! Get the
had to say.                                                        ultimate thrill! Sex is salvation! Drugs will open your
                                                                   mind! Life is cheap! The devil is in control!" Horrible
     The Peters brothers, Dan and Steve, pastors from              stuff. But the Peterses don't resort to harangue and
   Minnesota, have done considerable work - conduct-               scare tactics; they simply quote song lyrics, show
   ing interviews with disc jockeys and rock stars, listen-        album covers, cite news items, read appropriate Scrip-
   ing to music, analyzing lyrics, collecting record               ture texts, and ask their audience to make a choice -
   jackets  - in setting up a rock-and-roll seminar that           will you serve God or the devil? . . . One thing many
   they present to schools, colleges, and church youth             younger as well as older people fail to understand is
   groups. This cassette is a live recording of one such           that music - any music - is not just an innocent, fun-
   ninety-minute session, rather like a lecture-demon-             filled, innocuous diversion! Popular music especially
   stration with some questions and answers.                       is not simply the escapist, lively, danceable stuff that
     When I received the cassette, I assumed it was                every kid listens to on her car stereo. Music is a
   another ill-founded, poorly researched harangue                 spiritual force that works powerfully on people; it has
   against America's music with, probably some strident            the capacity to affect them for both good and evil.
   calls for total condemnation and record burning. I
   found the contrary. Although the Peterses have in-                 So why  Knock Rock? Because it is shot through with
   deed conducted record burning ceremonies, their                 all kinds of gross immorality. Originally a music of
   seminar is a reasoned, well-documented exposk of a              bounding energy and high spirits, albeit somewhat
   portion of popular music that deserves condemnation.            rebellious, much of rock today has degenerated into a
   Although I have some quibbles with one or two of                music of hatred, drugs, violence, and sexual perver-
   their conclusions as well as with their slightly alarmist       sion. It needs to be exposed for the evil it harbors, and
   style, on the whole I believe they present a strong case        Christians need to rise up and get angry over what is
   against what they see as the insidious power of con-            happening not only to America`s young people but
   temporary rock and roll, especially the heavy metal             also to America's music . . . .
   kind  - its power to affect minds, its power to in-
   filtrate the heart, and its power to destroy the soul.         We hope and pray that the youth of God's
   The devil has entered the arena of America's popular         church (and their parents for that matter) refuse to
   music and has begun an all-out battle for the intellect,     listen to this music and that rather they: "walk cir-
   the loyalty, and the spirit of America's young people        cumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming
   . . . . In the first half of each seminar the Peterses       the time, because the days are evil." (Ephesians
   discuss six key questions:                                   5:15, 16) We hope and pray too that they will heed
     *Does the image reflect reality, or is it mere hype?       the Word of God which says: "Wherefore be ye not
     *What do the lyrics really mean?                           unwise, but understanding what the will of the
     *What message do the album covers convey?                  Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is
     *What are the goals or intentions of rock and pop          excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to
      stars?                                                    yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual
     *Is the force behind the music good or evil?
     *What are the spiritual consequences of listening          songs, singing and making melody in your heart to
      to too much rock?                                         the Lord." (Ephesians  5:17-19)


