                     THE

A  .  .
  Reformed          BBER
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





                    Fare1 urging Calvin to remain in Geneva
                               See "William Farel: Fiery Evangelist..." - page 319


Vol. 69, No, 14 
April 15, 1993


CONTENTS:                                                                           April 75, 1993               STANDARD
Meditation - Rev. Cornelius Hanko                                                                                        BEARER
      Christ's Ascension ......................................................................... 315
Editorial - Pro f David J. Engelsma                                                                             ISSN 0362-4692
     The Saving Death of Jesus Christ ................................................. 317
The Reader Asks ....................................................................................    319     Semi-monthly. except monthly during June, July, and August.
                                                                                                                Published by the Reformed Free Publishing A5soclatkm. Inc.,
A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                    4646 lvanrest Ave., Grandville, MI 46416. Second Class
      William Farel: Fiery Evangelist of the Reformation (2). ...............                                   Postage Paid at Qrandville, Michigan.
                                                                                                        319
Search the Scriptures - Rev. George C. Lubbers                                                                  Postmsrter: Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                P.O. Box 603. Grendville, MI 46466-0603.
      The Proper Spiritual Conduct of Christian Women (1) ................ 322                                  EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Decency and Order - Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga                                                                     Editor: Prof. David J. Engelsme
      Organizing New Congregations .................................................... 324                     Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                Managing Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
Taking Heed to the Doctrine - Rev. Beinard Woudenberg
      The Declaration's Final Adoption ..................................................               326     DEPARTMENT EDITORS
                                                                                                                Rev. Ronald Cammenga. Prof. Robert Decker. Rev. Arie
Church and State - Mr. James Lanting                                                                            denHer@& Rev. Barry(3ritter.s.  Mr. Frti Henko. Prof. Herman
      Recent Developments in Church-State Law ................................. 328                             Hanko. Rev. John Hey& Rev. Steven Key, Rev. Kenneth
                                                                                                                Kools. Rev. Jason Kortering. Rev. Dale Kuipsr, Mr. James
Guest Article - Rev. Jason L. Kortering                                                                         Lanting, Rev. George Lubbers, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers. Rev.
      Classis Meeting of the ERCS ......................................................... 329                 JamesSlopsema,  Rev. CharlesTerpstra,  Rev. CiiseVanBaren,
                                                                                                                Rev. RonaldVanOverloop, Mr. Benjamin Wigper,  Rev. Bernard
The Day of Shadows - Rev. John Heys                                                                             Woudenberg.
      That Blessed Comforting Shadow ................................................ 332                       EDtTORlAL  OFFICE            CHURCH NEWS EDtTOR
Letter from R.F.P.A ................................................................................. 334       The Standard Bearer          Mr. Ben Wgger
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News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger ................................ 335                               Grandville, MI 46416         Hudsonville, MI 46428
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                          Christ's Ascension

     Thy people shalZ be willing in the day    Jesus' earthly ministry, after He had         church. It is a call to arms, an incen-
of 2hy power.                                  triumphantly marched through hell             tive to fight the good fight, taking
                           Psalm 110:3a        by way of the cross, had conquered            unto ourselves the whole armor of
                                               over Satan, sin, death, and the grave,        God (Eph. 6:10-17).
     As children we sang loudly and            and proceeded as Victor to His heav-                     *  *  $  *  *  *  Y
exuberantly:                                   enly throne and glory.                               We are the army of the living God
                                                    Jesus stood on the Mount of Ol-          in the battlefield of this world.
  Onward, Christian soldiers, march-           ives, bidding His disciples farewell.
     ing as to war,                            N While they beheld he was taken up."
  With the cross of Jesus going on be-         An invisible Hand reached down to                      Eve y individual believer
     fore.                                     receive our Lord, and a cloud of glory                        is a soldier,
     As we grew a bit older we sang            appeared, which enveloped Him, as                        wearing the uniform
with equal fervor:                             He faded from sight and entered into                       of Jesus  Christ....
                                               heaven.
  The fight is on, 0 be not weary,                  This was our Lords Coronation
  Bestrong,andinHismightholdfast.              Day.                                                 We must not fail to realize that
  With banners gleaming, with colors                "Jehovah said unto my Adonai,            God's church is a militant church,
    streaming,                                 Sit thouatmyrighthand, untilImake             surrounded by the powers of dark-
  We'll sing the v&or's song at last.          thy enemies thy footstool. Jehovah            ness that seek to destroy her. Christ
                                               shall send the rod of thy strength out        is her Captain, who has called her out
    Much of that enthusiasm has                of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine      of darkness into His marvelous light
faded away now that we have actu-              enemiesn  (Psi. llO:l, 2).                    as a separate people, a holy people,
ally been in combat and tasted of the               Amazingprophecy. WhenChrist              devoted to God and antithetically
smoke and fury of battle. Our zeal is          ascends to heaven all power is en-            opposed to all the works of darkness.
replaced by a more sober outlook, a            trusted to Him in heaven and on earth.               Every individual believer is a sol-
serious determination to heed the call         The emphasis is on His royal office.          dier, wearing the uniform of Jesus
to battle and to fight the good fight of       He is Lord over all, called to carry out      Christ, called to fight the battle of
faith, with the prayer on our lips: "By        the counsel of God unto the time of           faith against the foe round about.
thy grace we will."                            His return.                                   That enemy is the devil, who goes
    That is the main thought of this               Here this power to rule is limited        about as a roaringlion, seekingwhom
infallible Word of God: "Thy people            specifically to His military power as         he may devour. He even comes as an
shall be willing in the day of thy             Conqueror over God's enemies, which           angel of light with cunning deception
power."                                        are also His and our enemies.                 to lure us into his grasp. Moreover,
           *  +  *  *  *  *  +                     Moreover, He reigns out of Zion,          that enemy is the wicked world with
    Psalm 110 speaks in prophecy of            out of the Temple, the House of God,          her treasures and pleasures, her al-
Christ's ascension to the right hand of        that is, out of and for the sake of His       lurements and threats. And finally,
the Father. It refers to the climax of         people. He is King, but He is also            the worst enemy of all is our own
                                               Priest according to the order of              corrupt, lustful flesh that wars against
                                               Melchizedek (v. 4). He rules over His.        us.
                                               people with a scepter of love and                    We are, thanks be to God, a will-
                                               grace. His victory over all His en-           ing army.
                                               emies is also our victory in the ti day of           Upon Christ's ascension to
                                               his (military) power."                        heaven God promises Him a willing
Rev. Hank0 is a minister emeritus in the           The text, therefore, speaks of Pen-       people, willing recruits.
Protestant  Reformed  Churches.                tecost with allits blessings for Christ's            Not as if we become "volunteers

                                                                                                       April 15,19931  StandardBearerl315


for Jesus." The opposite is true. We         powerful army that follows its Cap-           saints and the coming of God's king-
belonged to the camp of the enemy,           tain on to victory.                           dom.
and were filled with all the hostility of        As exaltedLordin  heaven, Christ                    *  +  *  *  *  *  *
Satan against God andHis Anointed.           exercises the rod of His power "out of            The victory is certain.
We were "drafted" by the irresistible        Zion."                                            In fact, Christ hasalreadyattained
power of the Spirit, who made us new             In the old dispensation the church        the victory for Himself and for His
creatures in Christ Jesus. It is the         sang in hope: "Christ shall have do-          church by His atoning suffering on
work of God's grace that supplies us         minion over land and sea. Earth's             the cross and His resurrection from
with the uniform of Jesus Christ, and        remotestregionsshallHisempirebe."             the dead.
equips us with the armor of faith            That is now fulfilled. Christ gathers             Paul makes the remarkable con-
wrought through the gospel.                  His church from the ends of the earth         fession: "We are more than conquer-
    In this respect the church of the        and from the islands of the sea.              ors throughHim thatlovedus" (Rom.
new dispensation is far richer than              But, more than that, Christ also          8:37). Often this hardly seems true.
the church of the shadows.                   holds His scepter over all the wicked,        We blush with shame when we think
    Israel in the old dispensation was       so that, not only are all their efforts to    of the numerous times we lend an ear
under the tutelage of the law. Like a        destroy God's church frustrated, but          to the lures of Satan. Considering our
child who must be taught by pictures,        in spite of themselves the wicked must        sins andimperfections, we grieve with
Israel was taught by the stern de-           serve, by their wicked rebellion              longingforperfection. In the midst of
mands of the law, that touched every         against God and His Anointed, for             the trials and afflictions of this present
phaseoftheirliveswithastrict,"Thou           the gathering of the church and the           time we weep.
shalt," and "Thou shalt not." Since          coming of His kingdom.                            No wonder that Scripture pic-
they could never fulfill these stern                "0 why do the heathen rage,            tures the departing saints as entering
demands, the law drove true Israel           and the peopleimagineavain thing?"            heaven with tear-stained eyes.
into the arms of Christ, to seek all         God has set His "King upon the holy               Yet, even though when the battle
their salvation in Him.                      hill of Zion."                                is ended we stand with dented hel-
    With the outpouring of the Spirit                                                      met, with worn-out shoes, with bat-
on Pentecost the church has been freed                                                     tered shield and chipped sword, yet
from the bondage of the law. Christ                     We are duty-bound                  we still are more than conquerors.
has fulfilled that law for us. We are                  to live exempla y lives             Actually, God's people do not gain
now like adults, mature sons and                  in our homes, in the church,             the victory in spite of heavy losses on
daughters in the family of God. We              and in the midst of the world.             the battlefield. We are not like the
have in our hearts the Spirit of adop-                                                     victorious nations which pay the
tion that gives us all the privileges                                                      heavy cost of winning with numer-
and freedom of an adult.                         But also Gods people form a               ous casualties, atremendous war debt,
    We can serve God, we may serve           powerful army, because God carries            ruined fields and cities, wounded
Him, we will to serve Him; and from          out His work of grace in and through          veterans, and other heavy losses. The
that follows the inner must of true          them by the Spirit of Christ. They are        battle scars in our warfare are all on
obedience. We are no longer bound            strong in the power of His might              the side of the enemy.
by. all sorts of laws and precepts.          (Eph. 6:lO). The church is entrusted              We are more than conquerors as
Even the "Thou shalt" and the "Thou          with the keys of the kingdom: the             we reach out for the crown. For our
shalt not" of the ten commandments           preaching of the Word and the exer-           light affliction, which lasts but for a
have become a guide for us in our            cise of Christian discipline. They are        moment, works an eternal weight of
walk of thankfulness.                        instrumental in the ingathering of the        glory!
    That in no way means that we are         elect from all the nations of the world,          We exchange our dented helmet
perfect, free from sin. The power of         for instructing the seed of the cov-          for a crown of glory, our shabby garb
sin still wars in our members, so that       enant, and for keeping the church             forraiments of righteousness washed
our flesh would rather compromise            pure in doctrine and walk of life.            in the blood of the Lamb, and our
with the enemy than fight. Our sinful            Also as individual believers we           sword for palm branches of victory.
nature cringes at the sneers and oppo-       have our own unique calling to fight          In final perfection we live to the praise
sition of the world. Often we falter in      the battle of faith for the cause of Jesus    of the glory of our God into endless
battle. Often our flesh asks whether         Christ. It is our calling to maintain         eternity for so great a salvation.
all this bitter struggle is really worth     and defend the truth of the Scriptures            Ours is the victory in our Lord
while. "0 wretched man that I am,            over against all heresy. We are duty-         Jesus Christ!  0
who shall deliver me from the body of        bound to live exemplary lives in our
this death?"                                 homes,inthechurch, andin themidst
    By the grace of God this willing         of the world. "Ye are My witnesses,"
people, at the same time, makes up a         saith the Lord, for the gathering of the

