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A Reformed
Semi-Monthly
Magazine





                                    CQMVQCATION:
                              Presentation of PRC Seminary
                                   student body 1995


Vol. 72,No.T
October 1,1995


CONTENTS:                                                                                                                                      October  I, 1995
I                                                                                                                                                                                                           I
Meditation - Rev. Cornelius Hanko
         Humble Thanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Editorials - Prof. David J. Engelsma
         Prospects for the New Volume-Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...--<... 5                                                                             ISSN 03624692
         Hoeksema on a Controversy in the OPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*................. 5                                                                                                   Bemlmonthly,  except monthly dudng June, Juty, and August.
Ministering to the Saints - Prof. Robert D. Decker                                                                                                                                                               Pubilahed by the Reformed Free Publishing Awociatlon,  Inc.,
         Christ Jesus, Our Minister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8                                            4808  IvanreM  Ave.,  Grandvllle,  MI  46418.  Seoond  Class
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Postage Peid at Grandvflle, Michigan.
All Around Us - Rev. Gise J. VanBaren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Church and State - Mr. James Lanting                                                                                                                                                                             Pootmadn: Send address changes to the Standard Bearer,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 P.O. Box 803. Grendville, MI 484860643.
         Narrow Victory for Religious Expresslon:                                                                                                                                                                EDfTORfAL COMMRTEE
             Government Funding Allowed                                                                                                                                                                          Editor: Prof. David J. Engefsma
             for Christian Student Newspaper *.................*.........*....*....*......... 11                                                                                                                 Beuebuyz Prof. Rdxrt D. Decker
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Managlq  Editor:  Mr. Don Doezeme
Contending for the Faith  - Rev. Bernard Woudenberg                                                                                                                                                              DEPARTMENT EDfTORS
         Children In the Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13                                             Rev. Wilbur Brulnrma. Rw. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert
News from Seminary Hill - Prof. David J. Engelsma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16                                                                                                 Docker. Rev. Ark, denHartcg, Rev. Cerf Haak,  Prof. Herman
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Hanko, Rev. RonaM Hanko, Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Dale
Seminary Open House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17                                 Kulper,  Mr.  Jamw   MurUng,  Mm.  MarySeth  Lubbers,  Raw.
Bring the Books - Herman Hoeksema                                                                                                                                                                                Thomaa   Mlerrma,  Rev.  Glae  VanBaren,  Rev.  Ronald
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 VenDv~. Mr. Swrjamln  Wlgger,  Rev. Ssmard Woudenberg.
        The Sincere Offer of the Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Search the Scriptures - Rev. Carl J. Haak                                                                                                                                                                        EDfTORtAL OFFICE             CHURCH NEWS  EDITOR
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The Standard Bearer          Mr. Ben Wlgger
        The Miracle at the Pool of Bethesda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20                                                                       4640 Ivanmat                 6697  4OlhAve.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Grandville.  MI  48416       Hudsonvllle.  Ml  46426
When Thou Sittest in Thine House - Rev. Ronald J. VanOverloop
         "Maturity" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21         BUSINESS OFFlCE              NEW  EALdND  OFFICE
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The Standard Barer           The Standard Bearer
News From Our Churches - Mr. Benjamin Wigger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23                                                                                                Don Doezeme                  do 8. VenHerk
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 P.O.  Box 603                66FmserSL
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Grandvllle. Ml               Walnulomata, New Zealand

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 P:z- ,490                    UNfTSD  KINGDOM OFFICE
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          (616) 5381776       c/o Mr. Jonathan McAuley
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 FAX  (616)631-3033           164 chuti  Rd., Glenwfwry
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Sellymene, Co. Anklm  BT42  3EL
        Humility is the theme of emeritus minister Rev. Cornelius Hanko's med-                                                                                                                                                                t4orWm  lrel3nd
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 EDfTORtAL PDUCY
itation on II Samuel 218, 19. "Humility," writes Hanko, "is . . . the earmark                                                                                                                                    Every edkor Is solely reapon~fble  for 6w contenta of his own
of every true servant of God."                                                                                                                                                                                   arbclw. Contrlbutlonr,o(generallnlereatmmwrree~rsand
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 questtone for me Rsadw Aska deparbnsnt are wekame.
        Serving is the instruction of Prof. Robert Decker's opening article in a                                                                                                                                 Contdbut!ona will  be llmited to approxlmetely 300 words and
series on "Ministering to the Saints." "Jesus is the minister of the saints." He                                                                                                                                 rmmtbeneetfywdttenortypmvrMen,andmwtbaslgned.               Copy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 deadllnea  are  the  first   end  fffteenth  of  the  month.  All
is this also "through the saints themselves."                                                                                                                                                                    ornnmunkaffone relative to the contents should be sent to the
        Rev. Carl Haak explains one of Jesus' acts of service in the rubric, "Search                                                                                                                             edltorlfll office.
the Scriptures." This is His healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda.                                                                                                                                    REPRINT POLICY
It is "a sign of the power of salvation to take us who cannot walk in the                                                                                                                                        PermlsaknIsherebygrantsd~~ersprlnB~otartlclesInour
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 magadnebyolherpublk,pfovkkd: a)thatwchraprlnted
ways of God."                                                                                                                                                                                                    arfklerare  reproduced In full: b) (hat prcperecknowiedgment
        Spiritual maturity is described by Rev. Ron VanOverloop. Spiritual                                                                                                                                       b made; c) that e copy of the perfodkal  In WhNh Sum reprint
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 appear 18 sent to our edkodel offke.
maturity is . . . well, what is it? Long-time membership in the church? Regu-                                                                                                                                    SUB6cRIPTloN POUCY
lar attendance at the worship services7 Intellectual sophistication? Read                                                                                                                                        SubwfpUon  prke:  $17.00  per  year  In  the  U.S.,   62600
"Maturity."                                                                                                                                                                                                      ekewhere.   Unless a definlte reque&  for  discontinuance Ia
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 reoelvad,  ft  Ie  assumed   that  the  aubwlber  wNhw  the
        Attorney James Laming informs of a recent Supreme Court decision                                                                                                                                         eubscrlptkntomnb'nue,andhewillbeMlledtwrenewal. tfyw
bearing on the relationship of church and state in the United States. See                                                                                                                                        havea~~eo(add~,pl~mt~~eBudnaps~ceaa
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 early  aa  possible  In  order  to  avokf  the  lncorrvenlence  of
"Narrow Victory for Religious Expression."                                                                                                                                                                       Interrupted deltvery. Include your Zip or P&al Code.
        Controversy in the Reformed churches over the promise of God to cove-                                                                                                                                    ADVERTMINO  POLKZY
nant children is Rev. Bernard Woudenberg's subject in the new rubric, "Con-                                                                                                                                      m0 SMnderdf3werdoe~ not accept oommerclal  advertlslng
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 of my ldnd. Announcement8 of church and school events,
tending for the Faith." However, he continues a treatment begun earlier in                                                                                                                                       ennlversarlee,  oblbmriw. and eympethy resolutiona  will ba
another rubric.                                                                                                                                                                                                  p!acedforaSlO.Wfee. TheceohwldbesenttomeBuslness
        Rev. Gise VanBaren notes that all around us is renewed interest in the                                                                                                                                   ~andshouldk,aoeompnlsdby~eSlO.Wfw. Deadline
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 for anncnmcement8  Ia et lea8t one month prfw to publkatlon
teaching of a "well-meant offer" of salvation, not all of it favorable. Against                                                                                                                                  date.
this heresy in Calvin&tic circles, Herman Hoeksema, though dead, yet                                                                                                                                             BOUND VOLUMES
speaketh (see the rubric, "Bring the Books").                                                                                                                                                                    The  SuslnMe  Gffice will aoxpt 8tandlng orders  for bound
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 mpleadthecurrentvdumr.  StiorderaarefilNdassoonaa
        Last (though often read first), Mr. Benjamin Wigger gives us some news                                                                                                                                   possible efter completion of a volume year.
of the denomination, particularly of the schools.                                                                                                                                                                1 Bmm mlcrofilm,  26mm mkxrfilm and 1 D6mm mIcrofiche, and
                                                                                                                                                                                      - DJE                      artkzle  copier,   ere  evallable  through  Univenlty  Mkrofrlms
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 InternatIonal.

2lStandard  Bearer /October 1,1999


                                Humble Thanks

    Then went king David in, and sat        nent abode among His people Israel           presence of the adorable, sovereign
before the Lord, and said, Who am 1, 0      be built for the Lord. Even the              Adonai, the unchangeable,  ever-
Lord God? and what is my house, that        prophet Nathan agrees that this              faithful Jehovah, who keeps cove-
thou hast brought me hitherto? And          would be pleasing to God.                    nant forever, we are but dust and
this was yet a small thing in thy sight,            But they were both mistaken. Je-     ashes.
0 Lord God; for thou hast spoken also       hovah had far greater plans in mind              "What is man that thou art
of thy servant's house for a great while    for David and His people Israel. In          mindfulofhim?"
to come. And is this the manner of          vision the Lord spoke to the proph-              Scripture never ceases to remind
man, 0 Lord God?                            et, informing him that David would           us that "all flesh is grass, and all the
                    II Samuel 7:18,19.      have a son, and that this son would          goodliness  thereof is as the flower
                                            build the Lord's house, for in this          of the field. The grass withereth,
    King David is overwhelmed,              son Jehovah would prove His faith-           the flower fadeth because the Spir-
filled with awe and gratitude! It is        fulness by establishing David's              it of the Lord bloweth upon it: sure-
all so marvelous, so incomprehensi-         throne forever. Typically Solomon            ly the people is grass" (Is. 40:6, 7). .
ble, exceeding his fondest imagina-         would represent the promised                     The Lord reminded David from
tion.                                       Christ, who builds the house of God          time to time that, "I took thee from
    He goes to the house of God and         eternally in the heavens, whose king-        the sheep tote, from tending the
sits in worship and adoration before        dom is an everlasting kingdom and            sheep." He himself admitted, "Who
that great God of Israel. He is             whose throne is eternal in the heav-         am I and what is my father's
wrapped in deep humiliation and             ens.                                         house?"
prayer as he declares, "Who am I, 0                 Jehovah assures His servant of           Our ancestry gives us no reason
Adonai Jehovah, that thou hast              His covenant faithfulness. In the line       to boast. It is amazing, but so very
brought me hitherto, . . . that thou        of David and Solomon the Christ,             true, that not many mighty, not
hast spoken also of thy servant's           the Savior, the eternal King of kings,       many noble are found within the
house for a great while to come?"           the Lord over the whole universe             church. God gathers His people of-
    The Lord had given David vic-           would be born.                               ten out of the common fok the farm-
tory over all his enemies. The land                 Do you wonder that David was         ers, sheepherders, factory workers,
was at rest for the first time since        overwhelmed? Should not he be?               bricklayers, carpenters, shopkeepers.
the agonizing times of the judges           Should you and I not be over-                Dr. Abraham Kuyper spoke of "de
and the distressful days of Saul,           whelmed for what God has done for            kleine luyden, " "the commonfolk,"
when the enemy overpowered and              us and promised us?                          whom God uses to bring reforma-
held Israel in subjection.                                                               tion in the church.
    The king's thoughts turn toward                                                          Added to that, shamefacedly we
a permanent house for his God, a                                                         admit that we are guilty of trans-
temple for Adonai Jehovah. He him-                  Who am I, 0 Lord God?                gressing all God's commandments,
self dwells in a house of cedar, but                The Pharisee in us is inclined to    of constantly sinning against Him by
a mere tent made of curtains still          boast of our virtues and accomplish-         failing to give Him the glory He is
serves as the dwelling of God. Sure-        ments. Our sinful flesh may be               worthy to receive, to trust in Him
ly the time had come that a perma-          pleased to think that there is some          with our whole being as we ought.
                                            good, some common grace in every             "I am evil, born in sin. Thou desirest
                                            man, also in us.                             truth within."
                                                    But when we are on our knees             This humility is and should be
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in        before the face of the Lord, all boast-      the earmark of every true servant of
                                            ing is excluded. When we are in the
the Protestant Reformed Churches.                                                        God; whether prophet, priest, or