18                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER



Points Worth Pondering:                                             posed qualitative gulf between conventional weapons
      In its column "Reflections"  Christianity Today               and nuclear missiles. Our nation has all but tripped
                                                                    the worst ratings on God's Richter scale of fully
prints excerpts of various books, articles, sermons,                deserved moral judgment. Carl F.H. Henry, The
lectures, etc. which it calls "Classic and Contem-                  Christian   Century,   (Nov.   5,  1980)
porary excerpts." The following appeared in a re-
cent issue. We quote them without comment:                                    THE PROBLEM WITH CROSSING
                                                                      We . . . are talking about crossing over . . . . The
                     GOD'S RICHTER SCALE                            term serves perfectly to describe a fact that hit me
         I think we are now living in the very decade when          some seasons ago with the force of revelation. For a
       God may thunder his awesome paradidoomai  (1 aban-           score of years we've all been saying, "Look at how
       don, or I give them up) (Rom. 1:24ff.) over America's        popular evangelicalism is changing the world! It's
       professed greatness. Our massacre of a million fetuses       become acceptable!" No, rather, "Look at how world-
       a year; our deliberate flight from the monogamous            ly popular evangelicalism has become to become ac-
       family; our normalizing of fornication and of homo-          ceptable. It changed more than the world did."
       sexuality and other sexual perversions; our program-           . . . One problem with crossing, with a cross over: it
       ming of self indulgence above social and familial            tends to lose the Cross. And that, as they say, is
       concerns  - all represent a quantum leap in moral            crucial. Martin Marty,  The   Christian   Century   [Jan. l-8,
       deterioration, a leap more awesome than even the sup-        1986)

THE STRENGTH OF YOUTH
Ronald  L. Cammenga





                                    Alone, But Not Lonely



      The problem of aloneness can be a serious one.             friends that you have had and that you trusted have
But it is very much unlike the problem of loneli-                turned against you. Perhaps as young people you
ness. Loneliness, psychologists tell us, is a serious            have had to stand up for your convictions, and this
and growing problem. One of the results of our                   has alienated you from your peers, leaving you
modern, mechanized, technological society is lone-               with a sense of loneliness. Perhaps your loneliness
liness. One of the most serious consequences of the              causes you to weep into the dark hours of the night.
breakdown of marriage and family life in our day is              Perhaps your loneliness has even caused you to
loneliness. Loneliness is worse than physical                    contemplate suicide.
,sickness. People who are lonely say that they                     In John  16:32 Jesus deals with the problem of
would rather face any other problem, even death,                 loneliness. He says to His disciples there, "Behold,
than the problem of loneliness.                                  the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be
      You may be lonely. Perhaps you are lonely                  scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me
because you've lost a husband or a wife, a parent or             alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is
a child, or a dear friend in death. Perhaps you're               with me." Jesus was going to be left alone. His
lonely because you are separated in marriage, or                 disciples were going to be scattered. Yet, Jesus
divorced. Perhaps you're lonely because you have                 teaches here, He would not be alone, because the
no close friend to whom you can talk and in whom                 Father would be with Him.
you can confide. Or perhaps you're lonely because                  The first time the word "alone" is used by Jesus
                                                                 in John 16:32, it is used in a physical or geograph-
Ronald  L. Cammenga  is pastor  of the Protestant Reforbzed      ical sense. "You will leave me alone," Jesus says.
Church of Loveland, Colomdo.                                     This is the kind of aloneness that results when


