                     -IHE'
                    sI;QNDARD
A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine            BBR





November 7, 1987


 Contents                                                                                                THE
                                                                       November 7,?987              SPWE!!~
Meditation - Cornelius Hank0
ThyWillBeDone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50            BBWER
Editorial  -                                                                                        ISSN 0362-4692
As To Evolution At Dordt College (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .`. . . .52                   Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July,
                                                                                                    and August. Published by the Reformed Free Pub-
Feature  -                                                                                          lishing  Awciation,  Inc. Second Class Postage Paid
                                                                                                    at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
Institution of Covenant Evangelical Reformed                                                        EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
                                                                                                    Prof. Homer C. Hoeksema
    Church,Singapore...................................53                                           DEPARTMENT EDITORS
Guest Article - Steven R.  Houck                                                                    Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Rev. Arie den Hartog,
                                                                                                    Prof.  Rob+  D. Decker, Rev. Barry  Gritters,  Rev.
OurPrayerForVengeance..............................56                                               CorneliuvHanko,  Prof. Herman C. Hanko, Rev.
                                                                                                    Ronald Hanko, Rev. John A. Heys, Rev.  ).  Korter-
The Day of Shadows  - John A. Heys                                                                  ing, Rev. George C. Lubbers, Rev. Thomas C.
                                                                                                    Miersma, Rev. James  Slopsema,  Rev.  Cise  J. Van
Saving Grace Breaking Through The Clouds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58                           Baren,  Mr. Benjamin  Wigger.
                                                                                                    EDITORIAL OFFICE
`Guided  into  All Truth  - Thomas C. Miersma                                                       Prof. H.C. Hoeksema
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Rationalism and Its Fruit (I) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60           Crandville,  Michigan 49418
Taking Heed To The Doctrine  - Ronald H.  ,Hanko                                                    CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
                                                                                                    Mr. Ben  \Yigger
The Two Natures of Christ: The Deity of Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . .62                         6597 40th Ave.
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From Holy Writ  - George C. Lubbers                                                                 EDITORIAL POLICY
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50  / The Standard Bearer


done on earth as it is in heaven."        even of secret sins, which are so         before Thee, Who art our almighty,
   Thy will, 0 our God, is living, ac-    deeply offensive to Thee, and yet         sovereign God, Who dost carry out
tive, efficacious, even as Thou, who      are still unknown to us. If we should     Thy eternal purpose through all the
art the living God. Thou wiliest Thy-     see and know ourselves in the light       works of Thy hand. There are not
self exactly as Thou art in all Thy       of Thy perfect law as we actually         "infinite possibilities" in Thy decree,
divine perfections, living Thy own        are, and as Thou seest us, we             that can vary according to our
blessed life of covenant fellowship as    would have even greater reason to         whims and fancies, as if Thou
Triune God, delighting in and seek-       hide our faces in shame and humble        wouldst change Thy decree to please
ing Thy glory as God above all,           ourselves in dust and ashes. How far      us. Thou knowest the end from the
blessed forever. Thy will is holy,        we still are from living our entire       beginning, and dost determine even
righteous, sovereign, eternal, even       lives from moment to moment in            the minutest details of our lives from
as Thou art, the only true and living     complete self-surrender and devotion      the dawn of history unto the last
God!                                      to Thee. We must cry out with the         hour. The earth-shaking events, such
  We worship Thee, even as in Thy         apostle Paul, "0 wretched man that I      as wars, earthquakes, famines and
sovereign good pleasure Thou hast         am, who shall deliver me from the         floods, are a clear testimony of Thy
created us and chosen us in Christ        body of this death?" Therefore we         sovereign power over all. But also
Jesus, and redeemed us through His        pray the more earnestly: Teach us         the ordinary events, such as the ris-
blood from all our sins, meriting for     by Thy Word and Spirit to crucify         ing and setting of the sun, spring
us the right to a place in Thy eternal    the flesh, to fight against sin that      time and harvest, health and sick-
kingdom. Realizing our own empti-         wars in our members, and to walk          ness, our food and our drink, yes,
ness and unworthiness, we marvel          according to the new man in Christ        even to the single hair of our heads,
that Thou shouldst love us and claim      Jesus. Give that we may keep Thy          must serve Thy purpose to our
us as Thy sons and daughters, heirs       precepts with a willing, joyful heart!    salvation and Thy glory. Thou art in
of eternal life. We can only ask our-       We desire "that we and all men          no sense of the word dependent
selves, "Why us, Lord, who of our-        may renounce our own will, and            upon the creature, for even the
selves deserve only Thy condemna-         without murmuring obey Thy will,          hearts of kings are in Thy hand, to
tion?" We humbly confess that it is       which is good." Not that we expect        be turned as a stream of water
only Thy eternal, sovereign mercy         that in this present time all men will    whithersoever Thou willest. Thou art
that can claim us as Thine own. As        surrender themselves in obedience         for us, and nothing can be against
Thy redeemed and sanctified               before Thee. We do not cherish the        us, for Thou dost turn even our
children, cherishing the hope of eter-    vain dream that "the whole world          desires, thoughts, words, and deeds
nal life with Thee, we pray: Thy will     will be won for Christ," and that an      to our ultimate good. Thine is the
be done!                                  earthly kingdom of Christ will be         kingdom, the power and the glory
  The very fact that Thou art`the         established before the end of the         forever!
holy, righteous and sovereign God         ages. Scripture plainly teaches us          In that confidence we pray: "Thy
requires that men shall obey Thy          that we are living in the last hour,      will be done on earth as it is in
sovereign will, not with a mere out-      and that the next major event on          heaven." We ask that Thou wilt
ward lip worship, but from the heart.     Thy calendar is the coming of the         bestow on us the grace that we may
Thou dost require that we shall love      Son of man on the clouds of the           live our lives in complete self-
Thee, the Lord our God, with our          heavens to set up His throne of judg-     surrender to Thee, even as the
whole being, keeping Thy command-         ment and to bring His church unto         angels and saints do in heaven, only
ments in complete self-surrender to       Himself in the new creation. Our          to serve and praise Thee in humble
Thee. Thy law is holy, just, and          Lord, having laid down His life for       love and devotion. May we realize
good. It is the good and perfect way      His sheep, now lives and reigns to        that Thou art the Potter and that
in which we as Thy children may           carry out the counsel of Thy will in      we are the clay, vessels of honor
live in harmony and fellowship with       bringing us to glory. We look for-        which Thou art preparing for our
Thee. It is the way of true peace and     ward to a new heaven and a new            own place in glory. So often we
blessedness, for it is the excellent      earth in the day when every knee          complain when things are not to our
way that leads us to glory. Accord-       shall bow and every tongue shall          liking. We think we know what is
ing to the new man in Christ we           confess that Christ is Lord to the        best for us, striving for our own
may confess, "0 how love I Thy law.       glory of Thy Name. Then we, with          pleasures, our own carnal, sinful
It is my meditation by day and by         all the angels, will surrender            desires. We are proud, selfish,
night." Yet sin still wars in our         ourselves in humble devotion before       greedy in our strivings and prayers.
members. While we will the good,          Thee forever.                             Teach us to look away from
we do the evil, our conscience con-         We are deeply aware not only of         ourselves, that we may fade into the
demning us. We are still so prone to      Thy ethical will that must be             background, and that the glory of
evil, that our best works, even our       obeyed, but also of the will of Thy       Thy Name may be the great ambi-
prayers, are polluted with sin. We        decree, which must be carried out in      tion of our lives. Create in us a will-
are daily guilty of deliberate sins,      us, by us, and. round about us, unto
and also of inadvertent sins, and         the day when Thou wilt make all
                                          things new. We bow in adoration


                                                                                                        The Standard Bearer I51


ing submission to Thy will also when      we, whether old or young; should be        leads us to our eternal home. With
everything seems all wrong and all        called to serve for the edification of     the Psalmist we pour out our hearts
things seem to be against us, When        the saints, even serving as, examples      in prayer:
we struggle in the whirlpool of           by word and deed? Who are we,                 Teach me, 0 Lord, Thy way of
adversity or pain, in serious or even     who of ourselves lack all zeal or               truth,
fatal illnesses, or loss of dear ones,    courage to fight, who often falter               And from it I shall not depart;
then lead us to the Rock that is          when the battle rages, that Thou              That I may steadfastly obey,
much too high for us to reach. May        shouldest keep us on the front lines             :Give me an understanding
we then be able to pour out our           of the battle against our spiritual                heart.
souls in prayer and supplication,         enemies, the devil, the world, and            In Thy commandments make me
even as our Lord did in His bitter        our own sinful flesh? Equip us, that            walk,
agony in Gethsemane. May we make          we may recognize the gifts and                   For in Thy law my joy shall
known to Thee our anxiety and             talents entrusted unto us, and that                be;
cares, our doubts and our fears, in       we may be faithful unto Thee even             Give me a heart that loves Thy
order that we with Him may learn          unto death.                                     will,
obedience and in total submission           Bless those whom Thou hast                    `From discontent and envy
say: "Thy will be done."                  placed in authority over us. Supply                free.
  We also pray that "every one may        them with wisdom, love, zeal, and            Give us along with our obedience
attend to, and perform the duties of      devotion to Thee in the specific call-     and self surrender to Thee the com-
his station and calling, as willingly     ing to which.Thou hast called them,        fort of the Holy Spirit and the peace
and as faithfully as the angels doin      whether as ministers, or elders, or        that passes all understanding. We
heaven." Thou givest us the amazing       deacons in the church, or teachers         have no other comfort in times of
privilege that we may belong to that      in the school, or parents inmthe           pain and suffering, in times of doubts
people whom Thou hast chosen unto         home. Give that in ready submission        and fears, or in times of bereave-
Thyself from eternity. We are             to Christ they may serve unto the          ment, or when we are brought nigh
privileged to be members of the           coming of Thy kingdom, and that            unto death, than the assurance that
body of Christ, each functioning in       we also in our submission to them          all things come to us, not by chance,
his own place with the talents Thou       may serve, that Thy Name never be          but from Thy merciful Father hand.
hast entrusted to him for the welfare     dishonored, but shall receive the          Thou, our Shepherd, leads us in
of all other members. To us Thou          glory.                                     green pastures and beside still
hast given the privilege to have Thy        Although we distinguish between          waters. Thou restorest our souls;
own revelation of Thyself in the          the will of Thy command and the            Thy rod and Thy staff comfort us,
pages of the holy Scriptures, and to      will of Thy decree, we realize that        for Thou art near.
possess Thy indwelling Spirit Who         these two are basically onei even as         Surely goodness and mercy shall
gives us a living faith and an insight    Thou art one. Together they are the        follow us all the days of our lives,
into the treasures of Thy Word. We        way that Thou hast spread out              and we shall dwell in the house of
may confess Thee as our God, and          before us, assuring us that this is the    the Lord forever!
Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.      way in which we should walk to               Yea,' Lord, teach us also to pray
Who are we that to us should be en-       please Thee and to experience Thy          alway:;: Thy will be done! 0
trusted the children of Thy cove-         blessing, for this is the way:that
nant, to be brought up in Thy fear
and to Thy glory? Who are we that





                                          As To Evhtiori At
Editorial                                 Dordt Qllege (2)

                                            Considerable space has been              therefore my editorial space will
                                          given in this issue to a report on the     have to be limited in this issue.
                                          institution of the second congrega-        However, I recently received a new
                                          tion of the E.R.C.S. in Singapore, and     recording, taken from the sound