                                                                                                    October 1,1995lStandard  Bearer/3


king; whether minister, elder, or dea-     en to father Abraham, "I will estab-         that God takes from our children to
con; or whether serving in the office      lish my covenant between me and              claim them as His own. Yes, even as
of all believers.                          thee and thy seed after thee in their        members of the church we share that
     We are saved solely by grace ac-      generations for an everlasting cove-         privilege. Each child that is bap-
cording to God's sovereign good            nant, to be a God unto thee, and to          tized is included as a member of the
pleasure.                                  thy seed after thee."                        congregation. He or she is a mem-
                                                    He knows by faith that he is a      ber of the family of God. We say
         *+-u*                             member of that universal church              with the church of all ages, "I will
                                           which the Son of God gathers, de-            open my mouth in a parable: I will
     David's amazement only in-            fends, and preserves from the be-            utter dark sayings of old: Which
creases as he adds, "And this is but       ginning to the end of the world.             we have heard and known, and our
a small thing in thy sight."                        He looks forward to the fulfill-    fathers have told us. We will not
     Twice he takes these two exalt-       ment of God's promises, the day              hide it from their children, shewing
ed names: Adonai Jehovah, upon             when the promised Savior will come           to the generation to come the prais-
his lips. In deepest reverence and         to bring salvation.                          es of the Lord, and his strength, and
awe the man of God addresses God                    He marvels that he may be in-       his wonderful works which he has
as  Adonai, Sovereign Lord. Our            cluded in that covenant line out of          done" (Ps. 78:2-4).
God is Self-sufficient in His eternal      which the Savior will be born.                   Who is not moved in the depth
perfections. He has no need of                      He sees, as it were, that cove-     of his being by the thought that God
men's  hands to be worshiped by            nant line that ran from Adam                 is willing to use us in a small way
them.                                      through Noah to Abraham, from                for the gathering of His church and
     He is the God of infinite virtues.    Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through            the coming of His kingdom? Who,
He is sovereign in His eternal             Judah to David. And now to him               realizing his own unworthiness,
thoughts, plans, and purposes. All         comes the promise that the royal line        does not pray (as our fathers did in
power, all authority belongs to Him.       will continue after him even to the          the past), "Cut us not off in our gen-
No one is His counselor. His coun-         One who will sit upon David's                erations"? And who does not hum-
sel stands and He does all His good        throne forever. Along with that, the         bly thank his God when he sees his
pleasure. All nations are before Him       covenant line will continue to Mary          children's children walking in the
as a drop of the bucket, as a particle     and Joseph, to Jesus, the Savior.            fear of the Lord? Amazing grace!
of dust in the balance. He alone is                 That line still continues unbro-
sovereign Lord over all. 5                 ken even to our present day. We
     Adonai Jehovah. The latter is         can see how the line carried on from
God's covenant name. He who is             Jerusalem to Antioch, to Asia Minor              "And is this the manner of man,
completely self-sufficient in His own      and to Europe, to England, Scotland,         0 Lord God?"
glorious being has freely and sover-       Wales, and Ireland, and across the               I Chronicles 1737, where this
eignly chosen the Son, the second          sea to the Americas, continuing on           narrative is repeated, can well serve
Person of the divine Trinity, to re-       to the ends of the earth as God un-          as a commentary on this statement.
veal all His infinite perfections. To      failingly gathers His own unto Him-          There David adds: "And hast re-
Christ He gives a people to be His         self.                                        garded me according to the estate
sons and daughters, who bear His                    What a privilege to be a cove-      of a man of high degree."
blessed image and likeness. With           nant parent! With tender awe we                  God's people are very special in
that people God established His cov-       take that little speck of life in our        God's sight. Already in the old dis-
enant, takes them into His heart, into     arms. What a marvel! A  gift of              pensation the church sang
His life, and into His blessed fellow-     God. A very personal gift, for this              Zion, founded on the mountain,
ship to dwell in His new creation          child is very much like its parents,               God, thy Maker, loves thee
for endless ages to come. God is           yet an individual, with his own per-                 well;
the eternal "I am," the almighty, un-      sonality to live the life God has ap-            He has chosen thee, most pre-
changeable, ever-faithful covenant         pointed for him and to serve the                   cious,
God.                                       purpose for which he was created.                  He delights in Thee to dwell;
                                                    What a blessing that we may             God's own city, God's own city,
                                           present this child for baptism, mak-               Who can all thy glory tell?
                                           ing our vows and, by the grace of                While in the new dispensation
    Thus David adds, "But thou hast        God, assuming our responsibility as          the apostle Peter declares concem-
spoken also of thy servant's house         covenant parents to rear this child          ing God's covenant people, "Ye are
for a long time to come."                  in the fear of the Lord to the utmost        a chosen generation, a royal priest-
    He marvels in the fact that he         of our power!                                hood, an holy nation, a peculiar peo-
also is included in the promise giv-                Even more amazing is the fact       ple; that ye should shew forth the

UStandard  Bearer /October 1,1995


praises of him who hath called you             His children as "a man of high de-         I should be instrumental toward the
out of darkness into His marvelous             gree," a saint in Christ Jesus. We         gathering of God's church and the
light."                                        ask Why me? Why should I be                coming of His kingdom?
    That also is true of the individ-          one of God's children and heir of             Truly blessed is that people
ual believer. God regards each of              His eternal kingdom? Who am I that         whose God is Jehovah! 0





                                 Prospects for the
                                 New Volume-Year
                                          I                                                                                              I
    With this, the October 1, 1995             (Alamosa, Colorado) and minister-          SB will continue to publish study
issue begins volume 72 of the Statr-           on-loan (to the Evangelical Reformed       guides by Rev. Carl Haak on the gos-
dard Bearer.                                   Churches of Singapore) Jason               pel according to John.
    The main changes from the pre-             Korterlng will cooperate in writing            The staff reappointed the present
ceding volume-year are the follow-             the missions column, "Go Ye into           editor (Prof. Engelsma), managing
ing, as decided by the present writ-           All the World."                            editor (Don Doezema), staff secre-
ers at the annual staff meeting in                 "Taking Heed to the Doctrine"          tary (Prof. Decker), general adjunct
June.                                          will be the responsibility of Rev.         (Prof. Hanko), and special issues
    Rev. Gise VanBaren is the new              Steve Key. Rev. Key intends to set         committee (Prof. Engelsma, Prof.
editor of "All Around Us," a col-              forth the Reformed faith following         Decker, and Don Doezema).
umn he has written before. He re-              the order of the six Zoci, or main top-        The next issue of the SB will be
places Prof. Robert Decker, who has            ics, of Reformed dogmatics.                our special Reformation Day issue.
decided to write for the rubric, "Min-             A new rubric will be "Contend-         The theme will be "The Reformation
istering to the Saints." This is the           ing for the Faith." Rev. Bernard           of 1924." This will explore the his-
area of Prof. Decker's primary teach-          Woudenberg will be the writer.             tory of and the issues involved in
ing at the Protestant Reformed Sem-                The other rubrics and writers          the founding of the Protestant Re-
inary.                                         will be continued, except for "Come,       formed Churches.
    Rev. Ron VanOverloop  will co-             Lord Jesus" which has been                     May our writers have the grace
edit two rubrics, "The Strength of             dropped.                                   to write (on time!); may our readers
Youth" with Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma                   Several ministers, active and re-      have the zeal to read; and may the'
and When Thou  Sittest in Thine                tired, will write the meditations. We      Lord God add His blessing.
House" with Mrs. Marybeth Lub-                 plan to reprint some meditations that          Let the testimony continue and,
bers.                                          appeared in early issues of the SB.        may it please God, increase: "God
    Missionaries Ron Hanko (North-                 Societies and other Bible study        is God!"
ern Ireland) and Tom Miersma                   classes should keep in mind that the                                          - DJE

         Hoeksema on                                                                      troversy
                                          in th

                                               formed Free Publishing Association,        John W. Robbins and "committed to
    Just off the press is a new book           or of any organization associated          the reconstruction of philosophy and
by Herman Hoeksema, The Clark-                 with the Protestant Reformed               theology along Biblical lines." The
VanTiZ Controversy. The press, in-             Churches (PRC). The publisher is           Foundation seeks to fulfil this mis-
terestingly, is not that of the Re-            The Trinity Foundation headed by           sion by the publication mainly of the
                                                                                                      October 1,1995/Standard  Bear&5


writings of the Presbyterian philos-      trines that were at issue in the Clark-     is Arminlan, pure and simple" (p.
opher and theologian Gordon H.            VanTil case "remain very much with          49).
Clark.                                    USI (p. vii).                                       With regard to the issue of the
     The new book consists of a se-            There were four doctrinal issues:      relationship of the intellect to the
ries of  Standard Bearer editorials       the meaning of the incomprehensi-           emotions, Hoeksema demonstrated
that Hoeksema wrote in the years          bility of God; the relationship be-         from the sources that in affirming
1944-1946 concerning a controversy        tween divine sovereignty and hu-            the primacy of the intellect in man
in the Orthodox Presbyterian              man responsibility; the "sincere of-        Clark stood squarely in the tradi-
Church (OPC). The controversy had         fer" of salvation to the reprobate;         tion of Calvin, Kuyper, and Bavinck
serious effects upon the OPC. In a        and the relationship of the intellect       This question, however, wrote Hoek-
foreword to the book, Robbins re-         to the will and emotions in the soul        sema,
marks that because of unrelenting         of man.
attacks upon Gordon Clark and his              Especially the attack on Clark for       might be a nice subject for discus-
defenders, in spite of the defense of     denying the "sincere offer of the gos-        sion by some philosophical or theo-
Clark by the General Assembly (Syn-       pel to the reprobate" drew the at-            logical club. How the Presbytery
od), "one-third of the church walked      tention of Hoeksema. He himself               of Philadelphia could subject a thee-
out the door, including one of its        had been deposed by the Christian             logical candidate to several hours
largest congregations." According                                                       of grilling on this point is, I con-
                                          Reformed Church (CRC) for deny-               fess, beyond my comprehension.
to Robbins, "the OPC has never re-        ing the "well-meant offer" a scant            And stiI1 more difficult it is for me
covered from that loss, and indeed,       20 years earlier.      Nevertheless, in       to understand how the complain-
Christianity in America suffered a        the careful, clear, and penetrating           ants could discover in Dr. Clark's
serious blow" (p. viii). In his arti-     manner that was characteristic of             views in this respect sufficient
cle, "The Battle over the Ordination      him, Hoeksema analyzed all of the             ground for a protest against his
of Gordon H. Clark," in the OPC           issues in the controversy, in the light       licensure and ordination. The ques-
commemorative volume, Pressing            of Scripture and the Reformed con-            tion involved is, to say the least,
toward the Mark: Essays Com-              fessions.                                     debatable (p. 18).
memorating Fifty  Years of the Or-            With regard to the issue of God's
thodox  Presbyterian Church,  Mi-         incomprehensibility, Hoeksema                           Worthy Purposes
chael A. Hakkenberg agrees that           showed that God's act of revelation
Clark was virtually forced out of the     makes possible, and demands, that                   Robbins has a definite purpose
OPC by "`the constant and often bit-      we know truth as God does, though           with this publication. He charges
ter opposition to his ordination," al-    not exhaustively.                           that Cornelius VanTil consistently
though Hakkenberg, unlike Robbins,                                                    misrepresented Clark and that
sees the outcome of the conflict as         But if what God revealed to us has        VanTil's disciples are carrying on
beneficial to the OPC as a Reformed         a different meaning for Him than          this misrepresentation today, thus
denomination.                               for us, God is not only incompre-         obscuring Clark's "important contri-
     The protagonists were Gordon           hensible, but also unknowable.            bution to both Christian philosophy
Clark, then an ordained minister in         Then revelation itself is not true and    and theology."
the OPC, and Cornelius VanTil, pro-         reliable (p. 12).
fessor at Westminster Seminary in                                                       Hoeksema clearly perceived which
                                              With regard to the issue of the           party advocated the Biblical posi-
Philadelphia. Allied with VanTil          relationship between divine sover-            tion on the four major issues in the
were several other leading lights in      eignty and human responsibility, no           controversy; it requires extraordi-
the OPC, including R. B. Kuiper, Ned      Reformed theologian - in this case,           nary blindness - or personal loy-
Stonehouse, John Murray, Edward           Clark - may be criticized, much less          alty bordering on idolatry - for
Young, and Paul Woolley - basi-                                                        others not to see so clearly half a
                                          deposed, for 
cally the faculty at Westminster.                          attempting to harmonize     century later. We hope that this
                                          the two truths. As revealed truths
VanTil and his allies were demand-                                                      small book will aid their under-
                                          they are not contradictory. Their
ing the deposition of Clark for his                                                     standing, and that they will join us
                                          harmony is that "responsibility must
doctrinal views.                                                                       in promoting a consistent, Cluis-
                                          be. defined as falling within the com-       tian faith ("Postscript," p. 87)
                                          pass of God's decrees and sovereign-
              Vital Issues                ty" (p. 59).                                        In the providence of God, the
                                              With regard to the issue of the         book may also serve the purpose to
    These doctrinal issues are the        "sincere offer" as held by Clark's ad-      enlighten some concerning the Re-
reason why articles from the 1940s        versaries and denied by Clark, "to          formed theology of Herman Hoek-
on an old controversy deserve to be       say that God sincerely seeks the sal-       sema. Specifically, it may serve to
published as a book, and read, in         vation of all that hear the Gospel . . .    clarify what Hoeksema intended by
1995. As  Robbins notes, the  doc-