                                           THE STANDARD BEARER                                                 19



everyone around you has left. It's the kind of            when one is surrounded by enemies. Then we are
aloneness caused by physical isolation. It is one         very alone. This was the sense of aloneness that Eli-
thing to be alone. It is one thing to be alone because    jah felt: "And he said, I have been very jealous for
your loved one has died, or because friends have          the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel
left you, or because you find yourself in a strange       have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine
place where there is no one around you know or to         altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I,
whom you can speak. That's one thing.                     even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it
  But the second time Jesus uses the word "alone"         away." This was the aloneness that Job felt too, and
here, something else comes into view. He says, "I         that he gives expression to in Job  19:13-19. There
am alone, YET I am not alone. Although in one             he speaks of being estranged from his own
sense of the word I am alone, in another, more im-        brethren, forgotten by his most familiar friends; an
portant sense of the word, I will not be alone." The      alien to the members of his own household, so that
disciples will physically leave Jesus alone, and He       his breath was strange even to his wife, and the
will be surrounded by people who are His enemies.         children and servants despised him.
But He will not be lonely. Alone, but not lonely.           A fourth cause of aloneness is misunderstanding.
They are two different things. Even in the hour of        Because of misunderstanding and misapprehen-
betrayal, when all turn against Him and everything        sion, we may be left alone. Our best friends mis-
falls away from Him, even when He is left alone,          understand us, doubt the sincerity of our motives,
He will not be lonely. He will not be lonely in the       our actions, or our words, and so turn against us
Garden of Gethsemane. He will not be lonely in            and betray us. They simply have taken us up
Pilate's judgment hall. He will not be lonely when        wrongly, or deliberately twisted things. We have all
He is victimized by His captors. He will not be lone-     had this, I'm sure.
ly as He carries the cross on His bleeding back to          Although the child of God may be alone, he
Calvary. He will not be lonely when He hangs there        ought never to be lonely:  ". . . and shall leave me
on that cross. Why? "Because the Father is with           alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is
me."                                                      with me." We need not be lonely because, in the
  There are at least four different causes of alone-      deepest sense of the word, we are not alone; the
ness. First, there is aloneness caused by desertion.      Father is with us! Above and beyond all other rela-
Jesus was left alone because the disciples deserted       tionships, Jesus had His attention focused on His
Him. Matthew  26:56 tells us, "Then all the               relationship to His Father. He was constantly in the
disciples forsook him, and fled." This was also the       presence of His Father, and therefore He was never
experience of the apostle Paul. He writes in II           really alone.
Timothy 1: 15, "This thou knowest,  that'all they           The Psalmist shares this conviction in Psalm 139.
which are in Asia be turned away from me; of              This psalm praises the omnipresence of God. The
whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes." In II                 Psalmist perceived that, no matter to what place in
Timothy  4:lO the Apostle says that "Demas hath           the world he would go, no matter how he might
forsaken me, having loved this present world." We         isolate himself from every human being, yet he
have all experienced the desertion of friends and         would not be alone. God would be there.
family. We know by experience this kind of alone-
ness.                                                       This is certainly the testimony of all of Scripture.
  A second cause of aloneness is necessary separa-        The word of God in Hebrews 135 is, "I will never
tion. Perhaps this is the separation from loved ones      leave thee, nor forsake thee." In II Corinthians  4:9
because it becomes necessary to move to a different       the apostle Paul speaks of being  ". . . persecuted,
part of the country, or even of the world. Christian      but not forsaken." The Psalmist expresses his con-
school teachers, ministers, and missionaries often        viction in Psalm  27:lO that "When my father and
experience this. Or perhaps it's the separation of a      my mother forsake me; then the Lord will take me
young man from his family because he must go off          up." And we have the great promise of Christ
somewhere to fight for his country. Or perhaps the        Himself in Matthew 28:20, at the time of His ascen-
separation is the permanent separation between            sion into heaven: "Teaching them to observe all
loved ones caused by death. Think, once, of the           things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo,
aloneness of Joseph, sold as a slave into Egypt,          I am with you always, even unto the end of the
separated from his home and family. Think of the          World." Christ is with us, with us always, with us
aloneness of the widow and the widower, or of             even to the end of the world. The great privilege of
parents bereft of a child.                                the Christian is that although we might be left all
                                                          alone, we are not lonely. Christ Himself is always
  A third cause of aloneness is opposition. Often         there. Although we are alone, the loneliness is
the most intense sense of isolation is experienced        swept away by an ever present God and His Son


20                                                      THE STANDARD BEARER



Jesus Christ.                                                       take it away. Only God can do that. The lonely per-
      As believers we ought to take a special interest in           son must be pointed to God and to Christ for the
those members of the congregation who are alone                     solution to his loneliness. The Lord says in
and who are faced with loneliness. We ought to                      Jeremiah  49:11, "Leave thy fatherless children (to
write them or send them a card, we ought to stop                    me), I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows
and visit with them, or have them over for a meal                   trust in me."
and for fellowship. James says in James 1:27, "Pure                   Only God can dispel our loneliness. And this is
religion and undefiled before God and the Father is                 our hope. Even though every meaningful relation:
this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their af-               ship in life is dissolved, the Lord is still with us. We
fliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the                    have a God Who will see us through, Who will
world." Part of the "affliction" of the widows and                  stand by our side, Who will dissipate our  loneli-
orphans is the affliction of loneliness. We ought to                ness. We will not be alone even at the end, when
do what we can to assist them in this affliction.                   we face our last great enemy, death: "Yea, though I
      But the fact is that you can't do anything                    walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I
ultimately for the lonely person that will cover his                will fear no evil: for thou art with me" (Ps.  23:4).
loneliness 24 hours a day. For a little while you can                 Though we might be alone, we shall never be
assuage his loneliness. But you can't ultimately                    lonely.





