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                              We do not see Him.
                     But although we do not see Him,
                                He comes to us,
                             as He came to Mary,
                              and He calls to us,
                              He calls our name,
                                  and we have
                          direct fellowship with Him.
                             That we have today.
                       O, the blessedness of hearing
                             Jesus call our name.
                          That was the blessedness
                                     of Mary.


                     See "The Manifestation of Jesus to Mary" -- p. 291


Vol. 72, No. 13
April 1, 1996


                                                                                                                                                THE
CONTENTS:                                                                           April 1, 1996                                        STANDARD
Meditation -- Herman Hoeksema                                                                                                                  BEARER
     The Manifestation of Jesus to Mary ............................................. 291
Editorial -- Prof. David J. Engelsma                                                                               ISSN 0362-4692
     A Defense of (Reformed) Amillennialism
                                                                                                                  Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July, and August.
           4.    Matthew 24 (Again) .......................................................... 294                Published by the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Inc.,
                                                                                                                  4949 Ivanrest Ave., Grandville, MI  49418.  Second Class
Letters          ......................................................................................... 296
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News From Seminary Hill ..................................................................... 297
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All Around Us -- Rev. Gise J. VanBaren ............................................... 298                         P.O. Box 603, Grandville, MI  49468-0603.
Ministering to the Saints -- Prof. Robert D. Decker
                                                                                                                  EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
     The Gifts Necessary for the Office of Elder ................................. 300                            Editor:  Prof. David J. Engelsma
                                                                                                                  Secretary:  Prof. Robert D. Decker
A Cloud of Witnesses -- Prof. Herman C. Hanko                                                                      Managing Editor:  Mr. Don Doezema
     William Ames:  Puritan in the Netherlands .................................. 302
                                                                                                                  DEPARTMENT EDITORS
Contending for the Faith -- Rev. Bernard Woudenberg                                                                Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma, Rev. Ronald Cammenga, Prof. Robert
                                                                                                                  Decker, Rev. Arie denHartog, Rev. Carl Haak, Prof. Herman
     To Keep the Record Straight (1) .................................................. 304
                                                                                                                  Hanko, Rev. Ronald Hanko, Rev. Jason Kortering, Rev. Dale
In His Fear -- Rev. Arie denHartog                                                                                 Kuiper, Mr. James Lanting, Mrs. MaryBeth Lubbers, Rev.
                                                                                                                  Thomas Miersma, Rev. Gise VanBaren, Rev. Ronald
     The Calling of the Young Women to Marry
                                                                                                                  VanOverloop, Mr. Benjamin Wigger, Rev. Bernard Woudenberg.
           and to Bear Children (2) ......................................................... 306
                                                                                                                  EDITORIAL OFFICE              CHURCH NEWS EDITOR
Day of Shadows -- Homer C. Hoeksema                                                                                The Standard Bearer           Mr. Ben Wigger
     The Fall of Our First Parents ....................................................... 309                    4949 Ivanrest                 6597  40th Ave.
                                                                                                                  Grandville, MI  49418         Hudsonville, MI  49426
News From Our Churches -- Mr. Benjamin Wigger ............................... 311
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Hoeksema on John 20:11-18, "The Manifestation of Jesus to Mary," as the                                           questions for The Reader Asks department are welcome.
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290/Standard Bearer /April 1, 1996


  Meditation                                                                                  Herman Hoeksema