G/Standard Bearer /October l,l99!i


his repudiation of the "well-meant          adoxical nature of truth as espoused           of the Synod of Kalamazoo, 1924
offer of the gospel." No one can            by VanTil and his disciples and the            (P. 33).
read chapter 9, "The Sincere Offer          a theology       o f   p a r a d o x " of
of the Gospel" (which we publish            Kierkegaard and his pupil, Karl                  There were good reasons for the
elsewhere in this issue with the per-       Barth. To the same proposition in            suspicion, apart from the similarity
mission of Dr. Robbins), and come           the same sense at the same time,             of the doctrinal positions and of the
away thinking that Hoeksema was             both VanTil and Barth say "yes and, aWments  suPPorting  those Posi-
opposed to the church's preaching           no."                                         tions. Cornelius VanTil and R. B.
the gospel to all, or to the church's                                                    Kuiper had their roots deep in the
calling every hearer to repent and                     Intriguing Question               CRC. In addition, there was a very
believe.                                                                                 close relationship between the CRC
    Hardly less important is the                Hoeksema raises an interesting           and the OPC in the early years of
book's presentation of Hoeksema's           question in the book about the in-           the OK.
denial that God's revelation, Holy          fluence of the CRC upon the Ortho-               It is noteworthy that it was the
Scripture, is contradictory. This, of       dox Presbyterian opponents of Gor-           Christian Reformed theologian R. B.
course, was intimately related to           don Clark particularly in the mat-           Kuiper who attacked Clark on the
Hoeksema's vehement denial that             ter of the sincere offer of salvation        issue of the offer at the presbytery
God sincerely desires to save those         to the reprobate. This is a question,        meeting of March 19,194!5.
whom He has from eternity repro-            really, about the influence of the
bated. Like Clark, Hoeksema want-           CRC upon the OPC itself in the mat-            Professor R. B. Kuiper discussed
ed nothing of the view held by              ter of the offer. One result of the            Dr. Clark's attempt to solve the par-
                                                                                           adoxes of divine sovereignty and
VanTil and his cohorts, that the Re-        Clark-VanTil controversy was the               human responsibility and the de-
formed church can maintain that             virtual adoption by the OPC of the             cree of reprobation and the univer-
God both wills the damnation of             doctrine that in the preaching of the          sal sincere offer of the Gospel.
some and desires the salvation of all,      gospel God displays a saving love
inasmuch as Scripture is a book of          for all hearers and expresses a sin-             In this attack, Kuiper gave the
"paradox," that is, real contradiction      cere desire to save them all, repro-         typical Christian Reformed defense
to the mind of the believing man.           bate as well as elect. This is the           of the "sincere offer" (understood as
Such a view of Scripture, insisted          teaching of the report by John               God's desire to save the reprobate)
Hoeksema, is the death of all theol-        Murray and Ned Stonehouse, "The              against the condemnation of this no-
%Y-                                         Free Offer of the Gospel," presented         tion by the creedal doctrine of pre-
                                            to the Fifteenth General Assembly            destination: "there are paradoxes
  All of Scripture is given us that we      of the OPC in 1948.                          which are intrinsically paradoxical
  might understand it . . . all of it is            Hoeksema suspected such influ-       to man because of his very finite-
  adapted to our human mind, so             ence of the CRC upon the OPC:                ness" (report of the proceedings of
  that, even though there be many
  things in that revelation of God                                                       presbytery by  The Presbyterian
                                              The Complaint leaves the impres-
  which we cannot fathom, there is                                                       Guardian, cited in The Clark-VanTiZ
  nothing in it that is                       sion that it was chiefly written by
                        contrmy  to hu-                                                  Controversy,  p. 77).
  man intelligence and logic.... If the       Christian  Reformed  men that are              This typical defense of the sheer
  complainants (VanTil and his alEes          trying to defend the Christian Re-
                                              formed tradition in the Orthodox           contradiction is also typical evasion.
  - DJE) take the stand that Scrip                                                       For the issue is not, man's "finite-
  ture reveals things that are, not           Presbyterian Church and to intro-          ness." The issue, rather, is God's
  above and far beyond, but contrary          duce into the latter the errors of
                                              1924. In fact, this impression is so       revelation. Is God able to reveal His
  to, in conflict with the human              strong that I make bold to conjec-         counsel concerning our redemption
  mind, it is my conviction that the          ture that the CompZuitlt  was writ-
  complainants should be indicted of                                                     to the believing mind in an under-
                                              ten by more than one author, and
  heterodoxy, and of undermining all                                                     standable way? Is the revelation of
  sound theology. Either the Zogic of         that I could point out the writer of       Scripture reasonable and harmoni-
  revelation is our logic, or there is        the last part merely on the basis of       ous, or irrational and contradicto-
                                              internal evidence. I would consid-
  no revelation (p. 8; cf. also pp. 26,       er it deplorable if the Orthodox           ry? Has God, in fact, revealed Him-
  27).                                        Presbyterian Church would yield to         self? For a "paradoxical revelation,"
                                              this temptation (which the OPC did         like the U theology of paradox," is no
       For this, Clark and Hoeksema           in 1948 - DJE) (p. 11).                    revelation at all, but confusion and
were unjustly (and unkindly) brand-           Here, too, the Compluinf  reveals,         nonsense.
ed "rationalists," as are the PRC to-         more clearly than anywhere else,               By putting his finger on the
day.                                          its distinctly Christian Reformed          Christian Reformed influence upon
       It is not clear to me what the         tendency, particularly its sympathy        the theologians of the OPC, Hoekse-
difference might be between the par-          with the three well-known decrees

                                                                                                       October 1,1995/Standard  Bearer/7



                                                        c


     ma may well have solved the prob-                byterians are commemorating the             as "hyper-Calvinism." Perhaps
     lem that so mystifies the Presbyteri-            100th anniversary of the birth of           some of a fair mind`will at least lis-
     an theologian John H. Gerstner: how              Cornelius VanTil. Perhaps some will         ten to Hoeksema's biblical and con- -
     could John Murray ever have taught               reconsider the issues in the Clark-         fessional criticism of the "well-meant
     that God sincerely desires to save               VanTil controversy.                         offer," and respond to it.
     men and women whom He has eter-                      Many Calvinists are presently               We in the PRC wish this lucid,
     nally appointed to damnation ac-                 taking a close look at the doctrine of      little (87-page) book well.
     cording to His good pleasure?                    the "wellzmeant offer." Jn the Brit-            It is available for $7.95 from The
                                                      ish Isles, there is a frenzy of activity    Trinity Foundation, Post Office Box
                  Timely Book                         to defend the "well-meant offer,"           1666, Hobbs, New Mexico 88240.
                                                      while condemning the denial of it                                           - DJE
         The book is timely. Many Pres-





              Christ Jesus, Our Minister

                                                 I                                 I                                                     I


         In the passage from which the                the saints." Not only so, but these         sion to the flesh, but by love serve
     title of this rubric is taken (II                saints did more. Liberality to the          one another. For all the law is ful-
     Corinthians U-7) the apostle Paul                poor was only a part of what they           filled in one word, even in this; Thou
     exhorts the saints in Corinth to give            did. They devoted themselves to             shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
     liberally to the relief of the poor.             the Lord (v. 5). Thus the apostle           But if ye bite and devour one anoth-
     Paul begins by holding before the                entreats the Corinthians to abound          er, take heed that ye be not con-
     Corinthian saints the example of the             inthis grace also, i.e., in the grace of    sumed one of another" (Gal. 5:13-
     saints of the churches in Macedonia,             giving themselves to the Lord in the        15). In order that the saints may
     i.e., the churches in Philippi, Thessa-          way of giving liberally to the poor.        grow up into their Head, the Lord
     lonica, and Berea.                                   All this is evidence of the grace       Jesus Christ, and come into the uni-
         The saints in Macedonia in the               of God bestowed on the churches             ty of the faith and of the knowledge
     midst of great affliction, and we take           and saints in Macedonia. Their lib-         of the Son of God, the exalted Christ
-    affliction  to mean persecution and              erality to the poor and their giving        gave "some, apostles; and some,
     extreme poverty, had exceeded their              of themselves to the Lord were a            prophets; and some, evangelists; and
     ability in the contributions they had            fruit of the wonderful grace of God         some, pastors and teachers" (Eph.
     made for the saints (w. l-3). And                given to them.                              411-16).
     this they did, not by constraint or in               This same wonderful gift of the             The purpose of this rubric is to
     obedience to earnest exhortations on             grace of God ought to abound                help the believer grow in the knowl-
     the part of the apostle, but they                among the saints today. All of God's        edge of Christ, especially as regards
     themselves urged the apostle to re-              people ought not only to give liberr        his calling to "minister to the saints."
     ceive and take charge of their alms              ally to the relief of the poor and to       In the light of Holy Scripture and
     (v. 4). The great desire of these saints         support the ministry of the gospel,         our Reformed confessions we shall
     was to be allowed to take part in                but they ought to give their very           study the principles and the prac-
     a the fellowship of the ministering to           selves to the Lord in the way of min-       tice of ministering to the saints. This
                                                      istering to His saints. This is a must      will involve an examination of the
                                                      for the saints for it is the will of God    meaning and significance of the of-
                                                      for His saints (v. 5).                      fice of believer, and the special of-
     Prof. Decker is professor of Practical               This is Scripture. The same             fices of minister, elder, and deacon.
     Theology in the Protestant Reformed              apostle exhorts the saints in Galatia       Included will be, the Lord willing,
     Seminary.                                        not to use their liberty "for an occa-      discussion of such subjects as the