                                                    Book Reviews


ROMANS,  A Shorter Commentary, by C.E.B.                               In his discussion of justification in 1: 17 and in his
Cranfield; Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1985;                    interpretation of  7:15 ff, the author has also many
388 pp., $10.95 (paper), (Reviewed by Prof. H.                      worthwhile things to say. He is convinced, e.g.,
Hanko)                                                              (contra Ridderbos and Hoekema) that the latter
      This commentary was first published in The In-                passage refers to the child of God who is sanctified
ternational Critical Commentary series, and has                     in principle.
been now abridged by the omission of the Greek                             Many commentators have stated confidently that it
Text and many notes and references.                                     cannot be a Christian who speaks here. But the truth
      One always turns with eagerness to a commen-                      is, surely, that inability to recognize the distress
                                                                        reflected in this cry as characteristic of Christian ex-
tary on Romans because, as the author himself says                      istence argues a failure to grasp the full seriousness of
in the introduction: "Again and again (this epistle)                    the Christian's obligation to express his gratitude to
has played a decisive part in the renewal of Chris-                     God by obedience of life . . . . The assertion that this
tian faith and life" (p. ix).                                           cry could only come from an unconverted heart, and
      In some respects this is a good commentary. In                    that the apostle must be expressing not what he feels
connection with Romans 1:16 and the author's dis-                       as he writes but vividly remembered experience of
cussion of faith he writes:                                             the unconverted man, is, we believe, totally untrue
                                                                        . . .  (p. 169).
         And it (faith] is not  - as man's response to the
       gospel - a contribution from his side which, by fulfill-       But the real test of an author's willingness to bow
       ing a condition laid down by God, enables the gospel         before Scripture in the book of Romans comes with
       to be saving. In that case, faith would itself be, in the    his interpretation of Romans 9. Here the author
       last resort, a meritorious work; but it is of the very       falls flat. In openly denying sovereign reprobation,
       essence of faith, as Paul understands it, that it is op-     the author writes as his perspective of the entire
       posed to all human deserving, all human establishing         chapter:
       of claims on God. Faith is the openness to the gospel
       which God Himself creates.  He not only directs the                And the implication of the argument is that, though
       message to the hearer, but also Himself lays open the            the roles they fulfil are so sharply contrasted, Ishmael
       hearer's heart to the message. (p. 19)                           as well as Isaac, Esau as well as Jacob, Pharaoh as well


                                                   THE STANDARD BEARER                                                          21



   as Moses, the vessels of wrath as well as the vessels of       Following two introductory chanters in which
   mercy, that is, the mass of unbelieving Jews (and           the author  -deals  with the "Great  LPrinciples and
   unbelieving Gentiles too) as well as the believing          Methods of the Study of the Bible" and "An In-
   Church of Jews and Gentiles] stand within - and not         troduction to the Old Testament, the New Testa-
   without - the embrace of the divine mercy. (p. 227)         ment, and the Pentateuch" Thomas introduces
  C.E.B. Cranfield is professor of theology at the             each of the five books of the Pentateuch and gives
University of Durham, England.                                 an outline of each. The introductions cover such
                                                               subjects as these: the title, the purpose, the plan,
THROUGH THE PENTATEUCH CHAPTER                                 the unity, the value, the typology, and the message
BY CHAPTER,  by W.H. Griffith Thomas; Kregel                   of each of the books of the Pentateuch. The author
Publications, 1985; 191 pp., (paper) $5.95. (Re-               then in outline form provides a summary of each
viewed by Prof. R.D. Decker)                                   chapter of each book.
  This book provides a brief, well-written, and                   The material is easy to read, and completely free
good introduction to the first five books of the Bi-           from any references to the Hebrew and from any
ble. It would make a good addition to the libraries            technical jargon. W.H.G. Thomas  (1861- 1924) was
of Christian School teachers, Sunday School                    born in England, pastored  a church in London, lec-
teachers, and anyone interested in an overview of              tured at Oxford and in Toronto, and was one of the
the Pentateuch.                                                founders of Dallas Theological Seminary.

