                     On behalf of PRC Synod 1995,
                    Rev. Gise VanBaren congratulates
              Candidates Allen Brummel and Douglas Kuiper



]uly, 2995


     CONTENTS:                                                                                                                          July  1995 I  qg   $hDH
I                                                                                                                                                                    I           .-;. 1" 17 22 i
                                                                                                                                                                                        ,..,J
                                                                                                                                                                               _I                             m
     Meditation - Rev. Ronald J. VanOverloop
           Submitting One to Another . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~.....~..~......~..................~~..... 435
     Editorial - Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                                                                                       ISSN 0362-4692
           PRC Synod of Hull, 1995 . . ..s......~.........~..........................~.......~......                                                          436
     The Reader Asks . . . . ..~...................................................................~..~......                                                 441              Semi-monthly, except monthly during June. July. and August.
                                                                                                                                                                               Publlshed by the Reformed Free Publlshlng Awoolatlon,  Inc.,
     Taking Heed to the Dsctrine  - Rev. Bernard Woudenberg                                                                                                                    4g49 lvanreet Ave., Grandvllle, MI 49418. Second Class
           Election and the Covenant Promise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..m...... 441                                             Ponte.ge Pald at Grandvllle, Mlchlgan.
     A Cloud of Witnesses - Prof. Herman C. Hank0                                                                                                                              Poetmeeterz Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
           The Story of Two Margarets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~..~...... 444                             P.O. Sox So3, Qrandville, MI 484t3wxoS.
     Strength of Youth - Rev. Wilbur G. Bruinsma                                                                                                                               EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
                                                                                                                                                                               Editor: Pmf. Dav!d J. Engelsma
           Living the Single Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..~...... 446         Secretary: Prof. Robert D. Decker
     A Word Fitly Spoken - Rev. Dale H. Kuiper                                                                                                                                 Managlng Editor: Mr. Don Doezema
                                                                         k.
           Remember! . . . . . . ..~......0.......~.~....................................................~...... 449                                                           DEPARTMENT EDITORS
     Synod 1995 . . . ..s............................................~........................*................                                               450              Rev. Wilbur Srulnsma, Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert
                                                                                                                                                                               ~ker,Rev.AdedenHarto(l,Rev.RussellDykstra,Rev.Beny
     Church and State - Mr. James banting                                                                                                                                      Grlltera, Rev. Carl Haak, Rev. Jason Kmteiing, Rev. Cornellus
           Is It Morally Justifiable to Terminate Ordinary Medical                                                                                                             Hanko, Prof. Herman Hanko, Rw. John Hey& Rev. Dale
                                                                                                                                                                               Kulper, Mr. James Lantlng, Mrs. MarySeth Lubbers, Rev.
                   Treatment for Dying Persons? . . . . ..*.................................a...... 452                                                                        Jalkishln Mahtanl, Rev. Thomas Mlersma, Rev. Charles
     Report of Classis East - Mr. Jon J. Huisken . . . . . . . . S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454                                         Terpabn, Rev.GleeVanSaren,  Rev. RontiVanCvedwp,  Mr.
                                                                                                                                                                               Benjamin Wlgger,  Rev. Semard Woudenbwg.
     News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wgger ..**....**...*............s.... 454                                                                                           EOITDRIAL OFFICE CHURCH NEWS  EDITOR
                                                                                                                                                                               The Standard Bearer            Mr. Ben Wkmr
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                                                                                                                                                                               The Standard Scarer            TheSandardBearer
           From this issue of the Stuandurd Bearer, interested persons, particularly                                                                                           DonDoezema                     c/o 8. VanHerk
     the members of the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC), can learn some-                                                                                                    P.O. Box 603                   SSFraSerSt.
                                                                                                                                                                               Qrandville, MI                 Walnulomata, New Zealand
     thing of the 1995 synod of the PRC.                                                                                                                                         4s46a-o6il3                  NDRTHERN IRELAND OFFICE
                                                                                                                                                                               PH:  (616)  531-1490           c/o Mr. Jmalhan MuWay
           The editorial reports on many of the main actions.                                                                                                                           (816) 53&1778         l&l Church Rd., Qlenwheny
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           The numerous pictures by Mr. Don Doezema, including the picture                                                                                                                                    Northern Ireland
     below of the delegates and advisors, convey some impressions.                                                                                                             EDmORIAL  POUCY
                                                                                                                                                                               Every &or le. solely responsible for the mtenta of his own
           The meditation is the text of Rev. Ron VanOverloop's  sermon at the                                                                                                 art&e. ConMbutlonsofgenentllnteresttmmwrreedersaMJ
     worship service attended by the synodical delegates the evening before                                                                                                    queatlons for The Reader Ask8 dment are wkome.
                                                                                                                                                                               cOntribuHon8  will be IlmRed to awroxlmatelv 300 word8 and
     synod convened.
           Something, but by no means everything.                                                                                                                              deadllnea  aie the  Itriind  flfteimth  of the  rionth. ii
                                                                                                                                                                               oommunloatlcmrrelatlvetothecontent8should  besenttothe
           There is nothing of the hospitality of the Hull congregation that hosted                                                                                            edbrlal oftke.
     synod.                                                                                                                                                                    REPRINT POLICY
           Nor is there mention of the fellowship with many members of the three                                                                                               PermlsslonIsherebygrantedtortherepdntlngof~l~inour
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     churches in the area, especially at and after the pre-synodical  service and                                                                                              arlldw  em reproduced In full; b) that proper ecknov&dgment
     the graduation exercises.                                                                                                                                                 Is made; c) that a copy of the perlodkal  In whkh such  reprint
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           Besides, the report is necessarily brief. There were many other deci-
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     434lStandard  Bearer/July, 1995


        Submitting One to Another

                                              u s   t o   c o o p e r a t e   a s   fellow-    ferent from the classical Greek use.
    Submitting yourselves one to an-          officebearers and as delegates to                God requires a spiritual submission
other in thefear of God.                      Synod. We need to be filled with                 which arises from within because,
                            Ephesians 5:21    the Spirit, and being filled with the            first, it is a submission of "one to
                                              Spirit we will be able to submit one             another." The same one to whom I
    The apostle begins this section           to another.                                      am submitting is, in turn, submit-
of his epistles by calhng upon the                We take our theme from the                   ting to me. This is a mutual sub-
Ephesians to walk "worthy of the              text: Submitting One to Another.                 mission of everyone to all others all
vocation (calling) wherewith ye are               First, we consider the activity of           the time. There is no instance when
called" (41). Then he explains in             submitting ourselves one to another.             I can consider myself superior to an-
the next verses: "with all lowliness          Then we will consider four reasons               other. The second reason why this
and meekness, with longsuffering,             for submitting ourselves one to an-              submission is inner is because of the
forbearing one another in love;               other. Finally, we will consider how             words "in the fear of God." In awe
endeavouring to keep the unity of             we will be able to submit one to an-             of the majesty of God I have the abil-
the Spirit in the bond of peace" (42,         other, what must be our motive.                  ity to submit to others. What sol-
3). Those who have become "light              What is the activity; why do we do               diers must do by command, the sol-
in the Lord" (5:8) are to be "not             it; and how is it possible for twenty-           diers of the cross do voluntarily.
drunk with wine, but be filled with           three men with many years of expe-                   Willingly we submit one to an-
the Spirit" (5:M). When we are filled         rience, well-trained and equipped,               other. This consists of a thinking
with the Spirit, the Spirit equips us         to submit one to another?                        about one another. We do not think
for proper worship (5:19,20)  and for             The word "submit" means "to                  only about ourselves. We think
dealing with our fellow-saints. That          be in subjection." This word can be              about what others are saying, and
is our text, Those filled with the            used in three different ways. First,             we take into consideration why they
Spirit have the responsibility of             it is used in the realm of the physi-            are saying it. We consider who they
"submitting yourselves one to an-             cal: it is the submission of the infe-           are. Who are the delegates speak-
other in the fear of God."                    rior to the superior because of                  ing at a meeting of Synod? I think
    We absolutely need the Spirit to          greater strength or more intelligence.
be submissive. One filled with wine           Second, there is a submission which
does not submit but asserts himself.          is spoken of in the following verses,
He usually does a lot of talking -            namely, a legal submission to a God-
about himself. On the contrary,               given authority. Thirdly, there is a
when one is filled with the Spirit, he        submission which is spiritual; it
has everything he needs to be                 comes from inside.
equipped to submit one to another.                In classical Greek this word is
    Our text informs us of the                used to refer to soldiers under an
proper spiritual disposition required         officer. The soldiers did everything
for living together as a fellowship of        the officer commanded. If they did
churches. It also tells us of the dis-        anything other than what the officer
position of heart that is needed for          commanded of them, they were in-
                                              subordinate. But God takes this
                                              word out of its normal context and
Rev.  VanOverloop  is pastor of               uses it in the Scriptures not in a regi-
Georgetown Protestant Reformed                mented, legal sense. The text gives
Church in Bauer, Michigan.                    us two reasons why God's use is dif-                    Rev. Ron VanOverloop

                                                                                                          July, lBOs/Standard Beard435


about them, I consider thoughtfully         about, but I know what I am talking       other? We have this privilege, not
rather than act impetuously. Most           about.                                    so we can be greater, but so that we
troubles and clashes in the home and            This is the kind of instruction       can serve the Body of Christ.
church result from thinking about           given to us in seminary, when we              Why must we submit one to an-
ourselves rather than about others.         were advised that in the ministry,        other? Why must we esteem others
Then we individuals become indi-            we must listen to our elders, who,        better than ourselves?
vidualistic, asserting ourselves. But       though they may not have had a                The first reason is that you and
we must first think about others.           seminary training, can teach us           I must live the confession of Paul in
Where are they coming from? What            much. Maybe those elders' usage           I Timothy 1:15. "This is a faithful
are they intending to say? What do          of the English language is poor, but      saying, and worthy of all accepta-
they mean?                                  when they speak, we should listen.        tion, that Christ Jesus came into the
       Secondly, submitting ourselves       And does anything really change           world to save sinners; of whom I am
one to another means that we are            when we have twenty, thirty, or           chief." The perspective is not that I
always ready to put ourselves un-           forty years of experience in the min-     was  chief sinner, but that I presently
der others. It is not doing things          istry? Do we, after so much experi-       am; I always am chief. This is the
through "strife or vainglory, but in        ence, have the right then to despise      awareness that within us lies the
lowliness of mind let each esteem           the less comely parts? The old and        power of the body of this death,
other better than themselves" (Phil         the young do not conflict, but            which has the capability of sinning
2:3). It is looking not on our own          complement each other. God can            terribly. I must and will submit to
things, but "every man also on the          use an illiterate, old, godly man, and    others, because I, more than seeing
things of others." This was the             He can still mighty enemies with          others, see my God who sent His
mind-set of Christ, who humbled             babes (Ps. 8:2). God can use the old      Son to die for me, which conscious-
Himself to us by setting aside all His      saint to teach us, and He can use         ness makes me see how great a sin-
own glory to become like unto us.           the young one, just out of seminary,      ner I am.
Jesus esteemed you more than His            to teach us, because it is not they           Secondly, we submit ourselves
own life. Can you not esteem each           who teach, but He. Officebearers          one to another because of the truth
other more than yourself?                   with God-given authority over other       of I Corinthians  4:7. "For who
       So important is this putting our-    humans in the church, do not have         maketh thee to differ from another?
selves under each other, that the           the right to lord it over others. This    And what hast thou that thou didst
apostle begins Philippians 2 with the       was not only the mind of our Re-          not receive? Now if thou didst re-
powerful words, "If there be there-         formed fathers when they wrote the        ceive it, why dost thou glory, as if
fore any consolation in Christ, if any      Church Order, demanding equality          thou hadst not received it?" Every-
comfort of love, if any fellowship of       among office-bearers, but this was        thing you are and have, you have
the Spirit, if any bowels and mer-          also the mind of Christ in Matthew        been given. If you have an insight
cies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-    20:25-28.  The ungodly lord it. "But      into a truth or an issue, it is not that
minded, having the same love, be-           it shall not be so among you: but         it came to you by yourself, but it
ing of one accord, of one mind" (1,         whosoever will be great among you,        was given to you. It was a gift from
2).                                         let him be your minister; and who-        God, so you cannot take credit. If
       Submitting one to another is to      soever will be chief among you, let       God gave you more intellect or more
remember that we are joined to-             him be your servant: even as the          skill in an area, if God gave you
gether in one mutual bond of love.          Son of man came not to be minis-          more ability or talents than others,
Then we can hold our tongue, lis-           tered unto, but to minister, and to       wherein do you have the right to
tening patiently, letting others speak,     give His life a ransom for many."         glory over others? Glory in what?
being charitable, considering them              You delegates have God-given          You cannot glory in yourself, be-
in the best possible light. Submit-         authority, but that authority is not      cause it is not of you. Do we not
ting one to another is not resenting        given in order that you might be          mean it when we say, "By the grace
criticism. It is not being impatient        ministered unto, but in order that        of God I am what I am"? This
with the opinions of others.                you might minister, or serve. The         means that you and I have nothing
       Submitting one to another means      position of minister, elder, or pro-      in ourselves in which to glory. But
that we will not despise "the less          fessor is to be respected, not because    all that we have has been given to
comely parts" (I Cor. 1223).  We re-        the persons in the position are           us, and God must receive the glory.
alize that there is no part of the body     greater, but because God gave the             The third reason for submitting
of Christ which has a right to de-          position. The responsibility is to        ourselves one to another is found in
spise the less visible or beautiful         serve. Fellow-delegates, this week        Galatians 3:27,28.  "As many of you
parts. I have no right to look on           we are to serve each other. Are you       as have been baptized into Christ
another delegate to Synod and think,        ready to do that, brethren? Are you       have put on Christ. There is neither
he does not know what he is talking         ready to serve the church and each        Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond

436lStandard  Bearer/July, 1966


nor free, there is neither male nor       consists first of knowing God - not       to displease the God who used such
female; for ye are all one in Christ      comprehending Him, but knowing            great grace to save us.
Jesus." This was the apostle's em-        Him as the infinite One, as the One           "In the fear of God" means that
phasis in Ephesians 4. We are all         whose majesty fills the heavens.          you and I, delegates and advisors to
equal one with another. You cry to        Know Him as the One whose glory           Synod, live and walk and think this
the same Father to whom I cry. You        would make a heaven filled with           week with each other in the con-
were washed in the same blood that        SLUIS seem like a candle. Knowing         sciousness of the majesty of our God,
washed me. You say to the same            Him as the One who is sinless and         acknowledging our indebtedness to
Lord that I do, "What wilt Thou           thrice holy, before whom the sinless      Him for our creation and for our
have me to do?" You have the same         angels cover their eyes and bodies        redemption. Then we see God be-
Spirit in you that I do. So how is        as they serve Him. This knowledge         hind each other. Then we hear Him
one greater than another? Not at          of God makes us fear Him.                 using each other. Then when His
all.                                          This knowledge of Him makes           Word comes from the other, we sub-
        Fourthly, we submit one to an-    us fear Him even more when we             mit. Then, when we realize He gave
other because we are saved, not in-       know Him to be our Father. The            His Son to die for the other, we will
dividually, but covenantally, as part     wonder that this majestic God would       submit to him. Then, to make our
of an organism. Not individually,         condescend to see and know us!            point, we do not have to do any
but together. We are members to-          This is the only way we can say,          table-pounding. Then, to make our
gether of one body (Eph. 411-16;  I       "Christ came into the world to save       point, we do not have to use our
Cor.  12:27). In Christ, the whole        sinners, of whom I am chief." We          pulpit voices, especially not in a de-
matters most, not the parts. Thus         do not look at each other, but at Him     liberative assembly. Then we can
we are to consider the whole rather       who would save wretches like us.          talk humbly, submitting one to an-
than just our own good. Christ gave       This is to know God in the sense          other in the fear of God.
gifts, especially that of the preach-     that everything we know of Him is             I have directed these words, of
ing, to equip the saints to be able to    another reason to love Him because        necessity, to the delegates of Synod;
serve one another (Eph. 431, 12).         our knowledge of Him shows us His         but, congregation, this is the way we
Then we become willing to forgo           love for us first. When the knowl-        are to live with each other all the
personal rights because we are so         edge of the great Majesty becomes         time. God uses my wife to speak to
grateful to be a part of this glorious    knowledge of the Father, then that        me and I must submit. God uses
body.                                     takes the terror out of the fear of       my children to speak to me and I
        How can we submit one to an-      God and makes it love.                    must submit to them. Our Savior
other? There is only one way. There           This knowledge of love becomes        submitted Himself to us and that is
is only one way that we can appre-        deep spiritual reverence, awe, and        what saved us.
ciate the beauty of the body. There       wonder. It is. not fright, as Adam            Fear God, and if that does not
is only one way we can tame our           and Eve were afraid when they tried       move you to submit yourselves, then
pride. This one way is found, not by      to hide themselves, before God gave       nothing else will. Fearing God we
looking at each other, but by look-       them skins with which to cover            want to submit ourselves quietly to
ing at God. `I... in the fear of God."    themselves. It is the knowledge of        His will when He commands us to
The spiritual strength to appreciate      childlike faith which approaches Fa-      submit to each other. Then it is not
and comply with this command to           ther, which says, "Father, help"; "Fa-    a grief nor is it irksome to serve.
submit one to another comes from          ther, I need thee." Aware of the              Fear God, submitting yourself
"the fear of God."                        Father's love we know that He will        under the mighty hand of God, and
        There must be constantly burn-    respond. Then there is no fear in         then you can submit one to another.
ing within us the consciousness of        love (I John 4:18). We do not want        Amen.  0
God. That I submit to you is not
because of you, but because of God.
I may owe someone nothing with
respect to himself, yet I owe him
something in respect of God. The
fear of God must motivate us be-
cause nothing is more contrary to
human nature than submission.
Only God can tame our selfishness
and subdue our pride, and only He
can make us be considerate of oth-
ers. The motive of the fear of God
                                                                                                July, 19!WStandard  Beam'437


                PRC Synod of Hull, 1995
     The synod of the Protestant Re-            History, and the practical matter of      ment Hebrew Bible (Biblia Zkbraica
formed Churches (PRC) met from                  their cali to the ministry. They also     Stuttgarteda)  from the American
June 13 through June 20 in the im-              submitted written exegesis ori as-        Bible Society in recognition of
pressive, new church building of the            signed passages  from the Hebrew          achievement in Hebrew Old Testa-
Hull, Iowa  PRC, The officers of                Old Testament and the Greek New           ment  stddies. Mr. Brummel re-
synod were Rev.  Gise  VanBaren,                Testament. Synod approved the ex-         ceived a New Testament Greek Bible
president; Rev. Dale Kuiper, vice-              amination of the twi, men and de-         (T&&is  Receptus)  from  t h e
president; Rev. RUSS Dykstra,  first            clared them rafididates  f6f the min-     Triilitarian  Bible Society  in recogni-
clerk; and Rev. Barry Gritters,  set-           istry in the PRC. They are eligible       tion  of  achievement in Greek New
ond clerk.                                      for a call on or after july 15,199s.      Testament studies. Again, members
     Members of the Hull congrega-                  The gaduation exercises were          of the area churches, as weli as fam-
tion, of the Doon, Iowa congrega-               held in the Hull church b&ding on         ily and friends of the  gfaduates,
tion, and of the Edgerton, Minne-               Monday evening June i9. The presi-        fiiled the auditorium.
sota  congregaiian   n&.ri;ii  fiiled the       deilt of  the  deficminaticmal   Thes-

                                                                                              Spsd heard repafis on deno&
                                                                                          fiationd  m.&Lfi  wo&  h  Notieti
                                                                                          &&&  md h (?!$-,f&,i  Rev, The;
                                                                                          mas  Miersma has recently  beguli
                                                                                          working in the San Luis Valley area
                                                                                          in Colorado. Synod approved the
                                                                                          policy, in connection with the work
                                                                                          in Northern Ireland, that "it is not
                                     Officers of Synod:                                   permissible to administer the Lord's
                     Revs. Kuiper, VanBaren, Dykstra, and Gritters                        Supper . . . until (a mission group) are
                                                                                          organized as a church." The Cov-
spacious church building for the pre-           logical School Committee, Rev. Dale       enant Reformed Fellowship - mis-
synodical worship service on Mon-               Kuiper, led the meeting and pre-          sion group in Northern Ireland -
day evening, June 12. Rev. Ron                  sented the candidates with their di-      greeted the synod by letter:
VanOverloop,  president of the pre-             plomas on behalf of synod Prof.
vious synod, preached on Ephesians              David Engelsma spoke on "Judging            We rejoice that during the past year
5:22, "Submitting to One Another."              Ministers" from I Corinthians 41-5.         it has pleased our Sovereign God
                                                Mr. Kuiper received an Old Testa-           to use the PRC as the means to be
    Examination of Seminarians                                                              a great blessing to the saints in
                                                                                            Northern Ireland and throughout
     Much of Tuesday, Wednesday,                                                            the British Isles. We greatly ap-
                                                                                            preciate the faithful ministry and
and Thursday of the first week was                                                          diligent labors of our highly es-
devoted to the oral examination of                                                          teemed and beloved missionary
senior seminarians of the Protestant                                                        pastor, Rev. Ron Hanko. We are
Reformed Seminary, Allen Brummel                                                            encouraged by the progress that
and Douglas Kuiper. Both preached                                                           has been made both in the spiri-
specimen sermons before the synod                                                           tual growth of the members of the
and were examined in Dogmatics,                                                             Fellowship and in our outreach
Old Testament History, New Testa-                                                           work. During this coming year we
ment History, Church Polity, Church                                                         would ask you to rememTber  us in
                                                  Seminarians Brummel and Kuiper            your prayers, that God might give
438lStanclard  BearerlJuly,  1995


                                                                                         ernment" was approved. The con-
                                                                                         ference will be held at the South-
                                                                                         west PRC, Grandville, Michigan on
                                                                                         September 21, 22, 1995. Brochures
                                                                                         giving full information on the con-
                                                                                         ference are available from the semi-
                                                                                         nary.The rector's report informed
                                                                                         synod that five seminarians are li-
                                                                                         censed to speak a word of edifica-
                                                                                         tion in the churches; that eight semi-
                                                                                         narians helped the churches in West-
                                                                                         ern Michigan by teaching catechism
                                                                                         classes this past year; that fourth-
  Elders E. VanGinkel  and A. Rau, Rev. Bruinsma, Proj Decker, Rev. Bekkering            year seminarians Henry DeJong  and
                                                                                         Richard Smit will do their intem-
 us wisdom and guidance as we                    questions which ought to be fticed      ships the first semester of the 1995/
  make plans to become organized                before a final decision is taken,        1996 school year, Henry at
  as a church.                                   among which are: Should one or          Hudsonville PRC, Hudsonville,
    Synod approved the decision of               two missionaries be called?  Are        Michigan and Richard at Southeast
its Domestic Mission Committee in-               our churches able to finance this       PRC, Grand Rapids, Michigan; and
forming a church that had inquired,              work? Who could/ would be able
                                                 and willing to serve in a foreign       that the judgment on the recently
that "divorced and remarried per-                field? Would a period of prelixni-      implemented intern program has
sons cannot be received as members               nary training be necessary to pre-      been favorable.
of the PRC." The ground is that                  pare a man to work in a Ghanian             Synod noted with appreciation
Romans 7:2,3 and I Corinthians 739               culture?                                that Prof. Herman Hanko has served
teach that such persons are "living                                                      the churches in the seminary for
in sin." This is a significant deci-           Synod permitted the FMC to send           thirty years.
sion, not so much because it again             another delegation to Ghana in 1995.
expresses the sacred conviction and                                                               Contact Committee
firm stand of the PRC on divorce                             Seminary
and remarriage as because it main-                                                           A highlight of synod's work of
tains this stand in the sphere of mis-             Two students were admitted            contact with other churches was the
sions. Historically, churches have             into the seminary in the fall of 1995.    presence at synod of Rev. G. I.
compromised relatively rigorous                One is Mr. Garry Eriks from the           Williamson as an observer from the
stands against divorce and remar-              Peace PRC, Lansing, Illinois. The         Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
riage under the pressure of situa-             other is Mr. Jason Whitman from the       Synod received Rev. Williamson and
tions confronted on the mission field.         South Holland PRC, South Holland,         gave him the opportunity of ad-
The result has been that the adul-             Illinois. With these newcomers, the       dressing synod. Having thanked
tery of divorce and remarriage has             student body will again number            synod for the privilege of speaking
flooded these churches themselves.             eleven Synod granted Prof. David          to the assembly, Williamson stated
    The report of the Foreign Mis-             Engelsma permanent tenure in the          that, "though our two churches do
sion Committee (FMC) brought to                seminary, which appointment he ac-        not, at this time, have any established
the synod the possibility of begin-            cepted. A seminary-sponsored con-         official relationship, we of the Or-
ning a work in Ghana, Africa. The              ference on "Reformed Church Gov-          thodox Presbyterian Church - or
FMC had sent Rev. Richard Moore
and Elder Don VerMeer  to Ghana
in 1994 to investigate. The 1995
synod instructed the FMC

