                          Rev. Dale Kuiper
                      Office Bearers Conference
                   South Holland, February 28, 1989

                               See "Contribution" - page 350



Vol. 65, No. 15
May 7, 1989


Contents                                                                                         7i-K
                                                                     May I, 1989                   ,r  IL
                                                                                         STANDARD
Meditation  -  Rev. lames D.  Slopsema
  JESUS' ASCENSION                                                              339             B-R
Editorial  - Prof. David  1.  Engelsma                                                   ISSN 0362-4692
  A QUESTION TO  THE FREE  PRESBYTERIAN  MACAZlNE                               341     Semi-monthly. except monthly during June, July,
                                                                                        and  Aueust.  Published  bv the Reformed Free Pub-
LETTERS                                                                        3 4 4    lishing  j\ssociation,  Inc.  Second  Class Postage Paid
                                                                                        at Grand Rapids,  Mich.
Guided Into All Truth  -  Rev. Charles  1. Terpstra                                     EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
  AUGUSTINE AND THE PELAGIAN HERESY (1)                                         344     Editor-in-chief: Prof. David  J. Engelsma
                                                                                        Managing Editor: Prof. Robert D. Decker
The Day of Shadows  -.  Rev. lohn A. Heys                                               Editors' Assistant: Mr. Don  Doezema
                                                                                        DEPARTMENT EDITORS
  THE SHADOW OF THE COMING MAN OF SIN                                           347     Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert Decker, Rev.
                                                                                        Arie  denHartog,  Rev. Russell Dykstra, Rev. Barry
Contribution  -  Rev.  Wayne Bekkering                                                  Critters, Rev. Cornelius Hanko, Prof. Herman
  OFFICE BEARERS CONFERE'NCE                                                    350     Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko. Rev. John  Heys,  Rev.
                                                                                        Jason Kortering. Rev. George Lubbers, Rev. James
                                                                                        Slopsema, Rev. Charles Terpstra. Rev.  Cise
Bible Study Guide  - Rev.  ]ason  L. Kortering                                          VanBaren,  Mr. Benjamin Wigger.
  JUDGES  - JEHOVAH DELIVERS HIS UNWORTHY PEOPLE                                        EDITORIAL OFFICE
                                                                                        The Standard Bearer
     (CONCLUDED)                                                                351     4949  lvanrest
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Special Article  - Rev. Thomas C. Miersma                                               CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
  THE LITURGICAL USE OF THE CONFESSION OF FAITH                                 353     Mr. Ben Wigger
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The Strength of Youth  - Rev. Barrett L. Critters                                       Hudsonville,  Michigan 49426
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     "CAN I BE SURE I AM A CHRISTIAN?"                                          355     of his own articles. Contributions of general in-
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  ORTHODOX PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES                                                358     must be signed. Copy deadlines are the first and
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            - -               -   -  - -   -  - -   -  _  __.                   359     editorial office.
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338  / The Standard Bearer


Meditation                              Jesus' Ascension
Rev. lames Slopsema



   And when he had spoken               the season for the kingdom to be        We can well imagine that the
these things, while they beheld,        restored. Nevertheless, this much     disciples were amazed, their at-
he was taken up; and a cloud            Jesus could tell them: they would     tention being riveted on Jesus.
received him out of their sight.        soon receive the power of the         Thus we read that while the
   And while they looked                Holy Spirit. And through the          disciples beheld, Jesus was taken
steadfastly toward heaven as            Spirit's power the disciples would    up*
he went up, behold, two men             become witnesses of Jesus both          And then a cloud received
stood by them in white ap-              in Jerusalem, and in all Judea,       Jesus out of the sight of the
parel;                                  and in Samaria, and unto the          disciples; After Jesus had risen
                                        uttermost part of the earth.          some distance from the ground, a
   Which also said, Ye men of             These final instructions being      cloud suddenly appeared under
Galilee, why stand ye gazing            completed, Jesus was suddenly         Jesus' feet and took Him up out
up into heaven? this same               taken up into heaven in a cloud       of their sight.
Jesus, which is taken up from           before the very eyes of His             While the disciples stood
you into heaven, shall so come          disciples.                            gazing up into heaven, two men
in like manner as ye have seen            And while the disciples stood       in white apparel, who had been
him go into heaven.                     gazing into heaven, they were         standing by all the while, stepped
                        Acts 1:9-l 1    approached by two men in white,       forward and informed the
                                        who brought to them a most            disciples what had just happened.
  It was forty days after Jesus'        wonderful promise. This same          These two men were obviously
resurrection from the dead. Jesus       Jesus, which is taken up from         angels. This is evident from the
had appeared nine times already         you into heaven, shall so come in     way they are described. They
to His disciples. Now Jesus has         like manner as ye have seen Him       were dressed in brilliant white
appeared for the tenth and final        go into heaven.                       garments which reflected the
time to His disciples on the              Thank God for this promise!         very glory of God's presence in
Mount of Olives just outside the          Without this promise the            heaven.
city of Jerusalem.                      ascension of Jesus into heaven          The presence of these two
  The disciples sensed that some-       would have meant a terrible loss      angels is easily explained. Angels
thing dramatic was about to hap-        both to the disciples and to the      were always present at significant
pen. And so they asked Jesus            future church.                        points of Jesus' life and ministry.
whether perhaps at this time He           But now there is a blessed          They appeared in Bethlehem to
would restore the kingdom again         hope for the future, For this same    announce Jesus' birth to the
to Israel.                              Jesus, which is taken up from         shepherds. They were present
  Jesus responded that it was not       you into heaven, shall so come in     after Jesus' temptations in the
given them to know the time or          like manner as the disciples have     wilderness to minister to Jesus.
                                        seen Him go into heaven.              They were with Jesus in the
                                          * * * * * * * * *                   agony of Gethsemane. They were
                                          While Jesus was talking to His      also present in the empty tomb
                                        disciples, He was taken up. Slow-     to announce the gospel of the
          _ --                          ly Jesus began to rise from the       resurrection to the women on
iei. Slopsema is pastor of the Prot-                                          Easter Sunday. And now they are
estant Reformed Church of Walker,       ground.                               present also at Jesus' ascension
Michigan.

                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer  I 339


into heaven to explain its mean-      perhaps even longer. No, when         kingdom was, of course, the
ing and significance to the           Jesus was taken out of the sight      kingdom of David. In the days of
disciples. Quite obviously Jesus'     of the disciples by the cloud, He     David and Solomon this kingdom
ascension is another significant      was instantly taken by God to         had enjoyed its golden age. But
event in Jesus' life and ministry.    heaven. God lifted Jesus up and       since then there had been a
  These heavenly messengers           took Jesus from the sight of the      steady decline. The ten tribes of
began with a question for the         disciples by the cloud merely to      the north had broken off and
disciples: "Ye men of Galilee,        give the disciples a sign of the      eventually were destroyed by the
why stand ye gazing up into           fact that God had taken Jesus to      Assyrian captivity. To David's
heaven?"                              heaven.                               great kingdom there had re-
  The very question suggests            *  *- *  * * * * * *                mained qnly .the tribe of Judah.
that the disciples were perplexed.                                          Eventually also Judah had been
They didn't understand what had         The angels also comforted the       brought into captivity by
                                      disciples with a promise.
just taken place. Oh, they should       This same Jesus, which is           Babylon. And, yes, Judah had
have understood. Towards the                                                been restored to her proper in-
                                      taken up from you into heaven,
end of His earthly ministry Jesus                                           heritance in Canaan. But the
                                      shall so come in like manner as
had spoken more and more of           ye have seen him go into              kingdom had never again en-
His departure. In the very eve-                                             joyed the power and prosperity
                                      heaven.
ning of His arrest, Jesus had told                                          of former times. Judah had been
                                        Certainly the disciples needed
the disciples that He was about                                             ruled by one foreign power after
to depart to His Father's house.      this promise. For Jesus' ascension    another. At this time she was
                                      meant that Jesus had departed.
There He would prepare a place                                              ruled by the hated Romans.
for them (cf. John 14:2). But this    He would be with the disciples
                                      no more on the earth. What a            On the basis of God's promises
had not fit into the earthly                                                spoken through the prophets, the
perspective the disciples had at      terrible loss this would be, were
                                      this all that could be said of        disciples had expected Jesus to
that time. And they had quickly                                             restore the kingdom of David.
                                      Jesus' ascension!
forgotten what Jesus had taught         Hence, the angels were sent           In fact, when Jesus appeared
them.                                                                       to them this tenth time on the
                                      from heaven to assure the
  Consequently, the angels pro-                                             Mount of Olives, the disciples an-
                                      disciples and the church that
ceeded to inform the disciples                                              ticipated that Jesus would restore
                                      Jesus would return to earth one
what they had just witnessed.                                               the kingdom at this time.
                                      day. Jesus' departure from the
  Jesus had been taken up into        church on the earth would only          In response, Jesus made clear
heaven.                               be temporary, the separation on-      that He would, indeed, restore
  This is what Jesus' ascension                                             the kingdom . . . but not then.
                                      ly for a time.
was all about. The ascension was        And the angels emphasized           The restoration of the kingdom
a change of place for Jesus. For      that when Jesus does return one       was yet to come.
approximately thirty-three years                                              And now the disciples were in-
                                      day, He would be the same Jesus
Jesus lived and dwelt among us                                              formed by the angels that this
                                      they had known. He would not
in the flesh. But through the         return as a stranger to them. His     same Jesus, which was taken up
ascension God took Jesus to                                                 into heaven before their very
                                      departure into heaven would not
heaven in His resurrected, glori-                                           eyes, would return to them as
                                      significantly change Jesus. No,
fied human nature. Jesus is there-                                          the Savior. There could be no
                                      "this same Jesus" which was
fore no more with us as to His                                              doubt as to the meaning. The
                                      taken up into heaven would
human nature; He is in heaven.                                              ascended Jesus would return
                                      return to them.
  Jesus has been taken up into                                              from heaven to restore the
                                        That means that Jesus will
heaven.                                                                     kingdom.
                                      return as the Savior. For that is
  And the sign of all this was        what His name "Jesus" means:            * * * * * * * * *
Jesus' being taken up into the        Savior.                                 When Jesus comes again He
sky by the cloud.                       And what great work of salva-       will restore the kingdom in its
  Certainly we must not imagine       tion will Jesus perform upon His      heavenly form.
that the cloud, which took Jesus      return? He will restore the             Certainly Jesus will not restore
out of the sight of the disciples,    kingdom!                              the kingdom in the earthly form
took Jesus to heaven. Nor must          The disciples had just asked        it had in the days of David and
we imagine that Jesus had quite       Jesus whether at this time He         Solomon. That earthly kingdom
a long journey from earth to          would restore the kingdom. This       of old merely served to point
heaven, lasting several hours or