                                                                                                                                    1


                            During this busy Fall seas
             we need to make time to read and study
                                       the Standard Bearer.

    Do something nice for yourself and your family,
                   study the Standard Bearer together!


                                Report of Classis West


                                        September 9, 1986      Kuiper led Classis  in opening devotions, addressing
  Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed  Chur-              the delegates from I Corinthians 9:7-14, concerning
                                                                                                                      _..*>.24i
ches met in Houston, Texas, from Wednesday                     the financial support of the Gospel-m&iststw?
                                                                                               ..-  r_icd,_  AU       Rev.+ 
                                                                                                                       .,,.li.G-
                                                                                                                             `!
morning, September 3, until Friday evening,                    Lanting.p~~-~~eZ1~~~e~~~~~~~~~~~~~..~~~~~-~~~~~~g~~~~
September 5. Twelve elders and eleven ministers                werej .p~eseqt-,at  a~lass~~sifo~~t~~e,~s~~t~~~
                                                                                    .c.,` .                         a&signed
represented the  churchesl,ofi  the::~~~~8a~Re-v.~~.           the ~~~r.~~~~rr.Rfi:I:~~~~~ip~i~~~~~  &gy.i,& &aak


22                                             THE STANDARD BEARER



(Lynden), Elder P. Howard (Lynden), and Elder B.                 floor of Classis.  Grounds: 1. The determina-
Huizenga (Randolph)  e                                           tion of the legality of an appeal or protest
      In response to the request of  Doon,   Classis  ex-        does not depend on its being read in its en-
amined Mr. R. Dykstra, Pastor-elect of Doon, as re-              tirety on the floor of  Classis.  2. We  must
quired by Article 4 of' the Church Order. Mr.                    assume that all the delegates to Classis  have
Dykstra preached before the delegates at a special               read all the material in the Agenda
worship service of the Trinity, Houston Congrega-                thoroughly. 3. All the material of a case will
tion on Tuesday evening, September 2. His text was               be available to  Classis and committees of
Matthew  724-27.  Classis approved Mr. Dykstra's                 Classis  for study and discussion. 4. Occa-
examination and advised Doon to proceed with his                 sionally,  Classis  receives a document the
ordination. Three  synodical delegates ad examina                length and repetitiousness of which does
were present at the examination and concurred                    not serve the understanding of Classis.
with the decision of Classis.  By the time this article        Taking cognizance of the acceptance by Synod,
is published, Mr. Dykstra will have been installed           1986, of  Classis' offer of the gift of the C. Vander
in the office of the ministry in Doon,  Iowa, leaving        Molen estate to Synod for use in the support of our
only one vacancy in  Classis West.                           emeriti ministers, Classis authorized the transfer of
      This vacancy is Pella, Iowa. The Consistory of         the money to Synod. By the time the money is
Pella brought to  Classis  a request for  Classis' ap-       transferred to Synod, it will amount to about
proval of the emeritation of her Pastor, Rev. G.             $220,000.
Lanting, because of age, according to Article 13 of            The Church Visitors reported on two, special
the Church Order. Rev. Lanting had made this re-
quest of his Consistory. Classis approved Rev. Lan-          visitations made since the March  Classis,  to help a
                                                             Consistory.
ting's emeritation and sent to the Emeritus Com-
mittee his request for support, with  Classis' ap-             In view of the decision of Synod, 1986 that the
proval. Classis  expressed appreciation to Rev. Lan-         Synodical Treasurer pay bills only upon proper