  to study the feasibility of calling a
  missionary (missionaries) to Ghana,
  and come to Synod of 1996 with
  definite proposals. Grounds: a. Al-
  though the FMC favors the cahing
  of a missionary in the future . . . it is
  not prepared to offer a specific pro-
  posal at this time.... b. There are                   Rev. Kuiper, Elders E. Gritters and D. Poortinga, Rev. Terpstra

                                                                                                     July, 1995/Standard  Beared


                                                                                     port, now makes the denomination
                                                                                     responsible for the support of all
                                                                                     emeriti ministers. Article 13 has now
                                                                                     been made to read:

                                                                                      Ministers who by reason of age,
                                                                                       sickness, or otherwise, are rendered
                                                                                      incapable of performing the duties
                                                                                       of their office, shall nevertheless re-
                                                                                       tain the honor and title of a minis-
                                                                                       ter, and the  churches  which they
 Elders C. Kuiper and H. Hoekstra, Rev. Gritters, Prof. Hanko, Rev. VanOverloop       have served shall provide honor-
                                                                                       ably for them in their need (like-
the OPC, as most people call us -         granted. The Theological Training           wise for the orphans and widows
would like to know you better." He        Committee of the Evangelical Re-             of ministers) out of the common
gave a brief history of the OPC and       formed Churches of Singapore is             fund of the churches, according to
concluded:                                presently training a man for the min-        the general ecclesiastical ordinances
                                          istry, Cheah Fook Meng, in the Prot-         in this matter (the change is noted
                                          estant Reformed Seminary. The PRC           by italicizing - DJE).
  I am most grateful for the warm         are helping financially in the sup-
  welcome I have received. It has         port of this student.                          Supervision of the emeritus
  been a privilege to be here to ob-                                                    minister's work, support, and
  serve some of the business of                                                         spiritual care was given by synod
  your Synod, and I will report as                                                      to whatever local church the min-
  faithfully as I can what I see and                                                    ister may decide to join after re-
  hear. It is my own personal hope                                                      tirement. This is to be accom-
  thatthis  may mark the beginning
  of a greater degree of mutual in-                                                     plished by the transfer of the
  terest in, and concern for, one an-                                                   minister's "credentials," that is,
  other as we both strive to be faith-                                                  office, with his membership.
  ful in these difficult days.                                                             Doon's  overture regarding the
                                                          ,.'      1                    calling of a professor, which
The full text of Rev. Williamson's                                                      would have had a local church
address will be published in the                                                        in Grand Rapids call the profes-
"Acts of Synod."                                                                        sor, was rejected.
                                             Rev. Slopsema, Elder 1. Kabbeek
     Also present at synod was Rev.
Rodney Miersma, pastor of the PRC                       Overtures                               Other Decisions
of New Zealand (PRCNZ), a sister-
church with the PRC. Rev. Miersma             Synod adopted the overture of              A new denominational commit-
was  seated as a delegate. He ad-         the Doon, Iowa consistory (regard-         tee, the Catechism Book Committee,
dressed synod on behalf of the            ing emeritation), to change Article        was created. This committee will
PRCNZ. This address will appear           13 of the Church Order. By the             work at the improvement of exist-
in the "Acts of Synod." In closed         change, Article 13, which originally       ing catechism materials and the ad-
session, synod advised the New            located the office of the emeritus (re-    dition of new materials.
Zealand church on a discipline case.      tired) minister in the local church            Synod approved the organizing
An overture from a member of the          that he last served and declared that      of a new Protestant Reformed con-
PRC that synod investigate the pos-       church to be responsible for his sup-      gregation in the Standale, Michigan
sibility of having the PRCNZ be-
come  part of one of the classes of
the PRC was rejected.
     Synod authorized the Contact
Committee to send observers to
NAPARC  (North American Presby-
terian and Reformed Council).
    The request of the First Evan-
gelical Reformed Church of
Singapore that minister-on-loan Rev.
Jason Kortering's stay in Singapore
be extended for two more years was                   Elders C. Hunter and E. Ophoffi  Revs. Haak and VanBaren

44OlStandard  Bearer/July, 1995


area, the soon-to-be-instituted Grace        "catastrophic expenses for our                  years. Mr. Don Doezema was cho-
PRC.                                         Emeritus Fund." Nineteen of the                 sen to replace him.
     Synod defeated a motion that            twenty-nine ministers have opted                         The synodical  budget for 1996
urged graduating seminary students           out of the Social Security program.             will be $595 per family, the same as
to be part of the Social Security pro-               Synod accepted the resignation          this year.
gram. A special committee of busi-           of Rev. Meindert Joostens as stated                      The synod of 1996 will meet on
nessmen, appointed by the synod of           clerk of synod, thanking him for his            June 11 at the Southwest PRC in
1994, had recommended this to the            faithful labors over the past twenty            Grandville, Michigan, God willing.CJ
synod of 1995 in view of possible                                                                                               --DE



        Was the Tempter Satan?               RESPONSE:                                                If the devil as a personal being
                                                     It is true that Satan is not men-       was not using the serpent, how can
     Because of your commitment to           tioned in Genesis 3.                            it be explained that a mere animal
excellence in exegesis, I'd like to ask              Nevertheless, Scripture else-           spoke and tempted humans?
that you consider addressing the             where teaches that Satan was the                         To say that God "created the
matter of Satan in Genesis 3. It is          tempter in the fall of man as revealed          temptation" is vague. Does this
commonly taught that it was Satan            in Genesis 3. There is his name, lold           mean that He Himself tempted Eve
who deceived Eve, using the serpent.         serpent," with the description,                 to sin? This would contradict James
Yet there is no specific reference to        "which deceiveth the whole world,"              1:13 and make God the author of
Satan in the passage. Where did this         in Revelation 129, which is umnis-              Sill.
teaching originate? I know Revela-           takable.                                                 It is true that the temptation and
tion refers to Satan as a serpent, but               In addition, John 844 calls Sa-         Fall occurred under God's sovereign
I cannot think of any other passage          tan the "murderer from the begin-               control and according to His decree.
which gives us reason to believe Sa-         ning" (the Greek is `killer of human-           God is God, also regarding sin. He
tan was the tempter in Genesis 3.            ity') and original liar, again clear            realized His decree concerning the
What exegetical method or manner             identification of the real tempter in           Fall, with Christ as the goal, in such
of hermeneutics has led to this teach-       Genesis 3.                                      a way as to maintain the full respon-
ing? Have we ruled out the possi-                    Matthew  43 names Satan "the            sibility of Satan, Adam, and Eve,
bility that God, in His own sover-           tempter."                                       while remaining blameless Himself.
eign will and purpose, and for His                   The Reformed creeds state that          Indeed, He hated the deceit of the
glory, might have created the temp-          Satan was the tempter in Eden (see              devil and the faithlessness of the hu-
tation?                                      the Heid. Cat., Q. 9; Bel. Conf., Art.          man couple.
                         Duane L. Burgess    14).                                                                        - Ed. Comm.
                             Tucson, AZ
.,*..,,, ,. ,-.,. . .                                                          I
   l&&il@g M&& 80 ilk2 D@etrln@                          "                                  R@\E &r&3x=d IMi~~d~n~~g


                                Election and the
                            Covenant Promise

                                                     Not as though the word of God bath               To us in the Protestant Reformed
                                             taken none efect. For they are not all          Churches, what we read in the pam-
                                             Israel, which are oj IsraeZ:                    phlet of Dr. C. Veenhof, called Apptl!
                                                     Neither, because they are the seed      (in English, "Appeal!"), was amaz-
Rev. Woudenberg  is pastor of the Prot-      of Abraham, are they all children: but,         ing and not a little disconcerting.
estant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo,         In Isaac shall thy seed be called.              Had it not been that the letter of
Michigan.                                                                    Romans 9:67     Prof. Holwerda, and its publication