     8lStandard  Bearer/October 1,1999


     preaching of the Word, Christian dis-      disciplined according to those things      may fight against sin and Satan in
     cipline, family visitation, sick visit-    which Christ, our only Master, hath        this life: and afterwards reign with
     ing marital counseling, comforting         instituted (Art. XXX and XXXIl). But       him eternally, over all creatures."
     the sorrowing, caring for the emo-         nowhere are these biblical principles      Christ remains the officebearer of
     tionally disturbed, and more.              more beautifully, accurately, and          God's church, but the believer, inas-
         The fundamental question we            profoundly summed than in Lord's           much as he is a member of Christ
     face is, who is called to minister to      Day XII of the Heidelberg  Catechism       by faith, is a partaker of Christ's
     the saints? Who has the right or au-       In answer to the question, "Why is         anointing. The believer is a proph-
     thority  to minister to the saints?        he called Christ, that is, anointed?"      et, priest, and king in Christ. He
     And, who has the ability to minister       the Catechism says, "Because he is         confesses Christ's name as prophet;
     to the saints? The answer is, ]esus        ordained of God the Father, and            presents himself a living sacrifice
     Christ! Jesus is the minister of the       anointed with the Holy Ghost, to be        of thankfulness as priest; and fights
     saints. Christ chooses to minister to      our chief Prophet and Teacher, who         against sin and Satan in this life as
     the saints through men and by              has fully revealed to us the secret        king. In glory the believer will reign
     means of His Word and Spirit.              counsel and will of God concerning         with Christ eternally over all crea-
     Christ ministers to the saints through     our redemption; and to be our only         tures.
     those men who are lawfully called          High Priest, who by the one sacri-             Christ, therefore, is the minister
     by the church and, therefore, by           fice of his body, has redeemed us,         of the church. Christ functions
     Christ Himself to the offices of min-      and makes continual intercession           through those lawfully called to of-
     ister of the Word, elder, and dea-         with the Father for us; and also be        fice. Christ causes the Word to be
     con. Christ also ministers to the          our eternal King, who -governs us          preached and the sacraments to be
     saints through the saints themselves       by his word and Spirit, and who de-        administered through the ministers
     who share His anointing and thus           fends and preserves us in (the en-         of the Word. Christ governs and
     are, in Christ, prophets, priests, and     joyment of) that salvation, he has         disciplines His church through the
     kings.                                     purchased for us." Note well the           elders, and Christ ministers His mer-
         These fundamental principles           language the Catechism uses. Christ        cy through the deacons. Further-
     come to expression in the Reformed         is ordained of God to be our chief         more, Christ ministers to the saints
     confessions, the Church Order of           Prophet and Teacher, our only High         through the saints themselves. Their
     Dordt, and the forms for the ordina-       Priest, and our eternal Ring. There        calling as members of Christ by faith
     tion of ministers, missionaries, pro-      can be no doubt about the fact that        is to minister to one another by con-
I    fessors, elders, and deacons. The          Jesus Christ, according to the Cafe-       fessing the name of Christ, present-
     BeZgic  Confession, for example, in-       chism,   is the minister, the  office-     ing themselves living sacrifices of
     sists that Jesus Christ is true and        bearer in God's church.                    thankfulness, and fighting against
     eternal God (Article X), that He is            The Catechism continues by ask-        sin and Satan in this life. Doing so
     the One in whom God in His eter-           ing, "But why art thou called a            by God's grace the saints look for-
     nal and unchangeable counsel of            christian?" The answer is, "Because        ward in hope to that day when they
     mere goodness hath elected His peo-        I am a member of Christ by faith,          shall reign with Christ eternally over
     ple (Art. XVI), that Christ as our only    and thus am partaker of his anoint-        all creatures.
     High Priest made satisfaction for us       ing; that so I may confess his name,           These confessional principles are
     (Art. XXI), that Christ is the eternal     and present myself a living sacrifice      clearly taught in Holy Scripture. To
     King of God's church (Art. XXVII),         of thankfulness to him: and also that      this we turn our attention in the next
     that the church must be ordered and        with a free and good conscience I          article.  0





                                                4  Qn  the  "Free   Offer"                     The concept has been incorpo-
                                                    The question of the  "well-            rated into the doctrine of most Re-
                                                meant" or "free" offer of the gospel       formed and Presbyterian churches
                                                has had a very important part in the       today. Many become very upset if
                                                life of our churches. It is part of the    this "free offer" is questioned or con-
                                                First Point of Common Grace adopt-         demned as being not Reformed and
     Rev. VanBaren  is pastor of the Protes-    ed by the Synod of the Christian Re-       not Scriptural. The claim is made
     tant Reformed Church  of  Loveland,        formed Church in 1924 at                   that a mission-minded church must
     CoZorado.                                  Kalamazoo, Michigan.                       come with this "free offer" to the

                                                                                                     October 1,1995/Standard  Beareri


heathen. Those who deny such an            Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Pas-           source of that offer and that
"offer" are labeled more often than        tor Albert Bean is minister in the           grounds the veracity and reality is
not as "hyper-Calvinists."                 Ebenezer Bible Church in                     the will to the possession of Christ
    What is this "free offer"? It is       Fayettesville, North Carolina and            and the enjoyment of the salvation
supposed to be the offer of God            also moderator of the South Atlan-           that resides in him."
                                                                                          The venerable Presbyterian theo-
through the preaching to all that          tic Presbytery of the BPC. I would           logian, John H. Gerstner of
hear, salvation in Jesus Christ. It is     quote the short paper in its entirety.       Ligonier, Pennsylvania proclaimed,
called "well-meant" because God                                                         "I had the incomparable privilege
would have declared His own ear-             Fathers.and  Brethren,                     of being a student of Professors
nest desire to save all who hear.              A first cogent reason why the            Murray and Stonehouse.  With
    Now that fits in well with the          BPC should not establish fraternal          tears in my heart, I nevertheless
Arminian view that God chose those           relations with the OK is the tragic        confidently assert that they erred
whom He foresaw would believe,               fact that the Orthodox Presbyteri-         profoundly in The Free Offer of the
                                             an Church holds a bibIicaEy  erro-
and that Christ died for all men                                                        Gospel and died before they seem
                                             neous view known as the well-              to have realized their error which
without exception. Those who hold            meant gospel offer. Their view, in         because of their just%ably high rep-
to what is Reformed, however, in-            e$fect,  constitutes an attack on the      utations for Reformed excellence
sist on an unconditional and eternal         absolute sovereignty of Almighty           generally, still does incalculable
election not based on works. Lilce-          God, and on the doctrines of un-           damage to the cause of Jesus Christ
wise, these maintain a "limited" or          conditional particular election, the       and the proclamation of the gos-
particular atonement of Christ on the        covenant of grace, particular re-          pel.
cross. The problem ought to be ob-           demption, predestination, irresist-          "It is absolutely essential to the
vious: how can God offer what                ible sovereign grace, and reproba-         nature of the only true God and
                                             tion. To state or imply that AI-
Christ did not obtain? How can an                                                       Jesus Christ whom He has sent that
                                             mighty God wills, desires and in-          whatever His sovereign majesty  de-
offer, not based on atonement on the         tends to save men whom He does             sires or intends, most certainly -
cross, be "well-meant"? Some                 not actually save is to "undeify"          without conceivability of failure in
would be willing to label this a "par-       God. Job 2213 declares, "But He            one iota thereof- must come to
adox" or "apparent contradiction."           is in one mind, and who can turn           pass! Soli Deo Gloria. Amen and
Only eternity, supposedly, will pro-         Him? and what His soul desireth,           Amen forevermore. God can nev-
vide the answer to what seems con-           even that He doeth."                       er, ever desire or intend anything
tradictory.                                    TheMinutes of the Fifteenth Gen-         that does not come to pass, or He
    But what was once considered             eral Assembly of the OPC, 1948,            is not the living, happy God of
                                             appendix, pages 51-63, are printed
an established doctrine in Reformed                                                     Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but an
                                             in a booklet titled The Free Offer of      eternally miserable being weeping
and Presbyterian circles is being            the GospeZ. Professors John Murray         tears of frustration that He was un-
questioned today again. And a care-          and Ned B. Stonehouse write,               able to prevent hell and can never
ful examination of the issue would           "...there is in God a benevolent           end it, thus destroying Himself and
be profitable indeed.                        lovingkindness towards the . . . re-       heaven in the process."
    Both in Northern Ireland and the         pentance and salvation of even               Brethren, over a quarter of a cen-
United Kingdom in general, Re-               those whom he has not decreed to           tury before Westminster, the chief
formed people are asking questions           save. This pleasure, wiE, desire is        controversy between our Reformed
- or emphatically asserting that the         expressed in the universal call to         forefathers and the Arminians was
                                             repentance. The full and free offer
"free offer" is indeed Reformed.                                                        the particularity of sovereign grace.
                                             of the gospel is a grace bestowed          We do not worship, praise and laud a
There has been discussion and de-            upon alL Such grace is necessarily         weak and disappointed God! (Empha-
bate. That is good - provided one            a manifestation of love or                 sis my own - ACB). The Lord's
carefully studies God's Word con-           lovingkindness in the heart of God          grand election of grace embraces a
cerning the issue.                           and this lovingkindness is revealed        great host which no man can num-
    It is of some degree of interest         to be, of a character or kind that is      ber, of all nations, and kindreds,
to us, as Protestant Reformed peo-           correspondent with the grace be-           and people, and tongues (Rev. 7:9).
ple, that the issue of the "free offer"      stowed. The grace offered is noth-         But the Lord does not will nor in-
is also being discussed in other cir-       ing less than salvation in its rich-        tend the salvation of reprobates (I
cles in our own country. The Rev.           ness and fullness. The love or              Peter 2:8; lI Peter 2~12; Jude 4). "But
                                            lovingkindness that lies back of that       our God is in the heavens; he hath
Bernard Woudenberg recently pro-            offer is not anything less; it is the       done whatsoever he hath pleased"
vided us a copy of a paper present-         will to that salvation. In other            (Psalm 115:3). Amen and Amen.
ed by Pastor Albert C. Bean to the          words, it is Christ in all the glory
fifteenth General Synod of the Bible        of his person and in all the perfec-          The result of this and other ob-
Presbyterian Church (BPC) in oppo-          tion of his finished work whom            jections was that the motion to es-
sition to a motion that the BPC es-         God offers in the gospel. The lov-        tablish fraternal relations with the
tablish fraternal relations with the        ing and benevolent will that is the

lo/Standard Bearer /October 1.1995


OPC failed. The Rev. Albert Bean          motion will be considered again next       that this question of the "free offer"
believes it possible that the same        year. One can.be thankful, however,        is not entirely a dead issue. o





                        Narrow Victory
          for Religious Expression:
            Government Funding Allowed
      for Christian Student News





    In the past few decades, the First    the more conservative justices                 Ron Rosenberger, an evangeli-
Amendment Establishment Clause            (Kennedy, Rehnquist, Scalia, Tho-          cal Christian student at the Univer-
(".... Congress shall make no law re-     mas, and O'Conner) are suggesting          sity of Virginia, formed a student
specting an establishment of reli-        that the Establishment Clause has          organization called Wide Awake
gion") has been often interpreted by      been too broadly construed, result-        Publications to publish a campus
the Supreme Court to erect a rigid        ing in a milieu of government hos-         newspaper called Wide Awake: A
wall of separation between church         tility-rather than neutrality toward       Christian Perspective at the Univer-
and state. Very recently, however,        religious expression. In the context       sity of Virginia. The editors com-
                                          of this area of constitutional law, the    mitted the publication to a twofold
                                          Court released this summer a con-          mission: /I... to challenge Christians
                                          troversial 54 decision that arguably       to live, in word and deed, accord-
Mr. Lanting,  a member of South Hol-      expands the freedom of religious ex-       ing to the faith they proclaim and to
land Protestant Reformed Church, is a     pression.                                  encourage students to consider what
practicing attorney.