ting for his labors as Pastor in Classis  West and the       authorization, Classis  designated the Classical
desire that God will grant him and his wife His              Committee of  Classis  West as the instrument of
richest blessing in Rev. Lanting's emeritation. Or-          Classis  to approve all expenses incurred on behalf
dained in 1953, Rev. Lanting has served Christ in            of  Classis in the interim of Classis.
our churches for some 33 years. He has held                    Classis declined the invitation of Dordt College
pastorates in Grand Haven, Michigan; Holland,                to appoint a minister to the Board of Trustees of the
Michigan; Edgerton, Minnesota; Loveland, Color-              College, on the ground that such an action by
ado; and Pella, Iowa.                                        Classis would violate the requirement of Article 30
      Classis  gave Pella classical appointments, accord-    of the Church Order, that "in these assemblies ec-
ing to the following schedule: Sept. 14, 21 - Cand.          clesiastical matters only shall  ,be transacted."
C. Terpstra; Oct. 5, 12  - Engelsma; Nov. 16, 23  -            A proposal by South Holland facilitating arrange-
Moore; Dec. 14, 21  - Dykstra; Jan. 11, 18  -                ments for lodging at  Classis  by the use of a form
Slopsema; Feb. 8, 15  - De Vries; March 1, 8  -              that the delegates will send to the host church prior
Kuiper. Rev. Slopsema was appointed moderator of             to each Classis  was adopted.
Pella during her vacancy.
      Much of Classis' timms &ken up with judging              In closed session, Classis considered the requests
the appeal of a member against his Consistory's              of two Consistories for advice concerning discipline
decision to censure him.  Classis  sustained the ap-         of members. In the one case,  Classis  advised the
peal and advised the Consistory to. retract publicly         Consistory to proceed with the second step of cen-
the charges of sin against the member; to apologize          sure; in the other,  Classis advised the erasure of a
to him; and, thus, to lift the censure.                      baptized member.
      In part because of Classis' concern that the right       Our sister in Houston, Texas has existed as a Prot-
of appeal not be infringed upon, Classis  decided not        estant Reformed Church, and been a member of
to adopt regulations limiting the size of appeals.           Classis  West, for nine years. This was the first time
Classis  had appointed a special committee to study          that she was privileged to host the  Classis.  The
the matter and to propose such rules to  Classis,            members of the Congregation were warm and
because of a very large appeal that had been sub-            gracious hosts and hostesses. Because of the small
mitted to Classis.  Classis  did adopt the recommend-        size of the Congregation and because the church
ation of the special committee that  Classis:                building lacks the facilities to serve meals at
       declare that it reserves the right not to read        church, the hosting of  Classis  was demanding for
       lengthy documents in their entirety on the            the Congregation. Households lodged five or six


                                                THE STANDARD BEARER                                                    23



men; a few women prepared meals for some                        equally beneficial to the delegates from the other
twenty-five men; the entire  Classis  had the noon              churches of the  Classis. In many cases separated
and evening meals in the homes of families of the               from-each other by great distances and isolated, the
Congregation. Such was the graciousness of the                  churches of theWest desire the expression and en-
spirit in which al1 this was done that the delegates           -joyment of' th,eiriunity  afforded by the meeting of
were made to feel that they did the Congregation a              Classis.            '
favor in allowing them to serve. The "Texans"                     The Spring, 1987 meeting of  Classis  will be held
spoke of the benefit of  Classis' meeting there for             in Hull, Iowa, on March 4, the Lord willing.
the Congregation; the fellowship with the Congre-
gation at the meetings and in their homes was                                       Rev. David Engelsma, Stated Clerk


                         News From Our Churches
                                                         Ben Wigger