52 / The Standard Bearer


 track of a video recording, of the                structures, indicating a highly likely      "So to summarize the point, I
speech by Prof. Hodgson at Hills-                  reptile ancestry.                         would like to say the following. The
 dale, Michigan. This is a very clear                "Again, a transition from fish to       case for evolution, I believe, is a
recording, and in the interest of ac-              lung fish to amphibians does, to          good one on the basis of available
 curacy I shall quote again, in cor-               some extent, seem to be in evidence-      scientific evidence. The possibility,
rected form, the concluding                        in the discovery of some species that     however, of divine creation of some
paragraphs of Prof. Hodgson's                      have been found.                          basic life forms, particularly at
speech, so that there can be no                      "Furthermore, if we look at the         higher taxonomic levels, over widely
question as to what he said in them.               history of earth rocks - and some         spaced intervals of time - not just a
Here they are:                                     micro-fossils go back more than           few thousand years now - is a
   "Do mammals, for example, have                  three billion years - we are con-         possibility which cannot be ruled out
 a common ancestor? Do all tax-                    fronted with the fact that the simpler    on the basis of present scientific ob-
 onomic phyla and kingdoms go back                 kingdoms, like Kingdom Monera, oc-        servational evidence. And so, I think
to a single ancestral line? They are               curred before the more complex            that that is about where we really
 good questions, and they are not                  forms of life. So there seems to be a     have to leave it. I think that there
 easily answered. On the basis of                  gradual divergence over time into         are some things that strongly sug-
 presently available scientific                    more and more complex life forms.         gest evolution as an explanation for
 evidence, I think we cannot be total-             The earliest life forms were ex-          a lot of the varieties of life that we
ly sure. The studies of the earliest               ceedingly simple and did not even         find. Whether it will explain every-
 mammals and birds, too, for that                  have nucleated cells. More recent         thing, of course, will remain
matter, show strong reptilian skeletal             life forms have been, of course,          somewhat for the future to dis-
                                                   multi-celled, with some very compli-      cover." 0                            HCH
                                                   cated organs that are involved.
                                              -





                                              Institution of Covenant
                                              Evangelical Reformed
 feature
Mr. & Mrs. Dewey Engelsma Church, Singapore


[Editor's Note: Mr. & Mrs. Dewey                   Dear Friends of the Protestant            and daughters, finally made the deci-
Engelsma, of Hope P.R.C., Walker,                  Reformed Churches:                        sion to arrange a travel schedule, in
Michigan, were present at the institution            On the 6th of September a very          order to witness this church institu-
of the second congregation of the                  important event took place on the         tion and to have fellowship again
Evangelical Reformed Church in
Singapore, a very important event in the           island of Singapore. The second con-      with these dearly-beloved saints,
history of the young E.R.C. and in the             gregation of our sister church was          At this time we will make no at-
lives of the saints there. This report, in         instituted, choosing the name of          tempt to relate the unique spiritual
the form of a letter, is from the                  Covenant Evangelical Reformed             experiences which we were priv-
Engelsmas. HCH]                                    Church.                                   ileged to enjoy during the many
                                                     It was a blessed occasion and, in       varied church-related activities and
                                                   this writer's observation, could well     other social gatherings. Only allow
                                                   have been, in God's providence, the       us to state that the communion of
                                                   most significant event that took          the saints and the attendant
                                                   place in the world on that Sabbath        hospitality were even beyond our
                                                   Day.                                      expectations. If any reader should
                                                     The undersigned and his wife,           contemplate making this trip, be
                                                   after much soul-searching and with        assured you, too, will be most
                                                   no little urging from our Asian sons      welcome. Their gracious reception

                                                                                                                The Standard  Bearer  I53


                                           The services for the institution          Contact. Here, too, some felicitous
                                         began at 1:45 P.M. and were con-            com:ments  were in order.
                                         cluded at approximately 5 o'clock.             Included in this part of the pro-
                                         Most of the members from both con-          gram was a song from the Sunday
                                         gregations were present for this            School children, coupled with the
                                         memorable occasion; and' there was          congregation singing the special
                                         the added attraction of their               songs of praise. Acknowledgements
                                         children. This is not only a wonder-        were,also made with the presenta-
                                         ful addition, but families are so           tion of a gift to those who had per-
                                         necessary for a continuing church.          formed special tasks.
                                         With the gift of these twenty-six sons         As the institution service moved
                                         and daughters, the Word of God in           along, we became painfully aware of
                                         Acts 2:39 has become a visible reali-       the absence of an official ,delegation
Ordination of one of the Session         ty to them, "For the promise is unto        from our Protestant Reformed Chur-
members.                                 you and to your children, and to all        ches. We can say this without being
                                         that are afar off, even as many as          accusatory, since I, too, was a dele-
and loving concern are not reserved      the Lord our God shall call."               gate to our recent Synod of June,
for the elderly. We suggest that           Rev. Lau officiated; and after            1987:; and when the letter from
young or old visit these youthful        opening devotions, he took for his          Singapore was read, I concurred
members of our sister churches in        sermon's theme the words, "Follow           with the recommendation to decline
Singapore. You will not be dis-          Thou Me,",which Christ spoke at the         their invitation. The rationale for this
appointed; instead you will have         restoration of the Apostle Peter            decision was based on the fact that
lasting, treasured memories.             (John 2 1: 19). A beautiful e,xhortation    we had just sent representatives in
  The institution, as we began, was      to Rev. Mahtani, the elders, the            1986; ,and it was thought inadvisable
held that Sunday afternoon in the        deacons, and the congregation was           to do so again in 1987.
auditorium of the Singapore              effectively preached.                          It became evident to us that there
American School, where the new             After the sermon, Rev. Mahtani,           is a vast difference in the institution
congregation has met for their wor-      the three elders (Ang Leng Huat,            of a new church in our land in com-
ship services for the past nine          Leong Fai Chong, and Wee Gim                parison with one in a foreign coun-
months. With a continual, steady in-     Theng) and the two deacons (Chua            try sulch as Singapore. It was for the
crease of members and visitors, it       Kian Lye and R. Mohan) were or-             youthful saints a day of rejoicing
became apparent that a second            dained with the laying on jof hands..       which they desired to share with our
church would serve to ease the work      This, of course, followed the reading       churches, being members of the
load and the seating problem.            of the Forms for ordinatioh as found        same family. Within the space of five
Hence, in November of last year the      in the Psalter.                             years God had richly blessed the
E.R.C.S.`s  session and congregation       There were several congratulatory         E.R.C.S. with the beginning of
called the Rev. J. Mahtani to provide    letters from certain of our .Protestant     another congregation. So we were
the leadership and pastoral care for     Reformed Churches, and I `was asked         invite,d, as we would invite our
this (second) flock. It took almost a    to read the letters from Hope's             brothers and sisters, to come and re-
half year to complete the arrange-       Council and from the Committee for          joice with them for the great things
ments. And finally, after being ex-
empt from certain government
restrictions, they were able to bring
their plan to completion. Eleven
families (with ten children) and
seventeen individuals came from the
original congregation, the
Evangelical Reformed Church of
Singapore, of which Pastor Lau is
minister.
  And now we quote from the
church's celebration booklet, "The
departure from the E.R.C.S.. for most
members was difficult and sad since
it meant leaving behind of close ties
and the beginning of new friendships
in a totally different environment."
This we can understand, for we also
experienced that same at-home feel-
ing when we met and worshipped in
the humble kampong building at
River Valley Road.                       Part of the congregation at' the seEvice  of institution.

54 / The Standard Bearer


God had done for them. As the body
of believers, we should always be an
encouragement to one another and
participate in these glorious events
as much as possible.
  A Covenant of Commitment was
then spoken in unison by all the
members of the newly organized
church. It is impossible for us even
to try to summarize the essence of
this God-glorifying commitment. And
to lift out at random some para-
graphs or phrases would mar its ex-
quisite symphony of supplication and
praise. So we are taking the liberty
to quote it in its entirety.
                * * *
         Covenant of Commitment
  Finally we have come to this
joyful occasion of the institution of     Installation of Pastor Jaiki Mahtani.
the Covenant Evangelical Reformed
Church.                                   truth towards each other, and above         As we have committed ourselves
  Today we stand here before              all, serving one another in the love      to the wonderful task of pioneering
Almighty God and His beloved peo-         of our Lord Jesus Christ. In a special    this work some ten months ago, so
ple to acknowledge that it is He          way, our toils, our time, and our         now we make this covenant to make
Who has gathered us together for          prayers will be for her. We will avail    it clear before all that it continues to
this most holy task. Almost a year        ourselves for her good and her            be our earnest desire that God raise
ago we made a covenant of commit-         welfare. We will seek to be stedfast,     up through us this Church of Jesus
ment to toil together for the realiza-    unmoveable, always abounding in           Christ. This covenant we make
tion of a new church in this island of    the work of the Lord in this Church.      because of God's eternal covenant
                                          We do this not selfishly as if only to    with us. He is our God and the God
                                          see the Covenant Evangelical              of our children. This is our confi-
                                          Reformed Church prosper. But we           dence, our comfort, our only motiva-
                                          seek her welfare in order that she in     tion to begin this work. And truly, if
                                          turn will be a blessing to others as a    God be for us, who can be against
                                          testimony of the wonderful mercy          us? We march on in the battle with
                                          and faithfulness of God to His peo-       this banner over our heads:
                                          ple. If through us God would be           "Jehovah is on our side, and we are
                                          pleased to gather His elect out of        on His!"
                                          this world of darkness to His               With such an awesome undertak-
                                          marvellous light, we would count it       ing we can only bow in humility and
                                          our greatest joy and blessing. Our        trembling before God. In the
                                          prayer also is that God will use us as    presence of our fellow brothers and
                                          a means of blessing to the ERCS           sisters from the ERCS, we make this
                                          whom we love -and with whom we            cry to God our help and our
Signing of the Formula of Subscrip        desire to serve the Lord in unity.        strength: "Help us, bless us, and use
tion.                                       That same Reformed faith which          us, for Thy own Name's sake!" We
Singapore. By the grace of God we         extols God's grace and which is           also  covet your prayers on our
have come to this point and we say        grounded in the Holy Scriptures and       behalf; we go by faith in the
with one voice and one heart  - God       explained for us in the Three Forms       strength of our God. Do not forget
has been our help and our strength.       of Unity, we will continue to declare.    us, but pray for us.
On this auspicious occasion of the in-    The calling to go into all the world        May this endeavour be used in
stitution of our Church, we confess       to preach the gospel to every             God's grace to gather, defend and
that we continue to rely totally on       creature we will seek to obey by be-      preserve His Church which is being
this grace of our God as we seek to       ing a good testimony and witness as       built by our Lord Jesus Christ
serve Him as the Covenant Evangel-        a Church through the preaching but        through His Word and Spirit even to-
ical Reformed Church.                     also as members of the Church             day in all the nations of the earth.
  We promise to behave ourselves          through our life and walk.                We begin already now as His bride
as members of this body of Christ,                                                  and Church crying: "Come Lord
rejoicing together, weeping together,                                               Jesus, Come quickly!" Yes, we see
admonishing one another, walking in

                                                                                                        The Standard Bearer / 55


Him coming also in our very institu-        superstitions. Today we read              Payoh mission for the evening
tion.                                       through this, their profession of         meeting, which began at 8 o'clock.
  There is no better way to end this        faith, and our hearts are filled with     At 10 P.M. we closed the door at
resolution than when we first begun.        wonderment, awe, and  love: What          Toa Payoh, and this Lord's Day
Today and always we make this`our           hath God wrought!                         came to its full end.
confession: "Our help is in the name          It became late in the afternoon.          The Reformed churches in Singa-
of Jehovah who made heaven and              There were patient mothers holding        pore are living and vibrant. Their
earth." Amen.                               infants and toddlers who audibly and      witness goes forth individually and
                 * * *                      plaintively were giving voice to their    collectively. A few weeks ago there
                                            weariness. As we would say, they          were fourteen new converts bap-
  We are remembering our very               had had it!                               tized; and another class is already
first trip to Singapore with the Rev.         The service closed with the sing-       receiving instruction.
J. Slopsema, nine years ago. Then           ing of Psalter No. 53 (Psalm 23),           The: Word of our Lord is, "Surely I
we met a mere handful of teenagers          prayer, and benediction. We left the      come quickly," and truly He is
who had recently been delivered             beautiful auditorium at about 5:30        gathering His church in Singa-
from their cocoon of heathendom,            P.M. From then on, it was hurry and       pore. [7
with its idolatries of image and            rush, to eat a snack, travel some          Praying for them, praying with them,
ancestral worship and brainwashing          miles to pay a last visit to a lonely      Elder and Mrs. Dewey Engelsma
                                            brother, and still get to the Toa





                                            O u r   P r a y e r
Guest Article
Steven R. Houck                             For Vengeance '

                                               Prayer is a verv imnortant Dart of     loves everyone and wills the salva-
                                            the Christian life."Every Chrisiian is    tion of everyone. The Christian,
                                            to be a praying Christian. The apos-      therefore, is also to will the salvation
                                            tle Paul exhorts us, "Pray without        of every individual person. That
                                            ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17). It is' the      means that we are not only to be
                                            calling of every Christian to: take       "soul winners" who seek to save
                                            care that he does not neglect to          everyone, but we are to pray for the
                                            pray. But the Christian must also         salvation of everyone. If someone
                                            take care that he prays proper            even suggests that we are to pray
                                            prayers. If our prayers are not prop-     for God's vengeance, he is accused
                                            er prayers, we pray in vain. j Our        of being cruel, uncaring, unkind, and
                                            prayers are meaningless. In ithis         unloving. Such a prayer is con-
                                            regard, there is one very important       sidered to be unchristian. It is con-
                                            aspect of proper prayer which is          demned in the name of love.
                                            sometimes neglected. We do not               The Bible, however, teaches us
                                            pray for God's vengeance. We do           that it is the calling of every Chris-
                                            not pray that God will judge; the         tian to pray for God's vengeance.
                                            wicked and thereby avenge the             We must be careful. I am not saying
                                            cause of His kingdom and His peo-         that the Christian is to avenge
                                            ple.                                      himself. It is not right for a Christian
                                               This is understandable because         to take things into his own hands
                                            such a prayer is contrary to all that     and avenge his own cause upon his
  Steven R. Houck is a missionary of the    is generally taught in Christian          enemies. Vengeance does not belong
Protestant Reformed Churches in             circles today. We are told that God       to us. It belongs to God. God says,
Modesto, California.