315ISfandatdSearerlApriI  15,1993


                            The Saving Death
                                  of Jesus Christ

    In the sacrament of the Lord's            cal",a,nd of significance for mankind.     the eternal Son of God. Manhood was
Supper, the church remembers the                  It must absurdly be asserted in        required to suffer punishment de-
death of Jesus Christ. Remembering,           our absurd age that the death of Christ    served by men. Godhead enabled
she celebrates.                               was a historical event. It must ab-        Him to bear infinite wrath. Godhead
    Every preacher of the gospel has          surdly be added that this means that       gave His suffering infinite worth and
determined to know nothing except             the death of Christ really happened.       value. This costly sacrifice was the
Jesus Christ and Him crucified.               It happened in earthly space and time      price of ransom.
    Each believer glories in the cross,       just as did the surrender of Lee to            Because the death of Christ was
and in nothing else.                          Grant. The Bible says so. Jesus' death     satisfaction, the churchremembersit,
    What was that death that it should        tookplace exactly as described by the      the ministers of the gospel proclaim
be remembered, preached, and glo-             four gospel narratives.                    it, and believers glory in it.
ried in?                                          This historical event had a defi-          Other explanations are given. One
    As a historical- fact, it was the         nite, unique meaning. The Triune           is that the death of Christ exercises a
execution of Jesus of Nazareth by             God determined this meaning by His         moral influence upon sinners. It is an
crucifixion. This took place just out-        purpose with Christ's death and by         example that attracts them to Jesus,
side Jerusalem about A.D. 30. The             His work in this death.                    changes their attitude toward God
Crucified died under sentence of con-             The meaning of the cross is sav-       from terror to trust, and turns them
demnation by both the Jewish San-             ing. Christ's death was a saving death.    from self-love to love of the neighbor.
hedrin and the Roman state. The               It was not saving for everybody. On            The cross melts men's hearts by
manner of dying was shameful and              the contrary, it was judgment unto         its display of love. Or it brings them
painful.                                      condemnation for some people. But          to repentance by demonstrating the
    Apart from this historical event,         Gods main purpose with the cross of        punishment that all deserve. Or, as
the death of Jesus Christ means noth-         Christ was salvation. The death of         the supreme instance of sacrificial
ing. This is, I know, an absurd state-        Jesus Christ was the deliverance of        concern for one's fellow man, it moves
ment. It is as `absurd as to'say  that        guilty sinners from eternal damna-         men to live for others.
apart from the historical, reality of         tion by Christ's suffering their pun-          Another popular explanation is
Lee's surrender to Grant at                   ishment in their stead. It was re-         that Christ's death conquered the evil
Appomattox, the surrender of the              demption of others by payment of the       powers that trouble human life. By
Confederacy to the Union is mean-             ransom. Christ paid the ransom to          His death, Jesus is victor over Satan
ingless. Hoti could something that            God. This was Christ's own explana-        and death.
never happened mean anything?                 tion of His death: "The Son of man             But these theories reject satisfac-
    But exactly this absurdity flour-         came not to be ministered unto, but to     tion. Therefore, they deny the cross.
ishes in theology and church today,           minister, and to give his life a ransom    Those who teach these theories are
passing for profound wisdom. That             for many" (Malt. 20:28).                   enemies of the cross of Christ. There
which never happened is yet histori-              The death of Christ was satisfac-      is nothingin these theories that makes
cal and of the. greatest importance to        tionof divinejustice. Satisfactionwas      the death of Christ memorable, noth-
Christians. Such is the event of cre-         the essence of the cross. Christ died      ing that is worth preaching, nothing
ation described- in Genesis 1 and 2.          under condemnation of the heavenly         that warrants a sinner's putting his
Such also is the event of the fall re-        tribunal. Hanging on the tree, He was      trust in the cross .or glorying in it.
corded in Genesis 3. The same can             cursed of God.                                 No mere influence can change the
and will and must be said about the               Satisfaction was possible for Jesus    depraved sinner since he is deserv-
death of Jesus: Although it never             of Nazareth because He was (and is)        edly depraved- totally depraved-
actually took place, it is still "histori-    not only a real, sinless man but also      by the just judgment of God.

                                                                                                 April15,1993/StandardBearer/317


    No victory over the dark powers           Christ. In answer to the question,            of believing parents, is contrary to
is conceivable apart from satisfaction        "Why was it necessary for Christ to           Christ's own Word in Scripture: "I
since the malignant rule of the forces        humble himself even unto death?,"             lay d&m my life for the sheep" (John
of evil is founded on the claims of the       the Heidelberg Catechism replies:             10:15). It contradicts the Reformed
broken law.                                                                                 confession:
    At the center of God's world and            Because  with respect to the justice
history is righteousness. This is not a         and truth of God, satisfaction for our        It was the All of God, that Christ by
righteousness without love, to be sure,         sins could be made no otherwise,              the blood of the cross, whereby He
but it is a righteousness that will not         than by the death of the Son of God           confirmed the new covenant, should
be ignored, or even slighted, by love.          (Q. 4'3).                                     effectually redeem out of every
    The explanation of the historical                                                         people, tribe, nation, and language,
                                                                                              all those, and those only, who were
death of Jesus Christ is satisfaction.            In further explanation and de-
                                                                                              from eternity chosen to salvation,
    Only this doctririe of the cross          fenseof this Reformedbelief concern-            an& given to Him by the Father  .,.
does justice to thebiblical truths about      ing the death of Christ, the Canons of          (Canons, II/S).
the cross picked up by the theories of        Dordt develop the truth of Christ's
moral influence and of victory over           death as satisfaction in the second               Besides, the teaching of a death of
the evil powers.                              head of doctrine. The approach to
                                              Christ's death is that of the require-        Christ for all denies that death as
                                              ment of divine justice that satisfac-         satisfaction. For now there is a death
                                                                                            of Christ that fails to save some for
      Apart from satisfaction,                tion be made for our sins, which are          whom He died. The cross was not
  the cross was a futile, foolhardy,          committed against "His infinite maj-          satisfaction for those who yet perish.
          fruitless engagement                esty" (Art. 1). The explanation of            Implied is that it was not satisfaction
           with the enemies.                  Christ's death as to its fundamental
                                              meaning is that                               for any.
                                                                                                Why remember a death that leaves
                                                (the) only begotten Son, for our            sins unpaid, sinners unredeemed, and
    The believer is moved and moti-             surety, who was made sin, and be-           divine justice unsatisfied? Preaching
vated by the love of God revealed in            came a curse for us and in our stead,       such a death is an exercise in futility,
the death of Christ, when that death is         (made) satisfaction to divine justice       for, regardless of the effect of the
known as God's own suffering of His             on our behalf. The death,of the Son         preaching, satisfaction for sin has
wrath in the incarnate Son. Forgiven by         of God is the only and most perfect         never been made. Rather than glory
thecross,thebelievingsinnerismelted             sacrifice and satisfaction for sin (Ar-     in such a cross, miserable sinners
bytheloveofGodforhiminthecross,                 ticles 2,3).                                should lament it as the failure of the
moved to love this God, and moti-                                                           finest attempt of God at salvation.
vated to love his neighbor as himself.            Basic to the death of Christ as               The death of Christ of universal
Apartfromsatisfaction, thecrossonly           satisfactionis that it was for a limited      atonement, like that of moral influ-
moves thinking men and women to               number of particular persons. By              ence and victory over the dark pow-
marvel at an act of consummate fool-          decree of God, Jesus Christ died as           ers, is not saving. It does not effectu-
ishness. Why the bother of incarna-           the substitute for some, and for some         ally save. If it does not effectually
tion and hellish suffering merely to          only. Those for whom He died are              save, neither does it make salvation
set an example? '                             those, and those only, whom the               possible.
    Satan, sin, the wicked world, and         Triune God elected in eternity, those             God's resurrection of the cruci-
death were indeed spoiled by the              who are actually saved by that death.         fied Jesus Christ, however, declared
death of Christ, as the apostle writes            If the possibility of Jesus' bearing      Christ's death to be saving. The
in Colossians 2:14,15,  exactly because       the wrath of God for others is His            church remembers a death that satis-
that death was thestrippingfrom them of       humanity and Deity, the legitimacy            fied. The preacher proclaims a death
their right according to the law of God to    of His representing others is His ap-         that believers trust in for deliverance
dominate God's creation and (new) hu-         pointment in eternity as covenant             from the condemnation of God and,
man race. The triumph of the cross            Head of the elect church. Christ died         therefore, deliverance from the tyr-
over the principalities and powers            as Head and Mediator of the new               anny of Satan and the slavery of sin.
was its "blotting out the handwriting         covenant (cf. Canons, II / 8,9; II, Rejec-        In the cross the sin-stricken, peni-
of ordinances that was against us"            tion of Errors/ II).                          tent sinner glories. In the cross as
(Col. 2:14,15).  Apart from satisfac-             Christ did not die for all humans         satisfaction, he glories.
tion, the cross was a futile, foolhardy,      without exception. He did not die for             Only in the cross.
fruitless engagement with the en-             all in the sphere of the covenant with-           Onlyin thecrossassatisfaction. IJ
emies.                                        out exception.
    Satisfaction is the confessionally            To teach that Christ died for ev-                                          - DJE
Reformed doctrine of the death of             ery human, or for every bap tized child


n Preaching the Catechism                   much as possible the explanation shall      (or these) and many other passages of
    My question pertains to the             be annually completed, according to         Scripture is based the instruction of
proper or best method of preaching          the division of the Catechism itself,       Lord's Day I." He then proceeds, or
on the Lord's Days of the Heidelberg        for that purpose." This certainly           ought to proceed, to preach a sermon
Catechism.                                  means that the ministers must ex-           based on that particular Lord's Day,
    The question is, Is the selecting of    plain the Lord's Day, i.e., they must       demonstrating how that Lord's Day
a text or passage of Scripture as the       preach on the Lord's Day itself.            reflects the truth of Scripture.
basis for the sermon a proper or better         The Heidelberg Catechism, one               This method has been taught in
method than basing the sermon on            of the Three Forms of Unity, accu-          our seminary fromits earliest days. It
the Lord's Day itself?                      rately sums and sets forth the truth of     is still being taught to our ministerial
                     Garrett Flikkema       HolyScripture. EachLord'sDaypre-            students today.
                            Lansing, IL     sents anaspect or aspects of that truth         The fine, long-standing tradition
                                            of Holy Scripture. The ministers must       of Catechism preaching ought to be
Response:                                   explain that "sum of Christian doc-         faithfully maintained in our churches.
    Ministers in the Protestant Re-         trine" comprehended in that particu-        It ensures the fact that thewhole  coun-
formed Churches have no choice in           lar Lords Day.                              sel of God will be preached. It also
this matter. Article 68 of The Church           It is customary in the Protestant       ensures the fact that our members
Order  states, "The ministers shall on      Reformed Churches for the minister          will be systematically instructed in
Sunday explain briefly the sum of           to introduce the sermon by quoting          the "sum of Christian doctrine."
Christian doctrine comprehended in          one or a few texts/passages of Scrip-                     - Editorial Committee
the Heidelberg Catechism so that as         ture and saying: "On the basis of this





                                    William Farel:


Introduction                                great truths of Scripture which he had      any otherReformer,  was instrumen-
    William Farel, first generation         learned to love. He appeared on the         tal in leading many of the  Wal-
Reformer, is remembered especially          scene as a meteor, smashing by his          densians, those God-fearing and hor-
for his work with John Calvin, the          oratory and preaching of the gospel         ribly persecuted pre-Reformers, into
great Reformer of Geneva.                   all the carefully fashioned practices of    the fold of Calvinism.
      Into this darkness Fare1 burst,       the false church from which he had              In our last article we noted that
roaringlike a bull, flinging about with-    broken.                                     Fare1 was born in a region which had
out regard for personal safety the              These labors led him to Geneva.         once been the stronghold of
                                                                                        Waldensian thought. His contact with
                                            Contact With The Waldensians                the Waldensians must have left its
                                                Before we begin to describe his         mark on him, for he maintained con-
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church His-     work in what was to become the cen-         tact with and influence upon them
tory and New Testament in the Protes-       ter of Calvinism, it is not inappropri-     throughout his ministry.
tant Reformed Seminary.                     ate to mention that Farel, more than            In fact, in 1531 Fare1 was sent with