                                                                                                             July, 19WStandard Bared441


by Rev. Ophoff, had become the cen-          they will go to be with him in glory.        times. In the end it simply does not
ter of attention, Veenhof's pamphlet         Around this their whole doctrinal            hold that with each child who re-
certainly would have gained more             position seems to revolve, so that           ceives the covenant sign and is
prominence than it did. Still, it did        any compromise of it would consti-           raised within the church God "doth
not go unnoticed. Even the most              tute a loss of the essence of the cov-       establish an eternal covenant of grace
adamant defenders of the Liberated           enant as they see it, and an impinge-        with him," adopts him for his child
churches among us were stunned,              ment upon the very veracity of God.          and heir ;.. washes him "in his blood
hardly knowing what to say. We,              If baptism and the covenant are to           from all his sins, incorporating him
after all, had been thrown out of the        have any meaning to them, and if             into the fellowship of his death and
Christian Reformed Church because            God is indeed true, the expression           resurrection  ...N and dwells  in him,
of our refusal to accept common              "I baptize thee in the name of the           and sanctifies him to be a member
grace, and had been forced to form           Father, and of the Son, and of the           "of Christ, applying unto  him, that
a new denomination. But this pam-            Holy Ghost" must mean ,that the              which we have in Christ, namely,
phlet, written by one who we                 individual child upon whom the               the washing away of his sins, and
thought understood and agreed with           baptismal waters fall is very really         the daily renewing of his life, till he
us, set forth a kind of common grace         saved, and that what is said in the          shall finally be presented without
in a most grievous form, particularly        traditional Reformed baptismal form          spot or wrinkle in the assembly of
when he wrote:                               will hold for that child personally,         the elect in life eternal." In the end,
                                             namely                                       gratefully, this is true of some, but
    Above all we must know and                                                            certainly not of all. This is some-
  maintain . . . that God, our God, the        that God the Father witnesseth and         thing that may be said of the church
  Father of our Lord Jesus Christ              sealeth unto us, that he doth make         of God generally, of "us" as a group
  Himself baptizes the little children         an eternal covenant of grace with          (as the form states it, and as it was
  of the Church! . . . When a child is         us, and adopts us for his children
  baptized the LORD Himself comes              and heirs.... the Son sealeth  unto        true of Israel as a nation); and it is
  to that child, He Himself sprinkles          us, that he doth wash us in his            something for which we may pray,
  the water on its head and says very          blood from all our sins, incorpo-          as we do in both prayers of the bap-
  really and personally:  John, Mary,          rating us into the fellowship of his       tism form; but it is not something
  Anna,  1,  the  LORD  Himself, baptize       death and resurrection so that we          that is guaranteed to every indi-
  you in my Holy Name. You are now             are freed from all our sins, and ac-       vidual. Rather, it is the sad experi-
  of me!... That is, He says to all those      counted righteous before God....           ence of God's church that there are
  children, head for head, day in and          the Holy Ghost assures us, by this         many that do go astray and finally
  day out, meaningfully and sin-               holy sacrament, that he  will dwell        end up far removed from "the as-
  cerely: I am the LORD your God. I            in us, and sanctify us to be mem-
  establish my covenant with you. I                                                       sembly of the elect in life eternal."
                                               bers of Christ, applying unto us,
  wash you from all sin in the blood           that which we have in Christ,              Eli knew this sorrow, as did Samuel,
  of our Lord Jesus Christ; My Holy            namely, the washing away of our            and David when he wept so bitterly
  Spirit lives in you. In short: I de-        `sins, and the daily renewing of our        at the death of Absalom; and one
  clare to you the complete forgive-           lives, till we shall finally be pre-       cannot doubt that it is true in the
  ness of sins and eternal salvation:          sented without spot or wrinkle in          Liberated churches as well, as it is
  all the treasures and riches of which        the assembly of the elect in life eter-    in the Protestant Reformed, in Pres-
  I can and will give to mankind....           nal.                                       byterian churches, Baptist, and all
                                                                                          others. Baptismal waters do not in-
It was difficult for us to see in this       The "us" of this statement, they feel,       sure salvation for anyone anywhere.
anything other than a common grace           must relate unequivocally to that in-            This position, accordingly,
in the most crucial area of Christian        dividual who is being baptized,              would appear to us to stand in di-
life, the covenant of grace.                 whether adult or infant, or its sig-         rect contradiction to such basic bib-
    As it was, however, it soon be-          nificance is gone.                           lical and Reformed truths as that of
came apparent that this was no pass-             For us, however, this presented          the perseverance of the saints. If
ing fluke. What Dr. Veenhof had              numerous problems.                           every particular child has the prom-
written stood at the emotional heart             To begin with, as much as we             ise of the covenant and eternal sal-
of the Liberated covenant view. In           might wish it were otherwise, the            vation individually bestowed di-
fact, it is very difficult to overesti-      fact is that when children who are           rectly by God, how is it possible that
mate how important it is to the Lib-         baptized and raised within the               some should thereafter fall away?
erated people to be able to say of           church come to years of maturity,            Certainly it would seem self-evident
each and every one of their baptized         inevitably some of them forsake the          that, if such a child falls away, he
children that they have the personal         life of the covenant to live in the          was either never truly a covenant
promise from God that they are his,          world. It is part of Christian experi-       child, or the doctrine of the perse-
and that should they die tomorrow            ence for us just as it was in Bible          verance of the saints does not in ac-

442Etandard  Bearer /July, 1995


tuality hold. And so, as far as we             the primary example in Scripture of          haps, where our inability to work
are concerned, the question for our            one who had been rejected of God             together enters in. Their logic is d.if-
Liberated friends remains, how can             even prior to his birth (Rom. 9:10-          ferent from ours.
every child born and baptized in the           13). And we are told that upon leav-              Underlying all human thought,
church be very really a participant            ing Egypt the' children of Israel (1         as we sought to bring out in a series
in the covenant of grace and a re-             Cor. 1O:Z) "were all baptized unto           of articles some time ago, there is a
cipient of its promises of eternal sal-        Moses in the cloud and in the sea";          flow of thought which we call logic,
vation when some do not persevere              and yet most of them perished in             based on the principle that if one
to the end?                                    the wilderness (v.  5), including            thing is true the opposite cannot be
        Nor is it essentially different re-    Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and               true, much as we find stated in
garding the doctrine of irresistible           their "little children," even as Achan       Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man,
grace. If every covenant child per-            and his sons were certainly circum-          that he should lie; neither the son of
sonally receives the promise of God            cised (Jos. 5:2) and yet perished un-        man, that he should repent: hath he
and salvation, and that grace of God           der the judgment of God (Jos. 7~25).         said, and shall he not do it? or hath
is irresistible as the Canons teach,               But even more distinctly was             he spoken, and shall he not make it
must it not be impossible that such            this pointed out by Jesus, who used          good?" God, the source of all truth,
a child should not grow in grace to            the doctrine of election precisely to        cannot say one thing and also the
the end? And, yet, in the mentality            bring home the fact that no Jew, just        opposite; and it is from this that we
of the Liberated churches this does            because he had received the sign of          derive our most basic rule of Bible
not seem to follow. Somewhere in               the covenant as a descendent of              interpretation, namely, that in seek-
their way of thinking there is a twist         Abraham, should take for granted             ing to determine the meaning of any
which is different from our think-             that he thereby belonged to God as           particular passage of Scripture one
ing.                                           an heir of the covenant promises, for,       must do so in the light of and in
        Above all, the problem comes           as Jesus said (Luke 3:8), "God is able       harmony with all the rest of the
with predestination. This doctrine             of these stones to raise up children         Scriptures. As God is one, so must
has stood at the center of Reformed            unto Abraham," or more pointedly,            his revelation be one, even as Jesus
theology ever since Calvin was com-            perhaps, to these very Jews (John            said, (John 10:35),  "the scripture can-
pelled to defend it against men such           10:25),  "ye believe not, because ye         not be broken." The Word of God
as Pighius, Costelho,  Bolsec, and oth-        are not of my sheep." And so Paul            cannot be set in contradiction with
ers, especially after the Synod of             also concluded in Remans 9 concem-           itself.
Dordt felt moved to protect it from            ing this very point, "For they are                Nevertheless, through the ages
the views of Jacobus  Arminius and             not all Israel, which are of Israel: nei-    there has been another view of logic
his followers. Historically it was             ther, because they are the seed of           which has at times prevailed, that
called the car ecclesia, or "heart of          Abraham, are they all children: but,         called "rhetorical logic." Its concern
the church." Moreover, when we                 In Isaac shall thy seed be called"           is not so much in avoiding contra-
examine the Scriptures we find that            (Rom. 9:6, 7), after which he went           diction as it is with being influential
this doctrine was set forth most of-           on to develop the doctrine of elec-          and persuasive; and in order to do
ten as a warning against that very             tion in one of its most pointed pre-         this it has allowed in certain in-
presumption which the Liberated                sentations.                                  stances for what has been called du-
seem to advocate. No one, simply                   The problem is, however, that            plex  veritas  (double truth). Some-
because he has been born of believ-            when election is brought in regard-          times it is necessary, this view of
ing parents and has received the sign          ing this, the Liberated almost inevi-        logic holds, that truth must be seen
of the covenant (whether circumci-             tably call, "foul." They are very de-        as coming in opposing forms; and
sion in the Old Testament or bap-              termined that the doctrine of pre-           so, in order to be effective and per-
tism in the New Testament), should             destination - which they at other            suasive, human speech may need to
presume that he thereby is a child             times acknowledge - is not some-             maintain ideas that are contradictory
of God and an heir in the covenant             thing that ought to be brought into          to each other. Already in the early
of grace. Ishmael was certainly                consideration regarding the cov-             Medieval period there were those at
among those commanded to be cir-               enant of grace. As J. Kamphuis says          the University of Paris who argued
cumcised (Gen. 17:9-14) even when              in his book The Everlasting Covenant,        that while God created the world
Abraham was already pleading al-               "We should not, as it were, burden           theologically, philosophically it is
most plaintively, in verse 18, "0 that         the concrete speaking of God with            eternal - in striking similarity to the
Ishmael might live before thee!" as            the mortgage of `the eternal coun-           recent claim by Dr. Howard VanTill
though it were already evident that            sel.' II Repeatedly they claim that to       of Calvin College that scientifically
he was not inclined so to do. Jacob            do so is to become scholastic and            the world evolved, even while we
and Esau undoubtedly were both cir-            overly logical, as though this were a        maintain theologically that it was
cumcised; and yet Esau stands as               very bad thing. And it is there, per-        created. So too Dr. C.  VanTil  ar-

                                                                                                        July, 1995Btandard  Bear&43


gued, in order to defend common                 of the covenant into harmony with         effectiveness of the gospel should be
grace, that room must be left for "ap-          the doctrine of predestination. Both      lost. Rhetorically it will not  accom-
parent contradictions." And it                  are to be maintained, but not in im-      plish that to which it is sent.
would seem that it is to this same              mediate conjunction with each other.           But the problem also goes
framework of thought that our Lib-              Each must be treated in its own place     deeper than that; and to it we must
erated brothers would appeal, so as             and apart from the other, lest the        return.  0
to avoid having to bring their view





     The Story Of Two Margarets
                                           I
Introduction                                    others whose stories we cannot tell       formist ministers conducted the ser-
    In previous articles we have no-            here. Though both bore the name           vices would she attend. This was
ticed how a bitter struggle went on             of Margaret, one was an aged saint        not simple stubbornness, but a deep
in Scotland after the Reformation to            of 70 and the other a young girl of       conviction that God was pleased
preserve the truth of Scripture and             18 when they were cruelly put to          only with worship which was ac-
the biblical way of worshiping God.             death for their faith.                    cording to His injunctions.
The Stuart kings were determined                                                               She was not alone in her stand;
to impose prelacy' on the realm; the            Their early lives                         many people throughout Scotland
Presbyterians were determined to                    Margaret MacLachlan  was the          took the same unwavering stand.
resist it. With only a brief respite            widow of John Mulligen. H[er hus-         But many were also forced to flee
during the days of Oliver Cromwell,             band had farmed about a mile west         their homes and parishes to escape
the struggle went on from the time              of the small village of  Wigtown.         arrest and civil penalties. These be-
of James I to Charles II. Our present           Wigtown  was at the head of the           came wanderers in their own coun-
story begins during the reign of                Firth2 of Solway in the Stewartry of      try who sought refuge and food here
Charles II.                                     Galloway. To the south were high          and there. When they stopped at
    While we have discussed the sto-            moors and rugged mountains which          Margaret's home, her doors were al-
ries of leaders and theologians who             gave beauty and remoteness to the         ways open and shelter could always
bravely opposed prelacy but died                area. Margaret was left to tend the       be found with her.
"normal" deaths, the pages of                   farm herself and support her simple            But this was a crime in the eyes
Scotland's history are covered with             life from its products.                   of the law, and, although she was
the blood of many martyrs who suf-                  She was a very plain woman,           never caught in the act, the soldiers,
fered the cruelest of torments and              uneducated for the most part, early       who knew her absence from church
finally were killed for the sake of             old with the rigors of farm life. But     and opposition to prelacy, took ev-
their faith. They join a company of             she was noted throughout the area         ery opportunity to plunder her farm
illustrious saints who, throughout              as a woman of unusud intelligence         and rob her of her few possessions.
the ages, "loved not their lives unto           and piety.
death."                                             She had become persuaded of
    As examples of the faith of many            the biblical character of  Presby-        1    Our readers will recall that "prelacy"
such martyrs whose names are re-                                                          involved not only the hierarchical form of
                                                terianism and of the wickedness of
                                  \                                                       church government practiced by the Angli-
corded in heaven, we turn to the                prelacy. Not one to believe one           can Church, but also the heresy of
lives and deaths of two women who               thing and live differently from what      Arminianism. It is probably true that at least
shall serve as illustrations of those           she believed, she refused to go to        some of the Stuart kings were so insistent on
                                                                                          imposing prelacy because their ultimate ob-
                                                her church to worship when a cu-          jective was to restore Roman Catholicism in
                                                rate led the services and the wor-        England, and Anglican prelacy was a giant
                                                ship was according to Angliccan rites,    step in that direction.
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church His-                                                   2
                                                but insisted on worshiping with like-          Because it is important for our story, our
toy and New Testament in the Protes-                                                      readers ought to know that a firth is a nar-
                                                minded people on the Lord's Day           row arm of the sea sometimes running deeply
tant Reformed Semina y.                         in her home. Only when non-con-           inland.