                                                                                            October 1,1995/Standanl Beamill


a personal relationship with Jesus         could not single out Wide Awake                   navigation in future cases. So the
Christ means."                             because of its unique religious "view-            federal judiciary will leave us' to
    Soon after its formation, Wide         point" or "content." Printing, said               grope our way forward, one case
Awake Publications was certified as        the majority, is a "routine, secular               at a time. This is hardly good news
                                                                                             for Americans who cannot afford
a qualified student organization.          and recurring attribute of student                 the time and dollars to get direc-
Some 118 such student groups ex-           life."                                             tion from the Supreme Court.
isted on campus receiving partial             I The minority of the Court bit-
funding from the University's Stu-         terly disagreed. Dissenting Justice                  McFarland and other evangeli-
dent Activity Fund, which had been         Souter found the newspaper to be a               cal constitutional scholars according-
established for extracurricular activ-     "straightforward exhortation to en-              ly suggest that since the Supreme
ities. The University paid for the         ter into a relationship with God as              Court will not clarify the current "le-
printing costs of some student pub-        revealed in Jesus Christ" which is               gal muddle" surrounding the First
lications from this fund. But when         nothing more than "preaching the                 Amendment's freedoms regarding
Rosenberger applied for funding to         Word." Thus, preaching, not print-               religious expression, perhaps the
pay a printer for the printing costs       ing is at issue, Justice Souter de-              only guarantee for the equality of
of Wide Awake, the University re-          clared (see dissent quote above). He             religious expression in our increas-
fused, stating that Wide Awake "pri-       lamented that the Court "for the first           ingly secular society is a constitu-
marily promotes or manifests a par-        time approves direct funding of core             tional amendment. But because of
ticular belief in or about a deity or      religious activities by an arm of the            the national consensus required for
an ultimate reality," which was pro-       state."                                          passage, such an amendment is in-
hibited by the Student Activity Fund            Evangelical constitutional schol-           deed unlikely. Therefore Christian
guidelines.                                ars, although lauding the Rosenberger            organizations and individuals will
    Rosenberger and his fellow stu-        decision as a qualified victory for              continue to be compelled to litigate
dent newspaper editors then filed          religious expression, were somewhat              whenever the government asserts
suit in federal court alleging the Uni-    disappointed that the Court again                hostility toward religious expression
versity's denial of funding for their      did not set any firm guidelines for              in the public sector, where all view-
printing costs violated their First        future disputes in related areas. Ac-            points are seemingly tolerated (even
Amendment right to freedom of              cordingly, although public universi-             subsidized) except those of conser-
speech. The lower court held that          ties are now prohibited from "con-               vative evangelical Christians.
although the University's "viewpoint       tent" or "viewpoint" discrimination                  The Chicago Tribune's (6/30/95)
discrimination" violated the Speech        among student publications on a                  report on the Rosenberger decision in-
Clause, this discrimination was jus-       public university campus, the lack               cluded the statement that "legal ex-
tified by the necessity of complying       of articulate Supreme Court guide-               perts said the Court's reasoning sug-
with the Establishment Clause.             lines makes the Rosenhgm decision                gests it now may be willing to allow
    On appeal, the U.S. Supreme            arguably of little help in deciding              public funding of other religious ac-
Court agreed with the lower court          future Establishment Clause cases.               tivities, such as the use of govem-
that the University's denial of Wide                 In a recent Christianity Today         ment-issued vouchers to pay for ed-
Awake's printing costs (while fund-        guest editorial reviewing the                    ucation in a church-run school."
ing printing costs for other student       Rosenberger             decision,       Steve    What the legal experts are not say-
publications) was indeed a denial of       McFarland, the director of the Chris-            ing is how such non-public schools
free speech, but also ruled that the       tian Legal Socievs  Center for Law               will escape the governmental inter-
funding of the Christian newspaper's       and Religious Freedom, declared the              ference and control that historically
printing was not forbidden by the          Rosenberger decision a II tenuous" vic-          and inevitably accompanies govem-
Establishment Clause.                      tory:                                            mental funding. Indeed, perhaps
    First, the majority held that the                                                       then the only way to shield non-pub-
Student Activity Fund program was                    But this major victory for free re-    lic schools honoring such proposed
neutral toward religion since there           ligious expression came from a                vouchers from governmental inter-
was no evidence that the Fund was             Court that promises no bright lines,          ference would be an appropriate
created to advance or aid religion.           only "quite fine" ones in this area
                                              of public aid                                 constitutional amendment protecting
Secondly, the court found it signifi-                             for religious expres-
                                              sion. Four dissenting justices cate-          such parental and parochial schools
cant that none of the money went              gorically concluded that the univer-          from state interference. 0
directly to Wide Awake productions;           sity must disqualify from equal
the funds in question went to a third         funding any religious voice. And
party off-campus printer. And since           the critical swing vote (Justice
the University funded printing ser-           Sandra Day O'Connor) announced
vices to a broad spectrum of stu-             that she could not extrapolate the
dent newspapers, the University               ruling into a compass usable for

12JStandard  Bearer /October 1,1995


               Children in the Covenant

     For the promise is unto you, and to           To this the Liberated took strong      may well be more one of rhetoric
your children, and to all that are afar       exception because, in the first place,      than substance; and it is a question
08, even as many as the Lord our God          it is based on a presumption which          whether either in the end escapes
shall call.                                   is not necessarily true, with the re-       arousing within many growing chil-
                                 Acts 2~39    sult that baptism is real and effec-        dren a sense of lethargic presump-
                                              tive only for some of the children          tion rather than a true spiritual reli-
     At the heart of the controversy          (those which are elect) and not for         ance upon God.
over the covenant which took place            all. This, as they see it, is contrary
in the Netherlands fifty years ago            to the terms of the promise, impugn-
was the question of what happens              ing the very veracity of God. In turn,
to a child at the moment of his bap-          it leaves those who are baptized in             In order to understand this mat-
tism. Between the two sides, the              confusion and uncertainty as to             ter, therefore, we should proceed
Synodicals (those who agreed with             whether it is personally for them or        carefully. To begin with, it is im-
the decision of the synod on this             not, and encourages them to rely on         portant to recognize one basic fact,
matter) and the Liberated (those who          subjective introspection rather than        namely, that God can, and at times
considered themselves liberated               on the objective promise of God, a          does, regenerate children in early in-
from the tyranny of that synod),              spiritually unhealthy and unreliable        fancy. This does not mean that it
there was one point of agreement:             practice at best.                           happens at the time of baptism, or
both maintained that something real               Thus the Liberated presentation         to every child; but it can take place
must happen to the child that is bap-         regarding this matter seeks to be dif-      early in life, as early as birth itself,
tized. Where they differed was over           ferent. It claims that every child that     and even before. This must be rec-
the question of what, and whether             is baptized receives the benefits of        ognized, both because it is clearly
it was to all of them or not.                 baptism equally; and what they re-          taught in the Bible, and because it is
    The synod took the position that,         ceive is a firm assurance from God          basic to the principle of infant bap-
presuming the child is .regenerated           that they belong to Him: and that           tism as historically held in the Chris-
(which, in their view, all elect cove-        He bestows salvation upon them to-          tian church.
nant children are), he receives               gether with all of its benefits - al-           Among the most dramatic in-
through the administration of bap-            though with a distinct reservation.         stances of this is undoubtedly that
tism a special covenantal grace               This promise comes with demands             of John the Baptist, while he was still
which will make him receptive to              and warnings, conditions which              in the womb. We are told that, at
the Word of God in a special way.             must be fulfilled, lest by the failure      the approach of Jesus (also still in
This grace may not evidence itself            to do so one become a covenant-             the womb), John leaped for joy, with
immediately (it may, in fact, lay dor-        breaker and fall under the condem-          the result that Elisabeth was moved,
mant for many years); but in the end          nation of God.                              under the inspiration of the Spirit,
it will work effectually to bring that            To those involved in this debate,       to exclaim, Luke 14, "Lo, as soon
child to Christ; and thus those who           these distinctions seemed clear and         as the voice of thy salutation sound-
live within the covenant should ever          important; although one looking on          ed in mine ears, the babe leaped in
be looking within themselves for ev-          from the outside may wonder                 my womb for joy." Although there
idence of this grace being there.             whether the difference is all that real.    was certainly an element of the mi-
                                              Both views speak very positively of         raculous involved - we can hardly
                                              a real bestowal upon the baptized           assume that children in the womb
Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Prot-        child, only then to draw back and,          are normally conscious of what is
estant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo,          each in its own way, limit the final        happening around them, or able to
Michigan.                                     result to only some. The difference         respond to it - this was without

                                                                                                 Oetobar l,lQ9SlStandard  Beared


question an act of real faith and of         with fire." It is that internal bap-            cal life. When such a child, whose
joy on the part of John, as surely as        tism which is the essential element             heart the Spirit has prepared, comes
the Scriptures are true.                     for salvation, as Jesus said, John 3:3-         to his earliest consciousness of what
     Actually, we have a rather simi-        8, "Except a man be born again, he              is happening around him, he will
lar instance with David, as he, also         cannot see the kingdom of God....               meet firsthand the life of his par-
under the inspiration of the Spirit,         The wind bloweth where it listeth,              ents, including their life of faith: their
reflected concerning his own early           and thou hearest the sound thereof,             prayers, expressions of dependence
life, Psalm 22:9,10, "But thou art he        but canst not tell whence it cometh,            upon God, efforts to live pleasing to
that took me out of the womb: thou           and whither it goeth: so is every one           Him, their attendance at worship in
didst make me hope when I was                that is born of the Spirit." This is            the church, etc., as well as their in-
upon my mother's breasts. I was cast         the essence of baptism, that which              sistence that he live as a Christian
upon thee from the womb: thou art            must take place for anyone, child or            should, and their discipline of him
my God from my mother's belly."              adult, to become a true participant             when he does not. All of this be-
As far as he was concerned, faith            in a living, covenant relationship              comes for the child his covenant her-
had been real for him from the very          with God. The Holy Spirit must give             itage; and, because he is spiritually
moment he was born, if not before.           him life; and in response to the Word           alive, he will respond to it in faith
     And we have the same kind of            the child will live.                            and follow where it leads. This does
thing indicated, even if somewhat                     This is because there is one thing     not mean that he will do so without
less clearly, with others, such as           that does take place at the moment              sin or struggles of faith. In fact, de-
Isaiah (49:1,5), Jeremiah (1:5), and         of baptism - and it happens to ev-              pending on the nature God has giv-
Timothy (II Tim. 1:5; 3:16), each of         ery baptized child -the child which             en him, his struggles may be more
whom is recorded as having experi-           is baptized, `is by the act of baptism,         intense and evident than those of
enced spiritual activity in the very         received as a member of the church              many less spiritually inclined than
early stages of his life, and even from      of Christ as it is manifested in the            he - driving his parents to their
birth. These instances, in turn, may         congregation gathered there, and                knees in prayer for him again and
well give greater meaning to such            under whose auspices that child is              again. But he will know, as all
passages as Psalm 8:2; Matthew l&2,          given baptism, especially inasmuch              through his life he was told, that God
3; and Mark 10:14, which speak of            as 1 the parents there vow "to see              is real, he a sinner, and he must seek
the spiritual response of children,          these children, when come to the                his redemption through the way of
leading to the possible conclusion           years of discretion . . . instructed and        repentance and faith in the blood of
that they too may have been young-           brought up in the aforesaid doctrine;           Christ. And this faith will have its
er than we might otherwise be in-            or help or cause them to be instruct-           victory in the end. He will experi-
clined to think. Clearly the thought         ed, therein, to the utmost of your              ence what so many mature Chris-
runs through the Scriptures that spir-       power" (Reformed Baptismal Form).               tians have testified of through the
itual activity may begin while a child       With that vow it is assured that this           ages, that he does not remember a
is still an infant; and, if this was true    child is to be brought up under the             time when he did not know himself
in Bible times, there is no reason to        ministry of the Word of God as it               to be a sinner saved by grace. Al-
assume it is not so still.                   takes place in that congregation, and           ready as a child, in his childlike way,
    The question is, when this takes         as a participant in its congregational          he knew that his covenant relation-
place, how does it work?                     life.                                           ship with God is vital and real. And
    What this does not mean is that,                  If then that child is regenerated      it may well be precisely that of
when a child is brought to the bap-          in infancy- as we have seen can be              which David spoke in Psalm 210
tismal font, some kind of a conscious        true - because he is spiritually                when he said, "I was cast upon thee
response takes place, as though he           "born again," he will, as Jesus said,           from the womb: thou art my God
were in some way aware of what is            "see the kingdom of God," or, in                from my mother's belly."
happening to him. Nor does it mean           other words, be responsive to the
that through that act of baptism the         Word of God which comes to him
child thereby receives some special          in his covenant life. And the result
and mystical imputation of grace.            will be, as his consciousness devel-                This does not mean, however,
The sprinkling with water is, after          ops, spiritual faith and growth, as             that this happens to every baptized
all, only an outward sign pointing           we are told in Remans 10:17, "faith             child, or even to all that are elect.
to an internal baptism by the Spirit         cometh by hearing, and hearing by               All of Scripture warns that such
which only Christ can impart, as             the word of God."            He hears the       must never be presumed.
John stated in Luke 3~16, "I indeed          Word of God, and his heart responds                 When we go through the record
baptize you with water; but one              in faith.                                       of the Bible it is very-clear that, while
mightier than I cometh . . . he shall                 Nor is it difficult to see just how    countless children have received the
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and          this actually realizes itself in practi-        sign of the covenant - circumcision