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A. Saunier to the Waldensian Synod            for our justification. Whoever be-           sermons were preached. The sacra-
which was being held in Chanforans.           lieves in him will be saved; unbeliev-       ments  were administered according
There he told these people of the Ref-        ers will be lost. I am sent by God as a      to the Scriptures. All shops were
ormation truths, and there he per-            messenger of Christ, and am bound            closed on the Lord's Day.
suaded many of the great work of              to preach him to all who will hear me.           Nevertheless, the city was far
God which was being done on behalf            Iam ready to dispute with you, and to        from a Reformed city. Troubles con-
of the pure gospel.' This influence           give an account of my faith and min-         tinued, and the work of reformation
with the Waldensians he was never to          istry. Elijah said to King Ahab, `It is      was far from over..
lose. And, if Fare1 is remembered for         thou, and not I, who disturbest Is-              It wasinto  this situation that Cal-
nothingmore thanforhisworkamong               rael.' So I say, it is you and yours, who    vin came on an evening. He had no
these people, `it would be enough to          trouble the world by your traditions,        intention of staying in the city, but
engrave forever his name in the               your human inventions, and your              sought a night's lodging in his travels.
memories of all those who love the            dissolute lives."                            When Fare1 heard that Calvin was in
Reformation.                                      When another shouted, "He has            the city, he immediately sought out
                                              blasphemed; we need no further evi-          this man whom he had never met, to
Work With Calvin                              dence; he deserves to die," Fare1 re-        implore him to stay in Geneva and
        But we must turn to Geneva.           sponded, "Speak the words of God,            help with the work. But Calvin was of
        Geneva, at this time, was under       and not of Caiaphas."                        no mind to do this. Calvin, as he tells
the rule of Berne, a neighboring can-             In response to this, the council         us himself, was shy and retiring and
ton in Switzerland. It remained, how-         could no longer contain its rage. It         yearned for a life of quiet and peace-
ever, a thoroughly Roman Catholic             taunted him, spit on him, chased him         ful study in some sanctuary far from
city where every vice was openlyprac-         with clubs; and, as he was leaving,          the rumble of the storms created by
ticed and where the foul rituals of           one shot at him. Even that could not         the Reformation. He steadfastly and
Rome were a staple in the spiritual           frighten the dauntless Reformer. He          strenuously resisted every overture
diet of the citizens.                         turned to the one who attempted his          of Fare1 until, in exasperation,
        His first stay in Geneva was not a    murder with the words: "Your shots           Farelbellowed: "I declare, in the name
long one. He came in 1532, when               do not frighten me." But it was only         of God, that if you do not assist us in
about 43 years old. The city was full         with difficulty that he escaped, and         this work of the Lord, the Lord will
of religious strife, and near chaos           his first labors in Geneva came to an        punish you for following your own
reigned. Within that city, however,           end.                                         interest rather than this call."
were a few who had been touched by                He sent Froment and Olivetan,                Calvin was overwhelmed by this
the truths of the Reformation, and            two fellow Reformers, to continue the        threat of God's judgment and, in res-
Fare1 limited his preaching to private        work which he had begun; and he              ignation to God's will, agreed to work
worship in the homes of these few             himself returned in 1533. Still under        with Fare1 in the difficult task of the
faithful. But his preaching was too           the protection of Berne, he labored          Reformation in Geneva.
successful to be kept secret, and soon        with courage and zeal in times of                Thrown into the hurly-burly of
he was forced by circumstances to             great peril and danger.                      the life of the city, Fare1 and Calvin
begin public proclamation of the gos-             Gradually the city was turned            worked day and night to bring about
pel.                                          from its superstitions and many were         a thorough reformation, until the city,
        This practice could not last long     brought by God to the faith. Gradu-          weary of the stringent discipline  im-
in this citadel of Romish thought. He         ally the Roman Catholics began to            posedon them, rose against them and
was soon summoned before a furious            leave, and on August 27, 1535, the           expelled them. Calvin retired to
episcopal council which saw his               Great Council of Two Hundred in              Strassburg, where he spent some of
preaching as a threat to their own            Geneva passed a formal decision that         the happiest moments of his life, only
authority.' Fare1 produced his cre-           Geneva was to become protestant.             to return a few years later when he
dentials from Berne; and, although                The mass was abolished and for-          was summoned by a Council alarmed
they made some impression, he was             bidden. The people took the images           at the chaotic conditions in the city.
treated with insolence. One of the            and relics from the churches. The            Fare1  went on with his work, espe-
clerics present shouted to him: "Come         citizens pledged to live according to        cially in Neuchbtel, a city where also
thou, filthy devil. Art thou baptized?        the gospel and established a school          disorder and confusion reigned.
Who invited you hither? Who gave              which became the forerunner' of                  Farel's association with Calvin
you authority to preach?"                     Calvin's famous academy. A ho+               was close from the time of their labors
        Farel'sresponsewas:"Ihavebeen         tal was built, financed by the rev-          in"Geneva. In fact, during Calvin's
baptized in the name of the Father,           enues from older hospitals. The pal-         stay in Strassburg, Fare1 was the one
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and am           ace of the bishop, with fine irony,          who urged Calvin to marry. In aletter
not a devil. I go about preaching             became a prison. Ministers, elders,          to Farel, sent May 19, 1539, Calvin
Christ, who died for our sins and rose        and deacons were appointed. Daily            wrote: "I am none of those insane

320/StandardBaarwlApril15,1993


lovers who, when once smitten with            wrote to a friend: "Oh, why was not I         church. Though his methods could
the fine figure of a woman, embrace           taken away in his place, while he             surely be scrutinized and criticized,
also her faults. This only is thebeauty       might have been spared for many               no one ever questioned his integrity,
that allures me, if she be chaste, oblig-     years of health to the service of the         his courage, and his faithfulness to his
ing, not fastidious, economical, pa-          Church of our Lord Jesus Christ!              God. His was the work of the plow-
tient, and careful for my health. There-      Thanks be to Him who gave me the              man who was called to hackdown the
fore, if you think well of it, set out        exceeding grace to meet this man and          trees, clear away the underbrush, and
immediately, lest some one else gets          to hold him against his will in Geneva,       do the hard work of plowing; others
the start of you. But if you think            where he has labored and accom-               would come, more gentle than he,
otherwise, we will let it pass."              plished more than tongue can tell. In         and sow the seed.
    Although Fare1  did not return to         the name of God, I then pressed him                When God led His people from
Geneva when Calvin was calledback,            and pressed him again to take upon            Egypt to Canaan, Moses, that mighty
the two remained close friends, and           himself a burden which appeared to            man of God, could not do all the
the correspondence between them               him harder than death, so that he at          work. He died before Israel inherited
continued. Calvinspent the rest of his        times asked me for God's sake to have         the promised land. After him, God
days in Geneva; Fare1 continued his           pity on him and to allow him to serve         raised up Joshua to finish the work.
evangelistic labors, traveling even in        God in a manner which suited his              David could not build the temple, for
his old age.                                  nature. But when he recognized the            his calling was to fight the wars of the
    When Calvin was near death,               will of God, he sacrificed his own will       Lord.. Another, Solomon, was called
Farel, though nearly 75 years old,            and accomplished more than was                to build the temple. Neither Calvin
traveled to see his old friend and co-        expected from him, and surpassed              nor Fare1 could do that which had to
Reformer for the last time. Calvin,           not only others, but even himself. Oh,        be done for reformation to come; God
aware of Farel's age and the difficul-        what a glorious course has he happily          usedboth-firstFareltobreakdown;
ties of travel, begged Fare1  not to          finished!"                                    then Calvin to build up. So it always
come. But Fare1 could not be kept                 Fare1 did marry, but at the age of        is in the church of Christ: each mem-
away. Part of the letter reads: "Fare-        69, much to Calvin's disgust. But             ber has his place and calling; and all
well, my best andtruestbrother! And           Calvin had the grace to write the              together are called to labor in the
since it is God's will that you remain        preachers of the city in which Fare1           cause of Christ.
behind me in the world, live mindful          was working to "bear with patience                 Especially in his association with
of our friendship, which as it was            the folly of the old bachelor."                Calvin, a deeper andprofoundlyspiri-
useful to the Church of God, so the                Still traveling and preaching very       tual aspect of his character came to
fruit of it awaitsusin heaven. Pray do        shortly before his death, he returned          the fore. With a sincere humility he
not fatigue yourself on my account. It        to Neuchhtel to die. There, worn with          was content to stand in the shadow of
is with difficulty that I draw mybreath,      his many labors, weary with the suf-           Calvin, to retire to the background
and I expect that every moment will           ferings which came with the reproach          when events required it, and to de-
be the last. It is enough that I live and     of Christ, he died quietly in his sleep       crease in order that Calvin might in-
die f or Christ, who is the reward of his     on September 13,156s.                          crease. This was his most endearing
followers both in life and in death.               Wild and fiery as he was, he              quality, and it is a virtue registered in
Again, farewell with the brethren."           served an important place in Gods             the books of heaven. 0 -
    Ten days after Calvin died, Fare1 I work of bringing reformation to the
                                                             -  -

                                    Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serviq  the Lord.
                                                                                                                    Romans 12:ll
                                              Mine be the reverent, listening love
                                                   That waits all day on Thee,
                                              With the service of a watchful heart
                                                   Which no one else can see.
        Nothing is small or great in Gods sight; whatever He wills becomes great to us, however seemingly trifling,
    and if once the voice of conscience tells us that He requires anything of us, we have no right to measure its
    importance. On the other hand, whatever He would not h,ave us do, however important we may think it, is as
    nought to us. How do you know what you may lose by neglecting this duty, which you think so trifling, or the
    blessing which its faithful performance may bring? Be sure that if you do your very best in that which is laid upon
    you daily, you will not be left without sufficient help when some weightier occasion arises. Give yourself to Him,
  i trust Him, fix your eye upon Him, listen to His voice, and then go on bravely and cheerfully.
                                                                                                           The Standard Bearer
                                                                                                                     June 15,1933

                                                                                                      April 15,1993 / StandardBearer  I321


  The Proper Spiritual Conduct
                 of Christian Women (1)
                                                           Lesson 5



    ln like manner also, that women             Gospel. In this church both men          uttered by men who had the special
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with        and women are living members of          gift of tongues. They are founda-
shamefacedness and sobriety; not with           the Body of Christ. However, each        tional words; they are words from
braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly     has his own role. The twofold            Christ to women who "profess godli-
array; but (which becometh women  pro-          "roles" are very distinctive in char-    ness." They are words speaking of
fessing godliness) with good works.             acter. Their role is wholly in keep-     the spiritual adornment of women,
                       I Timothy 2:9,10         ing with their respective increated      women who (Pet. 3:5) adornedthem-
                                                character. "Male and female cre-         selves with "good works," being in
    Some generalobservations on the             ated he them" (Gen. 1:26,27).            subjection to their own husbands,
text and context:                              4. I do believe that we should ie-        even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, "call-
1. We ought to keep in mind that                member that the exhortation in the       ing him lord." In the Hebrew text in
  Paul is writing in the remainder of           verses 8-15 consists of words which      Genesis 18:12 we read: "Therefore
  Chapter 1 (w. 9-15) concerning the            heretofore had not been written by       Sarah laughed within herself, saying
  proper, God-ordained role of both             any of the apostles. When Paul           After I am waxed old shall I have
  men and women in the "house of                writes the words here, he writes as      pleasure, my lord  (Adonai)  being old
  God." This house by its distinctive            one of the holy men of God. He is       also?"
  character is nothing less than the            writing according to the grace which         Sarah truly was a godly woman.
  "church (ekklesia) of the living God,         was given him. He was writing, as        She showed in her entire life that she
  the pillar and ground of the truth"           II Peter 1:21 enlightens us, concern-    shared the faith of Abraham, her
  (I Tim. 3:15; Eph. 2:19-22;  Heb. 3:1-        ing the grand fact that "holymen of      "lord." Thus she manifested herself
  6).                                            God spoke as they were moved by         before the very faces of Jehovah God
2. This holy church is gathered by              the Holy Ghost." Did not Peter, as       and the two angels with Him. She did
  the Son of God out of every tongue,           he was moved by the Holy Ghost,          not speak disrespectfully of her hus-
  tribe,people,andnation(Il?et.2:10;            designate the beloved brother Paul       band. She knew that the matter of her
  Rom.  9:25, 26;  Hosea   2:23). The           as being on a par even with Moses        bearing Abraham's son of the prom-
  church at Ephesus is the people               of old? Was this not the time when       ise, heir of the promise, was a matter
  who are erstwhile "Gentiles."                 men in the New Testament church          of struggling on bended  knee. It was
3. In our Scripture lesson Paul is              spoke with tongues (I Cor. 12:10,        while Abraham was growing impo-
  building as aMaster  craftsman upon           2%31)?                                   tent and she was ceasing to be able to
  the only foundation, Jesus Christ.           5. When the New Testament Scrip-          live after the manner of women, that
  And as thus built, the church is the          tures had been written,  then            Abraham and Sarah believed in hope
  ground and pillar of the truth of the          "tongues ceased" (I Cor.  138).         against hope; they believed that they
                                                                                         would be the father and mother of
                                                       *  *  *  * *  +  *                many nations (see Gen.  12:3 and
                                                   Let us now direct our attention to    17~15). Had not God directed that, as
                                               the Holy Spirit's admonition to the       Sarah's lord, Abraham should have
Rev. Lubbers isa ministeremeritus in the       beloved sisters in the Lord Jesus.        the living hope that she would be not
Protestant Reformed Churches.                  These words are not such as were          merely a mother in Israel, but "a