44Wtandard  Bearer /July, 1995


    Before we proceed with her            edly to the courts to give account of     tryside, also took it upon themselves
story, we have to tell of another Mar-    themselves. Their possessions were        to require it of anyone they pleased.
garet, Margaret Wilson. Hers is a         pillaged. They were soon reduced          As often as not, if one refused to
strange story indeed.                     to abject poverty.                        swear the oath, he or she was sum-
    She was the oldest child of Gil-          Such were the circumstances on        marily shot in the open fields or in
bert Wilson, a farmer of Glenver-         the eve of the tragedy.                   their own homes.
neck, in the parish of Penningham,                                                       The three women (two, only
Wigtownshire. She had one brother,        Their martyrdom                           girls), Agnes and the two Margarets,
Thomas, who was about 16 at the               The cruel and heartless Charles       were required to swear this oath.
time of Margaret's martyrdom, and         II died. The wandering and home-          They refused to do this, for it had
one sister, Agnes, a girl of about 13     less saints thought they would now        become a Shibboleth of orthodoxy.
when Margaret died. They lived            have some surcease from danger.                On April 13, 1685 they were
near and knew well Margaret               The two Wilson girls came out of          summoned before the commission.
MacLachlan.                               their hiding to seek the comfort and      Several formal charges were brought
    The parents lived on a prosper-       encouragement of Margaret Mac             against them: they had been, so it
ous farm with good soil, abundant         Lachlan.3                                 was charged, on the battlefield of
crops, and many sheep and cattle.             They were permitted to spend          Bothwell  Bridge - a charge false on
But religious division characterized      only a few days with her before a         the face of it; they had attended field
the family, and, strangely enough, it     friend whom they trusted betrayed         preaching and conventicles - al-
was division between parents and          them, and soldiers were hastily sent      most certainly true.4
children.                                 to arrest them. Both girls, along with         However, since none of the
    How this is to be explained is        their host, were apprehended, and         charges could be proven, the three
not known. Most probably the en-          immediately the two girls were            were once again required to take the
tire family was in fact sympathetic       thrown into. "the thieves' hole,"         oath of abjuration. Again they re-
to the Presbyterian cause; but the        while Margaret Maclachlan was put         fused and a jury found them guilty
parents, for one reason or another,       into the prison in Wigtown.  Some         of treason. Sentence was pro-
were not prepared to stand for their      time later the two girls were also        nounced, and all three were ordered
principles, and so worshiped in the       put into the same prison, where they      drowned in the Firth of Solway.  The
local church under the curate and in      at least had each other's company.        date of execution was set at May 11.
the manner of prelacy.                        They were brutally treated. De-            The frantic father of Agnes and
    But the children were different       prived of warm fires and beds on          Margaret hurried to Edinburgh to
and apparently had stronger convic-       which to sleep; given insufficient        see if he could possibly stir up in
tions than their parents. They re-        food to stave off the pangs of hun-       the authorities some sense of mercy
fused to attend church when the cu-       ger, they were mocked and tor-            and clemency which would save his
rate presided, and they considered        mented.                                   daughters. All he succeeded in do-
such unbiblical worship to be a de-           One weapon especially was used        ing was to buy the freedom of his
nial of Christ their King.                against them. Charles II, before his      youngest daughter Agnes for !ZlOO;
    Even though they were children,       death, had given various commis-          but Margaret he could not save.
their absence from church did not         sions throughout the land the power            When the awful day came, the
go unnoticed. They were reported          to require of anyone what was called      two Margarets were led by soldiers
to the authorities, and when the gov-     an oath of abjuration. It was a kind      in chains to the banks of the firth. It
ernment threatened punishment,            of cruel tool which had a certain le-     was low tide, deliberately chosen as
they were forced to flee from their       gitimacy about it. The Cameronians,       the time for execution. Although the
home to seek refuge with other wan-       a Scottish clan from the Highlands,       townsfolk pleaded with the two
derers in the caves of the rugged         had earlier drawn up a manifesto          Margarets to save their lives by tak-
mountains of Galloway.                    which vowed to resist the king if he      ing the oath, they steadfastly refused.
    The parents did not escape suf-       continued his persecuting and God-             Margaret MacLachlan was tied
fering and were persecuted for their      defying ways. The oath of abjura-         first to a stake pounded into the
children's sake. They were forbid-        tion was an oath required randomly        sandy soil far out in the firth where
den to give their children food and       from people in which they would           the waters of the incoming tide
shelter and were constantly harassed      swear to renounce the manifesto of
to reveal where the children were         the Cameronians. To refuse was
hiding. Soldiers (sometimes as            considered an act of treason subject      3    Thomas stayed in the snows of the
many as 100) were quartered in their      to the penalties of death. Not only       mountains, and his life is lost from the
house and on their land, and the          did commissions randomly require          records.
                                                                                    I
family was expected to support            the oath of anyone who came their              Conventicles were house meetings
                                                                                    where the faithful would gather for worship
them. They were summoned repeat-          way, but soldiers, roaming the coun-      when they could not worship in the churches.

                                                                                                 July, 199WStandard  Bearetl445


would cover her. Margaret Wilson                   The way he'll sinners show;          be brought through martyrdom into
was tied to a similar stake closer into            The meek in judgment he will         the company of just men made per-
shore so that she could witness the                  guide                              fect.
death of her aged friend and fellow                And make his path to know.                    The soldiers departed, congratu-
saint before the waters would bury                                                      lating themselves on a job well done;
her.                                             And, upon finishing this Psalm,        the townsfolk returned to their
        It seems as if the older Marg-       she quoted the words of Romans 8:          homes to try to pick up the threads
aret, spent with the sufferings of           "Who shall separate us from the love       of their lives; but two more saints
many years, said not a word. One             of God...?"                                sealed their confession with their
of her tormentors shouted: "It is                When the waters had finally            blood.
needless to speak to that damned             choked her, but she was not yet                     "Women received their dead
old bitch; let her go to hell."              dead, the soldiers loosed her from         raised to life again: and others were
        As the cold sea waters, gradu-       her stake, dragged her to shore, re-       tortured, not accepting deliverance;
ally rising higher, engulfed the old         vived her, and once again confronted       that they might obtain a better res-
saint, and as Margaret Wilson was            her with the demand to pray for the        urrection: and others had trial of
forced to watch her drowning                 king. All the villagers, eagerly wish-     cruel mockings  and scourgings,  yea,
struggles, one of the soldiers mock-         ing to see her spared, cried, "Pray        moreover of bonds and imprison-
ingly said: "What do you think of            for the king!" Her response was that       ment: they were stoned, they were
her now." Margaret responded:                she wished the salvation of all men        sawn asunder, were tempted, were
"Think! I see Christ wrestling there.        and the damnation of none, and that,       slain with the sword: they wandered
Think ye that we are sufferers? No;          if God willed, He would save the           about in sheepskins and goatskins;
it is Christ in us, for He sends none        king: "Lord, give him repentance,          being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
a warfare at their own charges."5            forgiveness, and salvation, if it be       (of whom the world was not wor-
        When the now limp form of the        Thy holy will."                            thy:) they wandered in deserts, and
first Margaret was being tossed                  But the soldiers were not con-         in mountains, and in dens and caves
about by the swirling tide, the wa-          tent with that: "Damned bitch, we          of the earth. And these all, having
ters began to engulf Margaret Wil-           do not want such prayers." So once         obtained a good report through
son. Her lips were not silent. First         again they attempted to force her to       faith, received not the promise: God
she sang the stirring words of Psalm         take the oath of abjuration. Her re-       having provided some better thing
25.                                          sponse was: "No! No! No sinful             for us, that they without us should
          My sins and faults of youth        oaths for me. I am one of Christ's         not be made perfect." 0
          Do thou, 0 Lord, forget:           children. Let me go."
          After thy mercy think on me,           But it was not to be. They
          And for thy goodness great.        hurled her back into the waters of         5
          God good and upright is:           the firth, and there she drowned, to                That is, "which they must fight alone."





                      Living the Single Life

        A little over a year ago we wrote    those young people who are afraid          our lives that we will meet and
an article that addressed the fear of        that marriage might pass them by.          marry that young man or woman
single life (Vol. 70, No. 11, March 1,       Out of panic, these young people           He has chosen for us. We need not
1994). It was an article aimed at            might resort to some desperate and         fear or force the issue. We must sim-
                                             sinful means to solve their perceived      ply in faith follow the Lord's guid-
                                             problem. For that reason we encour-        ing.
Rev. Bruinsma  is pastor of First Prot-      aged our young people to rely on                   In connection with this we were
estant Reformed Church in Holland,           God in faith. If it is His will that we    also reminded that it is the Lord's
Michigan.                                    marry, He will guide the events of         will for some that they remain single

446lStandard  Bearer/July, 1955


their whole life. In these instances         shaped and molded our world and              vestibule of church, the fellowship
God has a purpose for these indi-            life view. Since God has established         often ends there.... For the person
viduals as single persons in His             His covenant in the line of contin-          who already feels "inferior, worth-
church. Singles also are a valuable          ued generations, we place much               less, and undesirable" such exclu-
                                                                                          sion compounds the problem. The
and necessary part of the church of          stress on the need for covenant              fear of single life (which is inher-
Jesus Christ. When we trust in God,          homes and marriages. That is only            ent in us) increases because there
He will make us realize that single          natural. We hear many sermons and            is very little if any support from
life also can be as fulfilling as mar-       read many an article and book on             our fellow saints.
ried life and can bring us great re-         the subject of marriage. We empha-
ward.                                        size the need to establish a good          This thought has been expressed by
    We review all this because I re-         marriage, since there is no room for       several to whom I have spoken.
ceived a fair amount of response to          divorce and remarriage. We are             Now, whether that is real or imag-
this article  - not so much from             taught the duties of husbands and          ined on their part makes little dif-
young people, however, as from               wives toward each other in that mar-       ference. It places all of us as mem-
younger and older single adults.             riage bond. We are taught that this        bers of the church (whether single
They appreciated the encouragement           relationship reflects the intimate         or married) before the question:
the article gave to them. One wrote:         bond of fellowship that exists be-         where does the single believer "fit"
"I really appreciated your article in        tween Christ and the church. Not           in the sphere of God's covenant and
the S.B. It not only pointed out the         only are we taught repeatedly of           church? If the church is incomplete
dangers of marrying foolishly, but it        marriage, but we are constantly re-        without them, how, in fact, do they
helped me to realize that as a single,       minded as well of our calling as cov-      fill out that body of Jesus Christ?
I fear it. In order to fight the battle      enant parents. No doubt the bap-               That is a difficult question to an-
of faith, we must realize who the            tism sermons in our denomination           swer, of course, because there are
enemy is." This response and oth-            dealing with this subject can be num-      so many varying circumstances in
ers like it serve to remind us as            bered in the thousands! Covenant           the life of every single person in the
God's people of the various needs            marriages, covenant children, cov-         church. For example, some may be
that exist among the members of the          enant homes and families -we hear          single, yet fully involved with the
church. There are those who are              it all the time! The very life of the      families of their own brothers and
beyond fearing the single life. They         church quite naturally centers in and      sisters. These feel their life complete.
are resigned to  living  the single life.    revolves around the family.                Other singles would just as soon be
    But this raises an important                 But, where does the single per-        left alone and on their own. They
question: what is the place of the           son fit in all of this? What is his or     enjoy their independence, and are
single person in the life of the church      her role in the covenant life of the       involved in the church as much as
and covenant? All of us must be              church? It is true: "God setteth the       possible. On the other hand, how-
sensitive to that question. As               solitary in families" (Ps. 68~6).  But     ever, there are certain singles that
churches we stress the covenant fel-         God does not set al2 the solitary in       are alone, away from family, and
lowship and friendship that God es-          families. What function does the           wanting so much to be a part of the
tablishes with us and with our chil-         single person serve in the church          covenant life of the church. The
dren in the line of our generations.         and covenant? That question is a           church and her members must be
This blessed truth has been a great          real one - especially when singles         sensitive to the varying needs of
comfort to us in all of life's difficul-     find themselves standing on the            these brothers and sisters in the
ties. There is not one individual in         fringes of the life of the church. Here    church.
the church of Jesus Christ who does          is how one single person expressed             Still, where do singles fit in the
not benefit from this truth. There is        it to me:                                  sphere of the church? The answer
nothing more encouraging to a be-                                                       lies in large part with the single saint
liever than to know that in every              Your article ("The Fear of Single        himself. I can answer theoretically,
circumstance of life God is our sov-           Life") concludes that the church         of course. The Bible teaches us
ereign Friend who will always be               would be incomplete without us....       clearly that all have a place and func-
there for us, to uphold and                    I  believe  that. However, experience    tion in the body of Christ. Paul in-
strengthen us. The comfort God's               often makes mefeel otherwise.... It
                                               is my experience that many mem-          structs us of this in I Corinthians
covenant affords us has been our               bers of our churches look at the         1232-27.  There he teaches us that
mainstay as Reformed believers.                single (especially the never mar-        the body is made up of many differ-
Never, therefore, would we want to             ried) as not fitting. This accounts      ent members. Some of these mem-
forsake this glorious truth of God's           for the pressure people put upon         bers we may think to be more im-
covenant.                                      their teenagers to marry. It also        portant than others, but in reality
    Yet, as with all truth, there fol-         accounts for the fact that while         they cannot function well without
lows life. Our covenant theology has           people may greet the single in the