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 "To me belongeth vengeance and             born baby does not see the sun. I             This does not mean, however,
 recompense . . ." (Deut. 32:35).  We       have never heard a prayer like that         that we are to pray for the avenging
 read, "Dearly beloved, avenge not           in all my life. No one will dispute the    of our own personal causes, which
 yourselves, but rather give place un-      fact that this is strong language.          are not the causes of God. We al1
 to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance        Lest someone think that the              have our own little causes. Others
 is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord"     Psalmists, Jeremiah, and others were        hurt us. They say and do things to
 (Rom. 12:19). God is the one Who           wrong in their prayers of vengeance,        us which we do not like. Our flesh
 takes vengeance upon His and our           we must go to Revelation chapter            would like to see God get back at
 enemies. We must leave that to God.        six, and consider the prayer of the         them. Some even pray that God
   Nevertheless, we are to pray for         souls under the altar. We read, "And        would do so. This is sin. It is not a
 God's vengeance. The Bible makes it        when he had opened the fifth seal, I        proper prayer for God's vengeance.
 very clear that proper prayer in-          saw under the altar the souls of            Jesus says, "Love your enemies,
 cludes praying for vengeance. The          them that were slain for the word of        bless them that curse you, do good
 Psalmist prayed, "0 Lord God, to           God, and for the testimony which            to them that hate you, and pray for
 whom vengeance belongeth; 0 God,           they held: And they cried with a            them which despitefully use you,
 to whom vengeance belongeth,               loud voice, saying, How long, 0             and persecute you" (Matt. 5:44). In
 shew thyself. Life up thyself, thou        Lord, holy and true, doest thou not         all of our personal relationships with
 judge of the earth: render a reward        judge and avenge our blood on them          our neighbors, we are to show love
 to the proud" (Ps. 94:1-2).  The           that dwell on the earth? (Rev.              and kindness. Even when our
 Psalmist prayed for God to show            6:9-10). When the fifth seal is             enemies hate us, we are to do good
 Himself. But notice that he referred       opened, we see souls in heaven.             to them. We are not to repay evil
 to God as the God to whom                  They are the souls of those who died        with evil, but evil with good. We
 vengeance belongs. Obviously he            because of persecution. They were           must be very careful about this. We
 was praying that God would come            martyred by the wicked. That their          must not mistake our own little per-
 and take vengeance upon the                souls are in heaven means that they         sonal causes for God's cause.
 wicked. He asked God to render a           no longer have a sinful nature. They          The prayer for vengeance is a
 reward to the proud. Jeremiah              are sinless. Therefore, their prayer        prayer that the cause of God will be
 prayed the very same prayer. He            ~must also be sinless. It is a perfect      avenged. The wicked hate us, but
 prayed concerning the wicked of            prayer, pleasing to God in every            ultimateIy that hatred is a hatred of
 Judah, "But, 0 Lord of hosts, that         way. What is that perfect prayer?           God. The rebellion of the wicked is a
 judgest righteously, that triest the       They pray for God's vengeance.              rebellion against God. They seek to
 reins and the heart, let me see thy        They pray that God will avenge              trample under foot God's truth. They
 vengeance on them: for unto thee           their blood upon the wicked.                seek to destroy God's kingdom. Even
 have I revealed my cause" (Jer.               This prayer is not only proper, but      their attacks upon us are attacks
 11:20). The prophet addressed God          it is proper to pray this prayer on a       upon God's people. All their raging
 as the One Who judges righteously          regular basis. We learn this from the       is against the Lord and His Anointed
 because he was praying that God, in        parable of the unjust judge recorded        (Ps. 2). Thus when God comes in
 judgment, would take vengeance             in Luke 18:1-8.  The purpose of the         vengeance, He comes to avenge His
- upon the wicked.                          parable is to teach us that we are to       own cause. He comes to avenge
   This prayer for vengeance may            pray regularly. We read, "And he            Himself. Nahum declared, "God is
 even contain some very strong              spake a parable unto them to this           jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the
 language. In Psalm 58 the Psalmist         end, that men ought always to pray,         Lord revengeth, and is furious; the
 prayed concerning the wicked,              and not to faint" (Verse 1). But what       Lord will take vengeance on his
 "Break their teeth, 0 God, in their        is the content of this prayer which         adversaries, and he reserveth wrath
 mouth: break out the great teeth of        we are always to pray? Notice that          for his enemies" (Nahum 1:2). When
 the young lions, 0 Lord. Let them          the woman goes to the judge, that           we pray the prayer for vengeance,
 melt away as waters which run con-         she might be avenged. "And there            we pray for our cause only insofar
 tinually: when he bendeth his bow          was a widow in that city; and she           as it is included in the cause of God.
to shoot his arrows, let them be as         came unto him, saying, Avenge me            God certainly avenges His people.
 cut in pieces. As a snail which            of mine adversary" (Verse 3). The           That is why the souls under the altar
 melteth, let every one of them pass        woman cried out to the judge that           pray that their blood will be
 away: like the untimely birth of a         vengeance might be executed upon            avenged. Jesus very plainly declares
 woman, that they may not see the           her adversary. Thus Christ teaches          that God will avenge His elect peo-
sun" (Ps. 58:6-8).  The Psalmist            us that we are always to pray for           ple speedily. But that is true only
 prayed that God would hit the              God's vengeance. He says, "And              because the cause of God's people is
 wicked in their mouth so that their        shall not God avenge his own elect,         the cause of God.
 teeth would fall out. He asked that        which cry day and night unto him,
God would cause them to melt away           though he bear long with them? I
as water flows away and that they           tell you that he will avenge them
 would not see the sun, just as a still-    speedily . . ." (Verses 7-8). We are to
                                            pray for God's vengeance day and
                                            night.

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   We pray for vengeance, then,           and kingdom of God. The salvation           It is only when we see that the
because we love God and His cause.        of God's elect people is dependent        prayer for God's vengeance is moti-
We love God's Zion, the Church of         upon the vengeance of God upon            vated by the love of God and a
Jesus Christ. We love God's Truth,        the wicked. God's vengeance and           desire to see the coming of God's
the gospel of Jesus Christ. We love       God's salvation go together. In Isaiah    kingdom, that we can understand
God's covenant and kingdom. Today         35:4 we read, "Say to them that are       the words of the Psalmist in Psalm
everyone is concerned about  loving-      of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear       58. He says, "The righteous shall re-
his fellow man. We have to consider       not: behold, your God will come           joice when he seeth the vengeance:
carefully all that we do, because we      with vengeance, even God with a           he shall,wash  his feet in the blood of
dare not offend our neighbor. But         recompense; he will come and save         the wicked" (Ps. 58:lO). Rejoice!
who cares about loving God and His        you." God is coming with        -         That is what he says. Rejoice in the
cause? It seems that the cause of         vengeance. He is coming to                destruction of the wicked. Walk
God is forgotten for the cause of         recompense the wicked for all their       upon the spilled blood of the wicked
man. Yes, we must love our                wicked deeds. But that coming in          and rejoice in the vengeance of God.
neighbor, but that love of our            vengeance is also a coming to save        Yes, this, too, is our calling. We re-
neighbor is possible only when we         God's people. God's vengeance upon        joice in our God. We rejoice in the
love God. Our greatest concern must       the wicked is the salvation of the        truth of God. We rejoice in the
be for God and His cause. Our             elect. Thus Israel was saved from         church and kingdom of God. There-
prayer must always be, "Hallowed          the bondage of Egypt only through         fore, we rejoice in the vengeance of
be Thy name. Thy kingdom come.            the destruction of Egypt. Noah and        God upon His enemies. We, too, are
Thy will be done." Out of love for        hi family were saved from the wick-       jealous for the cause of God and
God and God's cause we pray for           ed world only by the flood which          truth. 0
vengeance.                                destroyed that world. Thus this
  The prayer for vengeance is a           prayer is not'merely a prayer for
prayer for the coming of Christ, the      vengeance, but a prayer for the
complete salvation of God's people,       salvation of God's people and the
and the perfecting of the covenant        coming of God's kingdom.





The Day of                                Saving Grace .B?eaking
Shadows
john A. Heys                              Through The Clouds

                                            It is interesting and.important to        Open your Bible and read the last
                                          take note of the fact that Elimelech,     verse of the book of Judges. Then
                                          Naomi, and their sons left the prom-      attach to it the first verse of the
                                          ised land to go to Moab in the            book of Ruth, This is what you will
                                          days when the judges ruled the            read: "In those days there was no
                                          Israelites. This is interesting and       king in Israel: every man did that
                                          significant because it reveals ;that      which was right in his own eyes.
                                          their departure from the promised         Now it came to pass in the days
                                          land - which was a type and               when the judges ruled, that there
                                          shadow of the coming Kingdom of           was a famine in the land. And a cer-
                                          Heaven - took place in the days           tain man of Bethlehem-judah went
                                          when the Israelites had no spiritual      to sojourn in the country of Moab,
                                          leaders to warn them, counsel them        he, and his wife, and his two sons."
                                          and rebuke them when they walked            Bear in mind also that in the days
                                          in sin. They had for a time no office-    of the judges four events took place
John A. Heys is a minister emeritus in    bearers, as we have today, to super-      in the same order, and as many
the Protestant Reformed Churches.         vise their spiritual lives.               times as there were judges in Israel.