322/StandadBearerlApril15,1993


mother of nations; kings of people         of the church. It is an evil which is            God brought forth from a rib of
shall be of her" (Gen. 17:15,16)?          very closely associated with the lack            Adam as the finishing creative act
    But to return to our text. Paul is     of spiritual sensitiveness concerning            on the sixth day. Was she not sur-
speaking here to a class of reborn,        the truth that this pure and undefiled           named Eve (Hewa) by Adam after
erstwhile Gentile women, who once          adornment is "the end of the com-                the Fall of the first man (Adam), and
worshiped outside of the common-           mandment," which is love "out of a               also after God revealed His grace
wealth of Israel, strangers from the       pure heart, and of a good conscience,            and mercy in Paradise? In Genesis
covenants and promises. But now            and of faith unfeigned" (I Tim. 1:5).            3:20 we.read, "And Adam called
they profess before all the world not      One sanctified conscience is more                his wife's name Eve; because she
merely that they are  dwellingin God's     powerful than a thousand witnesses.              was the mother of all living." In all
temple, but that the living God has        To this we will return.                          the holy Scriptures the name Eve is
gathered them to be the very house of            The text inserts in parentheses,'          mentioned but four times - twice
God itself. Small wonder that the          "which becometh women professing                 in each testament (Gen. 3:20; 4~1; II
Holy Spirit uses the very beautiful        God-liness." The term "professing"               Cor. 11:3; I Tim. 2:13-15).
Greek term Theosebeian instead of the      refers to the promised  godly  service.        2. Sarah called Abraham her  Adonai.
usual Greek term  Eusebeian.  Paul         It is their solemn "Amen" to the will            We read this of her in I Peter 3:6:
employs that latter term in I Timothy      of God that theywalkthe straight and             "Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham,
some nine times. However, in our           narrow way which leads to life. The              calling him lord  (Adonai)." She
text, the term Theosebeian  means not      term in the original Greekoccurs only            called him this in the very presence
merely godlikeness,  but real godli-       once in the Bible. Paul also uses                of  Jehovah,  who appeared unto her
ness, having potency (II Tim. 3:5). It     another word which means God-                    and Abraham accompanied by two
means that these holy women have           pleasing walk. It could very properly            angels. We should notice that Jeho-
come to know God as the God of their       be translated "piety," or "reverence"            vah, the covenant God, and the two
salvation!                                 (see I Tim. 2:2; 3:16; 4:7,8; 6:5,6,11).         angels are designated as "three
    However, there was a fly in the        Such women, professing that they                 men" who stood by him (Gen. 18:1-
ointment. It was this: they were           truly fear and obey the one only true            5). Sarah's calling Abraham Adonai
reallyveryinconsistent; they clung to      God in Jesus Christ, are women who               was the deep and constant attitude
an outward display of perishable and       publish the fact that they are Chris-            of "revering her husband," ex-
corruptible beauty. Would not these        tians, i.e., prophets, priests, and kings        pressed spontaneously before God
shapely, youthful bodies perish? Be-       of God. (See Heidelberg Catechism,               and His angels, uttered with sancti-
ing corruptible, would they not fade       Questions 86-91.) Does a glamorous               fied lips! (See Ephesians 5:32,33.)
away? Really, their "profession" is        dress and outlandish hairdo really                All the obedience of Sarah, mother
on higher ground. Do they not have         "adorn" a Christian as she is por-               of Isaac and his Seed, is uttered.
a hope laid away for them in heaven?       trayedbytheHolySpiritinIPeter3:1-                Only holy women are permitted by
Should they not be wearing the gar-        6?                                               God to walk the long road of pa-
ments of good works? These women                 It is well known that the life of the      tience.- See the long road of pa-
(their husbands too) must listen to the    children of God is a letter (II Cor. 3:1,        tience, even fromurof the Chaldees,
great vision shown to John on Patmos.      2). See also what Paul writes in I               until God took Sarah home to the
We read of this vision in Revelation       Corinthians 7:16,17.  Is thisin abroad          better country, the heavenly (Gen.
21:2: "And I John saw the holy city,       sense not implied in the words of                23:1,2; Heb. ll:ll-13; 6:9-11).
new Jerusalem, coming down from            Jesus in Matthew 5:13-16?  Is this not         3. Should it be difficult to under-
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride     also the implication of Matthew 5:43-            standthatsarahismentionedinthe
adorned for her husband. W                 48? Let us search the Scriptures which           Bible more often than Eve? If not,
    Did not Sarah dwell with Abra-         are able to make us wise unto salva-             why not?
ham in tents? And did they not in          tion through faith which is in Christ          4. What is the greatness of both Eve
hope against hope see that new Jerusa-     Jesus (II Tim. 3:15-17).                         and Sarahin their "motherhood" in
lem from afar? Was such seeing of the            (We will continue the exposition           the church? Who seem not to be
beautiful city foursquare not the stay-    of verses 11-15 in Lesson 6, D.V.)               able to fathom the greatness of the
ing power which enabled Sarah both                                                          mother in the church who rocks the
to refuse to return to Ur of the                     *  *  *  *  *  *  *                    cradle?
Chaldees, and to refuse to live an-              Some questions for more in-depth         5.  What- were the "good works"
other life-style of the people of the      discussion:                                     which adorned Eve? Sarah? Does
land (Heb. 11:16;  John 8:56)?             1. Is it not a remarkable fact that             the definition of what really consti-
                                             Paul refers to two women from the              tutes good works apply also to Eve
        *  *  rt *  *  *  *                  Old Testament Scriptures: Sarah               and to Sarah? 0
    But there was another evil under         and Eve? The latter was not born
the sun which was pervading the life         from a woman, but was one whom

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                                                Organizing
                            New Chgregations

     In places where the consistory is fo be        4) Two smaller neighboringcon-          prerogative of the churches in com-
consfifutedfor  thefirst time oranew, this      gregations joining together because         mon. Hence the need for approval of
shall not takeplaceexcept with theadvice        they find it impossible to exist alone.     the classis, along with the concurring
of the classis.                                     5) Re-organizing a congregation         advice of the delegates ad examina
                   Church Order,  Article 38    left without a consistory, as was the       from the other classes.
                                                case in the history of the Protestant           When the  classis decided on
Introduction                                    Reformed Churches in 1953 when, in          granting a request for organization of
     This article concerns the re-orga-         some cases, most or all consistory          a  new congregation, certain criteria
nizing of congregations and the orga-           members departed the denomination.          ought  to be met. Is the group large
nizationof new congregations. Origi-                Strictly speaking, this article does    enough to function as a viable congre-
nally the article referred only to the          not speak of organizing new congre-         gation? Is there sufficient officebearer
re-constitutingof congregations. This           gations, but of organizing consistories:    material in the group? Will the group
was necessary in the early history of           "In places where the consistory is to be    be able to support itself financially
the Reformed churches because of                constituted for the first time or           now or in the foreseeable future? What
persecution. Often congregations                anew...." The reason for this is that       are the prospects for growth, both
were scattered, sometimes even                  the constituting of a consistory is es-     internally and from the community?
forced to flee to foreign lands. When           sential for the organizing of a congre-         There  is a danger that congrega-
conditions improved, many of these              gation. Without competent office-           tions are organized too hastily. It may
believerswouldreturn to theirhome-              bearer material, no group may be            be that groups too small to function as
land and native cities. Thus, there             organized as a congregation. With-          viable congregations are organized.
would arise the need to re-organize             out the offices there can be no congre-     It may be that groups that are not
these groups of believers into congre-          gation.                                     entirely one with us are granted ad-
gations.                                                                                    mittance into the denomination.
     In the revision of the Church Or-          Organizing with Classical Approval          These dangers must be avoided, both
deriti 1914 by the Christian Reformed               No congregation may be orga-            for the good of, the group involved
Church, the matter of the organiza-             nizedwithout the advice of the classis,     and for the good of the federation.
tion of new congregations was added             the article states.
to the article.                                     The function of the classis is not      Procedure for Organization
     Various situations are coveredby           that it organizes new churches per se.          Theprocedurefororganizingnew
Article 38:                                     It is incorrect to say that a church        congregations is spelled out in the
     1) The organizing of congrega-             cannot be organized without a major         "Decisions Pertaining To This Ar-
tions which are the fruit of local church       assembly's approval and help. To            ticle." That procedure is as follows:
extension work or denominational                take this positionis essentially hierar-
mission work.                                   chy. A congregation organizes itself.         1. A letter of request is directed to the
    2) The organizing of congrega-              This is both the activity and the call-       elassis, expressing the desire to orga-
tions born of a larger, mother church.          ing of the believers themselves.              nize a congregation in a certain local-
    3) Existing congregations and                   Nevertheless, the church federa-         ity. In the case of a group formed by
consistories seeking admittance into            tion, through the classis, has the right      the mission work of the churches in
the denomination.                               and power to decide whether a cer-           common,  this request shall come to
                                                tain congregation shall be organized         classis  by way of a favorable decision
                                                                                             of the local calling church with the
                                                as a part of the communion of churches.      advice of the Mission Committee.
                                                This decision is not simply left to the      2. The classis shall thereupon delib-
Rev. Camnenga is pastor of the Protes-          discretion of the group being orga-          erate whether such organization is
tant Reformed Church  of Loveland,              nized. Nor can another local consis-         possible or desirable, observing
Colorado.                                       tory decide this alone. This is the          whether there be among the

324/Stan&rdBearer/April15,1993


  signators, persons suitable for  con-        ter that  the organizingconsistory meet     Disbanding of Congregations
  sistory members, at the same time            ahead of time with the heads of fami-           If a church cannot be organized
  taking  into account the neighboring         lies of the group to be organized in        as a member of the denomination
  churches. In case  classis with the          order to discuss nominations for            without the advice of classis, it fol-
  concurrence of the delegates ad
  exumina                                      officebearers. The organizing  consis-      lows that no church canbe disbanded
               decides to grant the request
  it appoints a committee to carry out         tory could then formulate the first         without the advice of classis.
  the organization.                            slate of nominees. Certainly, if the            At times disbanding proves nec-
  3. In order to organize the congrega-        organizing consistory is convinced          essary. In case a church dwindles in
  tion thecommitteeof thelocalchurch           that there is sufficient officebearer       size until only a few members remain,
  meets with the persons concerned,            material in the group, it should be in      so that it cannot very well continue to
  whohavemeanwhilerequestedtheir               a position to compose a slate of nomi-      exist, it may seek to be associated
  certificates of membership, or if it be      nations.                                    with a neighboring congregation and
  impossible to have their certificates            Theprocedurefororgartizingnew           even be placed under the care of a
  transferred, those present shall give                                                    neighboring consistory. But this can
  testimony one of another that they           congregations followed by the Chris-
  were members in full communion               tian Reformed Church has more to            be at best only a temporary arrange-
  and of good report in the congrega-          commend itself than our own.                ment. Eventually such a dwindling
  tion from which they were separat-                                                       congregation is forced to disband. In
  ing. After a service of worship shall          1. Classis shall mandate a neighbor-      this case it informs classis of its deci-
  havebeenconductedundertheguid-                 ing consistory to effect the organiza-    sion with appropriate grounds, and
  ante of the committee, the latter shall        tion of a new congregation.               seeks  classis' advice. If  classis ad-
  request those present to tender their          2. This consistory which is so man-       vises to'proceed with disbandment,
  certificates, in as far as possible. The       dated shall meet with the  petition-      the  classis may appoint a committee
  committee having found the certifi-            signers to arrange for the organiza-
  cates in good order and having ac-             tional meeting and the nomination         to aid in the process. Often property
  cepted them, they shall proceed to             of at least twice the number of           will need to be disposed of. Monies
  election of officebearers, who shall           officebearers to be elected, or less      received from the sale of the property
  immediately upon their election be             than twice the number to be elected,      should ordinarily be turned over to
  installed in their respective offices.         givingreasonsforthisdeparturefrom         Ihe  classis. Minute books and ar-
  4. In such situations as this the elec-        the rule. Prior to making these nomi-     chives should also become the pos-
  tion cannot be performed otherwise             nations, the effectingconsistory shall    session of the classis.
  than by free election by the vote of           give the petition-signers an opportu-         Although ordinarily a congrega-
  the male membership whose testi-               nity to direct attention to suitable      tion itself ought to take the initiative
  monials were found in order and                persons. Nominations are to be an-        for disbandment, facing the reality
  accepted. Following the rule for free          nounced two successive Sundays be-
  election it is required, in order to be        fore the organizational meeting. Any      that it is not feasible for them to con-
  chosen by the first ballot, to receive a       objections to the nominations are to      tinue as a viable  congregation, there
  two-thirds majority. In case of a              be heard by the consistory or repre-      maybe times when a congregation, or
  reballoting an unqualified majority            sentatives of the effectingconsistory.    what is left of a congregation, is not
  shall be decisive.                             3. The consistory mandated to effect      willing to face this reality. In this case
  5.It is recommended that at this               the organization shall accept and hold    it may be necessary for the classis to
  meeting, in the presence of a notary           memberships of the petition-signers       step in and take the initiative. A
  public, the documents pertaining to            and present them at the organiza-         classis certainly has the right to do
  the incorporation of the new congre-           tional meeting.                           this. Of course, this must be done in
  gation be brought in order.                    4. At the organizational meeting, the
                                                 officebearers shall be elected by bal-    the right way, ailowing  time to con-
    Definite improvements  could be              loting of all confessing members          vince those who are left that they
made in our present procedure for                whose letters of transfer or  dismis-     ought, for their own good and the
organizing new congregations. For                sion have been accepted by the ef-        good of their children, to disband and
one thing, altogether too much is left           fecting consistory, and a majority is     move to other existingcongregations.
                                                 sufficient toelect. Theseofficebearers
to the night of organization: a public                                                     But it may come to this, that a cl&sis
                                                 shall be ordained and shall sign the
worship service, organization itself,                                                      simply has to take action and advise
                                                 Formula of Subscription at the orga-
election of officebearers, installation          nizational meeting.                       a congregation that they ought to dis-
of officebearers, and filling out pa-            5.No  professions of faith shall be       band. Like all classical advice, this
pers for incorporation.                          heard at the organizational meeting.      advice too "has teeth." A classis can-
    Change should also be made in                6. The papers of incorporation shall      not, of course, force a congregation to
the free election of a newly organized           be prepared with legal counsel at a       disband, or themselves effect disband-
congregation's first officebearers. The          meeting of the newly organized con-       ment. But a classis, if it comes to that,
idea of a free election runs contrary to         sistory and presented for approval        can initiate actions to sever from the
                                                 asearlyaspossibleafter  theirorgani-
sound Reformed church polity. Bet-                                                         denomination a congregation that
                                                 zation.                                   ought to disband. IJ