                                                                                                    July, 19951Standard  SearerW7


the other members. Every member               me in particular? How can I use              brothers and sisters, to make them
has his proper function and part in           them in the service of the church?                feel like they fit? Simple inclusion
that body. Even those members that            How can I be involved in the labor           in our activities as families. When I
may seem more feeble or uncomely,             of the church in order that God's            visited one of our churches in the
on these we bestow, quite often, the          covenant might be carried on in the          West I noticed a particular family
greatest honor. The single saint may          generations of the believers I know          that included a single woman of the
think of himself as one of those              and love? Can I be a school teacher?              congregation in all of their family's
uncomely members of the church,               Can I be a Dorcas who is known for                activities. She was a natural part in
but this is far from true. God                           her almsdeeds? Can I serve        many functions; even meals of that
has tempered the body to-                ,,. the           on committees of the                 family. She fit! And she felt like
gether  in such a way that           single person          church that require the             she fit too! Who can withhold their
He gives more  abun-               in Christ's church       time and effort that a              "bowels of mercy" to that single per-
dant honor to that part            must set himself         married man cannot                  son who states: "The message needs
which lacks.                          to the task           give? How can I find                to be told that it is so helpful to me
        What more really            of discovering          my particular niche in              when people invite me over for cof-
can we say? With that                 what is his           the body of Jesus Christ?           fee after church." Is there scriptural
in mind the single per-            particular calling       With that positive  atti-           warrant for this? There surely is
son in Christ's church               in the church.        tude, we will find our               warrant! I Corinthians  12:2426:  ".;.
must set himself to the-task                              function in the church, and           God hath tempered the body to-
of discovering what is his par-                        understand that we are as                gether . . . that the members should
ticular calling in the church. To do          much a part of the body of Christ as              have the same care one for another.
this requires of him, first of all, con-      those who are married.                            And whether one member suffer, all
tentment. He must learn what each                    There remains, however, another            the members suffer with it; or one
of God's people must learn, "in                side to this whole question. Perhaps             member be honored, all the mem-
whatsoever state I am, therewith to           the single saint does discover this          bers rejoice with it." Galatians 62:
be content." We all must learn that           for himself. Yet, what about the feel-            "Bear ye one another's burdens and
our value as a person does not con-           ing (whether perceived or actual it               so  fulfiIl the law of Christ." Mat-
sist in whether we are married or              does not matter) left by others that             thew 25:40: "Verily I say unto you,
not. Our joy and satisfaction in life          despite all the single does, he or she           Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
are found in belonging to Christ.             simply does not fit. How sensitive                one of the least of these my breth-
Christ is our all! He has taken away          are we to the need of the single per-             ren, ye have done it unto me."
our sin and guilt and has incorpo-            son in our midst? It is true that                     By busying ourselves in the
rated us into the body of the church.         those with similar interests of-                     church as single members, and
He has called us and separated us             ten seek each other out.                                by including our single broth-
unto Himself that we might be His             When we are married, it is                 "We            ers and sisters in the Lord in
servants in all of life - no matter if        natural to seek out another         mu.9 t view           the events of our families,
we are a married person or a single.          married couple. When we              single life          we help alleviate the stigma
That is what is all important to us!          have an infant, it is natu-              not as            that may belong to living
And in that we can find contentment           ral to talk to another per-         an obstacle,           the single life. In turn, this
too!                                          son who has a baby.                  but as an             will assist in alleviating
        With that joy in our hearts we        When we are raising teen-         otmortunitu.d  "        much of the fear of living
then can set ourselves to discover            age children, it is quite           "                     single. Then, the blessed fee
what our function as an individual            natural that we seek out oth-                           lowship  we experience to-
is in the body of the church. As we           ers who have teenagers at home.                       gether in the family of God will
do, we bear in mind the Word of               But what room does this leave for                 extend to alI the members of God's
God in I Corinthians  732-34:  the            the single man or woman of our con-          household.  0
single saint "careth for the things           gregation to be a part of our lives?
that belong to the Lord, how he may           With some singles, as we said, this
please the Lord." This simply means           may not be a problem. With others
that the child of God who is                  it certainly is. (By way of an aside,
"unencumbered" with marriage and              the same difficulty often exists with
a family is able to devote much more          couples who cannot have chihlren,
time to the things of the Lord. A             or with widows and widowers in
minister I listened to recently stated        the church. They feel like a fifth
it well: "We must view single life            wheel.) As fellow saints we must
not as an obstacle, but as an oppor-          be sensitive to these needs.
tunity." What talents has God given                  What can be done to aid these

448Etandard  Bearer /July, 1995


A! v!d@rd Fit& ist$x$km                                                                              i?iw Dg& K&!l/@@lr
                                            Remember!
     What a wonderful gift is memory! The ability                 (Micah 65); and the entire anti-christian world power,
 to  recall words, ideas, and experiences belongs to              Babylon the great, for her iniquities (Rev. 18:1-5).
 man's creation in the image of God. More particu-                God remembers and punishes all unbelief and sin
 larly, the ability to remember belongs to that aspect            with plagues, death, mourning, famine, and  fire. The
 of the image of God called true knowledge. Memory                result is that everlastingly the wicked remember with
 allows the child of God to grow in the grace and                 useless remorse the sins they have committed against
 knowledge of Christ, and to enjoy friendship with                God and His church (Luke 1625).
 God on the basis of that knowledge. Truly we have                    Although the remembrance of God is perfect,
 been  fearfulIy  and wonderfully made. Those who                 there is one thing God forgets, and loves to forget.
 study the mind and memory inform us that the abil-               He does not remember our sins but is the One who
 ity to recall increases until the age of maturity (18-           blots them out (Is. 43:25); He does not remember the
 20 years); that repetition and review are great aids             sins of our youth (Ps. 25:7); in mercy He remembers
 in fixing information in the mind; and that the accu-            no more our unrighteousness, sins, and iniquities
 mulation of data seems to be a hindrance in remem-               (Heb. 8:12). The gospel truth that God sets our sins
 bering more information. Clearly, our children                   behind Him, that He casts them into the sea of ever-
 should be kept from storing up frivolous, useless                lasting forgetfulness, is not a fault or imperfection in
 facts lest their "memory banks" become too full to               the Godhead, but is a matter of righteousness and
 retain those things which are of eternal and spiritual           truth! Our sins are no more because they have been
 importance. God's comforting promise, "Train up a                blotted out, paid for, taken out of the way, through
 child in the way he should go: and when he is old                satisfaction and atonement at the cross of Jesus Christ.
 he will not depart from it" (Prov. 22:6) implies a               The cross God remembers and never forgets!
 remembrance of spiritual instruction and direction.                  In thankfulness for so great a salvation, we are
     Both the Hebrew and the Greek have a word,                   called to remember God (Deut. 8:18); His command-
 really a family of related words, that have a rich               ments (Num. 15:39);  His marvelous works (I Chron.
 variety of meanings: to make, to mention, to call to             1612);  the Sabbath Day (Ex. 20:8); our Creator in the
 mind, to recount, to remember. Monuments or me-                  days of our youth (Eccles. 12:l); our guilt before God
 morials also belong to these families of words. Since            (Deut.  9:7); the poor (Gal. 2:lO); all the saints (II Tim.
 the Christian religion is based on God's progressive             1:13); the Lord's death until He comes (I Cor. 11:24-
 revelation, we will see that the gift of memory is               25); those that have the rule over us in the church
 vital to God's covenant of friendship with us and                (Heb.  13:7); the welfare of Zion (Ps.  1325,  6); the
 our children.                                                    words of the Lord Jesus (Luke 24~6); and in the nega-
     The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is               tive, warning sense, Lot's wife (Luke 17~32).
 the God who remembers! He has perfect under-                         All these things are to be remembered, not merely
 standing of all things; ever before Him are all His              by the mind with its chemical/electrical impulses,
 works. God remembers His covenant (Gen. 9:15-                    but by the mind under the influence of a believing
 16); His servants (Deut. 9:27); His people for good              heart. They are to be remembered in faith, which is
 (Neh. 13:31);  our frame that we are dust (Ps. 103:14);          composed of the knowledge of all that God has re-
 His mercy and His truth (Ps. 105:80);  and His prom-             vealed in his Word and of confidence that God's
 ise (Ps. 105:42). The Lord writes a book of remem-               wonderful Word is not only for others but also for
 brance for them that fear Him and think upon His                 me! Remembering these things works conversion of
 name (Mal. 3:16). God's remembrance is not lim-                  life every day, in sorrow for the fact that we have
 ited to His faithfulness to His people, but He also              provoked this good God by our sins, and in rejoic-
 has in memory the wicked, especially for what they               ing in God through Jesus Christ by delighting to do
 have done, and do, to His people. God remembers                  the will of God in all good works.
 in wrath Amalek for what they did to Israel when                     Do we know the Word of God as we should,
 they came forth from Egypt (Deut. 25:17); Edom for               calling to mind His mighty works, His faithfulness,
 destroying Jerusalem and dashing her little ones                 His promises? Do we pray to God, calling upon
 against the stones (Es. 137~7); Balak and Balaam for             Him to remember us for good, and beseeching Him
 their attempt to curse those whom God blessed                    to remember our sins no more? As people of the
 Rev. Kuiper is pastor of Southeast Protestant Reformed Church    Book, remember!  0
 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

                                                                                                     July, 1955Dtandard  Bearer/449


                                                                                                  Prof. Decker examines the students in
                                                                                                             Church Polity





                                                                          Congratulations
,__     ._     .         .        _       -

`,                                                   _     `
                                                            ^`
                                                                    ,
        _
                    O?e'  of  the  highlights  _j
`.  of  Synod  1995:  '  Seminar-  `/I
I  iqns  JUlen  Bti&el  tid )I
,  _ Dotxglas  Ku.ip+  success-  :
; ,fully .susfGfi .fi& :&an& ;
i  riakioti  before  Synod  and  .j
i are  de-clared  car&d&es  <
: for &e': ti$&try: of jhe~ , j
: -W&ii: of God in the PI&Z., / -:
                     _'  _                _
                       ,  _I                   _                 ,  _:
:_             ._,  ..j  )...  I  ..^.              ~.  ._  :                                Graduation
45OlStandard  Bearer /July, 1995


               Rev. Gritters, Rev, VanOverloop

                                                                             Rev. Dykstra, Prof. Hanko





Rev. G.I. Williamson
  addresses Synod




                                                  Rev. Bruinsma


                                                                                            Rev. Slopsema





     Rev. Kuiper, Rev. VanBaren                                    Elders E. VanGinkel  and A. Rau

                                                                                         July, 199!VStandard  Bearer/451


  fL%vGh md s&B                                                                                      Mk e!&ii@@ Li%&Q%?g

                           Is It Morally Justifiable
            to Terminate Ordinary Medical
            Treatment for Dying Persons?