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These four events our catechism              Now Naomi did not yet have the          whether this was Naomi. They heard
pupils were always given as begin-        confidence of her own salvation, but       of the bitter life she had. But no one
ning with the letter S, so that they      she knew where it could be found.          helped her. Was there any grace of
could remember them more easily.          She knew that there is forgiveness,        God for her and Ruth?
Right after Joshua's death the sin of     but she had no word from God that            All this forms the background for.
idolatry appeared in Israel. See          it was for her. And what about her         what we read in Ruth, chapter two.
Judges 2:ll. God then sent the suf-       husband and sons? She did not want         We are told that Ruth asked Naomi
fering of the punishment of sin. After    to continue in her sin. She feared         that she be allowed to go and glean
a time in His grace, when that suf-       God. She did not want to die in            in the fields of one who would allow
fering was applied, God wrought sor-      Moab. But will God's grace cover           her, a Moabitess, to pick up a few
row over sin in the hearts of His         her sins? And hearing of His forgiv-       pieces that had been overlooked by
elect children. And then He sent          ing grace that ended the famine, she       the reapers. She had quite a dif-
salvation from the suffering by rais-     goes back seeking some sign from           ferent background than Naomi and
ing up a judge, who was a type of         God, in the land where He gave             did now know the commandments
Christ. Sin, suffering, sorrow and        such signs, that He had forgiven her.      of God as fully. But she felt as keen-
salvation happened over and over             All this explains why Naomi insists     ly as Naomi did the need for bread,
again in the days of the judges. And      that she be called Mara. The name          and she requests the right to try to
from the time sin entered, and            Naomi does not fit. Her experiences        get some food for them. An outsider
through the suffering, there was no       were not pleasant, and God had             from Moab will try to get what those
judge for long periods of time.           dealt bitterly with her. Eager she         of Naomi's relatives raised for their
  This time the suffering was that of     was, however, to receive the               own people, and by God was al-
a severe famine. God was speaking         pleasure of God's forgiving grace. A       lowed to be gathered by these
through this famine and was saying        sign of it she wants badly.                Israelitish fatherless and widows. See
that the wages of sin is death.              She cannot look forward to              Deut. 24:19-21.
Although Elimelech and Naomi did          another husband and more children.           We must not take that word corn
not listen to Him, God spoke as sure-     She will have no one to inherit the        in the literal sense, as we use it to-
ly and powerfully as He did to Adam       land of her husband. Is she then also      day. The word means grain, and we
and Eve, warning them not to eat of       outside of that kingdom of heaven?         do read of Ruth coming home with
the forbidden fruit, Those, including     For ten years she tasted the bit-          barley. The point is that she realized
Elimelech and Naomi, who did not          terness of God's wrath. Will He            the need of food. It is possible that
give ear to what God was saying,          make her taste the pleasantness of         Naomi went to live in the home
did that which was right in their         His grace? Will she, will she in the       where she and Elimelech had lived.
own eyes and needed not only to be        days to come, drop that name Mara          If so, it was not after ten years in
saved from the famine, but from           and rejoice to be called Naomi             the best condition. But they did have
their sin.                                again? Will life be pleasant for her       shelter, a God-provided shelter. Food
  It was before a judge appeared,         here in Bethlehem, or bitter? The          was lacking, but shelter was given
and God spake through his mouth,          future did look very bleak to her,         her.
that Elimelech and Naomi left this        and dark because of her long walk            And how true is it not that we
place where God was speaking              in sin.                                    remember God and thank Him for
through this famine and went where           Consider also that she and Ruth         what we call big things. We forget
He spoke through death, the wages         were desperately poor and now had          so often about much of what He
of sin. They escaped the death            no bread at all to eat. She was will-      gives us. We forget that every heart
which the famine threatened, but          ing to leave Moab and its abundance        beat comes from Him. We fail to
they did not escape God's hand and        of bread and stop sinning there. But       thank Him for water and oxygen,
the words of His mouth.                   God has not yet opened any door            which we need as well as food. And
  But His grace did go with Naomi,        for her to get the necessities of life.    Naomi had not yet seen that her
and in an unwavering love and un-         Sin and suffering she knew. Sorrow         safe trip from Moab to Bethlehem
changeable grace He did through           for her sin overwhelmed her. But           was God's gift to her as a gift of His
three deaths bring her to sorrow          that crucial matter of salvation:          grace. In a sense that is understand-
over her sin and back to the type         would it be given her?                     able, because in His providence God
and picture of the kingdom of               God had a law that would have            gives many earthly things to the
heaven. In Ruth  1:6 we read that         provided for her. In Deuteronomy           enemies of His church. This, how-
she "heard in the country of Moab         24: 19-2 1 we read that god made pro-      ever, is not in His grace. God's mer-
how the Lord had visited His people       vision for the fatherless and widows       cy and grace are based on the blot-
in giving them bread." This means         and commanded that those with              ting out of sin by the blood of His
that she heard that God was dealing       grain fields, grape vines, and olive       Son. As the holy God, He cannot
graciously with His people in Ca-         trees should allow these penniless         give grace to those whose sins are
naan, and that His blessing was           people to gather what was left after       not blotted out. The wages of sin is
there.                                    the reaping. But no one provided for       death for those not redeemed by the
                                          her. God did not move anyone to            blood of Christ. To maintain that
                                          care for her. Yes, they asked              these are gifts of His grace to the

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ungodly is to maintain that He is            Now Naomi saw the forgiveness of        heaven, God's grace makes it not on-
gracious to the devil, who has lived       her sins and of her husband's and         ly possible, but always saves sinners.
almost 6,000 years and received al1        sons' sins. She said, `!Blessed be he     He makes them become saints; but
the necessities of his life. No, God's     of the Lord, who hath not left off His    He does not save them because they
grace is only on those whose sins          kindness to the living and to the         are saints. Elimelech intended to go
were on Christ as He hung on His           dead." That word kindness is so very      back to his inheritance. He was not
cross. No one else may have the            often translated in Scripture as mer-     an unbeliever. He had done what
smallest part of God's grace.              cy. Seeing it, Naomi began also to        was right in his eyes and deserved
   Now Naomi, being aware of the           see the salvation from her sins and       the punishment of hell, as we all do,
need of food, gave Ruth permission         from those of her husband and sons.       as well as he did; but God's grace
to go and seek their food. And Ruth        Hearing that it was Boaz who dealt        prepares a way out. He punishes sin
came home with about twenty to             so kindly with Ruth, Naomi began to       with sufferings, But He also works in
twenty-five pounds of barley! That         see what God had in store for her.        us sorrow for our sins and saves us
moved Naomi to ask, "Where hast            She saw the hand of God not only,         in His grace.
thou gleaned today?" This was not          but the grace and mercy of .God.            Yes, Naomi saw God's grace break
curiosity. The, amount was so stag-        And because it was a kinsman who          through those dark clouds of His ho-
geringly great that she could hardly       could marry Ruth and redeem the           ly wrath against sin, The famine was
understand that reapers had left so        land of her husband, she could see        gone and there was abundant bread
much behind.                               that inheritance staying in the hands     again in Bethlehem. What a change!
  Here already she begins to see the       of Elimelech's children. She could        And what a change of tone of voice
hand of God's grace. This was not a        see her husband's name still, at-         took place when she heard that
bitter (Mara)  deed but a most pleas-      tached to that piece of land that God     Boaz had helped her and Ruth with
ant (Naomi) work of God. She               gave to him.                              food! She had said to Ruth, "Go, my
began to see that God was taking             Plainly Naomi sees God's pardon-        daughter", and it was said in a tone
care of them in His grace. But the         ing grace. The wages of sin is death,     of Mara, that is, of bitterness, and
climax came when she asked whose           and Elimelech did die outside of the      without a smile on her face. But now
field it was, and learned that it was      promised land, outside of that which      when she hears of what God - and
that of Boaz. For she knew that he         was a picture of the kingdom of           not merely Boalz - did for them,
was a close relative. When she             heaven. But it was only a picture,        there is the pleasant (Naomi) tone of
heard that he had allowed Ruth to          and Naomi is beginning to see a           voice when she with a broad smile
glean and urged her to "keep fast by       clearer picture also of the cr,oss of     says, "Blessed be he of the Lord,
my young men, until they have end-         Christ and the forgiveness God            who hath not left off his kindness to
ed all my harvest," she clearly saw        realized through it.                      the living and the dead." It is God's
the brightness of God's grace break-         We do not deserve salvation. We         kindness, His mercy and His grace,
ing through the dark clouds that had       cannot buy it. But God bought it by       of which she spleaks. Saving grace
troubled her. She not pnly saw God's       the blood of His Son. And though          has broken forth through those dark
hand in all of this, but also His          Elimelech did not deserve going           clouds under which she found
g r a c e .                                from Moab into the kingdom of             herself until this moment. 0





Guided into                                Rationalism and
All  -Truth
Thomas C. Miersma                         Its Fruit  (3)

                                              The philosophy of Descartes            that of unbelieving doubt which calls
                                           (1596:1650)  which we considered in       into question th'e reality and ex-
                                           this column last time proceeded           istence of everything and seeks
                                           from the principle that man can by        some starting point, some fixed
Thomas C. Miersma is pastor of First       his own reason and without the            point, from which to arrive at truth.
Protestant Reformed Church of Edmon-       need of divine revelation arrive at       That starting point he found in his
ton, Alberta, Canada.                      truth. Descartes' starting point was      own process of thinking and ex-

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perience and the very existence of            The effect of this exaltation of            Not so Spinoza (1632-1677),  who was
that process itself. "I think: therefore    human reason or rationalism is not            born in Amsterdam to Jewish
I am." Starting from that basis He          difficult to discern. It sets up another      parents, and was well-educated in
also concluded that there existed in        standard of authority above the               the emerging science and philosophy
his thought the perception of               Word of God. By making also the               of his day. In 1663 he published a
thought and order outside of himself        doctrine contained in the Scriptures          summary and discussion of part of
which impressed itself upon him and         the object of proof, as something to          the works of Descartes, of whom he
over which he had no control. He            be established and believed because           was at first an enthusiastic disciple.
concluded that there must exist also        of its reasonableness, independent of         Spinoza, however, was more radical
a thinking being (god), a being,            Scripture and divine revelation, the          in his thinking than Descartes, rest-
moreover, which must correspond to          door was open for the abandoning              less also in the strict confines of the
the idea of perfection which he also        of Scripture altogether. That is              orthodox Judaism in which he was
found in his thought.                       especially the case when the  authort         raised and against which he re-
  This philosophical god, an idol of        ty of Scripture itself is called into         belled. He was finally excom-
the human mind which has nothing            question, when the doctrine of Scrip-         municated from the synagogue, and
to do with the God of the Scriptures,       ture itself becomes the object which          his family and Jewish friends
is known by human reason and not            must be vindicated before the bar of         disowned him. He found refuge for a
divine revelation. He is the product        human reason. That Scripture is               time in Amsterdam with Gentile
of man's reason and thought and             God's Word of divine origin and               friends who belonged to the
must also be subject to human               divine authority is Scripture's own           Remonstrants. In 1670 he moved to
reason. While Descartes' whole              claim. It, too, is a matter of revela-       The Hague where he published his
system of philosophy has been criti-        tion to be received by faith. It was          own writings, which were so radical
cized, developed, and abandoned by          with such a faith that the reformers          that he thought it prudent to do so
later philosophers and the develop          proceeded in their development of             under a fictitious name, though the
ment of modern philosophy, the un-          the doctrine of Scripture, not from           authorship soon became known
derlying principle, the starting point      human reason, but also from Scrip             among so-called cultured and
of human reason or human ex-                ture itself. The rise of rationalism,         learned circles of the new
perience as the standard or source          the exaltation of independent human           philosophy. He became somewhat of
of truth has not.                           reason, however, brought with it not          a celebrity for his boldness and was
  Descartes' philosophy, which sets         only direct error but also a tempta-          even offered the chair of philosophy
human reason upon the throne,               tion, the temptation to argue and de-         at the University of Heidelberg
found a ready home in the scientific,       fend the truth by means of human              because of it, though with the
literary, and intellectual world of his     reasoning and argument, the tempta-           restriction that he did not militate
day, as it suited well the spirit of the    tion to fight the rise of rationalism       against the established religion. This
new scientific discoveries and in-          on its own ground. The very attempt          appointment he declined because the
quiry. This Cartesian system of             to do so, however, is a compromise           restrictions were not to his liking,
philosophy also made rapid inroads          which has already lost the argument.         and that with good reason, for it was
into the life of the churches of the        For that which is based upon human            exactly against the established
reformation, particularly in the            reasoning stands or falls on that             religion of the church, the Reformed
Netherlands, where Descartes had            basis. It was a temptation to which           church especially, that he directed
found a refuge. Cartesianism was            many succumbed, not only in the             ~ his philosophical attack. He wrote
viewed as a means alongside                 Netherlands, but in the churches of         1 with the end view of demolishing
theology to demonstrate and prove           the Reformation in England and              1 the claims of the church and religion
Christian doctrine, particularly in its     Scotland, and also among the                ' in general, also the claims of his
argument for the existence of God.          Lutherans in Germany. It led to a            Jewish heritage to revealed or divine
Because of its connection with scien-       weakening of Reformed principles of          authority.
tific study and the development of          exegesis' and interpretation in the             Following the rationalistic prin-
the natural sciences it began its in-       Reformed churches in the Nether-            ciples of Descartes, he attacked the
roads in the universities, moving           lands and opened the way for fur-             claim of Scripture to divine inspira-
from there also to the churches. It         ther departure.                               tion, he challenged the accuracy of
did so, not in isolation, but along           The development of philosophy,              Scripture, its origin as ministered by
with other trends and departures            however, did not stand still with            the apostles and prophets, and he at-
from the truth which were current           Descartes. There were those who              tacked the history of the Old Testa-
at the time which exalted man's             followed him who stood also outside           ment and the miracles of Scripture
reason in theology. Thus, in the            the Christian church, who went yet           which he found inconsistent with
Netherlands, Cartesian philosophy           further. Descartes, for all his              reason. He attacked the doctrine of
became caught up with the continu-          philosophical speculation, was a              Christian and Jew alike. Finding
ing influence of the Arminians or           Roman Catholic at least in name,             weaknesses in Descartes' system, but
Remonstrants after the Synod of             and sought to remain within the               not departing from its essential basis
Dordf, and with the influence also of       boundaries of the Roman church.               in human reason, he developed his
Socinian or Unitarian theology with                                                       own philosophical god. Descartes
its denial of the trinity.