340  I The Standard Bearer


Israel ahead to a better kingdom         lished upon His ascension is not            For, according to the angels,
to come, a heavenly kingdom.             yet complete.                               "This same Jesus, which is taken
When Jesus comes again there-              With a view to the completion             up from you into heaven, shall so
fore He will restore the kingdom         of His heavenly kingdom, the                come in like manner as ye have
by bringing the kingdom to its           ascended Lord has empowered                 seen him go into heaven."
final, heavenly fulfillment.             the church through the outpour-               Then Jesus will restore the
  Jesus ascended into heaven ex-         ing of the Holy Spirit to be His            kingdom. The wicked He will
actly that He might accomplish           witnesses both in Jerusalem, and            destroy forever in hell. And the
this restoration.                        in all Judea, and in Samaria, and           church He will bring to the glory
  Upon His ascension and being           unto the uttermost part of the              of the new creation, establishing
seated at God's right hand, Jesus        earth. Through this witness the             His kingdom forever in its final
first of all established the             church is gathered from among               form.
kingdom in its heavenly form.            the nations.                                  For that day we look, as we
This is not yet the restoration of         And when the church is fully              bear witness of Jesus to the na-
the kingdom. For the kingdom             gathered, this same Jesus, which            tions.
will not be restored until this          was taken up into heaven, shall             Come, Lord Jesus, come quick-
heavenly kingdom is complete.            return. Every eye shall see Him.            ly! 0
And the kingdom Jesus estab-
                                                                                -





                                         A Question to The Free
Editorial                                Presbyterian Magazine

  In the February 1989 issue of          Church of Scotland, thus leaving            limited atonement which consists
The Free Presbyterian Magazine           these families without a local              of appealing to Scripture's com-
(hereafter  TFPM)  appeared an ar-       church, a grievous situation. One           mand to the church to preach the
ticle on "The Extent of the              of the issues standing in the way           gospel to all men indiscriminate-
Atonement and the Gospel                 of their joining the Free Presby-           ly. Those who hold universal
Offer." The article is of special in-    terian Church, in the minds of              atonement argue that the calling
terest to us because the magazine        these families, was the teaching            of the church to preach to all
in which it appears is issued by a       of the Free Presbyterian Church             proves that Christ died for all, as
synod committee of the Free              on the "offer of the gospel."               though the only basis for
Presbyterian Church of Scotland.           The article in TFPM consists of           preaching to all is Christ's death
This is the denomination that a          a lengthy quotation from William            for all. Cunningham, renowned
number of families in Northern           Cunningham's Historical                     Scottish theologian of the 19th
Ireland now urgently requesting          Theology, to which is prefixed a            century, denies the validity of
help from the Protestant Re-             very brief introduction, presum-            this argument. That the gospel
formed Churches in the form of a         ably by the Editor of TFPM (the             must be preached to all and that
preacher believed themselves un-         introductory paragraph carries no           all must be called to faith in
able to join in good conscience          signature). As the title indicates,         Christ, he readily acknowledges.
before God. As a result, these           Cunningham is treating of the               That this exposes the doctrine of
Presbyterian families were com-          "gospel offer" in connection with           limited atonement as false and
pelled to separate from their            the doctrine of the atonement.              proves universal atonement to be
church, which had decided to             Specifically, he is refuting that           true, he emphatically denies.
join the Free Presbyterian               objection to the doctrine of

                                                                                                     The Standard Bearer  / 341


   It is worthy of note that when          brings out certain points that are       formed churches and theologians
Cunningham comes to give the               worthy of consideration.                 in our day to mean by the "free
ground for the church's                       One could wish that some              offer," or the "well meant offer,"
preaching to all (and not to the           word of explanation had been             a preaching of the gospel that ex-
elect or regenerated only), he             given, why TFPM brings up the            presses the love of God for all
deliberately refuses to ground             matter of the offer of the gospel.       without exception who hear the
promiscuous preaching in the suf-          Is there some controversy about          preaching and that originates in
ficiency of the cross to save all.         it in Scotland? Does the Free            a desire (will) of God to save all
This is often done, as Cunning-            Presbyterian Church of Scotland          without exception who come
ham recognizes. Reformed                   face some challenge to its posi-         under the preaching. This is not
defenders of limited atonement             tion on the free offer?                  what Westminster meant by the
will speak at this point of the               From the introduction itself, it      free offer. That Westminster had
cross' being efficient for the elect,      is evident that TFPM intends the         no such notion about preaching
but sufficient for all. Cunning-           quotation from Cunningham to             in mind when it spoke of God's
ham, seemingly fearful that                prove two things: 1) that the            freely offering salvation to sin-
positing a universal reference of          Scottish divines have taught the         ners is evident, not only from its
the cross even in this qualified           free offer of the gospel; and 2)         doctrine of predestination in
sense jeopardizes the truth of             that the doctrine of the free offer      Chapter III, particularly its teach-
limited atonement, insists that the        of the gospel is Presbyterian or-        ing in Article 7 that God's
ground of our preaching to all is          thodoxy. In passing, I note that         pleasure concerning the rest of
simply God's command to the                the latter does not necessarily          mankind, whom He did not elect,
church to do so. (Our readers can          follow from the truth of the             was to pass them by with His
find this passage in Cunningham's          former. It is conceivable that           mercy and to ordain them to dis-
Historical Theology, Volume II,            some Scottish divines have               honour and wrath for their sin,
pp. 343-348, in the Banner of              taught a certain doctrine, but that      but also from the concluding
Truth edition.)                            that doctrine is unsound. ln-            words of the very article in
   About Cunningham's doctrine,            fallibility is the perfection of         which it describes the preaching
as given in the quotation, we              Scripture alone. Our question to         of the gospel as a free offer.
have no question. It is solid,             TFPM, however, concerns its              These words are, ". . . and prom-
straightforward Presbyterian doc-          assertion that the Scottish divines      ising to give unto all those that
trine. Our question concerns the           taught the free offer, of which          are ordained unto life His Holy
use to which this doctrine, and            assertion William Cunningham is          Spirit, to make them willing and
particularly Cunningham's de-              put forward as evidence.                 able to believe." Election controls
scription of the preaching as the            That Cunningham spoke of the           the preaching. Election is an im-
"free offer," is put by TFPM. The          free offer is plain enough from          portant part of the message of
paragraph that introduces Cun-             the quotation from his Historical        the preaching. The promise that
ningham in TFPM reads as                   Theology. Nor is this at all sur-        is the heart of the gospel is for
follows:                                   prising. As a confessional Presby-       the elect only: "all that are or-
Our Scottish  di&&,  though                terian theologian, he used the           dained unto life." Unless the
Calvinists of unquestioned ortho-          language of the Westminster Con-         Westminster divines contradicted
doxy, have all along held the doc-         fession of Faith, which, in              themselves in the short space of
trine of the free offer of the gospel      Chapter VII, describes the preach-       the same article, indeed in the
while holding that Christ died only        ing of the gospel~under  the new         same sentence, maintaining both
for those who were given Him by the        covenant as God's freely offering        that God loves all who hear the
Father, We find this teaching in the       unto sinners life and salvation by
sermons of the most honoured of the                                                 preaching and that He loves only
Scottish preachers such as Samuel          Jesus Christ. Similarly, Reformed        those ordained to life and
Rutherford, Thomas Boston,                 theologians have employed the            teaching that in the preaching
Ebenezer  Erskine, Ralph Erskine,          term, "offer," inasmuch as the           God both wills to save all and
Robert Murray  MacCheyne,  Dr.             Canons of Dordt state that Christ        wills to save only those ordained
John Macdonald  and Dr. John Ken-          is offered in the gospel (Ill, IV/g).    to life (a charge that no one who
nedy, etc. This is the doctrine taught       But it is not plain from the           knows these worthies would dare
in our Confession of Faith. It is to be    quotation in TFPM that Cunning-          to lodge against them), they
clearly distinguished horn  the Ar-        ham meant by the "free offer"            clearly meant by the offer
minian  view that the free offer of the    what many Presbyterians mean             nothing other than the indiscrim-
gospel is a corollary of the doctrine      by it today. It is widespread            inate proclamation of the gospel.
of a universal atonement. Dr. Cun-         among Presbyterian and Re-               God will have the gospel
ningham in the following extract

342  I The Standard Bearer


 preached to all, not only to those    to all men because God has a           preaching the gospel to all.
whom the church has somehow            sincere desire that all men be            This is a form of the Arminian
determined to be elect or              saved. There is every reason to        conception of preaching. It
regenerate. Christ is presented in     conclude that for Cunningham           characteristically undermines the
the gospel to all who hear. All        the free offer was nothing other       truth of limited atonement. It
are externally called to believe       than promiscuous preaching of          worked itself out in the history of
on Him. This is their duty. To all     Christ that confronts every sinner     Scottish Presbyterianism in a full-
it is announced that every one         with his duty to believe on            blown confession of universal
who believes shall be saved.           Christ, by which God realizes His      atonement. Scottish theologian,
   Radically different is the doc-     will to bring to Christ and save       John Macleod, himself sympa-
trine of a proclamation of the         the elect whom He loves.               thetic to the men of the "Mar-
gospel that manifests a universal         Our question to TFPM is this:       row," writes, in his Scottish
love of God for sinners and a          What version of the offer are you      Theology:
universal will of God for the          defending in your article of           Thus the end of the record of the
salvation of sinners. This is what     February 1989? the universalistic      "Marrow" tradition in the largest
many Presbyterians and Re-             version of Arminianism? or the         body of the Secession went so far to
formed have in mind with the           particularistic version of creedal     justify those who from the first con-
"free offer" today. This is the Ar-    Presbyterianism? Presumably,           nected it with the teaching of a
minian conception of preaching.        your answer to this question will      Redemption that was universal . .  _
It is not the case, as TFPM im-        also indicate what version of the      an extreme way of saying to the un-
plies in its introduction to the       offer is held and practised by the     converted, Christ died for you, or,
Cunningham quotation, that a           Free Presbyterian Church of            the Saviour is dead for you, was
                                                                              forced by a kind of logical necessity
theory of preaching is Arminian        Scotland, since you are a denomi-      to justify its own statement by hold-
only if it overtly attacks limited     national magazine.                     ing . . . that He actually died for
atonement. Just because a Pres-          We confess, forthrightly, to         each and all to whom the Gospel
byterian does not actively use his     some apprehension in the matter.       comes when its Word calls upon us
theory of preaching as universal       For among the Scottish divines         to believe (p. 243).
grace to destroy the doctrine of       appealed to by you as having              Is this the free offer defended
limited atonement, his theory of       taught the free offer are the          by  TFPM?
preaching does not for this            "Marrow men" (so called because           Or, as we hope, do you rather
reason escape the condemnation,        of their adherence to the doc-         confess a promiscuous preaching
Arminian. To say it differently,       trine contained in the book, The       of a particular love, a particular
the doctrine of preaching held by      Marrow of Modern Divinity)  -          will to save, and a particular
the Arminians in the late 16th         Boston and the Erskine brothers.       promise, that is, a particular
and early 17th centuries was not       But these men taught that the          Christ - a Christ for those only
erroneous only because it con-         preaching of the gospel is             whom the Father has given Him,
flicted with the doctrine of           grounded in a "giving love" of         repudiating Arminian universal-
limited atonement. It was false        God for all men without excep-         ism?
doctrine' also because it assailed     tion. Necessarily, they themselves       This is our question, a fair and
predestination, irresistible grace,    acknowledged that such a doc-          reasonable one, we think.
total depravity, and ultimately        trine of preaching bears on the          May we have your answer? 0
the. perseverance of the saints. It    vital question of the extent of the                                       -DJE
assailed these doctrines inasmuch      atonement. For the "Marrow
as it taught that the gospel ex-       men" also taught that by Gods
presses divine love for all without    design there is a general              Give a gift of
exception and inasmuch as it           reference of Christ's death to all
taught that the gospel is rooted       sinners without exception. In His      the Standard
in a will of God for the salvation     "giving love" for all men, God
of all without exception.              "hath made a deed of gift and
  Of the "free offer" in this Ar-      grant unto all men, that whoso-        Bearer to a
minian sense, there is not a hint      ever shall believe in His Son shall
in the quotation from Cunning-         not perish, but have eternal life."    friend or loved
ham. He wrote not one word             The "Marrow men," therefore,
about a love of God for all men.       said to every sinner, "Christ is       one today.
Neither did he so much as sug-         dead for you." This, they insisted,
gest that the gospel is preached       is the indispensable basis for