                                                                                                   April15,1993/StandardBearer/325


                             The Declaration's
                                    Final Acioptiori
    Moreover, brethren, 1 declare unto      change of views, whichwe had hoped                tizes thelittlechildrenofthechurch!...
you thegospel which 1 preached unto you,    for and anticipated, was not in the               When a child is baptized the LORD
which also ye have received, and wherein    offing for them. There had been indi-             himself comes to that child, He him-
ye stand.                                   cations of this all along, as in the              self sprinkles the water on its head
                      1 Corinthians 15:l    failure of their committee for corre-             and says very really and personally:
                                            spondence to contact our churches as              John, May, Ann, I,  the  LORD Himself,
    The Declaration of Principles was       their synod had told them to; but in              baptize you in My Holy Name. You are
up for final adoption at the synod of       this letter their intentions were too             now of me!... That is, He says to all
                                                                                              those children, head for head, day in
1951; and as the time for this session      blatantly put to be ignored. The letter           and day out, meaningfully and sin-
approached, the tensions began to           poisoned the relationship, possibly               cerely: I am the LORD your God. I
b u i l d .                                 beyond repair.
             *  *  *  *  $  *  *                                                              establish my covenant with you. I
                                                And the letter was not alone. Al-             wash you from all your sin in the
    It was not as though the Declara-       mostimmediatelythereuponanother                   blood of the Lord Jesus Christ; my
tion itself caused the breakdown in         blow fell, and that from a source least           Holy Spirit lives in you. In short, I
relations between us and the Liber-         expected, from one whom we had                    declare to you the complete forgive-
ated churches. For all practical pur-       counted among our closest friends. It             ness of sins and eternal salvation.
poses, that was accomplished before         came in the form of a small pamphlet
the Declaration ever appeared.              written by Prof. Veer&of,  the man              There was no avoiding it. The claim
    If there was any one thing that         who had been Rev. Hoeksema's point              was clear. Within the sphere of the
precipitated the beginning of this          of contact with Dr. Schilder and the            covenant, in the Liberated view, gra-
breakdown, it was no doubt the letter       Netherlands all through the war. They           cious promises are given to every
of Prof. Holwerda advisingthe Cana-         had corresponded regularly together,            child head for head, elect and repro-
dian immigrants not to accept Rev.          he calling Rev. Hoeksema "uncle"                bate the same. Even the fondest de-
Hoeksema's theological views. Rev.          andHoeksemacallinghim"nephew,"                  fenders of the Liberated among us
Ophoff received much of the blame           as through carefully coded messages             were embarrassed and forced to take
for making the letter known; but the        he kept us informed of all that was             exception. As reluctant as many were
problem was with the letter itself, and     taking place. It was he, if any, that we        to admit it, their views and ours stood
it would have caused the breakdown          would have expected to understand               in contradiction.
whether published or not. For, by           and respect the principles upon which                  And then Prof. Holwerda entered
making it evident, as this letter did,      we stood.                                       the scene again. This time it was with
that among the major figures in the             His pamphlet, under the title               a speech he made and had printed.
Netherlands there were at least some        Appeal, was addressed to the Synodi-            He was the one who had expressed
who had no real interest in the prin-       cal churches which had thrown Dr.               such abhorrence at the suggestion
ciples upon which our churches were         Schilder and his followers out; but,it          that our views of the covenant should
based, the letter was not something         was so full of common grace that it             in any'sense  be binding. But in his
that could be overlooked. The Liber-        came as a shock to us all. Dr. Schilder         speech, as Rev. Ophoff was quick to
ated were interested in our churches        had always beencareful, and avoided             point out, their views were presented
onlytoinfiltrate themwiththeirviews,        direct conflict between their views             as though equal to Scripture itself,
and thus, in effect, to make us over in     and ours; but this pamphlet laid it             and thus binding on everyone. In
their image. The free and open ex-          right out:                                      spite of all their claims, there was no
                                                                                       a    intent of equality between them and
                                              Above all we must know and main-              us.
Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Protes-      tain this; through faith we must also                And then came the final blow. In
tant Reformed Church  of  Kalamazoo,          see that: God, our God, the Father of         the early summer of 1950, before the
Michigan.                                     our Lord Jesus Christ himself, bap-           Declaration was ever published, there
                                                                                            appeared  among the members of our
326/StandardBearer/Apri115,1663



                                                                                                                                        I


churches in Canada a Liberated min-        bers from the East advising "yes" to         told, on the one hand, that the prom-
ister, a certain Rev. Hettinga, who        adoption, and the two from the West          ises of the covenant are theirs, head
proceeded to draw those members            "no." The lines were being drawn.            for head, through baptism; but that
out and to organize them into an                In the June session, where the          those promises are, on the other hand,
independent Liberated church, with-        matter of legality was considered, the       dependent upon their meeting the
out warning or explanation to any-         treatment was rather spasmodic, be-          conditions which the covenant laid
one. Before the year was out, our          cause there was other regular busi-          down. If they do not meet the condi-
congregation had disappeared; and          ness that had to be treated, and be-         tions, they fall under a covenant curse.
there was no indication that anyone        cause one of the Western delegates               This was something that Rev.
in the Netherlands as much as cared.       fell sick. But in the end the effort to      Hoeksema had never believed. It
This was not the result of the Decla-      declare the Declaration out of order         wasn't that he was indifferent to
ration, but only served to demon-          failed - but by only one vote. And           worldly living; he had always been as
strate how necessary the Declaration       then the synod adjourned to meet             insistent upon sound discipline as
was, except that it came too late to       again in a special session in the fall.      any in the church. It was just that he
have any practical effect.                      This was, of course, the crucial        didn't believe that laying down con-
    That is not to say, however, that      session; for in it the substance of the      ditions, as some kind of a law, was the
the Declaration was ignored. Once          Declaration was to be considered, and        way in which true sanctification is
published, the Liberated pounced           the real confrontation take place.           brought about. Rather, and quite the
upon it as though it wer6 the sole              In actuality the objections were        opposite, he avoided in his preaching
cause of everything wrong, even            not many. The protests themselves            the kind of practical sermons which
though the breakdown was all but           had brought this out. No one, minis-         told people what to do and what not.
completed before it appeared.              ter or layman, was ready to repudiate        That such did not and could not work
          *  *  *  Et  *  *  *             the contents of theDeclarationas  such;      had been brought out in the Scrip-
    Nevertheless the document did          for, after all, these were the principles    tures by the failure of the law to bring
have its effect. While the Declaration     upon which our churches had been             about salvation or sanctification. All
had little to do with our break with       built, and which they had always             that such legal demands and threats
the Liberated, it certainly succeeded      maintained. Our ministers had all            can do is to demonstrate the reality of
in bringing out the division in our        been trained in them; and it was the         sin. Free grace alone can save or
own midst.                                 preaching of them which had made             sanctify, and this is what the cov-
    During the year following the          our churches what they were. Thus            enant is all about. Only as God opens
Synodof1950,aflurryofwritingtook           the Liberated view of the covenant,          the heart to the wonder of sound and
place, especially out of our churches      with its teaching that every child in        full doctrinal preaching is the soul
in.the West. In the Eastern churches       the church is a recipient,of  a covenant.    moved to gratitude, and only then
most joined together in a united clas-     grace, head for head, elect and repro-       will sanctification follow, just as the
sical expression of support for the        batealike(as  theDeclarationbrought          Heidelberg Catechism so carefully
Declaration, with relatively few op-       out) was hardly something that any           brings out.
posing it. But in the West just about      could think to defend. But still the             As it was, however, there were
everyconsistory  composed an over-         division was there. There were those         those among us who had wearied of
ture in opposition, along with a good      who held a driving conviction that           thi6 and wanted somethingnew. Thus
number of individuals. The division        thesedifferencescouldbeoverlooked,           they became quickly enamoredof this
ran deep; andit built up to a climax at    and that there were elements of Liber-       Liberatedview. Moreover, theywere
that synod of'51 where the final adop-     ated theology which could be harmo-          convinced that they could not only
tion of the Declaration was to take        niously integrated into our own -            demonstratethis tobeperfectlyscrip-
place.                                     particularly the element of condition-       tural, but also integrate it into our
    At that synod the treatment was        ality.                                       own views; and this they had set out
careful and deliberate, covering two            As we noted at the beginning of         to do. Long articles were writteninan
lengthy sessions, one in June and the      our series, the problem with which           effort to bring this about, until the
other in late September. The June          Dr. Schilder and his colleagues had          time came when Rev. Ophoff, and at
sessionsucceededintreatingonlythe          been confronted already before the           last Rev. Hoeksema too, felt com-
legality issue, along with its regular     war, was a kind of dead orthodoxy.           pelled to show that this simply could
synodical  concerns, so that it was not    which had spread through the Dutch           not be done. But by that time their
until September that the content itself    churches, a defense of abstract theol-       opponents were committed to their
was addressed. Throughout, how-            ogywhile theresponsibilitiesofChris-         position. They thereforenot only had
ever, the division which had begun         tian life were ignored. This could be        no ears for correction, or openness to
within our churches was clearly to be      corrected, they believed, only by in-        real discussion, but they were deter-
seen. In fact, already the advisory        jecting a conditional element into the       mined that this was something wor-
committee was split, with two mem-         preaching. All in the church are to be       thy of fighting for to the end.