     "So when artificial nourishment         year old mother who was suffering          gation of a Christian long-term care
provides no detectable benefits but does     from advanced stage Alzheimer's            facility.
cause various sorts of hardships, one can    disease.                                        After a two-hour discussion, the
argue that withdrawing it signals cov-           The family explained that their        resident's family was excused from
enantal concern, not abandonment.  We        mother, a total care patient for al-       the meeting and our committee
conclude, then, that withdrawing artifi-     most ten years, had recently con-          faced the profoundly difficult ethi-
cial feeding should sometimes be per-        tracted a mild pneumonia (often            cal, religious, and legal question: Do
mitted and even recommended."                caused by aspirating food) and was         we advise the resident director to
              Christian Faith, Health,       also temporarily unable to swallow         comply with the family's wishes to
    &Medical Practice,  Bouma  et al.        food or water. The director had con-       withhold penicillin, food, and water
                        (Eerdmans, 1989)     tacted a doctor who prescribed peni-       from this dying woman, or is the
                                             cillin to combat the pneumonia and         nursing home ethically compelled to
    The phone call came about 4:00           a nasal feeding tube to provide nu-        provide "ordinary" care to all resi-
P.M.  on a melancholy March after-           trition and hydration. With angry          dents, including nutrition and hy-
noon as I was concluding a routine           tears, the irate daughters implored        dration?
day at my office. "We're calling an          our Ethics Committee to overrule the
emergency meeting of the Board's             resident director and comply with          Ethics, medicine, and law converge
Ethics Committee at 5:00  P.M. today         their written request to terminate the          In contrast to the early, 1900s
at our South building," said the Rest        penicillin and withhold all nutrition      when two-thirds of the people in the
Haven's Executive Director. "Can             and hydration. It was God's will,          United States died before age fifty
you be there? Dr. DeJong  is going           they insisted, that their mother die       in the family home setting, nowa-
to chair the meeting."                       from the natural consequences of           days 65% of an ever aging popula-
    Later, hurrying across the wet           advanced Alzheimers, even if this          tion dies in medical institutions and
asphalt parking lot in the light             entailed malnutrition and dehydra-         nursing homes. Advancing medical
drizzle toward the offices on the            tion. "She is not dying because she's      technology, rapidly changing laws
west wing of Rest Haven convales-            starving," said the Iowa daughter,         regarding patient's rights (including
cent home, I had a premonition that          "but she's starving because she's dy-      the so-called "right to die" and "ad-
this was to be a difficult meeting.          ing." Also their mother's "quality         vanced directives" legislation), and
The resident director introduced our         of life" was minimal, the daughters        diverse religious ethical views have
Ethics Committee to the family  -            reminded us, since she had been in-        made death and dying issues ex-
two middle-aged daughters, one               coherent, unresponsive, and totally        tremely problematic for dying pa-
from Iowa and the other from Indi-           bedridden for several years. To pro-       tients, their families, and Christian
ana. They had demanded this meet-            long her life now by "artificial" feed-    nursing homes and health care pro-
ing with the Board members, the              ing and medication, they argued,           viders.
resident director explained, because         would be interfering with God's will            The perennial controversy over
Rest Haven was failing to comply             that she die in this way.                  withdrawing "ordinary" medical
with the family's demands to termi-              The resident director calmly re-       care (see box) has recently focused
nate medical treatment for their 83          sponded that since the penicillin          on the controversial practice of with-
                                             medication and the tube feeding            holding food and water from a dy-
                                             were "ordinary" and not "extraor-          ing patient unable to swallow. Evan-
Mr. Lanting,  a member of South Hol-         dinary" or "heroic" means, such ru-        gelical Christians are now divided
land Protestant Reformed Church, is a        dimentary forms of medical treat-          over whether the termination of nu-
practicing attorney.                         ment were the minimal moral obli-          trition and hydration is tantamount

452lStandard Bearer /July, 1995


to euthanasia, a practice condemned       a little milk, Nighbert  touched an-           traordinary" means (see box). It is
by Reformed ethicists.                    other nurse on the arm and asked:              generally agreed by ethicists that
    But in their recent book, Chris-      "Would you please give me a little             "ordinary means" are morally
tian Faith, Health, and Medical Prac-     something to eat?" After this nurse            obligatory, while "extraordinary"
tice,  the authors (fellows at Calvin     reported the "starvation" to the au-           means of medical treatment are not.
College's Calvin Center for Chris-        thorities, a Florida court ordered that              But in the context of modern
tian Scholarship) conclude that with-     she be placed on a feeding tube un-            medical technology, how do we em-
holding food and water can "some-         til a full hearing could be held. But          ploy that classical distinction today?
times" be "recommended" (see lead         soon thereafter at the hearing, the            Are respirators ordinary or "extraor-
quote above), but readily admit this      Judge ordered that her feeding tube            dinary" means? What about antibi-
view has "possibilities for abuse":       be removed. He ruled that because              otics and penicillin? What about
                                          of her stroke she was not competent            nasogastric tube feeding or IV hy-
    We conclude, then, that with-         to revoke her 1992 power of attor-             dration?
  drawing artificial feeding should       ney given her brother, and her pleas
  sometimes be permitted and even         for food were to be ignored.                   Biblical perspective on death
  recommended. Our toleration for
  and cooperation with it, however,                                                      and dying
  require the satisfaction of two im-     Is tube feeding "extraordinarj"                      But because contemporary
  portant provisions: (1) safeguards      medical treatment?                             medical science has provided us
  must ensure that the welfare of the         Many states now treat withhold-            with a seemingly endless and bewil-
  terminally ill or permanently un-       ing of food and water no differently           dering array of therapeutic instru-
  conscious patient is the primary        than withholding medical treatment.            mentalities, when does the Reformed
  consideration, and (2) appropriate      In fact, in a 1987 North Dakota case           Christian family terminate treatment
  means must be used to minimize          spoon-feeding was held to be be-               of the dying loved one? John Frame
  the negative psychological side ef-     yond normal medical procedure.                 in his excellent book, Medical Ethics,
  fects. For some, however, these
  provisions may seem infeasible.         And reportedly many states permit              Principles, Persons and Problems (Pres-
  The possibilities for abuse and the     withdrawal of nutrition and hydra-             byterian and Reformed, 1988),  notes
  powerful symbolic nature of with-       tion if a patient cannot communi-              that "medicine's death-resisting in-
  drawing what is universally ac-         cate and has not previously made               stincts must be tempered by ones
  cepted as necessary to sustain          his wishes known.                              that are in some sense death-accept-
  physical life make us respect the           Death and dying issues often               ing." He reminds the reader that
  stand of those who find it morally      turn on terminology open to vigor-             Christians know there is a time to
  impermissible to cooperate in acts      ous debate. But a crucial distinction          be born and a time to die (Eccles.
  of withdrawing artificial means of      nearly universally accepted is the dif-        3:3). Moreover, `the believer knows
  providing nourishment.                  ference between "ordinary" and "ex-            that death is not final; it holds no
The dangers
    The author's concern about the
dangerous implications of withhold-          Power of Atto&y for Health Gare: a legal document authorizing a person . .
ing food and water is real. A recent          (an agent) to make heal& care decisio$  on behalf of.another (the princi-
issue of the National Right to Life           $Jal}. -The Power of Attorney for Health Care (POAHC) has many advan-
                                              tages over a Living Will, another type of ."advanced  directive."
News reports the case of Marjorie
Nighbert in northern Florida. In              L&& Will: a legal documem stating, that the declarant ~does not want
1992 Nighbert  signed a power of at-          death-delaying medical procedures used if the declarant develops a ter-
torney for health care (see box), giv-        minal condition. A "terminal condition" is often defined as an incurable
ing her brother complete control              a&d irreversible illness such that death is imminent.
over her medical decisions, and al-
legedly instructed him she did not            Health Care Skrogak:  many states now have a Health Care Surro8ate Act
want a feeding tube should she be             under which a voluntary individual, &led a "surrogate," may make Iife-
unable to swallow.                            sustaining treatment decisions for an incompetent terminally ill patient
                                              who has no Living Will or POAHC, The law usually provides the surro-
    Early in 1995 she suffered a              gate may be a spouse, adult,childr&, parents, siblings, etc.
stroke and was admitted to a con-
valescent home. Because her doctor                                                      . .
                                            U&inn@  and extraon&aiy  means: Ordinary means are all those medi-
and family feared she would aspi-             cines,. treatments, and operations which offer reasonable hope of benefit
rate food, they withheld all nutri-          aGd which  can be obtained and used without excessive exPense,.pain, or
tion rather than place her on a feed-         other inconvenience. Extraordinary or -heroic means are medical treat-
ing tube. Two weeks after one nurse         i ments which are not ordinary. Most ethicists concur that ordinary means
had been disciplined for giving her          .are often moralIy  obligatory even in the. treatment of the, termizially  ill.
                                                            _


ultimate terrors; it is the doorway          prolong an irreversible process of        exaggerate the compromising con-
to eternal life.                             dying. By "terminal illness" is           ditions of the terminal illness.
     Frame then suggests the follow-         meant an incurable, irreversible,         Principle Three: A dying person
ing guideline for termination of treat-      and hopeless illness.                     must always be afforded palliative
ment for the dying patient (which I                                                    care including pain management,
                                                                                       normal nursing care, and the Chris-
shall call Principle One):                     To this general principle must
                                           be added the two additional death           tian love, compassion, and under-
                                                                                       standing needed when death is im-
  Principle One: When a disease has        and dying guidelines that have been         minent.
  advanced to the point where no           suggested by certain Roman Catho-
  known therapy exists and death is        lic scholars and ethicists:                   It is suggested that these broad
  imminent (within two weeks with-
  out intensive medical support) de-         Principle Two: Nutrition and hy-        guidelines may be helpful for Re-
  spite the means used, then forms           dration may not be withdrawn or         formed Christian families confront-
  of treatment that would secure only        withheld from a patient if to do so     ing death and dying issues in today's
  a precarious and burdensome pro-           would result in death from starva-      culture where the secular principles
  longation of life may be discontin-        tion or dehydration rather than         of medical economics, so-called
  ued or withheld. In truly terminal         from the underlying terminal illness    "quality of life" issues, and eutha-
  cases the use of certain means             or injury unless the provision of       nasia considerations are gaining
  would not be therapeutic, but only         such would cause complicalfions or      frightening influence.  Q



First Protestant Reformed Church,                                                                              May lo,1995
Grand Rapids, Michigan
     Classis East met in regular ses-      mittee of classis to oversee the orga-    blessing upon him in his future la-
sion on Wednesday, May 10, 1995            nization of this new congregation.        bors at Lynden PRC and  Classis
at the First Protestant Reformed           The delegates ad  examina  from           West.
Church of Grand Rapids. Each               Classis West concurred with classis           Classical appointments were
church was represented by two del-         in granting this request.                 granted to Byron Center for the
egates. Rev. R. Flikkema was the               The report of the Stated Clerk        evening service and to First Church,
chair of this session. Also in atten-      and the Classical Committee were          Grand Rapids. The schedule has
dance were the delegates ad exumina        received.                                 been sent to all the churches and will
from  Classis West, Revs.  Houck,              Classis East bid farewell to Rev.     not be duplicated here. Rev. D.
Key, and Terpstra.                         Meindert Joostens, who wiIl be mov-       Kuiper was appointed as the mod-
     The highlight of the meeting was      ing to the Lynden PRC. The follow-        erator for First Church and Rev.
the granting of permission by classis      ing resolution was adopted regard-        Slopsema as moderator for the
for the organization of the Grace          ing the work of Rev. Joostens in          newly-formed Grace PRC.
Protestant Reformed Church to be           Classis East: that  Classis East rec-         T h e   e x p e n s e s   o f   classis
located in the Standale/Tallmadge          ognize the departure of Rev. M.           amounted to $1,208.42.  Classis will
area. This is a daughter church of         Joostens from our classis in which        meet next at Hudsonville on Sep-
Hope PRC. Twenty-one families and          he has faithfully labored for almost      tember 13,1995.
eleven individuals had signed the          22 years and to express our grati-                      Respectfully submitted,
request for organization. Hope             tude to God for his labors and fel-                                Jon J Huisken,
Church was appointed as the com-           lowship among us and pray God's                                  Stated Clerk Q