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Letters


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         James C. Young
         Newton, NC





 Guided  into                            Augustine and the
All Truth                                Pelagian Heresy (1)
Rev. Charles Terpstra



                                         INTRODUCTION                          giants of the church, one who is
                                           Continuing our look at some of      in fact generally considered the
                                         the Christian church's great          greatest of the church fathers.
                                         defenders and developers of the       Even though the life and work of
                                         truth, we want to focus next on       Augustine takes us back to the
Rev. Terpstra is pastor of the Prot-     Augustine (A.D. 354-430). In con-     4th and 5th centuries, he is still
estant Reformed Church of  Pella,        sidering this church father we are    held in high regard through his
Iowa.                                    dealing with one of the true          writings by nearly all churches,

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Protestant and Catholic. The fact      controversy with the Donatists;             ready to face the truth concern-
that the 1600 year anniversaries       he answered the "higher critic"             ing cod`s work of salvation.
of his birth (1954) and of his con-    Manicheans of his day with a                   As far as the whole question of
version and baptism (1986-87)          strong defense of Holy Scripture.           the precise nature of the work of
were met with such large notice        But we believe it was the doc-              salvation and the character of
both by the religious and secular      trine of sovereign grace which              God's grace in effecting it is con-
press indicates his widespread in-     was his greatest contribution.              cerned, it may be said that in this
fluence and respect. He is             The  notable Presbyterian                   respect too the church accepted
perhaps the most quoted                theologian B.B. Warfield ex-                in a general way the biblical
theologian down through the            pressed the same conviction:                teaching on how God saves man
ages, and in a vast range of con-      It is not Augustine the traditionalist,     the sinner. She held to the truths
texts and subjects.                    or Augustine the thinker, but               that man was a sinner in Adam,
  Yet the name of Augustine            Augustine the religious genius, who         and that he was not saved by his
ought to be particularly familiar      has most profoundly influenced the          own works but by the work of
to all Reformed believers, since       world. The most significant fact            Christ for him in the cross and in
we are as much "Calvinists" as         about him is that he, first among           him by the Spirit. Nevertheless,
we are "Augustinians." The             Church teachers, gave adequate ex-          these truths had not yet been
theology of the Reformation,           pression to that type of religion
                                       which has since attached to itself the      specifically examined and stated,
which is our heritage, is at heart     name of "evangelical': the religion,        chiefly because they had not yet
the theology of Augustine. He is       that is to say, of faith, as distinct       been seriously tested by the fires
entitled the "Doctor of grace,"        from the religion of works; the             of heresy. What is more, we
because to him we owe the de-          religion which, despairing of self,         know that there existed in the
velopment of the doctrine of           casts all its hope on God, as opposed       church of the 4th century that
God's sovereign grace rooted in        to the religion which, in a greater or      perennial "tension" between the
God's eternal predestination. And      less degree, trusts in itself. . . . The    sovereignty of God on the one
as we might expect, the develop-       great contribution which Augustine          hand and the freedom and
ment of this doctrine also came        has made to the world's life and            responsibility of man on the
in the way of controversy. The         thought is embodied in the theology         other hand. How much credit can
Spirit guided Augustine into a         ofgrace.. . . C'Studies  in Tertullian
                                       and Augustine, " in Works,, vol. iv,        be attributed to God and how
clear and sharp setting forth of       pp. 12 7-28)                                much to man was a burning
the truth of spvereign grace           That is indeed what the Spirit              question in the church at that
through thk mkans of the               through Augustine has given us              time. And it appears that with
whetstone of the Pelagian heresy.      - the "theology of grace." How              regard to this question many of
To be sure, Augustine was also         and why are what we will ex-                the church fathers had gone in
prepared for and led into a right      amine in this article and the               the direction of synergism, that
understanding of the doctrine of       n e x t .                                   is, the view that man cooperates
salvation through his own per-         THEBACKGROUNDTOTHE                          with God in the work of salva-
sonal conversion. (Who has not         PELAGIAN CONTROVERSY                        tion. L. Berkhof in his History of
read the story of that intense           We have noticed in our past               Christiun Doctrines gives us the
struggle as rehearsed in his Con-      articles that most of the contro-           prevailing view at that time:
fessions!) But especially was the      versies in the early church                 On the whole the main emphasis
truth of sovereign grace honored       centered on the doctrines of God            was on the free will of man rather
by means of the grave error of         and of Jesus Christ. These truths           than on the operation of divine
Pelagius.                              are foundational for the church,            grace. It is not the grace of God, but
  And it is on this that we wish       and it was only when these had              the free will of man that takes the
to focus. In doing so, we under-                                                   initiative in the work of regeneration.
                                       been defended and set forth
stand that we are limiting our-                                                    But though it begins the work, it can-
                                       clearly that the other doctrines of         not complete it without divine aid.
selves to but a small part of the      the faith could be dealt with.              The power of God co-operates with
great work and influence of this       Clearly, all other doctrines stand          the human will, and enables it to
church father. Augustine has           or fall with the truth concerning           turn from evil and to do that which
given much to the development          God Himself. This is especially             is well-pleasing in the sight of God
of doctrine: he gave to the            true of the doctrine of salvation.          (pp. 128-29).
church her final systematic doc-       Thus it was too that after the                 It is evident then that the doc-
trine of the Trinity; he contrib-      church had gone through the                 trines of sin and grace needed
uted greatly to the doctrine con-      Trinitarian and Christological              careful eliciting and development
cerning the church through his         controversies, the church was               from the Scriptures. For this task

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God raised up Augustine. And to        is God's gift to every man - both      himself, and not the human
this end God used the heretic          before and after the Fall; this is     race"; and, "fnfants at their birth
Pelagius.                              the "grace" God gives man in           are in the same state that Adam
PELAGIUS AND HIS HERESY                salvation. With this free-will man     was before the transgression"
  History provides us with             has the ability to do the good         ("On Original Sin," Fathers, V. p.
precious little information con-       God demands of him, if he simply       240). It was Pelagius' teaching
cerning Pelagius. Most of what         exercises his free-will and            that no person is born either with
we do know about him comes             chooses to do it. He argued from       imputed guilt or with inherited
from Augustine's own writings.         the point that what God com-           corruption. Natural man is not
He was a British monk, who as an       mands, man must be able to do.         totally depraved; his nature is not
already aged man suddenly ap-          In other words, responsibility im-     bent in the direction of evil only.
peared on the scene in the city of     plies ability. God does not give       But neither did he say that man
Rome at the beginning of the 5th       man things to do that he cannot        is as such inherently good. Ac-
century. He was known for his          do. Rather He gives man his            cording to him, man is spiritually
piety and his zeal in promoting        duties and then says, "There           neutral (a so-called tab&a rasa,
morality and upright living in the     now, 1 have given you free-will        "blank tablet"), but endowed with
church. Even Augustine de-             to will and to do this; now do it."    God's gift of free-will so that he is
scribed him as "a holy man,              Pelagius was very emphatic           able to do both good and evil.
. . . who has made no small prog-      about this. He himself placed no       From the pen of Pelagius himself
ress in the Christian life" ("On       restrictions on the power of the       came these words:
the Merits and Forgiveness of          natural man to do good, and he         Everything good, and everything evil,
Sins," in Nicene and Post-Nicene       would not allow others to do so        . . . is not born with us but done by
F&hers, vol. V, p. 69).                either. B.B. Warfield  relates that    us: for we are born not fully
  Significantly, and perhaps even      when Pelagius heard people             developed, but with a capacity for
ironically, it was Pelagius' zest      speaking of their inability to do      either conduct; and we are pro-
for good Christian living which        what God commanded because of          created as without virtue, so also
                                                                              without vice; and previous to the ac-
became the occasion for his            the weakness of their nature, he       tion of our own proper will, that
stumbling into error. Pelagius         was outraged and accused such          alone is in man which God has
was, of course, simply reacting to     people of reproaching God Who          formed (ibid, p. 241).
the spirit of his times. The church    gave them the gift of free-will.          Did Pelagius then deny the ex-
of his day was filled with unholy      And when he heard Augustine's          istence of sin altogether? No, but
members who did not walk ac-           prayer, "Give what Thou com-           what he did was to make sin ex-
cording to the gospel, because         mandest, and command what              clusively a matter of man's act
they were forced into the church       Thou wilt," Pelagius would not         and not of his nature. As War-
by the post-Constantine govern-        tolerate it to be repeated in his      field points out, to Pelagius man
ment when they in fact had no          ears, because of its implication       was only "a willing machine"
interest in the gospel. On account     that man is unable to do any-          who may sin in one act but then
of this many in the church began       thing good without God (Studies,       returns to the same spiritually
to form monastic orders to pro-        pp. 292-93).                           neutral position as before, ready
mote holiness of life. Pelagius did      Pelagius' view of the un-            to perform the good in the next
this too and became a monk. But        restricted ability of the human        act. Always his character remains
he also continued to call others       will clearly had some rather           the same (Studies, p. 296). How
to a life of obedience to God's        serious implications. In the first     then did Pelagius account for the
commandments. And he did that          place, it involved a denial of the     universality of sin? This was a
on the basis of his belief that all    doctrine of original sin. Well         matter of bad habit, he said.
men are not inherently sinful but      might the question be asked,           Adam's sin was nothing but a
able to choose and do the good.        What did Pelagius do with sin? In      bad example that is followed by
It is at this point that Pelagius      order to support his theory of         the majority of men. Wrote
went astray, and that as a conse-      man's ability through free-will,       Pelagius: "Nothing makes well-
quence he departed from the            Pelagius had to deny that Adam's       doing so hard as the long custom
teaching of Scripture on many          sin had any effect on the rest of      of sins which begins from child-
other points of doctrine.              mankind, and this is what he in        hood and gradually brings us
  What precisely was Pelagius'         fact taught. Augustine tells us        more and more under its power
position`! In his view the natural     that the two most infamous state-      until it seems to have in some
man has been endowed with              ments of Pelagius in this respect      degree the force of nature"
free-will by God his Maker. This       were: "Adam's sin injured only