                                                                                               April15,1993/StandardBearer/327


    And so it was, at this final session      for a conditional element in the theol-        used only by the Mission Committee
of the synod of `51, that they made           ogy of our churches. But in the end            and the Missionaries for the organi-
their move. An amendment was made             their effort failed. The amendment             zation of prospective churches on
to allow a place for conditions in the        didnotpass-byreasonofatievote.                 the basis of Scripture and the Confes-
Declaration. It read like this:               Clearly the churches were split.               sions as these have always beenmain-
                                                                                             tained in the Protestant Reformed
                                                  For the time being, however, the           Churches and as these are now fur-
  There are conditions in God's Word,         synodical battle was over. The con-            ther explained in regard to certain
  the confrontation of God's demand           sideration of the Declaration moved            principles.
  which God annexes to the promise in.        on quickly with only three dissenting
  order to bring out clearly His uncon-
  ditional grace and mercy as well as         votes recorded at the last. The Decla-       The covenant position .which one
  His just wrath and man's inability to       ration of Principles was officially          could expect to be preached in the
  fulfill them.                               adopted; but only after attaching this       Protestant Reformed churches was
The formulation was careful, as mild          preamble:                                    now established; but the battle was
as they could make it read; but the                                                        still to go on. Q
idea was clear. They wanted a place               Declaration of principles, to be



                    Recent Developments
                       in Church-State Law
n Equal Pay Act Applies                       suit, the church abandoned the "head         also held that the Act has a secular
                                                                                           purpose, neither advances nor inhib-
to Church-Operated  Schoal                    of household" allowance and reduced
                                              the salaries of all male teachers to that    its religion, and does not foster exces-
    The Equal Employment Oppor:               of the female teachers.                      sive entanglement between govern-
tunity Commission (EEOC) brought                  The federal court held that the          ment and religion.
a federal suit against the First Baptist      EEOC need not show a discrimina-                 Accordingly, the court held that
Church in northern Indiana for al-            tory motive for creating the pay dif-        the church-operated school violated
leged violation of the federal Equal          ferential - only that a pay differen-        the Equal Pay Act by paying some
Pay Act. The Act prohibits discrimi-          tial exists between members of the           male teachers a "head of household"
nation "between employees on the              opposite sex. The court also held that       allowance, even though (single par-
basis of sex by paying wages to em-           the church's belated elimination of          ent) female teachers were eligible for
ployees . . . at a rate less wages paid to    the "head of household allowance"            the same allowance. Moreover, the
employees of the opposite sex . . . for                                                    subsequent elimination of the "head
equal work...."                               did not cure that violation, because
                    The EEOC claimed          the Act expressly prohibits compli-          of household" allowance also vio-
that the Baptist school, which serves                                                      lated the Act, since the Act instead
pre-schoolers through eighth grad-            ance by means of reducing wages.
                                              The purpose of the Act, asserted the         required that all salaries of female
ers, paid male teachers higher wages          court, is to insure that violations are      teachers be increased to the level of all
than female teachers.                                                                      male teachers.
    The church argued that this pay           remedied by an increase of the lower
                                                                                               This case and others clearly dem-
differential was due to a gender neu-         rate to the level of the higher.
                                                  The church also argued that an           onstrate that allprivateandparochial
tral "head of household" allowance,                                                        schools are now subject to all provi-
although admittedly there were no             application of the Equal Pay Act to
                                              church-operated schools violates the         sions of the federal Fair Labor Stan-
female teachers presently eligible for        Free Exercise Clause of the First            dards Act, including standards re-
it. After the EEOC commenced the              Amendment. The court disagreed,              garding minimum wages, overtime
                                              noting that although the Act does            laws, and equal pay laws. (EEOC v.
                                              have minimal impact on the free exer-        FirstBaptist  Church, N.D. Ind. 1992).
                                              cise of religious belief, such impact is
Mr. Lanting, amemberofSouth  Holland          outweighed by a compelling state in-         n Texas Court Jettisons
Protestant Reformed Church, is a prac-        terest, and the Actis the "least restric-    Sodomy Law
ticing attorney.                              tive means" to that end. The court               A group of homosexual rights


activists recently challenged a por-         stated that there was no evidence in          respect to the employment of indi-
tion of the Texas Criminal Code which        the record that the statute protected         viduals of a particular religion to per-
criminalized private sexual relations        the public's health or that the Texas         form work connected with the [pur-
betweenconsentingadultsofthesame             legislature intended the statute as a         pose] of the corporation."
sex. A trial court ruled the sodomy          disease prevention measure. Thus,                 Similarly, the state legislature of
law unconstitutional, and the state of       sadly enough, Texas now joins the             Florida recently passed the Florida
Texas appealed.                              majority of states that have either           Civil Rights Act which prohibits em-
    The appellate court agreed, strik-       struck down or repealed sodomy                ployers from discriminating on the
ing down the Texas sodomy law as             laws. But in light of current statistics      basis of "race, color, religion, sex,
unconstitutional. The activists ar-          that over 90 percent of AIDS victims          national origin, age, handicap, or
gued that the sodomy law violated            are homosexuals, the Texas court is           marital status." However, the new
their personal rights; condoned hate         seemingly oblivious to the threat of          laws contained an important exemp-
crimes against lesbians and homo-            AIDS, which is largely caused by ho-          tion which provides as follows: "This
sexuals; encouraged discrimination           mosexual behavior, and to the gen-            [law] shall not apply to any religious
in employment, family issues, and            eral erosion of public morality in this       corporation, association, educational
housing; and raised the potential            country. (State V. Morales, Tex. Ct.          institution, or society which condi-
threat of arrest and fines.                  App. 1992).                                   tions opportunities in the area of
    The state argued the law was con-                                                      employment or public accommoda-
stitutional because of the state's over-     W Religious Organizations.                    tion to members of that religious . . .
riding interest in protecting public         may Discriminate on the                       society or to persons who subscribe to
morality. The court disagreed, hold-                                                       its tenets or beliefs."
ing that implementing public moral-          Basis of Religion                                 Accordingly, although there now
ity was not a compelling state inter-            Recent cases and new legislation          exist a bewildering array of federal
est. Moreover, the court held that           have indicated that although religious        and state anti-discrimination laws, it
individual right to privacy concerns         organizations are prohibited from             is reassuring to note that churches
would invariably be violated by the          discriminating on the basis of race,          and Christian schools still have the
so&my  law. "The right to-privacy,"          sex, or national origin, such organiza-       right to refuse employment or admis-
declared the court, "should yield only       tions may discriminate on the basis of        sion to those who do not subscribe to
when government can demonstrate              religion. In a federal case in Illinois, a    the religious tenets and beliefs of the
that an intrusion is reasonably war-         woman employee of a Jewish khurch             religious organization. This right is
ranted for the achievement of a com-         brought a complaint against her em-           obviously fundamental to the contin-
pelling governmental objective...." It       ployer alleging discrimination. The           ued existence of our parental Chris-
is not constitutional, ruled the court,      court held that although federal laws         tian day schools, both with respect to
to prohibit gays and lesbians from           prohibited the church from discrimi-          employment of teachers and admis-
engaging in the same activities that         nating on the basis of sex or race, the       sion of students. (EIbazv.  Congrega-
are legal for heterosexuals.                 church would be exempt from reli-             tion Beth Judeu,  Inc., N.D. Ill. 1992;
    But what about AIDS and other            gious discrimination charges "with            Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992). 0
public health concerns? The court





    Classis Meeting of the ERCS

                                                 It was my privilege to be present         sions which had to be made. Besides
                                             at the annual meeting of the Classis of       the delegates, Pastor Mahtani was
                                             the Evangelical Reformed Churches             also present to participate. The Lord
                                             of Singapore which met at Covenant            has greatly blessed these churches,
                                             Church on Saturday;February 27. It            and there is abundant evidence of
                                             was with great joy that we could              their increasing ability to handle eccle-
Rev. Kortering  is a Protestaut  Reformed    observe as well as participate in the         siastical matters.
minister-on-loan to Singcipore.              discussions which led to the deci-                Though the denomination  con-

                                                                                                   April 15,1993/SfandardBearer/329


sists of two churches, Covenant and         listeners that Jesus prayed that the         stitution of the EvangelicalReformed
First, they have in place the necessary     Father might "sanctify them through          Churches in Singapore. This is a legal
checks andbalances which distinguish        thy truth, (for) thy word is truth."         document which is now being filed
a Reformed-Presbyterian system of           The true unity of the church is their        with the Registry of Societies, a neces-
church government from an Inde-             oneness with the Father. It is this          sary move in order that they can func-
pendent system. The Committees              which motivates the church to work           tion officially as a Classis and hold
and Sessions prepare their material         hard for the great gathering of the          property and bank accounts. The
for the agenda and forward it to the        entire church of our Lord. This mes-         committee was also instructed to pre-
Stated Clerk, who publishes the             sage set a good tone for the work            pare documents on "Overture," "Pro-
agenda at least one month prior to the      which followed.                              test," "Appeal," "Classicalcensure,"
meeting of  Classis. Both Sessions              The reports which came to Classis        and "Procedures Dealing with Doc-
meet ahead of time and go over the          were the following: General Reports          trinal Controversies." All of these
agenda and decide what points they          from Covenant and First; and reports         were submitted to Classis and ap-
desire to raise at themeetingof Classis.    fromtheDenominationalStudyCom-               proved. These now constitute the
This is quite important; for the six        mittee, Contact Committee, Joint Mis-        groundworkfororderlydealingwith
men delegated to Classis (three from        sion Committee, Theological Train-           issues within the churches. The su-
each church) carry quite a bit of           ing Committee, and the Denomina-             pervision of the registry with the gov-
weight, and they want to be sure that       tional Finance Committee.                    ernment will be made by the new
they understand the mind of the Ses-            By way of explanation, the Gen-          DDC. The new committee is also
sions. In some instances the members        eral Reports from each Session in-           instructed to study and recommend
of a Session might want to suggest a        clude a rather detailed description of       the adoption of a Church Order. A
certain course of action with respect       the present state of the congregation        constitution for this committee was
to an item on the agenda for Classis.       and what activities are going on in the      also adopted.
Such a recommendation is not bind-          furtherance of the gospel. This in-              The Contact Committee reported
ing upon the delegates, but is taken as     cludes the preaching ministry, the           on the letter which they sent to the
information to be considered in the         teachingministry,pastoralvisitation,         PRC regarding consideration of Pas-
process of making a decision that is        discipline, evangelism, diaconate            tor Mahtani for a call. They also
according to the Word of God and            work, and statistics of the member-          informed Classis that they had writ-
our Reformed Confessions. In this           ship. In this way there is a certain         ten both Sessions requesting that they
way, reports of committees and re-          accountability, much like the work of        deal with the issue of the covenant, in
quests for action which are not con-        church visitation by the Classes in the      view of the letter received from the
tested by either Session are treated        PRC.                                         Synod of the PRC. One Session re-
with dispatch. The Classis focuses              Among the statistics given, we           sponded, the other did not. Classis
attention on matters which have to be       take note that FERC has 73 brothers          instructed the Session to reply to the
worked out in greater detail, matters       (50 married, 23 single) and 83 sisters       Contact Committee in order that they
on which the Sessions may have ex-          (46 married and 37 single); 49 fami-         may then compose a reply. The Com-
pressed different viewpoints. This          lies, 67 children (31 males, 36 females);    mittee also informed Classis they had
works very well, since the Classis          4 adult baptisms were held last year,        received a letter of apology from the
meets only once a year, on Saturday         2 confessions of faith, 8 infant bap-        Free Reformed Church of Australia
afternoon, and the delegates do not         tisms, 1 transfer in, 4 transfers out, 3     regarding insensitive comments in
have the luxury of extra time.              resignations. CERC has 18 brothers           their Synod Report of 1990 and that
    Under the capable leadership of         (12 married, 1 divorced, 5 single) and       the CC had accepted this apology.
Pastor Lau, the meeting moved right         22 sisters (13 married, 9 single); 12        The Contact Committee also received
along, and enough time was given for        families, 24 children (15 males, 9 fe-       oral information of a possible visit of
discussion and careful consideration.       males); 5 infant baptisms, 1 transfer        a pastor from the FRCA to Singapore
The meeting lasted from 2 P.M. until        out, 2 resignations.                         in March. This will afford opportu-
830 P.M. The decisions that were                Thereportsindicate too that much         nity to clear up any misunderstand-
taken will be prepared by the Stated        work is being done to build up the           ings and to discuss possible dealings
Clerkand  made available to the mem-        church spiritually.                          with each other. (A previous Classis
bership of both churches.                       TheDenominationalStudyCom-               decided not to work toward Sister-
    Since the work of the churches is       mittee has just completed its work,          church Relationship.)
a spiritual work, time is taken at the      and the Classis has set up a more                The Joint Mission Committee
beginning of the meeting for a devo-        permanentDenominationalDevelop-              Report included the information that
tional. Pastor Lau gave an exhorta-         ment  Committee. The former com-             the work in Penang, Malaysia was
tion on the prayer of Jesus recorded in     mittee was entrusted with a number           terminated, since the group there de-
John 17. He gave a refreshing over-         of important projects. The most time-        cided to request a Reformed Baptist
view of this prayer and reminded his        consumingwas to formulate the Con-           pastor to work with them. The rec-