                          The Manifestation
                           of Jesus to Mary*

    ... Jesus saith unto her, Mary.  She        That John looks at the resurrec-       flected in Mary, and determined by
turned herself, and saith unto him,         tion from the viewpoint of the ac-         it, that we wish to consider Mary.
Rabboni; which is to say, Master.           tivities and movements of Mary is          In other words, we wish to see the
    Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not;     easily explained.  It was Mary who         resurrection of Jesus through Mary.
for I am not yet ascended to my Father:     brought the report of the resurrec-            Then we see two things.  In the
but go to my brethren, and say unto         tion to him and Peter.  Mary came          first place, on that third day none
them, I ascend unto my Father, and          and told Peter and John about the          of the disciples believed or expected
your Father; and to my God, and your        open sepulchre, and also her con-          the fact of the resurrection.  Surely
God.                                        clusion.  Upon the report of Mary,         they had been told, and they had
    Mary Magdalene came and told the        John and Peter run to the sepulchre.       been told plainly.  If we look at the
disciples that she had seen the Lord,       It is because of the marvel of that        words which Jesus spoke before His
and that he had spoken these things         grave, and especially of the linen         death, it is almost unbelievable that
unto her.                                   clothes which lay in the grave, not        the disciples could be so in the dark.
                         John 20:11-18      neatly folded up, as it is usually ex-     They had been plainly told that the
                                            plained, but just as Jesus lay in          Lord must suffer and die, and be
    The fact of the resurrection of         them, that John believed.  Not be-         raised again the third day.  Yet none
Christ on the morning of the third          cause of the report of Mary, but be-       expected the resurrection.  This
day, and all that is connected with         cause of the marvel of the grave,          shows how impossible it is, if our
it, is viewed in the gospel of John         John believed.  It seems that Mary         heart and mind are filled with our
from the viewpoint of Mary                  followed John and Peter.  But the          own notions, to receive the things
Magdalene.  It is Mary Magdalene,           disciples had run.  Mary came to           of the kingdom of God.  That is true
according to the gospel of John, who        the sepulchre when the disciples had       today.  You can sometimes instruct
went to the sepulchre.  The other           returned, so that we find Mary here        children in things which men will
women are not even mentioned.  Al-          alone.  We find her here with a very       not receive.  The reason is that when
though we know that there were              foolish question.  But it is a ques-       the hearts are filled with notions of
others that accompanied Mary, they          tion born of love.                         our own we cannot receive the
are not even mentioned by John.                                                        things of the kingdom of God.  That
Yes, even though we know that               Jesus hides Himself from her               was the trouble with the disciples.
Mary did not really reach the sep-              You understand that it is not          Surely they had an earthly concep-
ulchre, but when she saw that the           our calling and purpose to preach          tion of the kingdom.  All did.  But
stone was rolled away from the sep-         on Mary.  That is beside the point.        not only did they have an earthly
ulchre, something which had been            It is not that a study of the charac-      conception, they also had set their
a matter of concern for them while          ter of Mary Magdalene would not            hearts on that conception.  They did
they were on the way, she immedi-           be interesting.  But it is not the pur-    not want another conception, and
ately returned and told the disciples.      pose of the text to bring the figure       they could not receive it.  Though
                                            of Mary before us.  To the contrary,       Jesus tells them that He must suffer
                                            it is the purpose of the text to bring     and die, and on the third day rise
                                            our attention upon the resurrection        again; and though Jesus told them
    * This is an Easter sermon of           of the Lord.  There is here a mani-        to go to Galilee and that He would
Herman Hoeksema, preached to the con-       festation of the risen Lord.  Him we       see them there, they stayed in
gregation of First PRC in Grand Rap-        want to see.   It is only in as far as     Jerusalem and paid no attention to
ids, MI.  It has never before appeared      the resurrection of the Lord is re-        it.  We must not look at the love of
in print.