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(quoted in Warfield's Studies, pp.       quickly as he had appeared, but              But is the heresy of Pelagian-
294-95).                                 to a few of his vigorous disciples,        ism relevant to us? Indeed it is.
   In the second place, as a con-        chiefly Coelestius and Julian, who         History has born this out. Count-
sequence of his doctrine of man's        carried on his campaign of                 less times it has risen anew in the
free-will, Pelagius also denied          heresy. It was through them that           life of the church. Roman
man's need for God's work of             Augustine became aware of the              Catholicism was and is essentially
grace in order for him to be             error and began to wage his own            Pelagian in character (cf. Belg.
saved. Clearly according to Pela-        campaign for the truth.                    Conf., arts. 14, 15). The Armin-
gius' conception man had every-          THE SERIOUSNESS AND REL-                   ianism of the 16th century was
thing he needed to work out his          EVANCY OF PELAGIANISM                      nothing less than a resurrection
own salvation; he did not need              How serious an error was                of the heresy of Pelagianism (cf.
Christ and His atonement, nor            Pelagianism? Very simply, it               Canons of Dordt, especially the
God and His saving grace. And            struck at the heart of the gospel.         Rejection of Errors). The
that is the way Pelagius talked          Warfield  points out that Pelagius'        Methodist revivalism of the 18th
too. To him God's grace was the          heresy was not merely new to               and 19th centuries in this country
gift of free-will. Any other helps       Christianity; it was at bottom             and in England had for its root
God gave, such as the law, the           antichristian. He goes on to               the Pelagian error of free-willism.
gospel, and the example of               describe its seriousness in these          And its predominance in our
Christ, are only external aids to        terms:                                     20th century cannot be ques-
make man choose and do the               The struggle with Pelagianism was          tioned. It is evident in the ram-
good more readily; but there is          thus in reality a struggle for the very    pant Arminianism of fundamen-
no sovereign, efficacious, internal      foundations of Christianity; and even      talist churches, in the social
work of God in the heart. In the         more dangerously than in the               gospel of modernistic churches,
light of this, it is not difficult to    previous theological and  Christolog-      in the self-esteem "gospel" of
argue that Pelagius really had no        ical controversies, here the practical     Schuller.  And of course it is the
true doctrine of salvation. His          substance of Christianity was in           heartbeat of all the humanistic
conception of salvation was sim-         jeopardy. The real question at issue       systems of education, business,
ply that of deliverance from bad         was whether there was any need for
                                         Christianity at all; whether by his        and religion found in the world.
habits and the improvement of            own power man might not attain               All of this makes Pelagianism
moral behavior.                          eternal felicity; whether the function     important for us to know and to
  Pelagius' views quickly gained         of Christianity was to save, or only       combat. How the Spirit of truth
a following and the seeds of error       to render an eternity of happiness         led Augustine in the fight against
were widely spread. This was             more easily attainable by man (ibid,       it and into the development of
due not to Pelagius himself, who         p, 291)                                    the "theology of grace" we will
disappeared from the scene as            Surely there can be no question            consider next time. 0
                                         as to the danger of this heresy.





 The Day of                              The Shadow of the
Shadows
Rev. john Heys                           Coming Man of Sin

                                            A striking thing about the first        of us. The sin of Adam and Eve
                                         eight chapters of Genesis is that          introduced wickedness into this
                                         they give us such an awesome               world. That deviltry developed
                                         shadow of what we must and can             very rapidly, so that the first per-
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in      expect in the days that lie ahead          son born in this world committed
the Protestant Reformed Churches.

                                                                                                   The Standard  Bearer  1347.


the awful sin of killing his            an invitation that Christ gives us      almighty, divine power of God
brother, because of the spiritual       by knocking on the door of our          can be frustrated by a dead man.
difference between them. Then           hearts, asking to let Him come          God depends upon man for the
in a relatively short period of         in.                                     realization of the salvation that
time sin developed further and                 Now, in the first place, dead    He wants. Christ, the Son of God
very rapidly so that it is stated in    men cannot hear any knock on            `in our flesh, is dependent upon
Genesis 6:5 that, "And God saw          the door. Maintaining that they         dead men for the realization of
that the wickedness of man was          can is denying that basic truth of      the kingdom He wants to realize.
great in the earth, and that every      Scripture that man died the day         Dead men can perform an act
imagination of the thoughts of his      he sinned in paradise. Who is so        whereby the living Christ can be
heart was only evil continually."       foolish as to maintain that Adam        frustrated in His work of salva-
Then came the end of that world         died physically that day? Who           tion.
so that all the enemies of the          dares to call God a liar, when He          It is true that the preaching -
church of our Lord Jesus Christ         told Adam that he would die the         which is essential for our faith -
were wiped off the face of this         day that he ate of the forbidden        brings us to the consciousness of
earth. The church was saved; but        fruit? God did not say that death       a new life within us and makes
the head of the seed of the ser-        would begin to take hold of             us desire what we already have.
pent was crushed.                       Adam. He said that he would die         But let us take a firm grip on that
  Now it is true that the seed of       that day. Who dares to call Paul        truth of Ephesians 2:8-10. Let it
the serpent soon appeared again         a liar, when he, as moved by the        be repeated so that we are
after the flood. For we are all         Holy Spirit, wrote in Ephesians         powerfully impressed by it: "By
conceived and born in sin; and -        2:l that these Ephesians were           grace are ye saved through faith;
although the seed of the woman          dead in trespasses and sins before      and that not of yourself; it is the
in the ark had the beginning of a       God quickened them, that is,            gift of God: Not of works, lest
new spiritual life, they still had      made them alive? Paul was not           any man should boast. For we
their old sinful natures which          writing to physically dead people.      are His workmanship, created in
could only beget children that by       And, in verse 5 Paul even in-           Christ Jesus unto good works,
nature were seed of the serpent,        cludes himself. He writes, "Even        which God before ordained that
children conceived and born in          when we were dead in sins, hath         we should walk in them." Notice
sin. Covenant believing parents         quickened us together in Christ."       that we are saved through faith
do not bring forth the seed of the      Note the "we" and the "us" in           and not because we provided
woman. That is realized not by a        this verse and that he is speaking      ourselves with faith. We are
natural birth but as a work of our      of a spiritual death, a death in        saved because God engrafted us
covenant God in the way of a            sin.                                    into Christ by that spiritual bond
rebirth, that is, by a spiritual           In the second place, that lie of     of faith. Listen to Jesus, Who
birth for which the parents             Christ knocking at the door of          always spoke the truth and never
receive absolutely no credit. By        man's heart corrupts the text by        presented faith as that which we
grace we are saved, through faith       bringing in to it that which God        had to supply in order to be
as God's gift to us. As believing       did not present in it. The word         saved. He said, in John 6:29,
children of God we are His work-        heart appears nowhere in this let-      "This is the work of God, that ye
manship, created in Christ Jesus.       ter to the Laodiceans; and it is        believe on Him Whom He hath
  This truth, literally stated in       not even suggested anywhere in          sent." That was His answer to
Scripture, ought to be taken hold       the whole letter. The letter ad-        those who in verse 28 asked
of and taught our children early        dressed to the church, and to the       Him, "What shall we do, that we
in life, yea, even committed to         angel of that church, declares          might work the works of God?"
memory. Ephesians 2:8- 10 ought         that Christ is knocking at the          Jesus did not say, Make your-
to be written in their souls. The       church's door, because there            selves believe, fulfill that condi-
world today is full of the false        were still in it a few elect, born      tion and then you will do the
doctrine that man makes himself         again children of God who must          works that are pleasing in My
a believer, by teaching that            insist that Christ, Who was no          eyes. No, faith is God's work in
Christ comes and pleads with us         longer preached in that church,         us, not a work we bring to Him.
to believe in Him, and that some        be preached.                              Go back again to Ephesians
do then accept Christ. Men are             Here, again, spiritually dead        2:8-10. Salvation is a gift which
taught to ask Christ to come into       men cannot hear that knock on           God brings us through, not
their hearts. Revelation 3:20 is        the church's door. And the              because of, faith. Then, too, in
corrupted, for it is presented as       shameful insult here is that the        verse 10 Paul presents the truth

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that we are created in Christ unto      person, a preacher of righteous-       simply by calling it into being, so
this good work of believing in          ness, bringing in the flood upon       He can and did bring forth the
Him. How much did Adam help             the world of the ungodly." The         first world by a call, and, as He
God when he was created? He             world which existed from the           said, do so in six days which
did not exist when God began to         creation week until the week           each had only one evening and
create Him. WE do not exist as          God sent the flood to destroy all      one morning.
children of God until He unites us      the ungodly, Peter, as guided by          Do we not also read in Psalm
to Christ by that spiritual bond of     the almighty and all wise God,         33:9, "For He spake, and it was
faith. And Paul correctly adds          declared to be the first world.        done; He commanded and it
that we are God's workmanship           This means that God brought into       stood fast"? Never mind what so-
because we were created in              being a new world. Here also           called theistic evolutionists say.
Christ Jesus UNTO good works,           then we have a shadow of what          Listen to what God Himself says.
not because we performed the            is coming to this world in which       It is not necessary to have a com-
good work of believing in Christ.       we live. This whole world in           mittee decide whether the evolu-
We do not accept Christ; but, by        which we now live is going to be       tionists .are right or not. It is
God's grace, after we have been         destroyed, even as the first world     necessary that we listen to our
born again, we thank Him for the        was by the flood. A new, most          God, Who made all things and
gift of faith.                          wonderful and glorious new             knows much more about how He
   We find then an interesting          heaven and earth are coming;           did it, than the creatures which
truth in Genesis 6:8. There we          and all the seed of the serpent        He made know and are able to
read: "But Noah found grace in          are going to be cast into the lake     explain how He did it.
the eyes of the Lord." In chapter       of fire, so that we will now have        Then too, did it take even
7 we read of God wiping the             a spiritually perfect world, the       half a billion years for Jesus to
seed of the serpent off the face of     kingdom of heaven. It was only a       raise from the dead Lazarus,
this earth. To Noah and his fami-       picture, and a shadow, when God        whose body had been dead
ly He gave salvation. Upon the          wiped the wicked off that first        already for four days? Can the
seed of the serpent He poured           world and realized a new world         evolutionist and theistic evolu-
out destruction! Salvation is in its    wherein only His church lived.         tionist explain how in nine mon-
entirety a gift of God's grace. To      Even as the first world, realized      ths Jesus' body was formed in
believe is to be saved. It is not       in the first six days of creation,     Mary without an earthly father?
something that brings salvation.        this kingdom of heaven will NOT        Go to the hospital and count the
It is an essential part of that         come forth by an evolutionistic        hours it takes for, the surgeon to
salvation.                              process of billions of years. In a     do that which will save the life of
  And here in the early days of         moment, in the twinkling of an         a person, or improve his physical
the history of mankind a shadow         eye, the dead shall be raised in-      condition. Today, after and
looms on the horizon. Here we           corruptible (I Cor. 15:52). That       through surgery that takes hours,
see what it going to happen to          wonderful, glorious change - a         a man's heart may be removed,
the antichrist and his kingdom. It      change far greater than the one        and the heart of another person
is going to perish as surely as all     that brought forth man so much         may be implanted in his chest.
except the church of God in that        higher than the ape and beasts of      Yet Christ got the heart of
ark perished, and found it              the field - is not by an evolu-        Lazarus to beat again in the time
hopeless to be separate from the        tionistic process. Look at a real      it took Him to call, "Come forth."
church of Christ, the Seed of the       object. It will determine what its     Here is no evolutionistic process.
woman. Here too we see that all         shadow will be like. The shadow        Similarly, in a moment He caused
who belong to Christ, and are the       of a chimney upon a house will        the blind to see, the lame to
seed of the woman by God's              not display a billion chimneys on      walk. Yes, all this was contrary
grace, most assuredly will be           that house. Neither does this new      to what men call scientific prin-
saved from the awful wrath of           creation, coming in the twinkling     ciples. And since in a moment
God and enter into a new crea-          of an eye, in a moment, rather        ~ God could do all these things,
tion.                                   even than in a few years, come         and tells us that He did them,
  What we read in II Peter 2:5 is       by an evolutionistic process of        how can we dare to deny that He
also interesting and instructive.       billions of years. Of that you may     brought forth the,first world by
Having spoken of God not spar-          be sure. God says it in I Corin-       calling it all into being in six
ing the fallen angels, Peter            thians 15:52 even as He says it in     days of twenty-four hours each?
writes, "And spared not the old         Genesis l-11. Even as He can           If we are going to believe - and
world, but saved Noah the eighth        bring forth that new creation          we must - what He says of Him-