                                         October 1, 1986         still be mentioned here because that program
   The month of October marks a new beginning                    marked their twenty-fifth anniversary as a group. It
for the  Standard Bearer.  It is the start of a new              isn't always easy to stay together as a choir for 25
volume year. And now that it is October, it also                 years, and we should add our congratulations to all
means that it is time for me to go to work as the                the men who took part in that group over the past
new News Editor. I just hope that the back page of               25 years.
this magazine continues the excellence that it has                     By this time you all should have gotten your copy
enjoyed in the past. Over the years I have always                of the Acts of Synod 1986. Although this book will
enjoyed reading the Church News and I hope that                  never make the best seller list, it's free after all, and
enjoyment continues on into the future for both                 very informative to read. After all, it deals with the
you and me.                                                      life of our church. I always like to spend some time
   Not only is this the start of a new year for our              looking in the Yearbook section of the  Acts.  It is
Standard Bearer, it is also the time of the year when            amazing just how much information about our
our church life takes on a much busier schedule.                 churches can be found there. And if you haven't
Our church bulletins are. full of all sorts of an-               gotten your own free copy of our Acts, don't forget
nouncements concerning the: start of catechism                  you are entitled to one.
classes and family visitation. There are reminders                     Rev. R. Flikkema has accepted the call extended
to us of the start of Bible- societies, of choirs, and          to him from Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
discussion groups. Youcantell that summer is over                in  Wyckoff; N.J.
by the number of church activities starting. up.
There is no need  ,to look outside your window to                      Our church in Lynden is busy with plans for a
see if it is fall. Just look. at your church. bulletin.         public Reformation Day lecture on October 30 at
                                                                the Lynden Middle School Auditorium. And they
   There was one announcement that was not seen                 are also looking into the possibility of putting their
in any of our church bulletins this fall. Did you                church services on the radio.
miss it? The announcement I am speaking of con-
cerns our seminary convocation. As you all no                          South Holland's Evangelism Committee has also
doubt know, there are no young men enrolled in                  decided to sponsor a Reformation Day lecture in
our seminary thisfall. No students, no convocation.             the area of the Northwest Chicago Mission, with
This fact has to make us all a little sad. We should           our missionary, Rev. Van Overloop, as speaker. As
remember this need daily in our p.rayers.                       of now a site and topic have yet to be decided.
   Even though the Hope Heralds, an all male                           Hudsonville Church is in the process of com-
chorus from our Hope Church in Grand Rapids,                    pleting a new pictorial church directory. I
gave their latest concert on September 7, it should             discovered this when I was informed by my wife
                                                                that our family was scheduled to have our picture
Ben  Wigger is a member  of  the  Protestant Reformed           taken on a Saturday for that directory. Personally, I
Church  of  Hudsonville, Michigan.                              like pictorial directories, and I have often thought it


                                                                                                                                                  THE STANDARD BEARER
                                                                                                                                                          P.O. Box 6064  __j  _                                                 1  I  :  `.`;.  i,
                                                                                                                                              Grand Rapids,  Michigan.49506!' -.:i..:
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                  2 4                                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                  would be nice if a&our churches had them so they                                         Heritage Christian School in Hudsonville opened
                  could be exchanged from one congregation to the                                      its doors for the school year on September 3 with an
                  other.                                                                               enrollment of over 250 students. That's quite a few
                         First Church in Grand Rapids has set Thursday,                                students for only the second year of operation for
                  October 16 as the date for the formal.dedication of                                  Heritage. Several classes are over 30 in number and
                  its new church building and their new organ. An in-                                  this again means split classes for grades K-3. Need-
                  teresting program is being planned, part of which                                    less to say the school is growing faster than ex-
                  will be numbers sung by a choir being formed just                                    pected. But this does present a new problem  -
                  for this event.                                                                      room.  The Board is currently studying. the
                                                                                                       possibilities of portable classrooms or an addition
                                                                                                       in the future.