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had conceived of a god as in some          which he in his ignorance :does not         Spinoza's philosophy was a radical
sense a substantial thinking, spiritual    understand of the phenomena of this       one, was so even for its day. His
being. This Spinoza denied. That           world, attributing it to revelation.      writings were vigorously opposed,
which Descartes attributed to a god        Miracles then were~ simply, natural       banned, and suppressed, also by the
were only attributes of the universe,      events which, not being understood,       Dutch government. Some were not
both the material universe and the         were imputed to a god and given a         published until after his death
realm of thought. God is not there-        supernatural connotation by the           because of this opposition, but they
fore a separate being, but god and         superstitious and credulous. Thus         well illustrate the direction in which
the universe are one. Spinoza's            Spinoza, proceeding from the princi-      man's exaltation of his own reason
philosophical god isthe creation.          ple of reason, denied the possibility     would lead him, the course that
The term "god" merely describes the        of revelation and reduced it to ig-       human philosophy would continue to
universe from the viewpoint of its in-     norance and superstition, his reason-     take. 0
finite variety and underlying unity.       ing leading him to pantheism and
Man imputes to a god merely that           the worship of the creature as god.





                                           The Two Natures of
Taking heed ~0 Christ: The Deity
The Doctrine
Ronald H. Hanko                            of Christ 1

                                           1. The testimony of Scripture (con-       obscure in the Old Testament is very
                                           tinued).                                  plain in the N~ew" (Article IX). Never-
                                             The evidence of Christ's idivinity      theless, even in the Old Testament,
                                           as found in Scripture is of many          the testimony is unmistakable.
                                           kinds, and taken all together is clear      There are already in the Old
                                           proof that He is everything: that His     Testament a number of passages
                                           people believe Him to be. We must         which name Him God without any
                                           not be swayed, either, by the argu-       qualification whatsoever. In Psalm
                                           ments or numbers of those,who             2: 11 He is called Jehovah. The
                                           deny Him, into thinking that this         Hebrew parallelism makes it very
                                           evidence is anything less than incon-     obvious that serving  Jehovah  with
                                           trovertible. The failure of so many to    fear is exactly the same as kissing
                                           receive this truth is not due to any      the Son. In Psalm 45:6 He is ad-
                                           defect or insufficiency of Scripture,     dressed as God in His glory as the
                                           but to the willing ignorance of           King and Husband of the Church.
                                           unbelief, sustained by the testimony      This passage is applied in proof of
                                           of an evil conscience that this Christ    Christ's divinity in Hebrews 1:8 as
                                           is indeed the God before Whom             first evidence in support of the fund-
                                           every heart must be tried.                amental argument of that book, that
                                             The evidence is found first of all      He is better than the whole Old
                                           in the Old Testament, though in           Testament.
                                           some ways not so clearly as in the          In Isaiah 7:14 He is called Im-
                                           New Testament. What the Belgic            manuel, which is interpreted in Mat-
                                           Confession says of the doctrine of        thew  1:23 to mean that He is God
Ronald H. Hanko is pastor of Trinity       the Trinity is also true of the doc-      with us, and in Jeremiah 23:5 He is
Protestant Reformed Church, Houston,       trine of Christ's divinity, that "that    named "Jehovah our Righteousness."
Texas.                                     which appears to us somewhat              Counting all these, however, there is

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still no passage so powerful as Isaiah     he had power over the angel, and           literally, "through the righteousness
9:6. There He is not only named            prevailed: he wept, and made suppli-       of our God and Saviour, Jesus
"Almighty God," but identified with        cation unto Him: he found him in           Christ") and I Jn. 5:20]. It is not sur-
the eternal Father. Certainly this is a    Bethel, and there He spake with us;        prising that in many of these
passage to confound the skeptics,          even the Lord God of Hosts; the            references the original Greek text of
since it Ieaves even the believer at a     Lord is his memorial" (Hos. 12:4, 5).      the New Testament has many varial
loss for words to explain how He,          Thus  Manoah, Samson's father, says        tions, for there have been from the
the Son, so named in personal              after the appearance of the Angel          beginning many attempts to weaken
distinction from the Father, can           bringing the news of Samson's birth,       this powerful testimony. One of the
nevertheless be called the Father.         "We shall surely die, because we           first modern translations into
Even the New Testament has no              have seen God" (Judges 13:22).  And        English, the Revised Standard Ver-
parallel. Closest in the whole New         Hagar names the place where the            sion, is often criticized for following
Testament is Jesus' statement in John      Angel appeared to her, Beer-lahairoi,      other readings and weakening the
10:30,  "I and my Father are One."         "the well of Him that liveth and           testimony of Scripture to Christ's
For Iack of any better argument            seeth me" (Gen. 16:14).                    divinity. The Jehovah's Witnesses
against the testimony of this one            Also in each case the work of this       and other nay-sayers argue concern-
great verse, one unbelieving com-          Angel is the work which only God           ing those passages, where no appeal
mentator simply calls it "an un-           can do, the work of giving the cove-       to textual variations is possible, that
paralleled monstrosity." But to us         nant seed (Gen. 18:13,  22:2),  of         the Greek text leaves room for the
who believe it testifies that His          bringing judgment (Gen. 18:17ff),  of      interpretation that He is a god, and
Name is indeed "Wonderful."                forgiving sins (Ex. 23:20),  of cursing    not the God. But Scripture itself,
  There are also in the Psalms and         and blessing (Judges 5:23), and of         foreseeing their unbelief, speaks of
Prophets many passages, which              protecting the people of God (Dan.         Him specifically as the God in such
though at first glance have nothing        3128,  6:22).                              passages as John 20:28, Romans 9:5,
to do with Christ Himself, are none-         The argument that these passages         and I John 5:20. In light of these
theless directly applied to Him in the     are not to be applied to Christ is         passages it must also be clear that
New Testament. An example is               answered in Malachi 3:l where this         such passages as John l:l, which do
Psalm 102:25-27,  a passage which          Angel is called the Messenger of the       not have the word "the," neverthe-
speaks of God's creative work, but         Covenant (angel and messenger are          less mean to speak of Him as God in
which is applied to Christ in              the same word in Hebrew). This             the full and complete sense.
Hebrews l:lO-12.  Two such passages        Messenger of the Covenant is                  Scripture adds to this a testimony
from the Prophets are Joel 2:32            preceded in His coming by another          concerning the attributes and praises
(quoted in Romans 10:13) and Isaiah        messenger who .prepares  His way,          of God. All the incommunicable at-
45:23 (quoted in Rom. 14:10,  11).         an obvious reference to Christ and         tributes are ascribed to Him, that is,
The latter passage is especially inter-    to His forerunner. And so Christ           all those of which there is no reflec-
esting because it is in Isaiah part of     Himself interprets the passage in          tion in the creature, even when
God's Word to Israel that He is God        Matthew 11:lO.                             clothed with the image of God. He is
alone (vs. 22). But the point here is        All this teaches us something            omnipresent: "And no man hath
simply that the whole of Scripture so      about the importance of Christ's           ascended up into heaven, .but He
takes the divinity of Christ for           divinity. Even before He appears in        that came down from heaven, even
granted that any reference to God is       the flesh as Saviour, He appears as        the Son of man which is in heaven"
by that very token  aIso a reference       God. Therein lies the who1.e               (Jn. 3:13); omniscient:.". . . in whom
to Christ. The stubborn and'insolent       significance of His Godhead for us. If     are hid all the treasures of wisdom
unbelief of the unbeliever in the face     He is not God, then we have no             and knowledge" (Col. 2:3); omnip-
of such a testimony is frightening.        Saviour.                                   otent: "Who is the blessed and only
What shall his judgment be when he           The clearer testimony of the New         Potentate, the King of kings, and
stands before the judgment throne of       Testament is so large that it is possi-    Lord of lords" (I Tim. 6:15); and eter-
Christ in the end of all things!           ble to look at only a few isolated         nal: "For the life was manifested,
  In the historical books of the Old       passages and at some of the dif-           and we have seen it, and bear
Testament the evidence is to be            ferent ways in which this truth is         witness, and shew unto you that
found in a careful study of the ap-        presented.                                 eternal Life, which was with the
pearances of the Angel of Jehovah            In the New Testament there are,at        Father, and was manifested unto us"
(Angel of the LORD in the KJV). This       least ten passages which call Him          (I Jn. 1:2). Even the communicable
Angel, Who appeared especially in          God [Jn. l:l, 18; 20:28; Acts 20:28;       attributes of God, of which there is
the days prior to the kingdom and          Rom. 9:5; (II Thess. 1:12,-`literally,     also some reflection in the creature,
the prophets, Who always appears           "according to the grace of our God         are ascribed to Him in a wholly
as a deliverer and saviour, is             and Lord, Jesus Christ") I Tim. 3:16;      unique sense. He has life in Himself
deliberately identified with God. The      [Tit. 2:13 - literally, "the appearing     as the Father does (Jn. 5:26), is the
prophet Hosea so identifies Him            of our great God and Saviour, Jesus        Holy One (Lk. 4:34), and is Wisdom
when speaking of. Jacob's wrestling        Christ") Heb. 1:8; (II Peter 1:l -         (I Cor. 1:25),  Light (Jn. 8:12), Righ-
with Him at the brook Jabbok: "Yea,                                                   teousness (I Cor. 1:30), and Truth


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(Jn. 14:6);  and does not merely            Whom all things were created and               wine by causing the grapes to drink
receive these graces for Himself or         by Whom they are upheld and                    His water and sunlight on the hills,
bring them to us.                           governed (Col. 1:15-17,  Jn. 1:3, Eph.         and healing every bruised knee and
  Likewise, the works of God in             3:9, Heb.  1:3). In connection with            scrattihed finger. As Athanasius says
creation are ascribed to Him. This is       Colossians 1:15-17  and Hebrews 1:2,           in his little book, On the Incarnation;
the first argument of Hebrews 1 in          3, we ought to note that He is not               Who, seeing the substance of the water
showing His glory as God, for it is in      only God the Creator, but, the God of          changed and transformed into wine, fails
creation first of all that God reveals      providence as well, and that as God            to perceive that He Who did this is Lord
His power and divinity, and reveals         the whole purpose of the creation.is           and Creator of all waters? For to this end
it in such a way that even the              to be found in Him, for "all things            He went upon the sea also as its Master,
heathen are left without excuse             were created by Him, and for Him"              and walked as on dry land, to afford
(Rom. 1:18-21). From that viewpoint         (Col. 1:16).                                   evidence to them that saw it of His Lord-
                                                                                           ship over all things. And in feeding so
it cannot even really be said that the        In closest possible relation to the          vast a multitu#de  on little, and of His own
heathen who perish without receiv-          revelation of His power in, creation           self yielding abundance where none was,
ing the Gospel never come into con-         stands the testimony of His miracles.          so that from five loaves five thousand
tact with Christ, for though they do        In His miracles He does on a small             had enough, and left so much again
not know Him in the Gospel as               scale what God does every day in               over, did He show Himself to be any
Saviour and Redeemer, they do               creation, multiplying fish in the              other than the very Lord Whose Prov-
know Him as the one through                 waters, and bread through the sow-             idence is over all things? 0
                                            ing of the seed, changing water into





                                            The Office of the
                                            Cherubim in the
                                            Fulfillmtint of the
From Holy Writ
George C. Lubbers                           Promise  !(lO)