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     self in the New Testament, why          came into being after the flood.        our land openly tempt man to do
     dare we deny what He says of            And as we are in the period of          so. Adultery is not only openly
     His work in Genesis l-11? When          time foreshadowed in those years        practiced, but that which entices
     the shadow is round, and has no         just before the flood, we do well       our youth - as well as adults -
     sharp edges to it, how dare we          to take careful note of what is         to commit this evil is publicly
     say that the object which casts it      happening all around us today.          allowed and practiced. We are
     is square with sharply defined          Sin is growing in the lives of the      encouraged to covet what our
     corners? Why dare we listen to          seed of the serpent. Some sins          neighbors have. Dishonoring the
     unbelievers, who call themselves        that hurt the flesh of men are still    authorities is permitted and
     evolutionists, rather than listen to    frowned upon and punished. But          defended.           -
     God?                                    transgression of most of the ten          And the awesome thing is that
        As already pointed out, sin          commandments is not only al-            in the church world there is such
     developed rapidly in that first         lowed, it is even advocated.            a development of sin. This we
I    world. This is a shadow of what         Desecrating the Sabbath is en-          will have to consider next
     is happening in the world that          couraged, and those who rule            time. 0





                                             Office Bearers
     Contribution
     Rev. Wayne Bekkering-                   Conference

        Once a year a committee from         and Classis West are invited, as        be instructed in some basic ter-
     Classis West arranges an office         well as professors and students         minology and concepts peculiar
     bearers conference to be held in        from our Seminary. The morning          to metrical psalmody. We learned
     connection with the meeting of          and afternoon coffee breaks as          that John Calvin introduced
     Classis. On February 28, 1989           well as the noon meal provide           metrical psalmody, that is, Psalm
     such a conference was held in           opportunity for further reflection      singing as we know it, into the
     South Holland, Illinois. Two            on the subject under discussion         church. Before the Reformation
     worthwhile papers were                  and for greeting the brethren           the church chanted the Psalms.
     presented. The morning session          from the four corners of our na-        Chanting is really a form of sing-
     dealt with a paper presented by         tion as well as from Canada.            ing which repeats the same series
     Rev. Ken Hanko on The Psalms,             Both of the papers for the con-       of notes over and over again.
     Metrical Psalmody, and The              ference are excellent, and are            Metrical psalmody presents a
     Psalter, and the afternoon session      worthy of broader distribution.         number of problems to those
     dealt with a paper written by           What follows is not intended to         who want to sing Psalms as we
     Rev. Dale Kuiper entitled, The          be a summary of the papers, but         do. There is the problem of
     Congregational Prayer.                  is an attempt to expose a few           rendering the words of the
        These conferences provide not        main points of each paper so that       Psalms into a form suitable for
     only spiritually stimulating discus-    the interest of the reader is           singing, that is, with a regular
     sion, but also a time of Christian      sharpened.                              meter and rhythm. The Biblical
     fellowship. Ministers and office          The topic for the morning ses-        text, in metrical psalmody, has
     bearers from both Classis East          sion was The Psalms, Metrical           been paraphrased so that there
                                             Psalmody, and The Psalter. Rev.         are rhymed stanzas and a smooth
                                             Ken Hanko conducted this ses-           English rendering. We learned
                                             sion on the order of a "work-           that many sacrifices of Biblical
     Rev. Bekkering is a minister of the
     Word of God in the Protestant Re-       shop." The nature of the subject        faithfulness have entered into
     formed Churches in America.             dictated his approach. We had to        English and American metrical

     350  / The Standard  Bearer


                                           The afternoon session involved      prayer. He does this by quoting
                                         us in the subject of The Congre-      18 points of frequent faults in
                                         gational Prayer. Rev. Kuiper          public prayer taken from Samuel
                                         showed how important the con-         Miller's excellent book entitled,
                                         gregational prayer is for the         Thoughts on Public Prayer.
                                         church and thus for the pastor.          The need for variation and
                                         The three quotes that follow          freshness is shown as Rev. Kuiper
                                         demonstrate that importance.          says, "What a pity if members of
                                         "Congregational prayer is at once     the congregation can anticipate,
                                         the highest expression of the         from long, painful experience,
                                         communion of saints and the           what the minister will say in the
Revs. Ron Hanko, Ron Cam-                highest expression of communion       next line or next several lines!"
menga, and Ken Hanko ponder              with God' (p. 3); "The saints, as     (P. 8).
the issues at "break" time.              they come up to God's house,             Rev. Kuiper shows that there
                                         have a longing to hear the Word       are no shortcuts or magical
psalmody. Our psalter is not un-         of God, but they also have a          remedies to good congregational
affected by all this. Rev. Hanko         longing to enter into prayer with     prayer, but that it comes only in
used many examples to demon-             God" (p. 4); `&. . . Gods people      the way of hard work and strug-
strate that point. He believes that      learn to pray and much else as        gle. A minister himself must be a
it is possible for us, even with         they have heard their pastor          man of prayer before he can
our limited resources, to produce        over a period of years. Awesome       properly lead God's people to the
a psalter of much higher quality         responsibility!" (p. 5).              throne of grace. 0
than the one presently in use.             Rev. Kuiper deals with dangers
                                         to be avoided in congregational



                                         Judges - Jehovah
Bible Study                              Delivers H is Unworthy
Guide                                    People (concluded)
Rev. jason Kortering                                                 -.

  We are in the midst of out-            against 26,000 men of Benjamin           Stunned by this defeat, the
lining the narrative of the Levite       along with 600 men from Gibeah.       Israelites sought Jehovah before
whose concubine had been                 After inquiring of the Lord as to     the ark of the covenant with
abused by the men of Gibeah and          which tribe should go up first in     tears, as they offered burnt offer-
killed. He had taken her body            battle, Judah prepared as the         ings and peace offerings. The
and cut it into twelve pieces and        Lord had instructed. The first day    answer came the third time: go
called the men of Israel to come         of conflict resulted in the death     up and I will deliver the men of
to fight the men of Benjamin. for        of 22,000 soldiers of Israel. That    Benjamin into your hand
this evil deed. The battle is now        evening the children of Israel        (20:18-28).  During the third at-
drawn, 400,000 men of Israel             wept before the Lord and sought       tempt to do battle with Benjamin,
                                         counsel as to whether they            Israel used strategy. They ap-
                                         should fight a second day. The        proached the city with a large ar-
                                         Lord told them to go up. The          my, but had 10,000 men lie in
Rev. Kortering is pastor of the Prot-    men of Benjamin killed 18,000         wait in the meadows outside
estant Reformed Church of  Grand-        soldiers of Israel the second day.    Gibeah. When the army ap-
ville,  Michigan.

                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  / 357


 proached the gate as before, they          What were they to do about           nations which were not extermi-
 began to run as if they were be-        the other men ofwar that did            nated according to the command
 ing pursued. In the midst of this       not have a wife? They advised           of God. Consider:
 retreat, thirty men of Israel were      these soldiers to attend the year-              a. Why did God give such a
 killed. It gave confidence for the      ly feast unto the Lord at Shiloh,       command? Was that not horrible?
 men of Benjamin to pursue after         on the north side of Bethel.            May we compare this to
them, thereby leaving the city           When the daughters of Shiloh            genocide?
 exposed to the men who secretly         would come out to dance, the                    b. How must we understand
waited in the meadows. The lat-          men of Benjamin should grab             Gods anger with His people for
ter entered the city, slew the in-       each man a woman and run off            not following His orders? What
 habitants, and set fire to the city.    with her to Benjamin. The men           were their reasons?
The smoke which filled the sky           of Israel promised that, if the in-             c. What does this teach us
was the agreed sign that the ar-         habitants of Shiloh would com-          about the antithesis?
my should reverse itself and             plain, they would explain to              5. Review the general history
force the men of Benjamin to             them the reason, namely, that           of the judges mentioned in this
fight from both directions. They         they had not left to every man a        book and be able to demonstrate
tried to escape from the sides in-       wife during battle. This took           the following:
to the wilderness, but they were         place as planned and finally each               a. That God saves His
cut off. A total of 25,000 men of        tribe returned to its place. The        people even though they do not
Benjamin were killed that day            book closes with the words              deserve it.
(20:29-48).                              which are repeated throughout,                  b. That faith is the victory
   After the battle, the children of     "Every man did that which was           that preserves the remnant even
Israel assembled before the Lord         right in his own eyes" (21:16-25).      in the darkest night.
at Mizpeh. Prior to this, they had       QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION                        c. That the only hope for
sworn that they would not give              1. What is the relationship be-      Israel and for us is in the coming
their daughters unto the Ben-            tween the Book of Judges and            of Jesus Christ.
jamites for the evil that they had       that of Joshua which preceded it?         6. Reflect on some of the
done. Now, after battle, as they           2. Why is this book called            specific points of interest that
assemble with their tribes, it           Judges? Describe the office and         come out of this history:
grieves them that Benjamin is            work of the people who func-                    a. How must we understand
missing at the time of offering          tioned in this capacity.                the role of Deborah, a woman
sacrifices. They realize that their        3. Part of the significance of        delivering Israel? Is this justifica-
vow not to give them daughters           the Book of Judges is that it con-      tion for women taking a leading
in marriage will mean the end of         tains a description of the spiritual    role in the church today?
that tribe (21:1-7). They proceed        character of Israel during the                  b. What encouragement is
to inquire whether there is any          years between the death of              there for us in the deliverance by
tribe that has not heeded the call       Joshua and the beginning of the         Gideon (300 soldiers)? How can
to come up to worship. None of           kings of Israel. How do the             we apply this to the church to-
the men of Jabeshgilead had              following things demonstrate the        day?
come. They immediately send              `evil predominant in this period of             c. How can we see a
12,000 of the most capable               time? In each instance, relate this     parallel between Abimelech
soldiers to kill all the inhabitants     same evil to our generation.            (9:1-57) and apostasy in the
of Jabeshgilead, sparing only 400             a. A new generation arose          church today?
virgins which are brought to             which knew not the Lord (2:lO).                 d. Explain Jephthah's vow
Shiloh. Messengers are dispatched             b. The sordid details of the       (chapter 12). Was that rash or an
`to the children of Benjamin who         last two chapters.                      act of faith?
were afraid to come and re-                   c. The repeated phrase                     e. Consider the pros and
mained at the rock Rimmon.               (17:6,  18:1,  19:1,  21:25) "there     cons as to whether Samson was a
When they came, they were                was no king in Israel and every-        righteous man. Why did he never
given the 400 virgins of                 one did what was right in their         deliver Israel completely from
Jabeshgilead. That was not suffi-        own eyes."                              the Philistines? Cl
cient for all the men, but it                 d. The "cycle" of the
preserved the tribe (2 1:8- 15).         Judges, some 14 times.
                                           4. As we study the history of
                                         the judges, we learn what was
                                         the significance of the heathen