                                                                                     one. This tape of a speech given by
                                           Evangelism Activities                     Rev. G. VanBaren, pastor of the
                                               In its ongoing effort to spread       Loveland, CO PRC, was' entitled,
                                           the Reformed truth throughout their       "Does God Desire the Salvation of
                                           community, the Evangelism Com-            All Men?"
                                           mittee of the Immanuel PRC in                 Rev. VanBaren was also fea-
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protes-      Lacombe, AB, Canada made another          tured in an evangelism effort by the
tant Reformed Church  of  Hudsonville,     tape available, free to church mem-       Hudsonville, MI PRC. Their Evan-
Michigan.                                  bers or anyone else who would like        gelism Committee advertised a ser-

4!WStandard  Bearer /July, 1995


mon given by Rev.  VanBaren on            privilege to preach in the Fist Chris-         Since that decline the Council of
Proverbs  29:15 entitled, "The            tian Reformed Church of East              the Edgerton  PRC formed another
Mother's Important Work." This of-        Friesland, WI. He preached from           tio consisting of the Revs. Flikkema,
fer, for either a cassette or video       John 21:22b,  the uncompromising          Key, and Houck Their congrega-
tape, appeared the week before            call of Christ, "Follow Thou Me."         tion has since extended a call to Rev.
Mothers' Day and promoted a Re-                                                     Hoi&
formed, biblical view that honored        Mission Activities
women and showed the beauty of                At the request of the Foreign         Denominational Activities
mothers.                                  Mission Committee of our churches,            On May 11 parents and Sunday
    The Reformed Witness Commit-          the Consistory of the Hull, IA PRC        School teachers in the Grand Rap-
tee of the Doon and Hull, IA PRCs,        granted their pastor, Rev. R. Moore,      ids, MI area met together at Faith
along with the Edgerton, MN PRC,          leave to show the slides of Ghana         PRC in Jenison, MI to hear Pastor R.
continues to sponsor their weekly         for the information of our churches.      VanOverloop  explain the importance
live call-in radio broadcast entitled     You may remember that Rev. Moore,         of Sunday School in helping to keep
Reformed Perspectives. On a recent        along with Elder D. VanderMeer,           God's Word alive in the hearts of
broadcast, time was spent introduc-       and their wives, were in Ghana,           children over the summer months.
ing the PRC to the listeners, empha-      West Africa for six weeks at the end      Four sectionals  were also given by
sizing our roots and our distinctive-     of last year. On May 16 Rev.-Moore        four area school teachers.
ness, and debunking some common           was in the Chicago area, at the Holi-         We close this issue with a spe-
myths about our churches. This pro-       day Inn in Itacsa, showing slides as      cial note of congratulations to all our
gram continues to be heard on sta-        the guest of the Bethel PRC. The          graduates for this year. May the
tion KTSB 93.9 FM at 9:00 p.m. on         next night the Evangelism Commit-         Lord bless you in all your future ef-
Sunday evenings.                          tee of First PRC in Grand Rapids,         forts. This closing Food For Thought
    The Church Extension Commit-          MI sponsored Rev. Moore as he             is just for you.
tee of the Loveland, CO PRC con-          showed his slides there. The follow-                 Foodfor  Sought
tinues to be busy distibuting pam-        ing evening, the 18th, our Hope PRC           "Education is what remains
phlets and bulletins to addresses in      in Walker, MI served as host for Rev.     when we have forgotten all that we
the area of their church. They also       Moore. These programs proved to           have been taught."
planned a special Sunday evening          be a wonderful opportunity to hear                    - Marquis of Halifax 0
service on May 21, when their pas-        an informal report of the mission
tor spoke on the subject, "How Does       work being done by our churches in
One Get to Heaven?"                       Ghana and to learn about the future
    Rev. R. Flikkema, pastor of the       plans for developing this field.
Covenant  PRC in Wyckoff, NJ,
spoke at a public lecture sponsored       Minister Act-Cities                              WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
by Covenant's Evangelism Commit-              A farewell program was held for           On May 24, our beloved parents,
tee on May 19. His theme, "God's          Rev. Joostens and his family at First       MR. and MRS. MARVIN HAVEMAN,
Little White Church in the Woods,"        PRC in Grand Rapids, MI on May            celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
was designed particularly to inform       21, where he served for 17 years.             As their children, we would like to
others about Covenant, but also to        The following Sunday evening, May         thank them for the covenant instruction we
serve as a reminder to the congre-        21, Rev. Joostens preached his final      received from them and for their love and
gation of who they are.                   sermon at First, entitled "Farewell,"     support shown in so many ways. We re-
    In an effort to coordinate the        based on Acts 20:18-22.                   joice with them in the many blessings God
evangelism activities and the needed          Since Rev. W. Bruinsma's de-          has given them through the years.
follow-up labors of the Trinity PRC       cline of the call he had received from        "I will bless the Lord at all times: his
in Houston, TX, the Council there         First in Grand Rapids, the Council        praise shall continually be in my mouth
decided to organize an Evangelism         of First formed a new trio of pas-        (Psalm 34:l).
Association. Their first meeting was      tors: Revs. R. Dykstra, J. Slopsema,      T& Brent and Wilma Overway
held May 23.                              and C. Terpstra, and on May 28 the        @ Les and Joyce Haveman
    This summer, as in the past, the      congregation there extended a call        @  Glare   Haveman
congregation of the Pella PRC in          to Rev. J. Slopsema.                      & Cal and Eunice Yonker
Pella, IA, will host a series of semi-        Rev. A. denHartog  of the Hope        $I? Doug and Marleen Haan
nars. The subject for this year will      PRC in Redlands, CA declined two          5% Deane and Donna Wassink
be, "The Return of Christ." The first     calls he was considering to serve as      $I? John and Deb Haveman
seminar was held on June 8.               pastor, one from the Byron Center,              29 grand children
    Rev. S. Key, pastor of the            MI PRC and the other from the                   2 great grand children
Randolph, WI PRC, again had the           Edgerton, MN PRC.                                                          Zwland,  Michigan

                                                                                                     July, 199VStandad  Bearer/m


                                                                                                                                  SECOND CLASS
                                                                                                                                  Postage Paid at
                                                                                                                                  Grandville, Michigan
        P.O.Box603
        Grandville,  MI 49468-0603

 I                                                                                                                                                     1

          RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                             RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                                      NOTICE!!
         The Christian Fellowship Society of the            The Council of Faith Protestant Re-              Classis West of the Protestant Re-
 Hull Protestant Reformed Church expresses             formed Church expresses their sincere sym-       formed Churches will meet at the South
 heartfelt Christian sympathy to Jeff and              pathy to Elder Gary Kaptein and Deacon           Holland Protestant Reformed Church in
 Rose Andringa and family in the loss of               Mark Scholten and their families in the          South Holland, IL, on Wednesday, Sep-
 their infant son,                                     death of                                         tember 20, 1995 at  8:30 a.m., the Lord
               JAMES ANDRINGA,                                     MR. HENRY KAPTEIN.                   willing. (Consistories should note the late
 whom God gathered to Himself in glory                      "Blessed are the dead that die in the       date, which immediately precedes the
shortly after birth on April 13, 1995. May             Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit,     September 21,22  Seminary Conference on
 they find comfort and strength from God's             that they may. rest from their labors; and       "Reformed Church Government" to be held
 Word: "Thou shalt guide me with thy coun-             their works do follow them" (Revelation          in Grand Rapids). All material for the
 sel, and afterward receive me to glory.               15:13b).                                         Agenda is to be in the hands of the Stated
 Whom have I in heaven but thee? And                                           Rev. K. Koole, Pres.     Clerk thirty days before  Classis convenes.
 there is none upon earth that I desire be-                                          F. Hanko, Clerk    Delegates who need lodging or transporta-
 side thee" (Psalm 73:24,  25).                                                                         tion from the airport should notify the Clerk
              Rev. Richard G. Moore, President               RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY                     of South Holland's consistory, using the
                       Patty  Pollema,  Secretary           The Council of Faith Protestant Re-         forms provided for this purpose.
                                                       formed Church expresses their sincere sym-                                    Rev. Steven Key,
                      NOTICE!!!                        pathy to Deacon Donald VanDyke and his                                             Stated Clerk
          With thankfulness to God, the faculty        family as well as to members Gary
 of the Protestant Reformed Theological                VanDyke and family on the loss of their
 Seminary inform the churches that they                father and grandfather,
      have licensed seminarians Daniel Kleyn                        HERMAN VAN DYKE.                        NOTIFICATION OF CANDIDACY
 and James Laning to speak a word of edi-                   "For we know that if our earthly house           The consistories of the Protestant Re-
 fication in the meetings for public worship.          of this tabernacle were dissolvecl, we have      formed Churches in America are hereby
 Both have recently completed their second             a building of God, an house not made with        informed that the 1995 Synod of the PRC
 year of study at the Seminary. The sched-             hands, eternal in the heavens" (II               has declared Mr. Allen Brummel and Mr.
 uling of their speaking in the worship ser-           Corinthians  5:l).                               Douglas Kuiper candidates for the gospel
 vices of the congregations will be done by                          Rev. Kenneth Koole, President      ministry in the Protestant Reformed
 the Seminary.                                                                    Fred Hanko, Clerk     Churches. The two candidates will be eli-
                                   For the faculty,                                                     gible for a call on or after July 15, 1995.
               Prof. David J. Engelsma, Rector                          NOTICE!!!                                       Don Doezema, Stated Clerk
                                                            The Federation of Protestant Reformed
                      NOTICE!!                         Christian Schools is seeking applicants for
          Grandville Protestant Reformed               the new position of Executive Director of              RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
 Church is offering private notes to help  fl-         the Federation. For more information,                 The Council and congregation of the
 nance  the new classroom addition to their            please telephone Gene DeBoer  at (818)           Loveland Protestant Reformed Church ex-
 church building. Competitive rates and                889-2835 or mail to Gene  DeBoer  at 4702        tends their sympathy to Mr. and Mrs. Glen
 terms are offered. Please call John G.                40th Ave., Hudsonville, Ml 49428. Dead-          Griess in the death of
 VanBaren for details at (818) 898-7333                line for application is July 31.                            MR. JOE BRUMMEL,
 (evenings); or (818) 889-5337 (days).                                                                  father of Mrs. Twyla Griess, and to their
                                                                        NOTICE!!!                       children and to Miss Patti Post in the death
 ATTENTION PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS                             Hope Protestant Reformed Christian          of their grandfather. May God graciously
          Protestant Reformed Special Educa-           School will be in need of a principal for the    sustain them in the assurance that "as we
 tion has available scholarship money for              1998-1997 school year, Those interested          have borne the image of the earthy, we
 anyone who desires to pursue a career in              should contact the school at 1545 Wilson         shall also bear the image of the heavenly"
 Special Education. For further information,           Avenue SW., Grand Rapids, Ml 49544,              (I Corinthians  1549).
 please contact Dave Rau at (818) 453-4344             (818) 453-9717 or John VanBaren, (818)                              Rev. G. VanBaren, Pres.
 or Jerry VanderKolk  at (818) 888-3533.               532-7387.                                                         Mr. David Poortinga, Clerk

 4!WStandard  Bearer /July, 1995