                                              "And thou shalt make two cherubims           two cherubim are most interestedly
                                            of gold; of beaten work shalt thou make        attentive to the mystery of the
                                            them, at the ends of the mercy seat. . .       mercy-seat in the temple of God.
                                            and there I will meet with thee from           These heavenly spirits are interested
                                            above the mercy-seat, from between the         in the' hope of heaven and earth and
                                            cherubim which are upon the:ark of the
                                            testimony, of all things which #I will give    in the fulfillment of all the Scriptures.
                                            thee in commandment unto the children          However, two matters they do not
                                            of Israel (Exodus 2.518, 22) :                 yet understand. They do not under-
                                              We will now consider th;e place of           stand really anything more than
                                            the cherubim in the Old Testament              what God has revealed to the church
                                            tabernacle as they overshadow the              through the prophetic Word. In the
                                            mercy-seat of God's ark.                       New Testament Scriptures we are
                                              We find it to be an interesting and          told two matters which we must con-
                                            profitable study to consider the of-           stantly bear in mind when we seek
                                            fice of these angels in the most holy          to understand the office of the
                                                                                           angels of heaven in general, and
George C. Lubbers is a minister emeritus    place of God..                                 more particularly concerning the
in the Protestant Reformed Churches.          It is strikingly evident that these

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liturgical service of these cherubim.       Centrally that hope is God dwell-       Israel shall go forth from death into
Firstly, we must not forget that these    ing with His people in covenant mer-      life. Then shall the church draw nigh
cherubim figures themselves are part      cy as the Jehovah who is on the           into the fulness of salvation. For
and parcel of the types and shadows       throne between the cherubim in the        here, while angels beheld in rapt at-
concerning good things to come in         very heavens.                             tention, they saw a picture of a bet-
Christ Jesus. These figures symbolize        It is a very strange phenomenon        ter testament of which Christ is a
the attitude, the waiting attitude of     that these very evident truths of the     surety (Hebrews 7:22). Yes, there
the heavenly cherubim before the          Scriptures are often so little under-     were no attendant priests in all the
throne of God in heaven. We must          stood, and more often seemingly de-       tabernacle while atonement was be-
remember that Jesus Christ had not        liberately distorted.                     ing made for the tent of meeting,
yet suffered and died; that he was          There is the error of dispensa-         and for the altar, and for the priests,
not yet ascended into heaven to sit       tional premillennialism. This view        and for all the assembly (Leviticus
on the right hand of the majesty of       cannot but fail to understand the         16:17).  But here in this blood there
God. Hence, all the angel-world must      great truth of the gospel-promise as      is the promise of the Christ. He has
wait. There is much that they do not      first of all revealed by God himself      become the surety of a better testa-
yet know. Hence we read in I Peter        in paradise, and afterwards pro-          ment in His blood. Within this world-
l:lO-12, concerning the prophetic         claimed by the patriarchs and proph-      ly temple (cosmic) is a parabolic way
labors of all the prophets, that there    ets, and as typified and fore-            that hope of heaven and earth was
is one central interest in all their      shadowed in the types and shadows,        enacted. The handwriting which is
strivings and searchings as they are      and as finally fulfilled in Gods only     against us is removed in a typical
moved by the Holy Spirit, to wit, the     begotten Son on the cross, and in         way. All is very dim. It stimulates
sufferings to come upon Christ and,       His resurrection and ascension!           the sanctified interest of angels in
the glory to follow. Secondly, we           We will not understand the in-          the very heavens. And the cherubim
must remember that Paul tells us          struction of God to Moses to place        keep their vigilant watch. Truly this
that he has received revelation con-      two cherubim on either end of the         is a solemn hour. No man stands
cerning these mysteries "which in         ark, facing each other and looking        with Christ in the darkness of
other generations where not made          down upon the mercy-seat, unless          Calvary near the cross. It is
known to the sons of men" (Ephe-          we understand the import of the           shrouded in the darkness of God's
sians 3:1-13). Yes, God hid these         mercy-seat. The Hebrew term for           mysterious doings when the Lamb of
things from men till the time of Paul     mercy-seat is Caporeth. The term          God dies.
and the apostles, "to the intent that     really comes from the verb Capor:           And he has become the surety of
now unto the principalities and           to cover. This verb means: to atone,      the better covenant.
powers in heavenly places might be        to make amends, to purge away, to           But all the angels knew that this
known by the church the manifold          cleanse from the guilt of sin. It ex-     transaction in the Old Testament
wisdom of God" (Ephesians 3:lO).          presses that the covering is "very        temple was not the blotting out of
  Whereas the cherubim also belong        much". It is the complete and             the sin and guilt of man at all. The
to these principalities and powers,       perfect covering for sins.                saints returned without having their
they could not know much of these           It was at given times that the high     consciences cleansed from sin, ex-
mysteries even in the very heavens.       priests came into the most holy           cept that they looked at the fulfill-
Were these things not such that they      place to bring this atonement for         ment to come when the Messiah
were "hid in God?" God did not            sins. In Leviticus 16 we have re-         would come (Hebrews lO:l-18). The
disclose these matters to the             corded the divine instructions con-       very devils in hell knew that this
cherubim in heaven directly and im-       cerning the great Day of Atonement.       typical blood was not sufficient
mediately; He revealed these mat-         It was then that the blood of the         (Revelation 12:7-g). And they join
ters by the prophets in the Old           sacrificial victim had to be sprinkled    in hellish accord with the Accuser of
Testament Scriptures, and finally in      also on the mercy-seat. It was the        the brethren, who accuses the saints
His only begotten Son, when the           place where God accepted the sacri-       day and night before our God (Reve-
gospel-promise was fulfilled. And this    fice as the expiation of guilt and        lation 12:lO).  Did not Satan accuse
promise was fulfilled in the death        corruption of sin. And the cherubim       even the Old Testament high priest
and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Was     looked on. We believe that the very       of having filthy high priestly
he not delivered for our offenses and     angels in heaven were gazing down         garments (Zechariah 3:  l-5)? Surely
raised up for our justification           in rapt attention. And this attentive-    the cherubim angels must have been
(Romans 4:25)?                            ness of the heavenly cherubim, sur-       cognizant of the imperfection of the
  This resurrection from the dead is      rounding the throne of grace and          atonement which was enacted in
the hope of Israel!                       glory was symbolized in the two           their presense in the Most Holy
  It is the hope of heaven and earth,     cherubim upon the mercy-seat.             Place where the ark of the testament
the reuniting of all things in heaven       And something wonderful took            was placed, as representing the
and on earth in Jesus Christ (Ephe-       place here in the presence of the         throne of grace and mercy.
sians 1:9, 10).                           very angels! Jehovah was there! He
                                          accepted the covenant sacrifice as
                                          referring to Christ's certain bringing
                                          of the sacrifice on the cross. And all

                                                                                                        The Standard Bearer  I65


    Yes, these cherubim waited with         departed from the tabernacle as well       return`in this typical, symbolical
 bated breath, yet earnest expecta-         as from the high priesthood in Eli's       way. The figures will be removed to
 tion. They stooped to look into the        generations forever. Nevermore will        give place for the abiding presence
 things to come. They waited for the        the glory return to Shiloh. Truly this     of the ,liuing cherubic creatures.
 time when there would be a better          was well expressed in the dying               We have noticed that the way into
 temple, with a better sacrifice, and a     words of Phinehas' wife. Her son           the earthly tree of life was forever
 better high priest, based upon better      must be a walking testimony in             shut off for any return by man. That
 promises (Hebrews  8:6).                   Israel of the judgment of God upon         was the flaming sword which went
   When the holy place was defiled          Eli's house. His name is Zchabod!          every way. But when the real living
 by the priests, when no sacrifices             However, even here the truth is        Tree of life will come, then shall the
 were brought, when the temple or-          still expressed by Samuel when he          way be no more closed. It will be
 dinances were not kept, and there          set up a stone between Shen and            that all who are the redeemed shall
were no signs of better things to           Mizpah: Eben-haezer, hitherto has          have free access to the throne of
come! pointing toward Christ, then          the LORD helped us. The change-            grace. For the great High Priest,
the cherubim, too, as keepers of the        less, faithful covenant God will sure-     who will shed his blood of atone-
holy place exercised their sacred           ly fulfil His promised mercies. He         ment, will then enter into the holy
angelic office to drive out the trans-      will bring the ark later, some forty       place before us; he will be the great
gressors from the temple. And when          years later, into the city of the great    forerunner. He is Jesus, Jehovah,
the ark was removed from Shiloh,            king. The ark will be brought up           Who saves his people from their
the cherubic figures also left. The         with great festivity by David and all      sins.
Lord was still enthroned upon the ark       Israel (II Samuel 6:20 ff). And there        When he is born, then shall all the
between the cherubim, even in the           will the ark rest in Jerusalem till the    angels worship him upon the bidding
house of Dagon in the land of the           time of the Babylonian captivity. It       of God (Hebrews 1:6).
Philistines at Ashdod. Here too the         will be placed in the beautiful temple       The cherubim upon the  mercy-
glory of the cherubim exerted itself.       of Solomon. There the figures of the       seat will then not need to wait long
God is indeed a God of all the earth;       cherubim shall beautify the temple         for the:fulfillment  of the promise
He is exalted on his holy throne            too. And they shall once more be           that the king of glory shall enter.
amid the cherubim. And none could           the symbol of the glory of God upon          Jehovah of hosts shall enter in, to
touch the ark with impunity, be he          the mercy-seat (II Kings 19:15;  I         dwell among his people (Psalm
Philistine or a disobedient Israelite (I    Chronicles 13:15; 28:lB;  II Chronicles    24:7-10).
Samuel 5:6 ff; I Samuel 6:9; 19 ff).        3:7  ff).                                    He is the King of glory, throned
   Yes, when the ark left the taber-           However, the abiding place of the       above the cherubim.
nacle in the holy place, then the           Ark shall not be forever in the Old          God in three persons, blessed
glory of Jehovah departed from this         Testament temple. The glory will           trinity! 0
place in Shiloh. For the glory was          depart from this temple, never to





Walking In
 The Light
Herman C. Hanko                             Euthanasia (1)

                                                Dying was once, from a certain         itably. He lived and worked - and
                                            point of view, a rather simple mat-        went to his eternal reward.
                                            ter. A person grew up, took.up his            As is true of so many things in
                                            life's work, worked hard (usually          life, modern technology and social
                                            without vacation) until he was in his      "advances" have changed all that.
                                            sixties or seventies, and after his        Not only is it now true that most
                                            "threescore and ten years" or "four-       people work only till they retire at
                                            score years if strength was great,"        62 or 65 years old, but they can
Herman C Hanko is professor of Church       he died. He never thought of retire-       G ually look forward to many years
History and New Testament in the Prot-      ment, social security, pension plans,      of retirement in which they enjoy
estant Reformed Seminary.                   spending his "golden years" prof-          the fruits of their years of labor, or