352  I The Standard Bearer


                                       The Liturgical Use of the
Special Article
Rev. Thomas Miersma                    Confession of Faith

  By the Confession of Faith is        past, as something remote and            Therein lies the concern of this
meant what is more commonly            distant, a part of our heritage, a     article and the origin also of the
called in our churches the Belgic      standard of doctrine rather than       practice in our Edmonton congre-
or Netherlandic Confession of          as the living Confession of our        gation over the past several years
Faith. The very language we nor-       Faith. We may well ask: does this      of regularly reading after the
mally use to refer to the Confes-      confession function for us as the      Apostles' Creed an article or two
sion of Faith itself says something    "Here I Stand," the living confes-     of the Confession of Faith. In the
about the place this creed tends       sion of our churches? The Heidel-      first place, the Confession of
to hold in our churches and how        berg Catechism we know well            Faith is ideally suited for this pur-
we are inclined to regard it. That     because it is regularly preached.      pose liturgically. It breathes with
it is the Belgic or Netherlandic       The Canons of Dordt, because of        the spirit'of a personal and cor-
Confession of Faith, sets before       their doctrinal importance over        porate confession of our faith and
us its historical origin from the      against Arminianism, are also          confidence. The opening confes-
hand of Guido de Bres and its          very familiar to us. The fact is       sion sets this reality before us:
adoption by the Reformed               that we might be well able to          "We all believe with the heart
churches of Holland beginning in       quote from memory various              and confess with the mouth. . . ."
1561, as our oldest creedal state-     Lord's Days, or even portions of       That spirit pervades the whole of
ment. That it is the Belgic or         the Canons, and we could speedi-       our Confession of Faith. Virtually
Netherlands Confession of Faith        ly find our way around them. Is        every article begins with the
also distinguishes it from such        this true of our Confession of         statement, "We believe . . . ." In-
other confessions of faith as the      Faith? Periodically we may read        troduced after the Apostles'
Westminster Confession of Faith.       this confession in the worship         Creed with the words, "We fur-
Our Psalter however happily in-        services to familiarize our con-       ther confess our Reformed faith
cludes it under its more proper ti-    gregations with it, and we might       as it is found in article . . . . of
tle and in its proper form as the      use it in the catechism classes.       the Confession of Faith," this sets
Confession of Faith, for such it is    But does it serve as our living        before the congregation the reali-
and such it ought to be.               and contemporary testimony of          ty first of all that the Apostles'
  That it is called the Confession     faith? Studying it as we some-         Creed itself, while a catholic con-
of Faith emphasizes that it was        times do in our societies certainly    fession of the Christian church, is
the "Here I Stand" of the Re-          reveals that it is not dated, that     also a Reformed confession. At
formed churches in the past. That      we do not, like so many today,         the same time, some point of the
we tend to speak of it in terms of     need another so-called more con-       doctrine in the Apostles' Creed is
its historical origin as Belgic or     temporary testimony., We have          more fully confessed and ex-
Netherlandic may well be an            one which is both sound and            pounded. To be sure, there are
indication that we regard this         very contemporary. One need            some articles which may need a
document as belonging to the           but look at the articles which         brief introduction to show the
                                       speak of the Word of God and its       connection or to explain their
                                       authority and trustworthiness to       place and purpose, such as the
                                       see this.                              article which sets forth the proof
Rev. Miersma is pastor of the Prot-                                           of the doctrine of the Trinity (Ar-
estant Reformed Church of Edmon-                                              ticle 9). But this can usually be
ton, Alberta, Canada.                                                         done in a few brief words, and

                                                                                               The Standard Bearer  /  353


the necessity for it declines as        repeated reading of the Confes-            Fourthly, there are also great
the congregation grows in               sion of Faith makes its language        benefits to be gained for the
familiarity with the Confession of      and contents familiar, a part of        minister of the Word in his work
Faith. There are also certain ar-       the life and thought of the con-        and preaching. While it is not
ticles, such as those which list the    gregation. The beauty of our            every Lords Day that the doc-
canonical books of the Scriptures,      Confession of Faith grows upon          trine confessed in the Confession
which may well be condensed             one as it is read from week to          of Faith for that day touches on
and abridged, which is not dif-         week. Such articles as that con-        the subject of the sermon, it is
ficult. There are a few articles        cerning Christ's intercession (Arti-    nevertheless not infrequently the
which are rather short and which        cle 26) or that on Providence (Ar-      case that one of the key concepts
can be combined with others,            ticle 13) not only set forth the        or indeed the central concept of
and also a few which are a little       doctrine, but do so in a way            the sermon is set forth in the arti-
longer. But, on the whole, in-          which is for the comfort of the         cle of Confession of Faith which
cluding an article or two of the        congregation as well as its edifi-      is read. The result is that the
Confession of Faith in the wor-         cation. The articles on the church      language of the confession can
ship service after the Apostles'        - the marks of the true church          be brought into the sermon; it
Creed only requires a minute or         and the offices in the church and       serves the sermon and grounds
two in the service.                     the Christian discipline in the         it. That the children and young
   In the second place, the value       church - not only set before the        people are readily familiar with
and benefits of adding a reading        congregation important matters          the Confession of Faith and its
from the Confession of Faith as a       of doctrine but also lead the con-      language serves as a tool in
fixed and regular part of the wor-      gregation rightly to regard the         catechism instruction and can
ship service are many. First, it        matter of their own membership          often make learning the doctrine
lifts our Confession of Faith up        in the church, to esteem the of-        in the catechism classroom easier
and makes it not merely part of         fices and order and discipline in       and something which is more
our heritage but truly part of the      the church.                             readily retained. That instruction
living confession of the congrega-        Thirdly, it further serves to         is moreover again reinforced by
tion. It regularly sets before the      bind the church together in the         its regular confession in the wor-
congregation in a systematic way        unity of faith and doctrine. The        ship service.
the sound doctrine of our Confes-       regular reading of the Confession         Our Confession of Faith ought
sion of Faith as a matter of the        of our Faith bears this fruit, that     to live among us as that which
personal confession of the              this confession becomes a part of       we know and confess, as that
church. While this is regularly         us. Most of us who have year            which "We all believe with the
done in Catechism preaching as          after year heard the reading of         heart and confess with the
well, our Confession of Faith has       the forms for Baptism and the           mouth . . ." (Article 1). 0
the added feature that it gives, in     Lords Supper could probably
a clear and simple way, confes-         with a little prompting recite long
sion to a number of doctrines           sections of them from memory.                 Morning Melody
which are only indirectly ad-           They' have become a part of us,
dressed in the Catechism.               their doctrine and language are         Here in the solemn solitude,
Perhaps most notable among              familiar, and they shape our            The glist'ning lake reflects the
those doctrines are the ones con-       thought and expression. The               glory of the morning sun.
cerning Scripture and the article       preaching of the Catechism has          The moveless mountains' mighty
on election, found in the Confes-       the same fruit, and so also does          majesty
sion of Faith. It does so as ,a mat-    the regular reading of the Confes-      Is breathed abroad; each strand of
ter of the personal confession of       sion of Faith. It becomes more            breeze is spun
the church, that these truths we        and more the living Confession of       With magic mist that swells across
believe.                                our Faith, a -ready answer of the         the plain.
  Secondly a regular reading of         hope that is within us. In this age     All nature seems to stand serenely
the Confession of Faith inculcates      of doctrinal indifference, ig-            awed,
in the congregation sound Re-           norance, and apostasy, it is of         As with mute tongue she shouts
formed language and doctrinal           great value, that we be not               the strain divine:
terminology which serve both            tossed to and fro with every            Here is peace and power; here is
the preaching of the Word, the          wind of doctrine.                         God.
Catechism preaching, and also                                                                           James Jonker
Catechism instruction. The                                                        (from Beacon Lights, by permission)

354  I The Standard Bearer


                                         Hard  Questions  for  Young  People:
 The Strength                            "Can. I Be Sure I Am
of Youth                                 a Christian?"
Rev. Barrett Critters



   Am I a child of God? Is my
faith genuine? Is it really true
that I am born again, so that the
life of Christ is in me? Will it be
true for me that when Christ
comes again, the great Judge will
say to me, "Come, ye blessed of
my father . . . ."? Can I entertain
the hope for myself that "after
my skin worms destroy this
body, yet in my flesh shall I see
God"?
   As young people mature, and
as the rest of your life becomes
more stable so that your atten-
tion turns more often to serious
things (like your spiritual life),
you begin to ask that kind of
question of yourselves. "Even               The knowledge that some who         be convinced that his faith is gen-
though I was born of believing            had been brought up in the            uine. He can entertain the hope
parents, this does not guarantee          church (who apparently were           that he will live into eternity of
that I am a child of God. How do          saved, who seem to have loved         life in the body after this life
I know for sure? (Or: How can I           God) later rejected the gospel and    ends. He can know that when
be sure?)                                 the fellowship of Christ's church     judgment rolls, his soul will be
   To doubt their salvation and           increases the worry. The ques-        secure. The question is "How can
the validity of their faith is not        tion then arises, "What about         he know?"
unusual for God's people; they            me? Today I seem to be a                Young people, for assurance of
often entertain these doubts. Our         member of Christ's church; but        your salvation look not for some
Reformed confession says,                 will I remain so?" Add to this the    fantastic experience in your past
"believers in this life have to           fact that the Bible speaks of dif-    life. Not something in the past,
struggle with various carnal              ferent kinds of faith which seem      but something in the present
doubts (my emphasis: BG), and             to be genuine but are not, and        must assure you of the certainty
that under grievous temptations           the doubts that trouble me (even      of your faith. Perhaps an illustra-
they are not always sensible of           though "born of my iniquity" -        tion would help. I will never
this full assurance of faith . . . ."     Psalter #2 10) become all the         forget the evening that I was ly-
(Canons, Chapter 5, Article 11).          more severe. "Is my faith simply      ing on my bed in the apartment
                                          a historical faith, a miraculous      when, like a flood, the conviction
                                          faith, a temporary faith? Or is it    that I could run no longer from
                                          one that has root and will re-        preparing for the ministry came
Rev. Critters is pastor of the Prot-      main?"                                over me. From that day on there
estant Reformed Church of Byron             Every child of God can be           was no hesitation or doubt that
Center, Michigan.                         assured of his salvation and can      God called me to the pastorate.