                                                                                               April 1, 1996/Standard Bearer/291


the women going to the grave.  That               Flesh and blood cannot inherit the         Jesus appeals to Scripture.  He in-
they were not on the way to Gali-                 kingdom of heaven.  Jesus arose            structs them in the Scriptures.
lee, but to the grave, was an act of              with a spiritual, a heavenly body.         When they see the Scriptures, they
unbelief.                                         If Jesus had not appeared, if He had       see Him for a moment, and then He
     In the second place, the idea of             not shown Himself, He would never          disappears again.  That is a differ-
the resurrection was not understood               have been seen.  If the disciples had      ent manifestation from the manifes-
by them.  They believed in the res-               seen Jesus come out of the grave, it       tation to Mary, or to Thomas.  To
urrection.  They believed in the res-             would have given them a wrong im-          the sojourners to Emmaus, Jesus
urrection on the last day.  They had              pression.  They would have looked          shows Himself as the fulfillment of
seen the resurrection of Lazarus and              at the resurrection in a natural way.      Scripture.  To Thomas, He appeared
others.  They had some conception                 That is one element.                       differently.  He comes to Thomas'
of the resurrection of Jesus as they                  The second element is the open         senses.  He comes to Thomas so that
had seen it typically.  But of the res-           grave.  The purpose of the angels at       Thomas can see Him.
urrection, a resurrection that                        that grave was to keep that                So also He appears differently
would be wholly different,                               grave undisturbed.  The open        to Mary.  Jesus appears to her in
that they did not understand.              That           grave proved two things.  It       the garden.  But Mary did not see
That they could not under-                 they           proved in the first place that     Him.  That does not mean that Mary
stand.  Therefore Jesus must            were not           Jesus was not there.  In the      was so filled with sorrow that she
do two things.  In the first           on the way          second place it proved that       could not see Jesus.  But Jesus so
place, He must convince               to Galilee, but      He had left in a remarkable       appeared to Mary, that she could
them of the fact of the res-           to the grave,       way.  That was plain from         not see Him.  Jesus appeared to
urrection, He must instruct            was an act          the place where he lay.  It       Mary, not by sight, not by reason-
them in the resurrection.                   of            was plain from the linen           ing, but by striking a road straight
And He must teach them that             unbelief.         clothes, which lay in the          to her heart.  We know very little of
His resurrection was not a re-                           grave just as Jesus had lain        Mary.  We know that Jesus had cast
turn to this life.  Of these two                      in them.  They lay in the grave        seven devils out of her.  We know
things He must convince the dis-                  just as they had been wrapped              that from that moment Mary had
ciples.                                           around His body.  Jesus had risen          followed Jesus.  From that moment
     How?  There are especially five              out of them without even disturb-          Mary's life had been bound up with
elements that enter into that work                ing them.  If we consider this, we         Jesus' earthly form.  To follow Him,
of Jesus by which He convinces the                see what a marvelous testimony that        to minister unto Him, to give Him
disciples of His resurrection.  There             open grave was for the disciples.          drink and food, to tend to His
is, in the first place, the marvel of                 In the third place, there was the      clothes, that was Mary's life.
the resurrection itself.  The resur-              preaching of the angels.  The angels           It is from that point of view that
rection of Jesus was a marvelous                  preached.  They brought the mes-           we must look at Mary here in the
thing.  No one was there when it                  sage of the resurrection of Jesus to       garden.  What did Mary want?  She
took place.  We do not even know                  the disciples.                             wanted the body of Jesus.  You say
the exact moment when it took                         In the fourth place, after the res-    that is but natural.  It is but natural
place.  Jesus was raised before the               urrection, Jesus did not have the          that she should go to the sepulchre,
stone was removed.  The resurrec-                 former communion with the dis-             expecting to find a body.  The oth-
tion was not witnessed by anyone.                 ciples.  He came occasionally, and         ers did that too.  But not as Mary.
Why not?  Because it could not have               then left again.  That left an impres-     When Mary does not find the body
been witnessed by earthly eyes.  It               sion with the disciples.                   of Jesus, she is filled with grief.
could have been witnessed if the res-                 Finally, there are these manifes-      Why?  Because she cannot do that
urrection of Jesus had been like that             tations of Jesus, ten of which are re-     last service to that body.  Mary is
of Lazarus.  You could see the res-               corded in the Scriptures.  One of          looking for a dead body.  Notice,
urrection of Lazarus.  You could see              them was to Mary Magdalene.  You           that dead body she calls her Lord.
him rise and come out of the grave.               must remember that these manifes-          Notice too, that her mind is so con-
But that is not the case with Jesus.              tations of Jesus were not all alike.       centrated upon the body of Jesus
Jesus arose with a spiritual body.                We see that He manifests Himself           that she does not see anything else.
That does not mean that it was not                in a different way to Mary from the        She is not amazed, as the other
material.  But it does mean that it               way in which He manifests Himself          women had been, when she sees two
differed materially from our present              to the sojourners to Emmaus, or to         angels sitting there by the sepulchre.
body.  Our body belongs to the                    Thomas.  He appeared to the so-            For when they address her, she an-
sphere of the earthly things, so that             journers to Emmaus, also by hold-          swers them as though it were a com-
we cannot enter into the sphere of                ing their eyes, so that they could         mon thing to see angels, and to hear
the heavenly with our present body.               not recognize Him, but in their case       them speak.  When the gardener, as