                  G                           RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                  " The Consistory of Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church  ex-
                  &%sses its sympathy to the family of Mr. and Mrs. Duane Mingerink                                       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                  in the death of his father, MR. THOMAS MINGERINK.                                        The members of the Adult Bible Society of the Doon Protestant
                  ;&lay they be comforted with the assurance of the promise of                          Reformed Church wish to express their Christian sympathy to Mr.
                  I&$ah 35: 1 Ob: "They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and                   and Mrs. Jim Hoogendoorn, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Mantel, Mr. and Mrs.
                  &hing shall flee away."                                                               Glen Mantel and Mr. Marvin Mantel in the death of their mother,
                                                                                                        MRS. GLADYS MANTEL.
                  Rev: B. Gritters, Pres.
                  Kebheth Kuiper, Clerk                                                                    "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
                                                                                                        life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." (Psalm 23:6)
                  p$pI
                  .x:  s-
                  er  lb                      RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                   Adult Bible Society
                                                                                                        Karen Van Den Top, Sec'y.
                  -rirThe Consistory of Byron Center Protestant Reformed Church  ex-
                  pres,ses its sympathy to the Jay Holstege family in the death of their
                  daEg%ter and sister,  LORI HOLSTEGE.                                                                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                  fyylrj
                         `"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I                 On September 26, 1986, our dear parents and grandparents, MR.
                  will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they com-             AND MRS. JOHN PFAU celebrated 45 years of marriage. We wish to
                  f@&r$e:" (Psalm 23:4)                                                                congratulate them and thank them for their many years of dedicated
                  ..d .  d                                                                             parenting and God-fearing examples. We pray God's blessing upon
                  lQv.&~Gritters,  Pres.                                                               them for as long as He spares them for each other and us.
                  Kenneth Kuiper, Clerk                                                                    "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance
                                                                                                       shall be forever." (Psalm 37:18)             :
                  J$  -;o'i  F,                WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                     Bill and Dorothy Witvoet
                  ~S&%Zptember  28, 1986, our parents and grandparents, GEORGE                             Bill and Liane and 4 great-grandchildren
                  ANqiGRACE  KAMPS celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary.                              Randy and Debbie and 1 great-grandson
                  We$rei,r.phildren and grandchildren thank God for giving them these                      Ricky
                  &%r%"ether and for giving them to us. May our covenant God con-                      Paul and Irene Pfau      Lou Musich               Ed and Patty Bruinsma
                  tinue to bless and keep them in the coming years.                                        Matt                     Daryl                         Jeremy
                  D6i'$or&e Lord is good: His mercy is everlasting. And His truth en-                      Paula                    Stevie                        Chad
                  du;e&&,$ generations." (Psalm 100:5)                                                                                                            Jared
                                   .A
                  ALL,                   *
                  iii;?./  ,(XtQ?l                     their loving children and grandchildren                            RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                  Q>  .`&k<iz..                                                                           The Martha Ladies Aid Society of the Hull Protestant Reformed
                           .54&3' LEAGUE MEEilNG NOTICE                                                Church expresses its sincere sympathy to our fellow members Mrs.
                         The Fall Meeting of The League of Eastern Men's and Ladies'                   Ben Bleyenberg in the loss of her husband, MR. BEN BLEYENBERG,
                  S?X%e&wilTbe  held, the Lord willing, on Tuesday, October 7, 1986                    and also to Mrs. Tony Jansma. Mrs. John Hoksbergen and Mrs. Alvin
                  $t  8.:9C&~~m:~ at the First Protestant Reformed Church, in Grand                    Bleyenberg in the loss of their father.
                  &+-7&;   7:, !                                                                          "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were
                  iis  Prpfi$ler&n Hanko will speak on "The Benefits and  Responsi-                    dissolved, we have a building of God, not made with hands, eternal in
                  biliti~Jo$  Gur Sister Church Relationship with Other Churches." All                 the heavens." (II Corinthians 5:l)
                  me'mb&%%$thers interested in this topic are urged to attend.                         Rev. Richard Moore, Pres.
                                                                      Elsie Kuiper, Secretary          Mrs. Ted Hoekstra, Vice Sec'y.