                                                                                                The Standard Bearer  /  355


But it certainly was not true          revealed in His Word to be true         will be assured of the genuine-
then, nor is it true today, that my    - not rejecting any doctrines           ness of your faith.
conviction of Gods continued call      taught there, hating any doc-           WALK
rests on that evening's ex-            trines taught there, despising any        Second, the young person's
perience. My certainty of God's        doctrines taught there, but loving      assurance of salvation and faith
call to the ministry rests on,         them? I'm not asking about how          has to do with his life of good
among other things, the present        strong your love is for the truth.      works.
call He continues to give me           I'm only asking, "Do you love             This is not to say that your
through the church, and the pres-      it?"                                    good works will earn you the
ent grace to do what He calls             For the removal of the shame         assurance of salvation. The Re-
pastors to do. If I were to base       of your sins, for the strength to       formed young person knows bet-
my call on that past experience, I     deliver you from sin's awful            ter than to think that. But good
would continually be plagued           power, for your righteousness in        works play an important part in
with doubts as to the genuineness      God's eyes - all of it - do you         the life of assurance.
of that experience. How foolish!       trust in the promises of God in           Let me use an illustration. Sup-
Well, the same holds for your          Jesus Christ? As to your presence       pose you walk in a particular
salvation. Perhaps God did             in the judgment day, do you an-         gross sin. (I need not list any
regenerate you later than in your      ticipate calling attention to your      because believing young people
infancy. But do not rest your          works, or to the works of Christ        know just what is meant.) You
assurance on that moment you           for you? Again, I'm not asking if       will not experience any
first felt alive; rest your            that trust is as strong as it should    assurance that you are a child of
assurance on the present.              be. I'm asking, "Do you have that       God. You will experience severe
  There are at least three points      confidence?" Then you have              doubts and fears and plagues of
of view that you can take regard-      faith. You should not doubt. You        conscience. And you ought to ex-
ing the assurance of your salva-       are a Christian!                        pect that, too. Or suppose that
tion.                                    There are some practical impli-       you are not walking in an out-
FAITH                                  cations of this truth. First, if you    wardly gross sin, but fail to walk
  The first concerns your faith.       know your faith is true - even if       in the good work of loving
"Can I be sure I have faith?" is       it is weak - then confess your          others. You are self-centered,
the vital question, because faith      faith (if you are old enough to         concerned about no one but
unites with Christ, the Savior,        discern the Lords body). Why?           yourself. You have no serious
who gives life. But do not turn in     Because God uses confession of          desire to live in obedience to the
on yourself and be preoccupied         faith to increase the assurance of      great commandment (Matthew
with examining your faith. The         our salvation (see Romans               22:37-40).  There can be and there
more a person does that, the           10%10). Second, make sure that          will be no assurance that your
more doubts he will have. This         you are a church member, and            faith is genuine.
problem reminds me of today's          remain one, where the truth is            That only makes sense. What
concern about psychological            preached. If the word that you          are good works? Every good
health. The more you brood             hear from the pulpit is impure or       catechism student knows that
about your own situation, the          only story telling, and not the         good works are the fruits of faith,
more you become depressed.             doctrines that make one wise un-        so that, just as one tells the real
Psychological health does not          to salvation, either your               character of a fruit tree by the
come through contemplating our-        assurance will be false or you          fruit it produces, so the church
selves, but comes through look-        will have no assurance. What af-        member knows the true
ing away from ourselves, to our        firmation of the truth can faith        character of his faith by the fruits
work, our family, our church, our      give to a sermon which was not          that it produces in his life. These
neighbor, our God! So with             gospel doctrine? Third, use the         need not be great works that
spiritual health. Don't look at        means of grace. Where God gives         men can praise, but are the
your faith. Faith itself is an         faithful preaching, give atten-         works of washing the saints'
"eye." Look at what faith is sup-      dance to it! Prepare to hear it!        feet, being sorry for sin, desiring
posed to observe. Look at God.         Pay careful attention when it is        to be more holy . . . . "By their
Look at God's Word. Look at            preached! And when the minister         fruits ye shall know them" ap-
Gods promises.                         says "Amen," respond in your            plies as well to yourself.
  Then let me ask you some             heart and soul with your own,
questions about your faith. Do         "Amen, I believe it." And you
you believe everything God has

356  /  The  Standard  Bearer


          SIN                                      of the genuineness of his faith,        and the Spirit against the
             The third aspect of your              without finding out about his true      flesh . . . so that ye cannot do
          assurance (which can be distin-          state. I want to avoid that error       the things that ye would' (Gala-
          guished but cannot be separated          here, too.                              tians 5:16) but also, "0 wretched
          from the others) concerns your             Depending on the attitude ex-         man that I am, who shall deliver
          old man and your new man.                pressed - true sorrow or the sor-       me from the body of this death?"
             It has happened more than             row of the world - assurance of         (Romans.7:24).  That there is a
          once that when I have talked to          salvation can be gained here,           mighty struggle within you
          young people who have doubts             too. What is the result of finding      against your old man of sin is a
          about their salvation and ques-          this sin in your life? How do you       sign that there is life. And if
          tion the validity of their faith, the    react when a sin gets the upper         there is life, even a small begin-
          first question that comes up has         hand? What do you feel during a         ning, that life will never die. God
          to do with the power of sin in           time like this? If you feel shame       will fan the glowing ember into a
          their life. The experience goes          for the things you have done, if        flame that will never be extin-
          like this: In the past few months,       you feel guilt for the sin that         guished.
          or years even, sin has gotten a          boils in your blood, and if you           *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
I         hold on them. Perhaps one par-           desire to be delivered from the
          ticular sin has plagued them.            reigning power of sin in your life,       Let me suggest a couple of
          Perhaps more than one sin has            this is indication of true spiritual    practical things you can do.
          the upper hand in their life. They       life, of union with Christ. In the      Before church next Sunday (and
                                                                                           it would be good for you to get
          feel almost impotent to struggle         first place, no unbeliever feels        there before the elders enter, so
          against bitterness, rebellion,           sorrow that he has sinned against
          sloth, or another of a multitude         God; no- unbeliever feels shame         that you have time for medita-
                                                                                           tion on worship) take out the
          of sins. And then the question           from the experience of giving in
          arises in their soul, "If I were a       to a sinful lust. That is the dif-      Psalter and read carefully
          child of God, would this be hap-         ference between you and an              through the fifth chapter of the
          pening to me? If I truly were            unbeliever. You sin, but are            Canons of Dort. If you have not
                                                                                           read it recently, you will be
          united to Christ, would I have           sorry; the unbeliever could not
          these problems with sin that I'm         care less. In the second place, it      pleasantly surprised at the rich
                                                                                           comfort in this part of our
          experiencing?"                           should not surprise you that            beautiful Reformed heritage.
             A good pastor is very careful         there is this struggle going on in      Also, if you haven't sent for it
          at this point, because it may hap-       a child of God. This is the ex-
          pen that an unbelieving member           perience of every child of God to       yet, we still have some pam-
                                                                                           phlets left entitled, "Christian
          of the congregation simply wants         one degree or another. The chief        Joy." Just a note to Byron Center
          his guilty conscience soothed by         of the apostles, toward the end of      PRC Evangelism Society, P.O.
          some easy words from the                 his spiritual pilgrimage, an-           Box 71, Byron Center, MI, 49315,
          minister (who, perhaps, has ap-          guished in his heart because of         and you will have one shortly. 0
          proached him about his crooked           the power of sin in his life, so
          walk). Then the minister may             that he could say not only, "the
          very easily try to convince him          flesh lusteth against the Spirit,

                                                   Redeemed Art
                                                   Orthodox Presbyterian
          All Around Us
     I                                                    C h u r c h e s
          Rev. Gise VanBaren


     I    Rev. VanBaren is Dastor  of the Prot-    Redeemed Art                            Feb. 27, 1989, appeared reports
     I    estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-         In the Grand Rapids Press, Feb.       on the "sacred" or "liturgical"
          ville,  Michigan.                        11, 1989, and in The Banner,            dance. The Church of the Servant