     ommendation to continue to develop          ment of the workof Classis. They also
     the Indian field by way of correspon-       proposed approval of the requests of
     dence and printed material, includ-         each of the committees. Since the
     ing courses, tracts, books, Bibles, and     financial aid for the student will be
     audio and visual material, was ap-          administered outside the expenses of
     proved. If this should prove effec-         classis, the amount approved by
     tive, the funds were approved for a         Classis was US$6,000.00.  Classis also
     future visit for the purpose of inten-      approved a constitution for this com-
     sive instruction in India for a brief       mittee.
     period. Effort will also be put forth to        After these decisions were made,
     develop evangelism work here in             Classis discussed the role of Pastor
     Singapore itself. The committee was         Kortering in the churches' activities.
     instructed to continue to explore dif-      Since he is loaned by the PRC to assist
     ferent possibilities in which the           them, the churches together faced this
     churches can cooperate in this work.        question. CovenantrequestedClassis
         The Theological Training Com-           to approve his continuing as pastor in
     mittee reported with thankfulness to        that church for one more year. The
     God that student CheahFookMengis            reason given was that the congrega-
     ready for his studies in the USA. He        tion was settling down after going
     is finishing his work at Far Eastern        through the difficulties, and that it
     Bible College and a course on the           would be helpful for the building up
     Belgic Confession with Pastor               of the congregation if this could con-
     Kortering. FERC has agreed to ad-           tinue without interruption.  Classis
     minister the Student AidFund to raise       approved this request. They also
     one-half of his support while in the        decided that the oversight of Rev.
     States. Classis also approved the re-       Kortering's work in the denomina-
     quest from FERC that CERC raise             tion be administered by Covenant in
     seventy percent of this amount, and         consultation with First Church.
     FERC take thirty percent, since First           The next meeting of Classis was
     Church has their building program           set for February 26, 1994 at First                  FERC Construction Site
     and Covenant has no financial re-           Church. It was with particular grati-        being much like a "void deck," open
     sponsibility for a pastor. The TTC          tude to God that this motion could be        and usable for more informal meet-
     will also supervise the progress of the     passed, for, the Lord willing, their         ings; the next level for offices and
     student's work in the Theological           new church building willbe ready for         Sunday School classrooms; the third
     School of the PRC while in the States.      use by that time. We include a few           level for car parking and pastor's
~    The program of lectures by Pastor           pictures of the "model" and the con-         study; the fourth level for audito-
     Kortering was approved. These in-           struction site. This is quite an un-         rium; and fifth level like a mezzanine
     elude lecture  series on the church         usual structure, designed to take ad-        or balcony. I do not have available the
     order, missions, and eschatology.           vantage of limited ground levelspace,        square footage. The land cost about
         The Denominational Finance              and to expand asit goes up the hill. As      US$565,000.00  and the building will
     Committee presented a financialstate-       a result it has five levels, the lowest      cost about US$750,000.00.  The mem-
                                                                                              bers have been very generous to un-
                                                                                              derwrite the cost, so that only a rather
                                                                                              small amount has to be borrowed
                                                                                              from the bank. For those in the PRC
                                                                                              who know what it `is like to meet in
                                                                                              public auditoriums, it will be easy to
                                                                                              appreciate the anticipation of FERC
                                                                                              and the entire denomination to see
                                                                                              this building completed and put to
                                                                                              use.We trust this report will update
                                                                                              the readers of the Standuud  Beaver
                                                                                              concerning the work of the ERCS.
                                                                                              Continue to pray for us that, though
                                                                                              small in number, we may be a power-'
                  Model of new church building ojFirst ERC of Singnyore                     I ful influence for the good of the gos-
                                                                                                     April15,1993/StandardBearer/331


pel here in Singapore and wherever          our Lord Jesus Christ. Repeatedly the      us in their midst. On their behalf, we
Almighty God gives us opportunity           saints here express their appreciation     extend greetings to our readers. 0
to bring the good news of salvation in      for the PRC's having arranged to have




           That Blessed Comforting
                                               S h a d o w
    A shadow always gives evidence          him. There in Mesopotamia Jacob            fulfilled His promise to Abraham, by
of the existence of an object on which      begat eleven sons, and determined          bringing Jacob back to the promised
the light is falling. That object is        finally to return to Canaan. On his        land.
between the light and the shadow.           way our God told him that his name             What we should note here, for it
An illustration of that we find in II       must be changed to Israel. That name       applies also to us, is the fact that what
Rings 20:9-11,  where we read of a          means Prince of God (Gen. 32:28).          we read in the Heidelberg Catechism,
shadow cast by a piece of wood or               Jacob's return to the promised         Lord's Day XLIV, is so true. Count-
metal on a sundial. Further, in             land, and his being given a new and        ing the hours and minutes of our
Colossians 2:16, 17 we read that the        glorious name, are-shadows of our          lives, and the sins which we have
Sabbath days are "a shadow of things        soon coming into the new Jerusalem         committed, it is so evident that we
to come." And in the old dispensa-          as Princes of God. We too enjoy a          have "only a small beginning of this
tion we find shadows of things that         shadow of God's grace in His Son,          obedience." Correctly Paul, who
are coming, that are presented to us in     which shadow we will presently en-         wrote those thirteen beautiful and
the New Testament.                          joy, not as a shadow, but as a gracious    instructive epistles from Romans
    Likewise, when we in this de-           blessing when Christ returns with the      through Philemon, wrote in Romans
partment called the Day of Shadows          fullness of salvation for us.              7~24 that awesome truth, namely, "0
consider more details in the life of            What did take place, and what is       wretched man that I am; who shall
Jacob, we see revealed to us shadows        very important for us to consider, is      deliver me from the body of this
of what our almighty and gracious           that Jacob, without informing his          death?" Andinverses20and21, "Sin
God does for His people. It is com-         uncle Laban, left him in order to re-      dwelleth in me" and evil is present.
forting to take note of the fact that we    turntohisfatherinthelandofCanaan.              There were in Jacob's life shad-
are in these articles dealing with a        This he did because he knew God's          ows of what our merciful God does in
child of God whose name .was Jacob,         promises. Further, his return to           His grace and of what He enables us
which means Supplanter, a word              Canaan was a fruit of God's grace. He      to do. There are many sins of,reborn
which means "one who follows an-            went back to the land which God had        children of God presented. to us in
other." Jacob received that name be-        promised him through his father.           Scripture. And every child of God is
cause of the way in which God caused            Jacob was moved to do this after       described as having only a small be-
him to come out of his mother               God in His providence caused some          ginning of obedience. Surely in Jacob's
Rebekah, with his hand holding on to        of Laban's cattle to have white spots      life there is revealed to us how merci-
Esau's heel. These twin sons differed,      speckling them, and causing some of        ful and gracious our God is.
not only in their coming forth from         his sheep to become brown. When                Jacob, having two wives, and us-
their mother, but also in their lives       Laban, as Jacob had suggested, let         ing two of their handmaidens,
from a spiritual point of view.             him have those relatively few cattle       brought forth eleven sons. Strikingly,
    Jacob - as we considered in a           and sheep with white spots andbrown        we read of our Holy God saying to
previous article - had to flee to his       color, Jacob agreed to stay and work       Jacob in Genesis 31:13, after his sin of
uncle Laban in Haran, to be protected       for Laban. In the good providence of       adultery, "I am the God of Bethel,
from his brother who intended to kill       God, however, there occurred be-           where thou anointedst the pillar, and
                                            tween Jacob and Laban a friction,          where thou vowedst a vow unto me:
                                            which moved Jacob at last to steal         now arise, get thee out from this land,
                                            away from his uncle Laban and to           and return unto the land of thy kin-
Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in the     return to the land where his father        dred." What a clear evidence of the
Protestant Reformed Churches.               still dwelt. Thus the Lord Himself         forgiveness of Jacob's sins!


    Take note also of Jacob's sinful         God somethingbefore He will give us         image. But through Christ we are
acts, that he took "rods of green pop-       salvation. God's call to us is not          saved in order to be more in God's
lar, and of the hazel and chestnut           presented as a command but as an            image than Adam was the day he was
trees, and pilled white strakesin them,      offer; and He waits to see what we          created. Salvation brings us into be-
and made the white appear which              will do before He causes us to be born      ing members of. Christ's body, the
was in the rods" (Gen. 30:37). Jacob         again with a new spiritual life that        church. And our new man in Christ
laid them before Laban's  cattle and         will bring us to heavenly blessedness.      always says, "Get thee behind me
sheep inan attempt to get more speck-        And men teach that heavenly bless-          Satan" (Luke4:8).  Wewillnot onlybe
led cattle and brown sheep. How true         edness merely is a freedom from pain        brought where Satan cannot tempt us
then is the word of God in Romans            and suffering.                              - for he will be cast into hell with its
5:20, that, "Where sin aboundeth,                But let us take hold of what our        everlasting punishment  - but we
grace did much more abound." Yes,            God Himself said the day that man           will be created in Christ, everlast-
how wonderful and true is what Paul          fell into sin. In what is called the        ingly unable to sin.
also wrote in Ephesians 2:8, namely,         Mother Promise (Gen. 315) our God               All this explains how Jacob could
"For by grace are ye saved through           gives us that awesome and basic truth       and did return to the promised land,
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is     of our salvation. Salvation is that         and how he could be listed with the
the gift of God." That gift of grace is      work of Gods grace whereby He de-           giants of faith in Hebrews 11, particu-
so plainly and richly revealed to us in      livers us from sin, not merely from its     larly in verse 21. By faith, when he
the life of Jacob.                           punishment. God said to Satan, in the       was dying, he blessed the sons of
    Yes, Jacob had to flee from              day Satan tempted man to sin, "I will       Joseph and worshiped God, leaning
Canaan, the promised land, because           put enmity between thee and the             upon his staff. Read then also the
of his sin of lying to his father, and of    woman, and between thy seed and             blessed truth in Mark 12:26,  where
making his father believe that he was        her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and     Jesus said: "Have ye not read in the
Esau, and in that way seeking carnal         thou shalt bruise his heel."                book of Moses, how in the bush God
things in a carnal way. Yet our gra-             Let us note in the first place that     spake unto him, I am the God of
cious God, because of what His Son           there is here, in this first promise of     Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and
did for us, calls Jacob to go back to        God's grace, no mention of saving           the God of Jacob?" Clearly Jacob is
Canaan, and thus back to His gra-            man from punishment. Such salva-            listed, as in Hebrews 11, as an elect
cious promises given to Abraham in           tion is however implied and clearly         child of God, in whom God had
Genesis 12:2, namely, "And I will            taught throughout Scripture. Thus in        wrought faith, and who was eternally
make thee a great nation, and I will         Romans 6:23 we do read, "For the            elected to be a member of the body of
bless thee, and make thy name great;         wages of sin is death; but the gift of      Christ, His blessed church.
and thou shalt be a blessing." Jacob         Godis etemallife through Jesus Christ           In Jacob's goingbackto theprom-
had turned his back upon God; but            our Lord." And in II Corinthians 4:17       ised land, and in God's calling him to
our God turned Jacob backandprom-            Paul also wrote that "our light afflic-     do so, we have presented to us a
ised him not only the land of Canaan,        tion, which is but for a moment,            blessed shadow of what lies ahead for
but that which it pictured, namely,          worketh for us a far more exceeding         us. Adam and Eve were driven out of
the new Jerusalem, when His Son              and eternal weight of glory." And in        the Garden of Eden; and they were
returns after His cross and resurrec-        Revelation21 and22 we have so much          promised hatred against Satan and
tion and comes in due time with ever-        comfort presented to us while we are        sin. We will not return to that garden,
lasting blessedness.                         yet in awful aches and pains, sickness      but will be elevated to a higher gar-
    What a blessed shadow of what            and death. In heaven there will be          den, wherein we cannot sin, or even
lies ahead for us! What a manifesta-         neither sorrow nor crying, nor any          be tempted to do so.
tion of God's grace! How true it is          more pain (Rev. 21:4). All tears will           What a blessed shadow we see in
that we are saved by grace, and not by       God wipe from our eyes. And Rev-            Jacob's return, in fact in his safe re-
ourworks. Whatacomfortingshadow              elation 22 presents the comforting          turn. So surely shall we leave this life
fell here on God's church. Let us            truths that there will be leaves of the     whichis  nothingbut a continual death;
never overlook the fact that even our        tree for the healing of the nations; no     and we, who are created in Christ to
desire for such a salvation is God's         night there in the new Jerusalem; no        beintheimageofGod,willbebrought
gift to us. We are not saved because         curse; and one endless life of cov-         into a more blessed life than that to
we believe. We believe because we            enant fellowship with God.                  which the highest of the angels were
are saved by God from unbelief. What             But do not overlook the fact that       created. Take into your souls that
a tragedy it is that in many churches        all this blessedness of our bodies is so    blessed truth in Hebrews 1:13 and 14.
today salvation is presented merely          that we may constantly serve God            Weshallsitat God'srighthandhigher
as deliverance from the punishment           more fully than Adam could the day          than any of the angels ever were. The
which we deserve. How prevalent              he was created. Adam was created in         angels are ministering spirits, who
also is the untruth that we must give        the image of God and fell into Satan's      serve us as heirs with Christ. 0