66  / The Standard Bearer


are in a position to change their             own. In many other cases, this has           But near the end of life the  prob--
vocations to something less                   been a great problem and has               lem becomes yet more acute. As
strenuous and demanding. This part            created dilemmas in medical ethics         people age, their bodies begin to
of life is not, however, what is of           and problems in the field of               break down, and they are subject to
particular interest to us in this (and a      medicine, which are only now being         massive heart attacks or strokes, and
few succeeding) articles.                     resolved (for better or for worse) in      can be kept alive only through
  Modern advances in the field of             bitter legal battles and in far-reach-     various life support systems. If these
medicine have extended one's life             ing court cases and decisions.             life support systems are used only to
expectancy to beyond "threescore                We are all acquainted with these         bring a person through a critical
years and ten." In countries where            problems, and many of those who            period, and a person can expect to
medical technology is readily avail-          read this article have come face to        recover and resume a relatively nor-
able, people can, generally speaking,         face with them in concrete situations      mal life, the problem is not so
expect to live into their eighties and        in life. They are problems which are       serious. But if he must remain on
even nineties. Life has been ex-              mostly (though not entirely) faced at      such support systems to stay alive,
tended greatly because of modern              the beginning of life and at the end.      ought he to be put on them to begin
medicine - which includes both the            At the beginning of life, God some-        with? And once. having been put on
treatment of disease and the use of           times ordains that a child is born         them, ought he to continue on them,
mechanical devices which take over            with many serious defects which            even if his life continues for months
the work of or assist in the work             make it necessary for that child to        and years? Or does a time come
which was done by the organs of               be on life-support systems to con-         when one "pulls the plug?" Or
the body. When these organs can no            tinue life. Perhaps these are tem-         perhaps one need not remain on
longer perform their work,              `.    porary, and a period of time (in an        such a machine, but having
mechanical devices can be used.               incubator, e.g.,) is enough to carry a     recovered sufficiently to be taken off
  While this has indeed made life             baby through critical days until it        the machine, his life is.so limited
more enjoyable for countless people,          can live on its own. Perhaps they          and so circumscribed that he is very
it has also created innumerable               are permanent; i.e., perhaps such a        literally an invalid who can expect
problems. Life is indeed extended             child can never live without life sup-     to spend the remaining years of his
beyond what it once was, but rest             port equipment, so that if such            life completely dependent on others.
homes and nursing homes are                   machines are used, the child will            There are those who suffer
almost beyond counting and are                have to spend all its years in this        debilitating diseases such as cancer
filled with people who seemingly              world attached to them. It is then         which, they are assured by their
merely exist without clearly-function-        that the question arises: Ought a          doctors, can only end in death. The
ing minds, without purpose in life,           child to be "hooked up" to such            disease is terminal. The life expec-
without the normal varieties with             equipment? And if he is, ought he to       tancy of such people is, say, six
which life is filled and which so             be left to remain on that equipment,       months to a year. However, if they
often make life bearable. Their life is       or does a time come when he is             are willing to undergo extensive
a mindless and totally boring routine         taken off and allowed to die?              treatment such as chemotherapy (in-
of endless days and idle hours in               It is possible, of course, that one      volving a great deal of discomfort
which the only event to look for-             can also find himself in such a situa-     and distress) their lives will be ex-
ward to is the next meal served in            tion at any time in his life. A person     tended to three to five years -
the dining room. Modern medicine              may, in the providence of God, be          although their last months may be
and surgery and modern medical                involved in a serious automobile ac-       filled with far more suffering
technology keeps them alive. Even             cident in which he suffers severe          because their bodies literally waste
thirty or forty years ago they would          brain damage, and enters the               away as they are consumed by the
have long since died. But it is. not          emergency room of the hospital in a        cancer. Ought they to forego the
exactly with this problem either that         deep coma. The only way his life           treatment and die within months?
we are concerned.                             can be preserved is to put him on          Do they have a solemn obligation
  Many of these people are kept               mechanical devices which have been         before God to make use of what
alive through mechanical devices              invented to breathe for him and to         means are available to prolong their
which have been developed in the              keep his heart beating. Ought he to        life? Or do they do no wrong before
field of medical research. In many            be put on such devices? And if he is,      Gods eyes if they tell the doctors:
cases this is a great boon. One need          ought he.to remain on them  .even          No treatment, please. Let me go
only think of the person whose life           though the coma persists, not days         home and die in the midst of my
has been prolonged by a. pacemaker;           or weeks, but months and years? Or         family.
by a person suffering from kidney             ought he to be put on them in the            These are the problems and ques-
failure whose life continues because          first place when the doctdrs know          tions which modern medicine has
of regular dialysis; by gravely ill peo-      beyond doubt that, though the time         brought before us. There are many
ple who have been given an oppor-             will come when he can be taken off         who, in the light of all this, speak of
tunity to recover because `of a               these machines, his mind has been          the fact that a person has indeed the
respirator which breathed for them            so- destroyed that he will be a
when they could not breathe on their          vegetable the rest of his earthly life?

                                                                                                             The Standard Bearer  / 67


right to live; but he also has the              medical profession, and for the `dying in-      problem which can be discussed
right to die. At such a time as he              dividual and his family;                        from the vantage point of one's
thinks life is no longer worth its                At the beginning of the twentieth cen-        ivory tower as he surveys life from
while, he ought to be given this                tury, two-thirds of the people in; the          above, but remains untouched by it.
right, and no law of the land ought             United States died before the age of 50,        It is a problem which every person
to be allowed to interfere. Not only            and most died at home in their `beds, in        has faced, faces at the moment, or is
that, but someone, somewhere,                   the presence of family and friends. Today
                                                most deaths occur in an older popula-           going to face at some time soon. If
somehow has to be able to decide                tion, and two-thirds die in medical institu-    he does not have this problem put
when a person ought to be taken off             tions and nursing homes. In a changing          before him by the debilitating illness
life-support machinery and allowed              demographic situation, with the                 of a member of his family, he
to die in peace.                                American population having an increas-          realizes that he himself will soon be
   This is called euthanasia.                   ing percentage of elderly people, the           old, subject to disease, placed in a
   John Jefferson Davis, in his book,           ethical dilemmas surrounding death in           position where life-support equip-
Evangelical Ethics, has a good state-           institutional settings will become more         ment may be needed to keep him
ment of the problem. He writes:                 rather than less acute.                         alive, and thus confronted with the
   The moral issues surrounding death             In 1929 the United States spent 3.5           difficult'decision of what to do.
and dying pertain to the very old, as well      percent of its gross national product on        Ought he to make provision for this?
as the very young. Advances in medical          medical care; by 1982, the figure had in-       Ought he to leave directions con-
technology that allow the sustaining of         creased to 10.3 percent. The public's           cerning his wishes while he is still
biological life in terminal cases also bring    seemingly insatiable demand for health          mentally competent - lest the time
in their wake ethical dilemmas that were        care, including highly expensive forms of
                                                                                                come when he cannot make the
not so acute in an earlier age. The very        therapy such as cardiac transplantations
definition of death has been a matter of        and kidney dialysis, make the issues of         decision himself and someone makes
moral and medical dispute. Fears of pro-        the "rationing of life and death" more          it for him?
longed overtreatment have raised the            than purely academic and speculative              It is this area that we wish to ex-
public's interest in the so-called "living      concerns. Pressing issues of death and dy-      plore in' a few future articles. 0
will." Some have proposed voluntary             ing will inescapably face Ameriqans for
euthanasia as a legal and moral option          the rest of the foreseeable future (p. 174).
for the terminally ill, thereby raising a         It is this problem which we face in
host of complex issues for society, the         today's society. It is not an abstract





                                                Hard Questibhs For Young People-
The Strength                                    `What Shall I Do After
of Youth
Barrett  L. Critters                            High SchbolF (I)

                                                Dear Christian parents and                      their strengths may be used to the
                                                young people,                                   fullest.
                                                  This section of the Standard                    Of course, some of the questions
                                                Bearer has always been written for              cannot be answered completely, and
                                                the Young People. The Title "The                not every circumstance can be taken
                                                Strength of Youth" emphasizes the               into account.
                                                unique strength *hat young people                 It is very well possible that you
                                                have in their teens and later. :                will not agree with what I write.
                                                  Although there is a unique strength           Given the subjects I hope to tackle, it
                                                in young people that needs to, he               would be a surprise if all did  agree. I
                                                capitalized on, in their lives there are        am not worried about that. What I am
                                                many difficult questions to face and            concerned about is not whether you
                                                answer. My purpose in t&is rubric               always agree or disagree, but
Barrett L. Gritters is pastor of the Prot-      this year will be to address some of            whether  ,you read and discuss the
estant Reformed Church of Byron Center,         those questions and try to give guide-          issues with your parents and young
Michigan.                                       lines for answering them, so that               people.

68  I The Standard Bearer


  If you have questions you would          made perfectly clear. The young             calling which has duties for their ser-
like to see addressed here, please         people may not simply wander                vice of God.
write to me directly, 8360 Clyde Park      around, supposing that it really does         One of the proof texts that the
SW, Byron Center, MI 49315.                not matter what they do, as long as         catechism uses to establish this strik-
  God lead you and bless you as you        they are not called to be a preacher        ing teaching is I Corinthians 7:24.
face your many "hard questions."           or maybe a school teacher. Not in-          Here is the heart of our proof. In
                                           frequently does the young person            verse 17 Paul says, "But as God hath
  To say that young people wring           abandon all prayers for the Spirit's        distributed to every man, as the
their hands over the question of           guidance after he has determined            Lord hath called every one, so let
what to do after high school is to         that he is not called to be a minister      him walk." Then in verse 20 he
say something to which every young         or school teacher. "Whheeew!!! Now          says, "Let every man abide in the
person grimly nods. The rare bird          I can make my own decision . . ."           same calling wherein he was called."
that knows from the third grade on         Underlying that bad thinking is the         What does he mean here? First, he
what he/she is going to do is              devil's teaching that only preachers        is saying that God has called each to
enough to make the other 99.9% of          and maybe teachers have a calling           salvation  through the gospel. That is
the flock a bit jealous and perhaps        from God to do what they are doing,         the saving calling which is the same
all the more troubled besides. "Why        and all others do not. Christian            for every child of God. Each is called
don't I know what I need to do for         young people need to tie a millstone        out of darkness into God's marvelous
the rest of my life? Now that I'm 18       to that thinking and toss it over-          light. We cannot dismiss that part of
years old is there something wrong         board.                                      the calling. But second, in connec-
that I still don't have the slightest                                                  tion with that saving calling,  God
idea what to do?" Or, "How in the            You have a calling of God to
                                           serve Him to the best of your ability       also calls each to the specific work
world am I supposed to make a deci-        in a particular place in life. Maybe        and earthly position in life that He
sion?" Or, "I think I know what I'd        your calling is to be a pastor.             has ordained for him.
like to do, and I'm shooting for that;     Perhaps you need to study to be a             Is this the proper interpretation of
but why am I so uncertain about it         teacher. Maybe you are going to be          this text? Consider the three ex-
all?"                                      a salesman, or a mother of one or           amples that the apostle uses to il-
  We parents; teachers, pastors, and       five or ten children. But being a           lustrate his teaching. "Is any man
elders, need to be sympathetic to          salesman or a mother is no less a           called being circumcised? let him not
their lurking fear that indecision will    calling of God for you than being a         become uncircumcised." That is, did
cost them dearly.                          pastor or school teacher.                   God call you as a Jew? Then you
  Too few prayers are raised to our          Proof? Plenty. First, think of it         must consider that as a divine sta-
God asking guidance for the young          practically. Why would the Lord call        tion and calling in which you are to
people about their calling. If my own      a few of His children to a particular       serve God, Second, "Art thou called
pastorate may be judged, too seldom        life's work, but leave all the others       being a servant? care not for it: but
are petitions in the congregational        hanging as though they are really           if thou mayest be free, use it rather."
prayers raised for the Spirit's            not very important, and as though           That is, has God called you to salva-
guidance in the lives of the young         His plan does not include their life?       tion who are also a slave? Then you
people, particularly in connection         Why would the Lord give to a few
with their life's occupation. In how                                                   must consider your present condition
                                           of His children the confidence that         as a slave as a divine office and call-
many of our homes do the fathers of        their life's work is His special office     ing of God. You must not revolt and
young and older teens pray at the          for them, but all the rest - well,          rebel, but serve God in that station.
dinner table for the Spirit's leading      they can just float around as though
regarding work and school? (I em-                                                      Paul qualifies that by teaching that if
                                           it does not matter to them or God.
phasize at the dinner table because          The Heidelberg Catechism has
these prayers must be raised in the        something important to say about
presence of the young people.) How         this question. Explaining the fourth
many of you young people pray                                                           Take the time
                                           petition of the Lord's Prayer, "thy
fervently for the wisdom to make a         will be done", the catechism says
decision about occupation that will        that when we pray this, we mean to          to read and
please God besides pleasing you?           say, "grant that we and all men may
How many times have we young               . . . obey thy will . . , that so every
people asked our parents to pray for                                                   study the
                                           one may attend to, and perform the
us in our decisions?                       duties of his station and calling . . ."
  Young people ought not to worry          Read that explanation again. It             Standard Bearer!
whether they will ever be able to          claims that every person has a "sta-
make up their mind. The Lord will          tion and calling" in this life. The
be with them. Their calling is to          Reformed Church in the United
pray and work on it.                       States (German Reformed) translates
  A life's calling?                        this "office and calling." That is,
  To help young people in their            every child of God has an office and
decisions, at least one thing must be