14IStandard Bearer /October 1,1995


in the Old Testament age and bap-              though they may pass through times          cated and committed than others
tism in the New - many of them,                of tears (Heb. 12:17). It is as Paul        who pass through honest struggles
and often most, have remained out-             said, Romans 9:6, "For they are not         with sin. But God knows, and He
side of a true relationship with God.          all Israel, which are of Israel. Nei-       will bring it out in his time. Our
Throughout the generations of the              ther, because they are the seed of          place is simply to warn each and
church there has always been a con-            Abraham, are they all children: but,        every child that grows up in the
tinual falling away. Before Christ             In Isaac shall thy seed be called: that     church that God will never accept
came, many received the circumci-              is, they which are the children of          pretense or presumption. Only a re-
sion of the flesh, without that of the         the flesh, these are not the children       pentant and believing heart will
heart (Deut. 30:6; Jer. 4:4); and, after       of God: but the children of the prom-       bring one into covenant fellowship
Him, countless numbers have been               ise are counted for the seed."              with him.
baptized by water, without that by                  The fact is, however, that be-             This we must understand: we
the Spirit. But unless there is such           tween one and another of these three        and our children are in the hand of
internal, regenerating baptism, true           kinds of children it is not in our abil-    God. Our salvation must come from
covenant fellowship with God can-              ity to tell the difference; God alone       him; as our baptismal prayer im-
not be known. Some of these may                knows the heart. There are children         plies, "0 Almighty and eternal God
be elect, but in the wisdom of God             who grow up in the church, often            . . . be pleased of thine infinite mercy,
left unregenerated. Such may grow              with amiable natures, who take on           graciously to look upon these chil-
up under the Word and remain un-               the life-style of the covenant for no       dren and incorporate them by thy
moved by it until God touches theii             other reason than their desire to          Holy Spirit, into thy Son Jesus
souls, as with the prodigal son (Luke          please their parents and superiors,         Christ...." We may .bring the chil-
15:1Off.), at which time what they             or because they find it the most con-       dren to the waters, but only God
knew and did not appreciate at the             venient way in which to live, while         can cleanse their hearts and bring
time may come home (Luke 15:17                 having at heart no genuine feeling          them into fellowship with him -
18). And then there are those who,             for God and His Word. These may             which is what the covenant is all
like Esau (Ram. 9:lO 13), never do              even appear for years as more dedi-        about.  c]
come to know the Spirit of God, even



                          Protestant Reformed Seminary
                            Graduates and Candidates
                                   for the Ministry



                                            AlIen Jay Brummel
                                            (Crysta Bonestroo)
                                            Age: 26
                                            One child
                                            Member:
                                            Georgetown PRC,
                                            Bauer, MI
                                            Internship:
                                            Evangelical
                                            Reformed Churches
                                            of Singapore
                                            Contact: 321 Manle St. W.
                                                    P.O. Box iO3                           Douglas Jon Kuiper
                                               Edgerton, MN 56128                          Age: 25
                                             telephone (507) 442-4441                      Member: Hope PRC, Walker, MI
                                                                                           Internship: Doon PRC, Doon, IA
                                                                                           Contact: 278 Rolling Green Dr.
                                                                                                 Grand Rapids, MI 49544
                                                                                                 telephone (616) 453-6552


                                                                                                      October 1,19951Standard  BeamI


                                              Pro;testant Reformed Seminary
         Robert D. Decker
         Professor ofPru&ul Theology ma New Testament                                            4949 Ivanrest Avenue
         David J, Engelsma, Rector                                                          GrandvilIe, Michigan 49418
         Professor  of Dogmatics and Old Testament                                               Phone: (616) 531-1490
         Herman C Hanko
         Professor of Church History and New Testament




                                 News from Seminary Hill

                  The Protestant Reformed Seminary began what promises to be a very active school year
             on August 28. Eleven men registered for classes or internships. Another, presently in
             college and purposing to attend Seminary, enrolled in the Dutch Theological Reading course.
                  There are students in all four years of the Seminary curriculum - two in the fourth (and
             final) year; six in the third year; one in the, second year; and two in the first year. Nine
             aspire to the ministry in the Protestant Reformed Churches (PRC). Qne third-year seminari-
             an is being trained for the Evangelical Reformed Churches of Singapore. One intends to
             seek the ministry in the Orthodox.Presbyterian Church.
                  The two fourth-year students are working as interns in area churches (HudsonviJle  and
             Southeast) the first semester. Both will return for classes the second semester.
                  Seven seminarians will have practice preaching this semester.
                  Members of the PRC in Western Michigan and Illinois (all three churches in Illinois were
             represented), as well as one family from as far away as Randolph, Wisconsin, gave the
             Seminary a rousing start at the annual convocation, and special dedication, exercises on
             August 30. The audience filled the auditorium of the Southwest PRC in Grandville to
             overflowing. A goodly number had to sit in the narthex.
                  On the same day, there was open house at the Seminary. Many saw the recently
             completed new addition and the remodeled old facilities for the first time.
                  The faculty, student body, and support staff express their thanks to the members of the
             PRC and others who have provided this lovely, functional facility. We invite those who
             have not yet seen it to stop in for a tour. The main feature is the new, large library with
             study-areas for the students. The faculty are buying the books that are needed to build up
             the library.
                  At this writing we are looking forward to the Seminary-sponsored conference on "Re-
             formed Church Government" to be held on September 21 and 22. Arrangements have been
             made that Dr. Morton H. Smith, professor at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
             in Greenville, South Carolina and one of the lecturers at the conference, .wiB speak to the
             faculty and seminarians  on the history of and recent developments in the Presbyterian
             Church in America.
                  We ask, and need, the prayers of the saints, that the work goes well and is fruitful in the
             gift by Christ of pastors and teachers to His church.





16IStandard Bearer/October 1,1995


Seminar
 Open
 House
                                       Finishing touches put on the landscaping.





    Third-year student Daniel Kleyn
        conducts tour of libra y.


                                                             First-year student Gary Eriks
                                                                    greets the Kooles.





  Prof. Engelsma answers questions
      about the new facilities.


                                                    Prof. Decker shows ofi ofice to special guest.


                                                                        October 1,1995/Standard  Bearer117


               The Sincere Offer of the
                                             Gospel*
                                          sovereignty and man's responsibili-        term "offer" is understood in the
     The last point of the Complaint      ty was described as more than amaz-        sense in which it occurs in the con-
concerns the so-called sincere offer      ing, his view in re the "well-mean-        fessions, and in which also Calvin
of salvation on the part of God to        ing offer" is characterized as "sur-       uses it (ofire, from obfero, meaning
all men, particularly to the repro-       passing strange" (13).                     to present), there can be no objection
bate.                                         The complainants put it this           to that term, though, to prevent mis-
    Here the  Complaint  descends         way:                                       understanding, it would be better to
from the stratosphere of philosophi-                                                 employ the words to present, and pre-
cal contemplation and theological           ln the course of Dr. Clark's exami-      sentation.
debate to the lower spheres of plain,       nation by Presbytery it became                Again, even though Dr. Clark
even superficial reasoning, where           abundantly clear that his rationai-      objects to the word "sincere" in the
even common mortals that may                ism keeps him from doing justice         sense in which the complainants use
have been present at the examina-           to the precious teaching of Saip-        that term, afraid to leave the impres-
tion of Dr. Clark and at the subse-         ture that in the gospel God sincere-
                                            ly offers salvation in Christ to ali     sion that he preaches Arminianism,
quent debate about the questions in-        who hear, reprobate as well as elect,    even this does not touch the real
volved, must have felt that they were       and that he has no pleasure in any       point of difference between them.
able to participate in the discussion.      one's rejecting this offer but, con-     That God is sincere in the preaching
    Here, too, the Complaint reveals,       trariwise, would have ali who hear       of the Gospel no one would dare to
more clearly than anywhere else, its        accept it and be saved (13).             deny. As the complainants rightly
distinctly Christian Reformed ten-                                                   ask "Would it not be blasphemy to
dency, particularly its sympathy              Let us try to define the differ-       deny this?" (13).
with the three well-known decrees         ence between the complainants and               But the difference between them
of the Synod of Kalamazoo, 1924.          Dr. Clark as sharply as we can.            does concern the contents of the Gos-
    Because it is especially on this          The difference is not that the         pel that must be preached promis-
point that the controversy of the         complainants insist that the Gospel        cuously to all men.
Presbytery of Philadelphia, which, as     must be preached to all men pro-               It is really not a question to whom
it now appears, is to be continued        miscuously, while Dr. Clark claims         one must preach, or haw he must
in the General Assembly of the Or-        that it must be preached only to the       preach, but what he must preach.
thodox Presbyterian Church, is iden-      elect. This would be quite impossi-             According to the complainants
tical with our own controversy with       ble, seeing that no preacher is able       the preacher is called to proclaim to
the Christian Reformed Church in          to single out the elect and separate       all his hearers that God sincerely seeks
1924, it may not be superfluous to        them from the reprobate in this            the salvation of them all. If this is not
refresh our memory in this respect,       world. They are agreed that the Gos-       their meaning when they write: "in
so we will try to analyze the argu-       pel must be preached to all men.           the gospel God sincerely offers sal-
ment of the Complaint somewhat in             Nor is the difference that the         vation in Christ to all who hear, rep-
detail.                                   complainants openly deny the doc-          robate as well as elect," their words
    If the standpoint of Dr. Clark        trine of reprobation, while Dr. Clark      have no meaning at all.
with respect to the paradox of God's      professes to believe this truth. We            According to Dr. Clark, howev-
                                          read in the Complaint: "He believes        er, the preacher proclaims to all his
                                          - as do we all - the doctrine of           hearers promiscuously that God sin-
                                          reprobation" (13).                         cereZy seeks the salvation ofall the elect.
* Chapter  9, in The  Chrk-VunTiZ             Again, the difference does not         The elect may be variously named
Controversy (Hobbs, New Mexico:           consist in that the complainants char-     in the preaching: those who repent,
The Trinity Foundation, 1995.) Re-        acterize the Gospel as an "offer" of       they that believe in Christ, that hun-
printed by permission. See the edi-       Christ or as salvation, while Dr.          ger for the bread of life, that thirst
torial in this issue.                     Clark objects to that term. If the         for the water of life, that seek knock,
16lStandardBearerlOctober  1,199s