                                                                                                 April15,1993/StandardBearer/333


                                           R.Et?A.
=ermanent  Committee for the Publication of Protestant Reformed Literature
                                              P.O. Box 2006
                                         Grand Rapids, MI 49501                       February 26,1993
 Dear Readers,
      The R.F.P.A. Permanent Book Committee takes this opportunity to acquaint our readers with
  the latest work and plans in the publishing of our books. We do so in the hopes and with the prayers
  that our God will bless these labors as good Reformed literature is distributed in our churches and
  among those who hold like precious faith with us.
      As many of our readers know, two new and important books have recently been offered to the
 public. One is Mrs. Gertrude Hoeksema's fascinating and exciting book about the history of our,
  Protestant Reformed Churches. It is published under the title,A Watered  Garden, which titleis taken
  from Isaiah 58:ll. This book ought to be in every Protestant Reformed home, and it is a valuable
 resource for anyone interested in our churches.
      The second book is entitled Far Above Rubies and is a collection of speeches, articles, and
  pamphlets which deal with the important question of the biblically defined role of women in the
  church and covenant of God. It is not a negative book, interested only in condemning modern
  feministic movements, but it is a positive book, showing biblical teachings of the important place
  which women have in God's work of the kingdom. The book has already been selling above
  expectations, and we urge those who have not purchased it to obtain a copy.
      It might interest our readers to know that one of our publications, Whosoever WiZZ, written by
  the late Herman Hoeksema, has been translated into Spanish and is being distributed in Spain. If
  anyone of our readers can make use of this Spanish translation, he can get the address of the publisher
 in Spain by writing the Seminary.
      The R.F.P.A. Permanent Book Committee has plans for a number of new books which should
 be available within the next year, funds permitting. By next summer Gertrude Hoeksema's last book
 in the series Show Me Thy Ways will be available. The series, Suffer Little Children, has been
 complete for some time. The whole set sells for $32.95. It is for very young children and contains
 three books plus two workbooks. Show Me Thy Ways is a set of books for Bible study for children
 in intermediate grades. It consists of three textbooks and three workbooks. The textbooks are $15.95
 apiece and the workbooks are $4.95. A price for the entire set has not yet been determined.
      Several new books will be published within the next year, the Lord willing. Prof. David
 Engelsma is preparing a revised edition of Hype+Calvinism and the Cc& of the GospeZ. This revised
 edition will have a Preface by Dr. John Gerstner, which preface is worth the price of the book
      Rev. GiseVanBaren has prepared, inbookform, his articles entitled GoodMorning  Alice, which
 originally appeared  in the  Standard Bearer.  These articles contain brief notes which were sent by
 an anonymous person in cards over a period of time to Rev. VanBaren's  sister as she was dying from
 Lou Gehrig's disease. They are a source of comfort and encouragement to all who suffer serious
 disease and face death.
      The book on The Five Points of Calvinism has long been out of print. It has not been reprinted
 because a new book, written by Revs. Ronald Cammenga and Ronald Hanko, has been in the process
 of preparation. It is now nearly finished and will soon go to press. It is a book eminently suited for
 use in Societies and Bible Study Groups.
      Rev. Carl Haak's Study Guide on the book of Philippians has proved to be popular. We are
 happy to announce, therefore, that we have received manuscripts for two other Study Guides: one
 on the book of Ruth, another on Malachi. These also should be ready within a year.
      So you see, our committee has been busy. We commend our work to the prayers and support
 of God's people everywhere. Especially we seek your support in the purchase of our books; for the
 more books we are able to sell, the more we are able to print. God has blessed us richly, and our books
 have gone out to many parts of the world. Under God's blessing they have been instrumental in
 bringing many to and confirming many in the Reformed faith.                     /
                                                                              With Christian greetings,
                                                                   R.F.P.A. Permanent Book Committee


 School Activities                           made blueprints based on the final                 The Seminary of our churches
        Our Christian schools continue       concept plans, and after financial           recently invited Dr. W. Robert
to grow and expand with the growth           matters are in place, the congregation       Godfrey to speak. Dr. Godfrey deliv-
of our congregations: The evidence           can begin the actual construction of         ered two academic lectures on the
of this is seen in recent school devel-      their first church home. Plans call for      subject, "Predestination as Taught in
opments in three different congrega-         the construction to begin this fall sea-     the Canons of Dordrecht." These
tions.                                       son.                                         lectures were given at 10 A.M. and 2
        In the first place, the Board of             On March 8, the Church Exten-        P.M.  at the seminary on March 15. Dr.
Covenant Christian School inlynden,          sion Committee of the Lynden, WA             Godfrey is a conservative, first-rate
WA announced recently that it had            PRC sponsored a lecture held in the          Church Historian who teaches at
approved a constitution for a new            auditorium of the Lynden Christian           Westminster Theological Seminaryin
high school society. The organization        Middle School. Rev. R. VanOverloop,          Escondido, CA.
of this society tookplace back in early      pastor of the Bethel PRC in Elk Grove
February.                                    Village, IL, was the featured speaker.       Mission Activities
        In the second place, the Randolph    He addressed his audience on the                   Rev. R. Hanko, newly installed
(WI) PR School Society, along with its       subject,  Sex and Dating in  the Chris-      missionary-pastor to the Covenant
Board, continues to meet on a regular        tian Life. TheYoungPeople'sSociety           Reformed Fellowship of NorthemIre-
basis. Although the Board had hoped          of Lynden also provided a special            land, preached his inaugural sermon
to be able to come with proposals            number at that lecture.                      on Sunday evening March 14. He
concerning a starting date and use of                As a side note to the above, this    chose as his topic, "Jesus Calls His
classroom space, some complications          lecture resulted in a three-way pulpit       Sheep By Name," based on John 10:2,
have come into play concerning the           exchange. Rev. C. Haak, pastor of            3.
building that the Board is consider-         Lynden, WA, preached for both the                  The following Monday, the 15th,
ing. Information concerning finan-           Bethel and South Holland, IL congre-         the Hanko family was scheduled to
cial matters and operational expenses        gations on March 7, while Rev. C.            leave for Northern Ireland; but these
is also being gathered. Given time,          Terpstra, South Holland's pastor,            plans were altered by a day, due to
these obstacles will, the Lord willing,      preached once in his own pulpit and          the severe late-winter storm of that
be overcome.                                 once at Bethel, while Rev. R. Van            weekend on the east coast. So on
        And in the third place, the Board    Overloop preached twice in Lynden.           Tuesday the Hankos left Grand Rap-
of the PR Christian school in South          These arrangements were made be-             ids, MI, flew to Chicago, then on-to
Holland, IL informed all their asso-         cause of the Conference and the meet-        Frankfurt, Germany, then back to
ciation members of a proposal to add         ing of Classis that past week and the        London, and finally on to Belfast,
approximately 5,700 square feet to           lecture the next.                            Northern Ireland. It sounds like a
their presentbuilding, and to do some            You can feel that spring has fi-         long, exhausting trip.
remodeling. Plans were approved              nally arrived here in the midwest                  The Fellowship planned a wel-
for four new classrooms; a conference        when you see announcements like the          come "tea" for the Hanko family on
room; additional room for storage;           one recently in Pella, IA PRC's bulle-       Friday evening.
remodeling of office space; and new,         tin asking for volunteers to help paint            The  VanBarens  have also final-
energy-efficient windows.                    the interior of their church.                ized their return flight on Wednes-
                                                                                          day, April 14. Rev.  VanBaren  ex-
Congregational Activities                    Denominational Activities                    pected to preach in Birmingham and
        Not only are our schools moving          On Saturday, March20,  the spring        London the two Sundays prior to that
ahead with building plans, but our           meeting of the PR Evangelism Plan-           return.
churches are as well. Such is the case       ning Committee was held at First
with the Peace PRC in Lynwood, IL.           PRC in Grand Rapids, MI. All mem-            Ministerial Calls
At a recent congregational meeting,          bers of Evangelism Committees and                  The Council of the Southwest PRC
they approved the final concept plans        other interested persons in the area         in Grandville, MI presented a trio to
for stage #1 of their church building.       were invited to attend. These meet-          their congregation consisting of the
This means that, after an architect has      ings are held on a regular basis and         Pastors R. Cammenga, R. Dykstra,
                                             are intended to help coordinate ac-          and R. VanOverloop; and on March
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant     tivities between the churches in the         17 they extended a call to Rev. R.
Reformed Church of Hudsonville,Michi-        West-Michigan area concerningevan-           VanOverloop to become their next
gan.                                         gelism.                                      under-shepherd. o

                                                                                                     April15,1993/StandardBearer/335


STANDARD
   BEARER                                                                                                                   SECQND CLASS
                                                                                                                            Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                            Grandvile, Michigan
   P. 0. Box 603
   Grandville, MI 49468-0603


  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                                                                 RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
     The Council of Grandville Protes-                                                                     The consistory and congregation
tant Reformed Church expresses its                                                                     of the Loveland Protestant Reformed
sincerest sympathy to our fellow                                                                       Church express Christian sympathy
officebearer and his wife, Mr. and                                                                     to the family of Mr. Gustave Huber in
Mrs. John VanderWoude, in the loss                                                                     the passing of their loved one into
of their son,                                                                                          glory. Brother Huber was one of the
    MR. JIM VANDER WOUDE.                                        NOTICE!!                              founding fathers of our congregation
May our gracious God comfort them                 Pamphlets reprinted                                  and served as elder for many years.
by His Word, "For whether we live, we              The Place of Reprobation in the                     "Blessed are thedead which die in the
live unto the Lord; and whether we die,            Preaching of the Gospel ($1 .OO)                    Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the
we die unto the Lord: whether we live                               and                                Spirit, that they may rest from their
therefore, or die, we are the Lord's"                       Triple Breach ($2.00)                      labors; and their works do follow them"
(Romans 14:8).                                              by Herman Hoeksema                         (Revelation 14:13).
        Rev. A. Spriensma, President              Available from                                           Rev. Ron Cammenga, President
              Mr. David Harbach, Clerk              Southwest Protestant Reformed                                       Mr. Ron Koole, Clerk
                                                         Evangelism Committee
                                                             4875 lvanrest Ave.
  RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                    Grandville, MI 49418                         RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
    The Men's and Ladies' Societies                                                                        The Men's Society of the Hull
of Hope Protestant Reformed Church                                                                     Protestant Reformed Church ex-
in Redlands express their deepest                     WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                              presses its Christian sympathy to fel-
Christian sympathy to fellow mem-                     April 16, 1993 marked the 45th                   low member, EgbertGrittersandfam-
bers and their families in the death of           wedding anniversary of                               ily, in the loss of Egbert's mother,
their mother, grandmother, and great-              BARNEY and THRESSA HAAK.                                 MRS. WILMA GRIlTERS.
grandmother,                                      The children are thankful to our cov-                    "Blessed be God, even the Father
 MRS. GRETINE VAN UFFELEN.                        enant God that He has blessed them                   of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
May they be comforted in the words of             with these.45 years of marriage. "He                 mercies,and theGodofallcomfort"(II
our Lord and Savior in I Thessatonians            hath remembered his covenant for                     Corinthians 1:3).
4:16-l 8, "For the Lord himself shall             ever, the word which he commanded                          Rev. Richard Moore, President
descend from heaven with a shout,                 to a thousand generations" (Psalm                                  Jim Andringa, Secretary
with the voice of the archangel, and              1038).
with the trump of God: and the dead               # Richard Haak
in Christ shall rise first: . . . and so shall    # Ken and Marilyn DeJong
we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore               * Rev. Carl and Mary Haak                              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
comfortoneanotherwiththesewords."                     ! 3 grandchildren                                    We express our Christian Sym-
      Pastor A. denHartog, President                                        South Holland, lllinols    pathy and love to an elder of our
      Brenda Gritters, Vice-Secretary                                                                  congregation, Egbett Gritters, and to
                    Rick Span, Secretary                                                               his family atthe time of the death of his
                                                            TAPES AVAILABLE                            mother,
                                                  Cassette tapes of the public youth                         WILEMINA GRITTERS,
                                                  lecture on "Sex and Dating: In the                   on March 7, 1993.
                 NOTICE!!!                        Christian Life," by Rev. VanOverloop                     "Cast thy burden upon the Lord,
    Classis East will meet in regular             are available. The cost is $3.00. Di-                and he shall sustain thee: he shall
session on Wednesday, May 12,1993                 rect correspondence to:                              neversuffertherighteousto  bemoved"
at the Southwest Protestant Re-                                 Lynden PRC                             (Psalm 5522).
formed Church.                                              Extension Committee                               Council of the Hull PR Church
                          Jon J. Huisken,                    315 North Park St.                               Rev. R.G. Moore, President
                              Stated Clerk                  Lynden, WA 98264                               Leon Uittenbogaard, Asst. Clerk