                                                                                                           The Standard Bearer  I69


the slave can be made free (in a            should consider that freedom as                What work must I do to determine
legitimate way) then he ought to use        God's calling for them; and use it to        my calling after high school? Prom-
that freedom to serve God. But each         serve God. That applies to us in our         ise me that you will pray about
is a divine office and station.             calling. If we find ourselves in a posi-     your life's work. I promise that I will
  The third example is the one from         tion that simply does not suit us,           give more specifics next time, the
the context of the whole chapter -          because it does not pay enough to            Lord willing, on:
marriage. It you are married, he            support the family, is a job that is         1. Determining our calling in con-
says to Christians, the married state       not compatible with the Reformed                nection with our abilities.
is the calling of God for you. If you       faith, or simply does not utilize our        2. Determining our calling in con-
are not married and cannot be, do           talents fully, we try to find some-             nection with God's command-
not desire to be, or have no need for       thing else. And that something else             ments.
marriage, then remain unmarried.            is the divine office for us.                 3. Determining our calling in con-
That is God's divine office for you.          The reason it is possible to change           nection with kingdom service.
"Brethren, let every man, wherein           is that God has given us a divine            4. What about college? Is it for
he is called, therein abide with God."      calling that fits with all the other cir-       everyone?
  Now, although the apostle talks           cumstances of our lives. Cir-                5. What about the difference
about the place of life in which            cumstances change. Calling changes.             between the young men and
someone finds himself after he is             * * * * * * * * * *                           young women?
converted, the same truth applies to                                                       God grant grace to you in the
our lives. Each place in which we             How does this work out:in our              strength of your youth! 0
find ourselves is an office and station     lives practically? How can ,I answer
ordained by God.                            the question: what shall I do after
  What a beautiful teaching! I do           high school? In contrast to the Corin-
not have to wander! I do not have to        thians, who found themselves
think that it really doesn't matter         already in a particular station of life
what I do! If I'm already in an oc-         when called to salvation, young peo-
cupation that serves my family and          ple in the church today who have no
the church well, I don't have to            pre-planned occupation have the
think anymore that my position in           hard job of trying to  determine
life is completely arbitrary. This is       where God would have them go.
my office and calling from God! In            God leads us into a proper occupa-
this calling I must serve Him to the        tion through much prayer. I men-
best of my ability.                         tioned that already, and hope to
  This does not mean, though, (as           again. But that needs to be stressed.
some think) that once we are in a           Pray! Pray! And pray without ceas-
position we stay till we die - come         ing for God's will to be done in your
what may. The apostle also ad-              life. But, as with obtaining daily
dressed that question in connection         bread, praying is not the end of the
with the slaves. If they legitimately       story. The story of our life `is: Pray
could be freed from slavery, they           and Work.





                                            N e w s   Frbm
                                            Our Churches
Ben Wigger



                                              We now continue our church pro-            request was sent to Rev. H.
                                            files with a look at the Hope Protes-        Hoeksema for advice and assistance
                                            tant Reformed Church of Redlands,            by some forty families in Redlands
Ben Wigge? is an elder in the Protestant    California.                                  who were burdened by circum-
Reformed Church of Hudsonville,               Hope Church originated when a              stances in their mother church in
Michigan.                                                                                1932. After their organization, their

70  / The Standard Bearer


first pastor was the Rev. G. Vos, who        Since their reorganization in 1953,     of the Reformed Witness Hour. They
served them for eleven years and          the congregation has been faithfully       hoped to begin.broadcasting the first
left a lasting imprint upon the fledg-    served by the Reverends H. Kuiper,        Sunday of October over radio station
ling congregation.                        H. Veldman, C. Hanko, M..Kamps,            KRKS (99 AM) from 4:30-5:00 p.m.
  Soon after organization, the            and J. Kortering. Following Rev.           on Sunday afternoons.
members constructed a new church,         Kortering's departure, Redlands ex-          South Holland's Council called a
which was soon followed by their          tended eighteen calls before receiv-      special meeting September 23 for
own Christian day school, the first in    ing an acceptance from their present      those family heads who signed a let-
the denomination.                         pastor, Rev. K. Koole.                    ter of survey to form a new congre
  By the late 1940's the congrega-           The congregation celebrated its        gation. Other men, family heads and
tion had grown to nearly eighty           Fiftieth Anniversary, some four years     individuals, who wanted to become
families. Then came the 1953 con-         ,ago by dedicating their present new-     a part of this group were also invited
troversy. Due to divisive pastoral        ly constructed building. Adding to        to attend. And another meeting was
leadership, the congregation was          the sentiment of the occasion was          held October 8 for this same group
dealt a near death blow. Of the           the fact that the congregation, under     for the purpose of appointing com-
original seventy-five-plus families,      the direction of Mr. G. Joostens, had     mittees.
only eleven families rallied under        spent two and one half years con-            The Building Committee of Cove-
Rev. H. Hoeksema, re-organized,           `strutting the church themselves.         nant Church in Wyckoff, New Jersey
and continued on. But everything          Some of the men still claim to have       is progressing toward their sanctuary
materially was lost - church, par-        "sander elbow".                           completion. Presently they have
sonage, and school. The group met           At present Hope numbers some            plans to make the heating system
in some unlikely places; not exactly      forty-seven families, with a total        operational, to finish the woodwork,
barns, but not much better. One           membership of one hundred ninety-         and to finish painting the interior.
place was an American Legion Hall.        five. An interesting feature of              Byron Center's congregation held
The older members still speak of the      Redlands is its number of elderly         a Request Program Sunday,
place reeking with the smell of li-       members. Fourteen of its members          September 27. The idea for this pro-
quor from parties the night before.       are over eighty, with a number in         gram was dreamed up by their Pro-
The members sometimes had to pro-         the high seventies. They are a great      gram Committee. It was a kind of
vide janitor service before they          spiritual asset.                          talent program from their own
could worship.                               Once again the members support         church. The members could request
  In time a little white church build-    their own elementary school. Enroll-      others or volunteer themselves to
ing on the corner of Webster and          ment is steadily climbing. The con-       sing, play an instrument or "what-
Clay was purchased, and a par-            gregation is busy in missions and the     ever." Refreshments were served
sonage. One of the ironies of `history    work of evangelism. Redlands, by          afterwards.
was that just before they built their     God's grace, is thriving. It also re-        Edmonton's latest batch of
present structure, the congregation       mains an excellent place to visit in      bulletins contained one which had a
was renting the church building they      the winter months.                        notice to remind the congregation
themselves had originally built and         In other church news, First             that Thanksgiving Day Services
lost in 1953. It had become the prop-     Church in Grand Rapids has called         were to be held at lo:30 a.m. Mon-
erty of a Mexican Seventh Day             to serve as missionary to Jamaica         day, October 12 and not at the usual
Adventist group.                          the Rev. K. Hanko, presently Home         11:15 a.m. time. That is no mistake.
                                          Missionary in Norristown, Pennsyl-        Canada celebrates Thanksgiving Day
                                          vania, from a trio including              the second Monday in October. We
                                          Reverends K. Koole and B. Gritters.       in the United States celebrate it the
                                            Holland Church has called Rev. K.       last Thursday in November. 0
                                          Koole, presently of Hope, Redlands,
The Standard                              to be their pastor, from a trio in-
                                          cluding Rev. T. Miersma and Rev. G.
Bearer makes                              Van Baren.                                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
                                            On Sept. 22 the Mr. and Mrs./              The Mary-Martha Society of
                                          Adult Bible Societies League Meeting      Hope Protestant Reformed Church,
a thoughtful                              was held at our Holland Church. The       Redlands, CA., expresses its heart-
                                          topic "Christian Family Finance" was      felt sympathy to fellow-member,
gift for the                              presented by Rev. W. Bekkering and        Mrs.  Pat'Koole  and to our leader
                                          Mr. David Ondersma.                       and pastor; Rev. Kenneth Koole, in
                                            The Church Extension Committee          the death of Pat's sister
sick & shut-in.                           of our church in Loveland, Colo. has      ROSEMARY RAU.
                                          been able to secure a radio station          It is our prayer that they and
                                          in the Denver area for the broadcast      their family may experience God's
                                                                                    nearness during this time of sor-
                                                                                    row,  an< find comfort in His Word.
                                                                                       "The eternal God is thy refuge;

                                                                                                       The Standard Bearer  / 71


    THE
STANDARD                                                                                              SECOND CLASS
  BHRER                                                                                               Postage Paid at
                                                                                                      Grand Rapids, Michigan

  PO. Box 6064
  Grand Rapids, MI 49506




and underneath are the everlasting       Peter  5:6, 7 speak unto them and                May our faithful covenant God
arms." (Deut.  33:,27)                   unto us, His Church.                      comfort them and their family with
Otto Caastra, Vice-President                "Humble yourselves therefore           the assurance that He doeth all
Jeanne Karsemeyer, Secretary             under the mighty hand of God,             things well.
                                         that He may exalt you in due time.               "Trust ye in the Lord forever; for
RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                   Casting all your care upon Him for        in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlast-
   The members of the Southwest          He  careth for you." (I Peter  5:6, 7)    ing strength." (Isaiah  26:4)
Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Society expresses       The Council of Hope Prot. Ref. Church,    Mr. P. Koole, President
its Christian sympathy to Dave and         Rev. James Slopsema, Pres.              Mr. M. De Wald, Secretary
Norma Rau in the sudden death of           Peter Koole, Clerk                      Prof. H. Hanko, President
                                                                                   Mrs. D. Lotterman, Secretary
his sister, ROSEMARY RAU.                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
   "Precious in the sight of the Lord                                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
is the death of his saints." (Ps.           The members of Hope Sr. and Jr.          The Senior Mr. and Mrs. Society
116:15)                                  Young Peoples Societies wish to ex-
                                         press their sympathy to Mr. and           of Faith Protestant Reformed
Rev. M. Kamps, Pres.                     Mrs. Rau and family in the death          Church, Jenison, Michigan, extends
Julie Kaiser, Sec'y.                     of their daughter and sister, ROSE-       sincere Christian sympathy to the
                                                                                   James Rau family in the death of
WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                      MARY RAU.                                 their beloved sister, ROSIE RAU.
   On September  25,1987  our               "I go to prepare a place for you.      We know that she is sadly missed
parents and grandparents, MR.            And if I go to prepare a place for        by all who knew her. We also have
AND MRS. JAMES BLANKESPOOR,              you, I will come again, and receive       the comfort and assurance that
celebrated their 45th wedding            you unto myself; that where I am,         God called His child home to be
anniversary. We rejoice with them        there ye may be also."                    with Him in glory.
and give thanks to God for their         Doug Kooienga, Pres.  - Sr.                  I/. . . they shall obtain gladness
love and covenant training.              Cal Kalsbeek, Pres.  - Jr.
                                                                                   and joy; and sorrow and mourning
   Our prayer for them is that God       RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                    shall flee away. I, even I, am he
will continue to bless and keep             The members of the Jr. Mr. and         that comforteth you: . .  .". (Isaiah
them in their remaining years            Mrs. Society of Hope Protestant           51 :I1 b, 12a)
together and  .with us.                  Reformed Church would like to ex-         Larry Koole, Vice President
   "He hath remembered his cove-         press their Christian sympathy to         Pat Koole, Vice All
nant for ever, the word which he         fellow members, Mike and Elaine
commanded to a thousand genera-          Rau, in the death of their sister,
tions." (Psalm  105:8)                   ROSIE RAU.
Peter and Janice Poortenga                  "Blessed are the dead which die                    " &udi& In The
  Valerie and fiance', Todd Terpstra     in the Lord from henceforth: yea,
  Judy and fiance', Jerry Fynaardt                                                              Book of Genesis
  George and Ranae Vroom                 saith the Spirit, that they may rest
  Joanne                                 from their  labours, and their works                   by Robert  C! k!arb&h
  Deanna                                 do follow them." (Rev.  14:13)                      Coinmentary * 938 Pages
                                                                                    ,'
                                         Mr. Dewey Engelsma, President
RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                           H&d  C o v e r
                                         Mrs. Grace Lotterman, Secretary
   Herewith the Council of The                                                                 Of&R   NOW   F O R
Hope Protestant Reformed Church          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                 mais?ms  GIVING
of Walker, Michigan, extends its            The Men's and the Ladies'              ~:.-
deepest concern and heartfelt sym-       Societies of the Hope Protestant                  Again At Pre-Publication Price
pathy to their fellow office bearer,     Reformed Church, Walker,                           .$18.95  (t 1.5P for mailing)
Elder Alvin Rau, his wife Phyllis,       Michigan, wish to express their                             Order) from
and brothers and sisters in the sud-     heartfelt sympathy to their faithful              Dennis Dykstra, 3228 Chestnut
den death, October  2,1987, of           members, Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Rau,                       Gi-andvilie, MI 49418
their loved daughter and sister,         in the death of their beloved
ROSEMARY, at age 17. May the             daughter, ROSEMARY, on October                   After Jan. 1, reg. price:  $21.95+
words of the Gospel, as found in I       2, 1987.

72  I The Standard Bearer