ask, that come to Christ, etc. etc. But     reprobate, accept the Gospel, and             to let the two stand unreconciled
they are always the elect.                  that He would have them be saved.             alongside each other. Rather than
    We may define the issue still           Besides, it is in this sense that they        do that he would modify the gos-
more sharply, and limit it to God's         interpret Ezekiel 33:ll: God has no           pel in the interest of reprobation.
                                                                                          [This, you understand, is a slander-
intention and attitude in the preach-       pleasure in the death of -the repro-          ous remark - H.H.] Otherwise
ing of the Gospel with regard to the        bate, He would have them live; and            expressed, he makes the same er-
reprobate.                                  2 Peter 3:9: God does not will that           ror as does the Arminian, although
    For it is more especially about         the reprobate should perish, but that         he moves in the opposite direction.
the reprobate and their salvation that      they all come to repentance; and              The Arminian cannot harmonize
the complainants are concerned.             Matthew 23:37: Christ would have              divine reprobation with the sincere
Strange though it may seem, para-           gathered the reprobate under His              divine offer of salvation to all who
doxical though it may sound, they           wings; and 1 Timothy 23, 4: God               hear; hence, he rejects the former.
want to leave room in their preach-         our Saviour will have all the repro-          Neither can Dr. Clark harmonize
                                                                                          the two, and so he detracts from
ing for the salvation of the reprobate.     bate to be saved and come unto the            the latter. Rationalism accounts for
For the sake of clarity, therefore, we      knowledge of the truth (13,14). And           both errors (13).
can safely leave the elect out of our       it is with the doctrine of universal
discussion. That God sincerely seeks        salvation in mind that they write:              To accuse the complainants of
their salvation is not a matter of con-     "The supreme importance for evan-           irrationalism is, therefore, of no avail
troversy. To drag them into the dis-        gelism of maintaining the Reformed          as far as they are concerned. They
cussion of this question simply con-        doctrine of the gospel as a universal       openly admit - they are even boast-
fuses things. The question very re-         and sincere offer is self-evident" (14).    ing of-their irrational position. To
ally concerns the attitude of God               Now, you might object, as also          be irrational is, according to them,
with respect to the reprobate. We           Dr. Clark does, that this involves a        the glory of a humble, Christian
may limit the controversy to this           direct contradiction: God sincerely         faith.
question: What must the preacher of         seeks the salvation of those whom               We shall, therefore, have to
the Gospel say of God's intention with *    He has from eternity determined not         prove to them that in their claim that
respect to the reprobate? And these,        to save. Or: God would have that            God sincerely seeks the salvation of
too, may be called by different             sinner live whom He does not quick-         the reprobate in the preaching of the
names, such as, the impenitent, the         en. Or: God would have the sin-             Gospel, they not only contradict
wicked, the unbelievers, etc.               ner, whom He does not give faith,           themselves, but they directly contra-
    The answer to this question de-         to accept the gospel. Or: God               dict Scripture.
fines the difference between Dr.            would have that sinner come to                  And this we hope to do, not be-
Clark and the complainants sharply          Christ whom He does not draw and            cause Dr. Clark is in need of our
and precisely.                              who cannot come.                            defense, but because we are inter-
    The complainants answer: The                You might object that this is not       ested in the pure Reformed truth,
preacher must say that God sincere-         rational.                                   and cannot allow it to be camou-
ly seeks the salvation of the repro-            But this objection would be of          flaged and corrupted by some self-
bate through the preaching of the           no avail to persuade the complain-          confessed irrationalists.
Gospel.                                     ants of their error. They admit that            But before we proceed to do so,
    Dr. Clark answers: That is not          this is irrational. But they do not         we must prove two things: 1. That
true; the preacher may never say that       want to be rational on this point. In       the position of the complainants is
in the name of God.                         fact, if you should insist on being         not irrational as they claim, but in-
    And, in the light of Scripture,         rational in this respect, they would        volves an Arminian conception of
he should say: God seeks His own            call you a "rationalist," and at once       reprobation. 2. That their argumen-
glory and justification in preparing        proceed to seek your expulsion from         tation on this point in the Complaint
the reprobate for their just damna-         the church as a dangerous heretic.          is very superficial, and characterized
tion even through the preaching of          The whole Complaint against Dr.             by many errors.
the Gospel.                                 Clark is really concentrated in and             In this issue, we will have room
    That, in thus formulating the dif-      based on this one alleged error of          only to elucidate point 1.
ference, I am not doing an injustice        his: He claims that the Word of God              After all, even though the com-
to the complainants is very plain           and the Christian faith are not irra-       plainants themselves insist on being
from their own words. They say              tional. According to the complain-          irrational, we will have to deal with
that in the preaching of the Gospel         ants, to be reasonable is to be a ra-       them according to the rules of logic.
God sincerely offers salvation in           tionalist. They write that the trou-        If they refuse to be treated rational-
Christ to the reprobate, that He has        ble with Dr. Clark is that                  ly, they really forfeit the right to
no pleasure in their rejection of the                                                   present a complaint to any assem-
offer, that He would have them, the           his rationalism does not permit him
                                                                                                  October 1,1995/Standard  Bearer/l 9


bly of normal Christians. And treat-            claim; I do not accept it.                 those whom He eternally foresaw as
ing them as rational human beings,                  Hence, I must try to rationalize       rejecting the Gospel.
we must insist that they do not and             their position for them. How can                   In other words, I insist that the
cannot possibly accept the proposi-             any man, with a show of rationality,       position of the complainants, as soon
tion: God sincerely seeks the salva-            insist that God sincerely seeks the        as you reject their claim to irratio-
tion of those whom He has sover-                salvation of the reprobate? Only           nalism, is purely Arminian.
eignly from eternity determined to              when they define reprobation as that               And their irrationalism is only
be damned.                                      eternal act of God according to            an attempt to camouflage their real
     In other words: I know that they           which He determined to damn all            position. Cl
claim to believe this, but I deny their




                             The Miracle at the
                               Pool of Bethesda
                                                       John RI-18

                                           1                                  `I                                                     I
     We cannot be sure what feast it            hopeless man who had long lain by          Son of God  (Heb.  1:3). The Jews
was to which Jesus went up, and at              the water, and who had seen many           now have even a greater reason to
which He healed the man beside the              others healed while he himself was         hate Him. He has clearly stated that
pool of Bethesda. If it was the Pass-           unable to get into the water quickly      He is equal with God.
over, and we are inclined to think              enough due to his lameness. The                    A few of the important truths
that it was, then Christ's ministry             compassion and power of Christ are         which we must see in this passage
covered a space of about three and              beautifully shown in His taking no-        are:
a half years. (See ch. 2:13; 5:2; 6:4;          tice of this man's helplessness and                1. Christ's healing of the im-
and 12:12.) This much is certain, it            healing him instantly by His word.        potent man is a sign of the power of
was our Lord's second appearance                He warns the man not to return to          salvation to take us who cannot walk
in Jerusalem recorded by John.                  His former sin and to walk in true         in the ways of God and give us to
     While in Jerusalem Jesus went              gratitude and repentance.                  live according to God's will and
on a Sabbath day to walk among the                  The reaction of the Jews to this       walk in genuine thanksgiving and
porches around the pool of Bethesda.            miracle shows the hardness of their        repentance.
This pool was situated near the mar-            hearts. They at once suspect that it               2. The Sabbath day is not, as
ket where sheep could be obtained               was Jesus who had performed this          the Jews interpreted, merely to cease
for religious purposes. It was also             miracle, and they discredit it because    from one's work, in the belief that
one of the city's resorts where peo-            it was done on the Sabbath day. He        this will merit with God. Rather, it
ple came for relaxation. Besides this,          answers the charge of Sabbath vio-        is to be consecrated to God with
it attracted a large number of the              lation by telling them that the keep-     works of gratitude for the salvation
physically afflicted, who waited for            ing of the Sabbath does not consist       God has given. This consists pri-
an angel to come down and stir the              in inactivity but in doing the works      -marily in attending God's house dil-
water. The first one in the water af-           of God. This is true of God Himself.      igently, meditating on the mysteries
ter it was so troubled would be                 God's rest consists in preserving,        of the faith, and performing works
healed of his affliction.                       sustaining, and rejoicing in the          of mercy. The Sabbath is not hard-
     Here Jesus heals a friendless and          works of His hands (Gen. 2:1-3).          ship and idleness, but spiritual rest
                                                Jesus, as God's Son, may also work        and work.
                                                the works of God on the Sabbath.                   3. The Jews are correct in in-
Rev. Haak is pastor of Bethel Protes-           He declares that His authority to         terpreting His words in verse 17 to
tant Reformed Church in Elk Grove Vil-          heal on the Sabbath is exactly this,      mean that He stood in a closer, per-
lage, Illinois.                                 that He is the eternal and natural        sonal, and particular relation of

PO/Standard Bearer/October  1,19Q5


Sonship to the Father. His words           3:1)? Why was it a place where the         sign of His puwer to free us from the
mean that there is a unity of nature       impotent folk would congregate?            service of sin.) What does lameness
between Himself and the Father.                3. Most commentators think             (impotent man) represent concem-
                                           that verse 4 and verse 7b are insert-      ing our sin? What aspect of salva-
OUTLINE:                                   ed and thus not inspired Scripture.        tion is represented in this miracle?
   1. The setting for this miracle         (The NIV, as well as other transla-            6. Discuss the sovereignty of
(w. l-5).                                  tions, omits these verses.) Without        Christ in this healing? Show His
   2. Themiracle itself (w. 6-9).          entering into the details of the testi-    compassion for this man. Why does
   3. The reaction of the Jews to the      mony of the manuscripts, show from         Jesus so quickly convey Himself
miracle (w. 10-16).                        the narrative itself that these verses     away after healing this man?
   4. Jesus' response to the charge        ure to be retained if the passage is to        7. What was the Jews' concep-
of Sabbath violation (w. 17,18).           make sense.                                tion of the Sabbath law?
                                               4. How are we to conceive of               8. Was there a connection be-
QUESTIONS:                                 the angel's coming to stir the water?      tween the infirmity this man suf-
    1. Can we determine what               Is this the record of the superstition     fered for 38 years and a sin he had
feast it was to which Jesus goes up        of that day or is this something that      committed? How are the healing
to Jerusalem to celebrate? Passover?       really happened?                           mercies of Christ to us the warning
Purim? Pentecost? How does this                5. The various sicknesses re-          to keep His ways in the future?
bear on the question of the length of      corded in Scripture are signs of dif-          9. How does Jesus answer the
Jesus` earthly ministry?                   ferent aspects of our sin. Jesus' heal-    charge that he had violated the Sab-
    2. What do we know about the           ing of these different sicknesses rep-     bath?
pool of Bethesda and its five porch-       resents aspects of His salvation. (For         10. The Jews interpreted Jesus'
es? What was the purpose for the           example: demon possession is a sign        words in verse 17 to mean that He
pool? What is the significance of its      of the dominion of sin over us, and        makes Himself equal with God. Ex-
being by the sheep market (Neh.            the Lord's casting out demons is a         plain how this is so.- 0




                                           "Maturity"

    No one likes to be told that he is     Christians. And in Hebrews 5 the               Godly parents seek to train their
immature. Children want to be old-         Hebrew Christians were told that           children so they will be mature
er, so they may be allowed to do the       they "ought to be teachers," but they      Christians. The apostle Paul prayed
things they see their parents or old-      "still have need that one teach you        that the Philippians would ever
er siblings doing. Young people            again which be the first principles        grow. "And this I pray, that your
want to be considered adults, or old       of the oracles of God; and are be-         love may abound yet more and
enough to be allowed to do certain         come such as have need of milk, and        more in knowledge and in all judg-
things.                                    not of strong meat." Those who are         ment; that ye may approve things
    And no one likes to be told he is      "unskillful in the word of righteous-      that are excellent; that ye may be
an immature Christian. At least            ness" are babes, "but strong meat          sincere and without offence till the
twice in the New Testament, Chris-         belongeth to them that are of full         day of Christ; being filled with the
tians were called immature. The            age" (Heb. 512-14).                        tits of righteousness, which are by
apostle Paul charged the Corinthian            No Christian would like to hear        Jesus Christ, unto the glory and
Christians with being "babes in            these biblical statements written or       praise of God" (Phil. 1:9-11). This
Christ" (I Cor. 31). Paul declares         said of him. It is one thing to be         passage clearly implies that we must
that the envying, strife, and divisions    immature physically - that is not          never stop growing.
that existed in their congregation         sinful. It is another thing to be an
were because they were immature            adult physically, but to act imma-
                                           turely - that is often foolish. But it
Rev.  VanOverloop  is pastor of            can be a serious sin to be immature            What does it mean to be a ma-
Georgetown Protestant Reformed             spiritually. Every adult believer          ture Christian?
Church in Bauer, Michigan.                 wants to be mature spiritually.               There is always the danger of