                                                                                                           The Standard Bearer  /  357


 Christian Reformed Church in               looked like the crucified Jesus.           `no longer a worldly amusement.
 Grand Rapids has been incor-                  She and five other dancers ad-          It has been redeemed as an art
 porating the liturgical dance into         vanced from three different points         form." It was a "worldly amuse-
 the worship service. The Banner            toward the altar in Seymour Chris-         ment" for the Christian Reformed
 reports:                                   tian School's gym. Slowly, reverently,     Church until 1971. Then the
   Dance is no longer a worldly             they scooped imaginary sins from           Synod declared piously that the
amusement. It has been redeemed as          the floor and cast them away in a          dance could be "redeemed" as an
an art form.                                graceful act of contrition. Then the       art form. Christ, of course, does
   The suggestion to do so was made         redeemed sinners converged on the          not redeem the dance. The
by Synod 1971. Of all the Christian         altar, palms upward, faces intent,         church does. It takes what is
Reformed churches represented at             "reaching toward salvation, toward        worldly and corrupt, and pur-
that synod, few have responded by           mercy". . . .
welcoming the redeemed sinner as               Church of the Servant is unique,        chases it for Christ and His
an art form into ecclesiastical ser-        but less and less of an anomaly as         church. What was worldly and
vice.                                       other churches discover a place for        sinful, has marvelously been
   In 1978, Church of the Servant           the arts in their worship.                 changed into an instrument of
Christian Reformed church . . .                "I think thereS the realization that    praise to God. And all this was
began integrating liturgical dance in-      the body is involved in praise," said      done on the basis of Common
to its worship services. Fenna Stoub,       the.. . pastor of the church.              Grace, according to the decision
38, has been coordinator of liturgical      "Especially when the dance ex-             of the C.R. Synod. One is re-
dance since its debut in 1978.              presses the songs and the themes, it       minded of the wolf who comes in
   . . . Liturgical dance in a Christian    becomes obvious that it's a way of         sheep's clothing. Here the op-
Reformed church, no matter how un-          worship.  "                                posite takes place. Some seem to
familiar that may be, is no stranger           Because of the love of dance -
to Stoub.                                   she has studied ballet since she was       have discovered that what ap-
  According to Stoub, dance adds            18 and works with Artist's Refuge, a       peared to be a wolf, was after all
another level of meaning to the wor-        professional dance group in town  -        a sheep in disguise.
ship experience. "Any art form ex-          Stoub was a natural to lead dance at         It is truly unbelievable that any
egetes words, " she said. "Dance gets       Church of the Servant.                     can claim that what the church
under the meaning of words - it               She was running her band of a            had rejected as worldly for hun-
touches deeper than on a superficial        dozen dancers through the regimen          dreds and even thousands of
level.  ItS no different than music or      last Sunday. The group ranged in           years, could now suddenly be re-
poetry in Scripture. "                      age from 9 to 38.                          discovered as an "art form" to be
  . . . Dance embodies the spirit of          In addition to her church work,          used to glorify God. In the same
each liturgical season at Church of         Stoub is serving her second,  year-        manner the movie, formerly con-
the Servant. How dancers move and           long term as president of the Sacred
what they wear symbolize what the           Dance Guild. The 653-member  guild         sidered also a "worldly amuse-
church is celebrating. At Lent, for ex-     comprises members from all                 ment," surprisingly became "film
ample, dancers don dark colors,             denominations, and even counts             art." What a tremendous trans-
whereas at Easter, their raiment is         some Buddhists and Jews in its             formation!
white with streamers of colored rib-        ranks.                                       Can it really be true that these
bon.                                          For all those denominations to           developments in the last days in
  Though liturgical dance is a new          choose from, it is ironic that a           which we live mark a return of
art form in the Christian Reformed          member of the Christian Reformed           the church to its more pristine
Church, it is not new to the Christian      Church, a church that has long cast        and holy form as it was manifest
church. According to Stoub, dance           a suspicious eye on any form of            shortly after Pentecost? Or is it
was utilized in worship until the           dance, should head the guild.              rather that we see evidence of
eighth century when an Augustinian            Stoub thinks the suspicions date
mindset began drawing attention             back to Plato and St. Augustine,           the "dog returning to its own
away from the body to the spirit.           philqsophers  who mistrusted all           vomit again" (11 Pet. 2:22)?
  "That's not biblical,  " Stoub said.      things having to do with the body,
"There was never a problem  with            and were used to support the later         Orthodox Presbyterian
dance in the Bible. In the Old Testa-       idea that dance is somehow sexual.         Churches:
ment, David danced before the ark.            "The roots of the anti-d&ce  think-
When David's wife Michal  con-              ing (in the CRC) has to do with              Clarion,  the Canadian Re-
demned her husband's dancing, God           secular dance and movie-going and          formed magazine, Jan. 2, 1989,
put her under a curse."                     card playing, " Stoub explained. "`It      quotes a report in Journey
  The Grand Rapids Press reports            was seen as worldly" . . . .               magazine about activities in the
on the same development:                      Noteworthy is the manner in              Orthodox Presbyterian Churches:
                                            which 
  Arms outstretched, head bowed                       The Banner  report in-             News and rumors are rife concern-
and hands dangling, Fenna Stoub             troduces this subject, "Dance is           ing some Orthodox Presbyterian  con-

358  / The Standard Bearer


gregations/pastors who are seriously      influential at Westminster Seminary          Some in the OPC have been
considering leaving the Orthodox          (West).                                   strongly in favor of joining the
Presbyterian Church  (OPC)  for the          A number of private meetings,          PCA. These were greatly disap-
Presbyterian Church in America            beginning with an August 6th gather-      pointed when a proposed merger
(PCA). In a letter dated January 6,       ing of approximately ten men, have        was defeated. Now it appears
1988, the Rev. Mark Maliepaard an-        been held to discuss realignment.
nounced that the New Life Presby-                                                   that individual churches are leav-
                                          Another meeting was held on
terian Church of Mira Mesa, Cali-         September 10th where four presenta-       ing the OPC to join the PCA. It
fornia, had voted to realign with the     tions were made in the morning, and       remains to be seen how exten-
Presbyterian Church in America.           four in the afternoon. The possibility    sive this realignment will be. The
That church has since realigned.          exists of six California churches re-     Canadian Reformed "Press
  Through the  Summerand  Fall            aligning, including the aforemen-         Review" editor sees this a trend
there have been further develop-          tioned Mira Mesa and Escondido, as        which will "strengthen the Re-
ments. The New Life Church of             well as almost half the Orthodox          formed character of the OPC."
Escondido,  pastored  by the Rev.         Presbyterian teachers at Westminster      He adds, "This gives all the more
Richard Kaufmann, has publicly an-        (West) . . . .                            reason for us as Canadian Re-
nounced that their Session is con-          A few churches in other parts of        formed Churches to intensify our
sidering realignment. This is signifi-    the country have also been men-           contacts with-the OPC." 0
cant because this church has been so      tioned as possible realigners . . . .



                                          Netis From
Mr. Benjamin Wigger                       Our Churches

                          May 1,1989       Lynden's pastor, was to lecture            The Council of the South
CHURCH ACTIVITIES                          one evening on "The Believer's           Holland P.R.C. in South Holland,
  The Church Extension Commit-             Love for God's Truth."                   IL called their congregation to a
tee of our church in Lynden, WA               Rev. Houck hoped to find time         special worship service held on
was kept busy during the month            also that week to address the             March 2 1. ,At this service, their
of April in holding a Special Con-        students at the Covenant Chris-           new pastor, Rev. Charles Terp-
gregational Week from the 9th              tian School for one of their             stra, was installed into office. A
through the 16th.                          chapel services.                         short program immediately
  Missionary Houck planned to                 Lyriden has introduced a new          followed the service. Afterwards
be there to meet with the con-            feature into their church bulletin.       refreshments and a get-
gregation. During that week one           On the last Sunday of each                acquainted time were scheduled
lecture was to be held in Canada          month their bulletin contains a           in the church basement.
and two in Lynden. An evening              feature entitled, "Recommended             The Young People's Societies
with Lynden's congregation was            Reading." These inserts will be           of the First P.R.C. in Grand
also planned for Rev. Houck.              reviews on good Christian books           Rapids, Ml once again sponsored
During that meeting he would              recommended to the congrega-              a Spring Vacation Family Roller
address the congregation on the           tion for their edification. I could       Skating Party. Special rates were
Missions of our churches.                 add that last month's "Recom-             set for families so the `whole fami-
  Rev. Houck's lecture in Canada          mended Reading" was a review              ly could spend a night together.
was on the topic, "Preaching, the         of "Perspectives -in P.R. Educa-          First's young people extended a
Power unto True Conversion,"              tion," by Mr. Fred Hanko Sr., a           cordial invitation to all the
and the one in Lynden, "Living            teacher at Hope P.R. Schobl in            churches in the West-Michigan
Church Membership." Rev. Haak,            Grand Rapids. You can get your            area to come and join them.
                                          copy of this magazine by writing            The Activities Committee of
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Prot-       to Mr. Don Doezema, 1904                  First Church also invited the
estant Reformed Church of  Hudson-        Plymouth Terrace S.E., Grand              members of their congregation to
ville,  Michigan.                         Rapids, Ml 49506.                         meet on the Thursday before

                                                                                                    The Standard Bearer  / 359


 THE
STANDARD                                                                                      SECOND CLASS
                                                                                              Postage Paid at
BELVZER                                                                                       Grand  Rapids, Michigan
t?O. Box 6064
Grand Rapids, MI 49506



Easter to join them in singing         Our denomination has been             ATTENTION TEACHERS!!!
songs of Christ's resurrection at    blest by God with faithful                Hope Christian School of
the rest homes in the area.          preachers of His Word. Right            Redlands, CA is seeking to add
   Due to Rev. Miersma's absence     now we have twenty-nine                 a teacher to its staff beginning
the first two Sundays in March       ministers and six ministers             the 1989-90 school year. Teach-
on classical appointment to South    emeriti. Those six are no longer        ing assignment would be either
Holland, the Council of our First    pastors over individual congrega-       grades K and 1, or 2nd  - 4th.
P.R.C. in Edmonton, Alberta          tions, but in no way can we call        Those interested may call Ed
decided to hold their annual         them retired; for when God calls        Karsemeyer (Principal) at school
Prayer Day service (normally the     a child of His to preach, that call-    (714-793-I 504) or at home  (714-
second Wednesday in March) on        ing is for life. Have you any idea      793-7166), or Mike Critters
the second Wednesday in April.       how many sermons that calling           (Secretary of School Board), at
   The Hudsonville P.R.C.`s          for life might include? Rev. Heys       (714-739-4439). Applications or
Choral Society in Hudsonville, Ml    has just recently preached his          resumes should be sent to Hope
presented their annual Easter        5000th sermon since he was or-          Christian School, 1309 E.
Choral Program on the night of       dained in 1941. The sermon was          Brockton, Redlands, CA 92374.
Easter Sunday in their church        delivered on February 26 to the         NOTICE!!!
auditorium.                          congregation in Hudsonville. The          The Northwest Iowa Protes-
   The Young People's Society of     text was Genesis 22:5-7 - "A            tant Reformed Christian School
our Loveland Church in Love-         Steadfast Trust in God."                is seeking applications for a
land, CO sponsored a family            It must be the prayer of each         teaching position at the lower
swim-night for the members of        of us that God will convict young       elementary grade level begin-
their congregation.                  men among us of the calling to          ning the  1989/90 school year.
   The Young People's Society of     bring the Word to His people.           Direct all inquiries to:
our Randolph, WI church were         Isaiah 52:7                             Chester Hunter, Jr.
busy sponsoring their annual         CONGREGATIONAL  CALLS                     Administrator
soup supper for their congrega-        Rev. S. Key declined the call         106 Fifth Ave.
tion on March 10.                    he received from the Faith P.R.C.       Doon, IA 51235
CONGREGATIONAL                       in Jenison, Ml. Cl                      (712) 726-3381
HIGHLIGHTS                                                                          or to:
   On Thursday, March 30, Rev.                                               John Mantel, Board President
M. Kamps, pastor of our South-                                               R.R. 2, Box 247
west Church, spoke at the annual     NOTICE!!!                               Rock Valley, IA 51247
Spring Lecture sponsored by our        The South Holland Protestant          (712) 476-5609
churches in West Michigan. This      Reformed School is seeking ap-
lecture was held in First Church                                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
                                     plications for a teaching posi-
in Grand Rapids. Rev. Kamps                                                    On April 19, 1989, our
                                     tion at the elementary grade
spoke on "Scripture: Science and                                             parents, MR. AND MRS.  -DOWlE
                                     level beginning the  1989/90
Creation."                                                                   VAN DER SCHAAF celebrated
                                     school year. Direct all inquiries
   A Young People's Easter Mass                                              their 40th wedding anniversary.
                                     to:
Meeting was also held at First                                               We thank God for the many
                                     Lamm Lubbers, Administrator             years He has given them to us
Church on March 19. Young            16511 South Park Avenue                 and to each other. It is our
people from the area were in-        South Holland, IL 60473                 prayer that Cod will continue to
vited to attend. Rev. Joostens       (312) 339-6585                          bless them, and be it His will,
was the speaker.                            or to
    The following was taken from                                             give them continued health and
                                     James Lanting, Board Sec'y.
 the April issue of "A Closer                                                strength.
                                     16230 Louis Avenue
 Look," a monthly "newspaper"                                                Peter and Dorothy Van Der Schaaf
                                     South Holland, IL 60473                 Gary and Karen Van Der Schaaf
 from the Hudsonville P.R.C.         (312) 596-5093                           10 grandchildren


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