                                                                                               ootobsr 1,1s95/- Beared


mis-identifying spiritual maturity.         by considering one's attitude toward       ward expressions of enthusiasm.
First, there is the error of equating       God. I Corinthians 3;1, 2 teaches          This difference has been equated to
having membership in a local con-           that our attitude toward God will          a stream, which makes a lot of noise
gregation for a certain length of time      be manifested in our attitude toward       and show when it is shallow, but
with spiritual maturity. Church             God's people; and Hebrews 5 teach-         runs quietly when it is deep.
membership, in itself, has nothing          es that our attitude toward God will           Our concern is that the quiet-
to do with spiritual maturity because       be manifested in our attitude toward       ness of a professing mature Chris-
church membership, in itself, does          His teachings and commandments.            tian is not that of the cemetery, but
not mean spirituality. All who are          There may be daily and even hourly         of waters which run deep. Depth
spiritually mature will seek church         fluctuations of mind and heart, but        does not mean routine or compla-
membership, but not all who hold            the judgment of maturity considers         cency, for where the waters run deep
church membership are spiritual.            not these fluctuations (no one is per-     (and without a lot of noise) there is
     Secondly, there is the danger of       fectly consistent or totally unaffect-     a great volume of running water.
equating a certain length of time in        ed by the circumstances of divine          But mere frequency can make for
the faith with spiritual maturity. But      providence). Rather, what is my ba-        habit.
maturity, while it often does come          sic attitude toward God? What is               Some believers who profess ma-
over a period of time, does not au-         my basic attitude toward God's peo-        turity seem to be of the opinion that
tomatically do so. It depends on            ple? And what is my basic attitude         their maturity gives them mastery.
what you do with the time. Maturi-          toward God's Word?                         Of course, this professed mature be-
ty has to do with attitude, not with            An equally interesting question        liever would never admit to such a
time.                                       is: How should my attitude toward          mastery - he knows well that to
     Thirdly, the perversity of the         God, His commandments, and His             say such would indicate pride. Nev-
"body of this death" (Rom. 7:24),           people, change as I accumulate years       ertheless his attitude toward God's
which remains with every believer           in the kingdom of God? Should God          people shows his pride. In God's
until he enters eternal glory, is great.    grow larger as I know Him better?          Word and in the preaching of that
Therefore there is the constant, seri-      Should God's teachings inspire more        Word he finds more material for
ous danger that what was once an            awe, the more I study them? Should         showing the weakness of others than
activity of great purpose and zeal          God's people become more the ob-           he finds fresh and vital nourishment
becomes routine. It is wrong to             ject of my love, the more I under-         to his own soul. God's Word is his
equate habit and custom with ma-            stand what God has done for them?          guide for theology and life, but it is
turity. That one attends church ser-        Or does increased familiarity cause        most often used to show off knowl-
vices regularly (or even faithfully)        complacency?                               edge and ability, especially over
does not necessarily mean spiritual                                                    against others. To such supposedly
liveliness and strength. Regular and                                                   mature Christians the awe and won-
faithful attendance can just as easily                                                 der and excitement exhibited by oth-
come out of empty custom, mean-                 Spiritual maturity once attained       ers is considered immaturity.
ingless form, and/or a jaded spiri-         is not automatically kept. Unlike              The maturity desired is not in-
tual sensitivity. Regular and faithful      physical maturity, we must constant-       tellectual sophistication, but a high
attendance could as easily indicate         ly grow spiritually. Spiritual matu-       level of spiritual sensitivity and dis-
a kind of commitment to a church            rity is not something you reach and        cernment. As I truly "grow in the
building, or to a congregation or de-       then you will have it until death. We      grace, and in the knowledge of our
nomination in which one grew up,            need ever to grow. We need to              Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (II
as it could be an indication of spiri-      "abound yet more and more" (Phil.          Pet.  3:18) the things of the Lord
tual maturity.                              1:9). We need always to "grow in           grow. God's Being, His most high
    It is so easy to become compla-         the grace and knowledge of our Lord        majesty, and His glory become great-
cent in one's walk with God. It is          and Saviour Jesus Christ" (II Pet.         er. He is seen increasingly as wor-
so easy to take for granted the pre-        3:18). The presence of sin in every        thy to receive glory and praise via
cious heritage of the faith of our spir-    believer makes this necessary.             my obedience. His love becomes
itual fathers. It is so easy for the            It is normal that the initial expe-    deeper and sweeter. His character
wonderful words and concepts of             rience of the knowledge of the Sav-        becomes more awesome and won-
Scripture to become only words, lit-        ior and forgiveness in Him is accom-       derful. New depth is given to old
tle understood and even less appre-         panied with great enthusiasm.              truths so they are fresh, and these
ciated. It is so easy for the repeated      There is what is called "first love."      truths are more precious than silver
petitions of our prayers to be only         It is also normal that growth in the       and gold. The importance and val-
the movement of the lips without            knowledge of the Savior and of Him         ue of God's Word as described in
the movement of the heart.                  who sent Him is accompanied with           Psalm 119 is frequently appreciated.
    Spiritual maturity is determined        deeper humility and hence less out-            For those growing in an under-

22/Standard  Bearer /October  1,1995


standing of theology, not only does       God's children grow more lovely to         God? His people? His church? His
the Word of God grow more enrich-         us. We learn more and more to see          Word? Have you lost your first
ing, but also all the commands of         them in Christ and to see more of          love? Do you find yourself attend-
our Father grow in importance and         Christ in them. It becomes easier to       ing church services and Bible stud-
vitality. To attend worship services      prefer them before ourselves, be-          ies more out of habit than because
is considered a blessed privilege, not    cause we see who is in them. We            of sincere gratitude? Are you
just something to be done, or a duty,     find ourselves more and more hesi-         abounding still more and more?
or a face-saving measure with an eye      tant to criticize their persons because    Have you gone beyond the basics in
to those we know are watching us.         nothing can be laid "to the charge         doctrine? Do you find yourself re-
Worship is considered a privilege         of God's elect," for "it is God that       sponding to differences with your
because it is praise given to Him         justifieth" (Rom. 8:33).                   fellow church members with hatred
who is so worthy, because it is com-          Along with growth in an under-         and by shouting?
munion with the One who is so gra-        standing of the worship of God and             Length of church membership
cious, and because it is gratitude to     of God's people, many other things         should not mean complacency, but
One so wise and loving. Worship           grow in depth and magnitude as we          it should be the occasion for in-
services are happily anticipated, and     grow in Christ. Prayer is more and         creased growth. Increased knowl-
approached with the assurance that        more an amazing privilege. Faith           edge of God should show with in-
they will be greatly edifying and         grows stronger as it is exercised.         creasing clarity His infinite greatness
richly satisfying.                        Also the power of Satan and sin            and glory, not less. Increased ma-
    For those growing spiritually, to     grows in our minds as we grow in           turity should give us greater appre-
love and forgive their fellow-saints      Christ. And God's creation gives           ciation for God's people, not less.
is also considered a privilege, and       increasing evidence of the handi-          Continued spiritual growth gives
not just a duty. It is a privilege to     work of its Creator.                       rise to increased confession and hu-
love those so loved by God that He                                                   mility before God and others, and
redeemed them at an infinite cost to              +-4--t*+++                         to an increased joy and gratitude at
Himself. As we grow in grace and                                                     the miracle of forgiveness. 0
in knowledge of Christ, the rest of           What is your attitude about



                                          were there to take part in the dedi-       singing of a couple of Psalter num-
Denominational Activities                 cation and open house of a large new       bers, a beautiful solo, "How Beauti-
    The warm, lazy days of summer         addition to that seminary.                 ful Upon the Mountains," sung by
have given way to the cool, crisp             By rotation, Prof. D. Engelsma         Mrs. Jane Woudenberg, and the in-
days of fall, and it's time for you       gave the convocation address, based        troduction of this year's student
and me to roll up our sleeves and         on Amos 3:7, 8, entitled, "The PR          body. This year there are eleven
get to work                               Seminary: The Lion Still Roars."           young men enrolled in our seminary,
    Not just you and me, of course,       Prof. Engelsma pointed out first of        nine from our churches, one from
but our churches, schools, and sem-       all that, from its earliest beginnings     the Orthodox Presbyterian Church,
inary as well.                            in one room in the basement of the         and one from the Evangelical Re-
    That's just what happened on          old First PRC in Grand Rapids, to          formed Church of Singapore.
the evening of August 30 in the au-       its present modem expanded and                 After the Convocation, visitors
ditorium of the Southwest PRC in          up-to-date facility in Grandville,         also had the opportunity to tour the
Grandville, MI. Our denomination's        there really has been no change in         new seminary. This building con-
seminary went back to work for an-        the purpose and goal of our semi-          tains a new, enlarged library and in-
other year. A crowd overflowing           nary. It remains the same, to pro-         dividual office space for each pro-
into the narthex at Southwest gath-       vide preachers for our churches, men       fessor. In addition, each student has
ered for two very worthwhile rea-         who will preach the gospel of salva-       his own private study area set aside
sons. First, they were there to be        tion. We can thank God that today,         just for him.
part of and participate in our semi-      as in the past, our seminary is gov-           The newly added basement also
nary convocation. And second, they        erned by the entire Word of God,           will house a climate-controlled, fire-
                                          the Lion's roar. And by God's grace        protected room for our churches' ar-
                                          our seminary stands in service to          chives, plus plenty of room for stor-
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protes-     that lion.                                 age and other possible future uses.
tant Reformed Church of Hudsonville,          Included with Prof. Engelsma's             If this wasn't enough, the exist-
Michigan.                                 address on the program were the            ing building has been given a face-

                                                                                            Octobu 1.1995lStendeni  Seared23


                                                                                                            SECONDCUSS
      ~t!?$!~                                                                                               Postage Paid at
                                                                                                            Grandville,  Michigan
      P.O. Box 603
      Grandville, MI 49468-0603

 I                                                                                                                                   I
 lifting of carpet and paint, in addi-      Singapore (about their new church        will call. That tio includes Candi-
 tion to a partial remodeling which         building and dedication) sponsored       dates Allen Brummel and Doug
 took existing space and made it into       by the young people of the Hope          Kuiper along with Rev. R. Flikkema
 usable office space for the seminary       PRC in Redlands, CA; a car wash          of the Covenant PRC in Wyckoff,
 office secretary, besides adding a         and wax by the young people of the       Nl.
 work room for future editions of this      First PRC in Holland, MI; a garage               The Byron Center, MI PRC also
 magazine and other projects of our         sale sponsored by the young people       has a new trio, consisting of Rev. S.
 churches. Truly we have a splendid         of the Lynden, WA PRC; and a com-        Key of the Randolph, WI PRC, Rev.
 building, one we can all be proud          bined pancake breakfast/car wash         R. Moore from the Hull, IA PRC,
 of. What a work God has done.              sponsored jointly by the young peo-      and Candidate Doug Kuiper.
 Who will not fear?                         ple of the South Holland and Peace
                                            PRCs in Illinois.                                     Foodfor crhoyht
 School News                                                                                 "Next after theology, I give to
       This past summer the school so-      Minister Activities                      music the highest place and greatest
 ciety of the Adams St. Christian               Rev. K. Koole, serving our Faith     honor. The devil hates to hear the
 School voted to approve the sale of        PRC in Jenison, MI, declined the call    saints sing Psalms, which is why I
 their school property to the public        he received from the Edgerton, MN        try to spend a good part of my day
 schools of Grand Rapids, MI. Our           PRC.                                     doing it." a
 school may use the-building for the            Since that decline, Edgerton has                             -Martin Luther
 1995-1996 school season. That means        formed a new trio from which they
 that by this time next year they must
 have decided where to relocate -
 no easy decision for Adams' Board
 or the families that support her. Re-                                                       RESDLUTICN DF SYMPATHY
 member this need in your prayers.                                                           The Con&tory and Congregation of
       On August 2, the Ladies' School                   -NOTICE!!                   the Loveland Protestant Reformed Church
 Circle of the Faith Christian School               Yearbook Correction              grieves in the passing of one of our charter
 in Randolph, WI held their first an-           The telephone number of Rev.         members,
 nual Talent Program to benefit the         Mitchell Dick was inadvertently omit-                  FRITZ SCHWARZ,
 school. This program was held in           ted from the Yearbook, 1995, under       on August 30,1995, at the age of 69 years.
 the sanctuary of our church in             PR Clergy. Please insert into your               We express our sympathy to the mem-
 Randolph and, from a personal ac-          copy the number: (403) 782-5444.         bers of our congregation: his wife, Clara;
 count, it was a very nice program                                                   to his children: Jonathan- and Mary
 with lots of talent.                                                                Schwarz, Don and Lynnette Schwarz,
                                                                                     Talitha Dotson, Virginia and Max Moore:
 Young People's Activities                                                           also to his brothers: Hugo and Elizabeth
       Not all money raised by our                                                   Schwarz, Arthur and Florence Schwarz; his
 churches' young people is ear-                           NOTlCEl!                   sisters: Louise Griess, and Luella and Gil-
 marked for their annual conventions.           Hope Protestant Reformed             bert Griess; also to numerous grandchil-
 The young people of the Georgetown         Christian School will be in need of a    dren, great-grandchildren, nieces and neph-
- PRC in Hudsonville, MI recently re-       principal for the 1998-1997 school       ews.
 ceived a big thank you from their          year. Those interested should con-               May God graciously encourage and
 congregation for contributing close        tact  the school at 1545 Wilson Ave-     bless in the knowledge that He hears our
 to two thousand dollars toward the         nue,  &and Rapids, Ml 49504 (818)        cries in our times of distress and answers
 purchase of a copy machine.                453-9717, or John  VanBaren (818)        in mercy and grace (Psalm 69:l).
       Other fund-raisers by. several of    532-7387.                                                          For the Consistory
 our churches' young people during                                                                             and Congregation
 this past year have included a slide                                                                    Rev. G. VanBaren, Pres.
 program by Pastor A. denHartog on
                                   -                                                                       David Poortinga, Clerk

 24lStandard  Bearer /October 1,1995