292/Standard Bearer /April 1, 1996


she supposed, asked her why she                eyes that she could not recognize        before.  In the second place, it means
wept, and whom she sought, she an-             Jesus.  But because Jesus appeared,      that she shall touch Him again.
swered him as if the gardener knew             intentionally, in a form that Mary       Touch Me not, for I am not yet as-
all about it.  If thou have borne Him          would not recognize.  Jesus said, be-    cended unto My Father.  But go to
hence, tell me where thou hast laid            fore He said anything else, I am not     My brethren, and say unto them, I
Him.                                           the same, Mary.  He addresses her        ascend unto My Father and your Fa-
    Finally, notice that Mary's mind           in a different voice.  He does not       ther, and to My God and your God.
is so concentrated on her search for           speak to Mary in His old voice.  If          That means two things.  In the
the body that she says:  if you will           He had, Mary would have recog-           first place, My Father is your Fa-
show me where you laid Him, I will             nized him.  But Jesus addresses          ther, and My God is your God.
take Him away.  Just imagine Mary              Mary in a different voice.  Whom         There is a new fellowship.
carrying the body of Jesus away.  So           seekest thou?                                In the second place, it means,
that it comes down to this:  Mary                   Now we would expect that            when I am ascended to My Father
had placed all the love of her heart           Mary would say:  I seek the old          and your Father, then I will let you
on the Lord, as she had known Him              Jesus.  But she does not.  She says:     touch Me.  Then I will let you touch
in His earthly form.  She revealed             if thou hast taken Him away, tell        Me, in a more blessed, spiritual,
that love of her heart by following            me where thou hast laid Him, and I       heavenly, eternal way.  For when
Jesus and ministering to His earthly           will take Him away.  Notice, after       Jesus ascended, He received of the
needs.  You must understand, Mary              Jesus has plainly shown that the old     Father the Spirit.  When He had re-
was not a woman like, for example,             fellowship is gone, He shows that        ceived the Spirit, He fulfilled the
Salome.  None of the disciples had             there was a new fellowship, in the       promise of letting His people touch
a clear conception of the kingdom              name "Mary."  In that name Jesus         Him, by coming to them and dwell-
of heaven.  But that was especially            addresses Mary in her heart.  In that    ing in them, in the Spirit.  We have
true of Mary.  Mary cared nothing              name, Jesus said to Mary:  although      fellowship with Jesus in a far more
about conceptions.  There are such             thou canst not come to Me, I, from       blessed sense than Mary had before
people.  Mary liked to hear Jesus              My sphere, will come to thee.            the resurrection.  In a far more
speak, she liked to sit near Him and                That is the fellowship which we     blessed sense do we respond to the
listen to His sermons.  But for the            have with Him.  We do not see Him.       calling of our name, and say,
rest, Mary liked to serve and wait             But although we do not see Him,          Rabboni.
on Jesus.                                      He comes to us, as He came to                If we have heard Jesus call our
                                                    Mary, and He calls to us, He        name, and we have responded, then
Jesus reveals Himself                                 calls our name, and we have       we will go and walk as disciples of
to Mary                                   I           direct fellowship with Him.       that Lord.  We will expect the day
    To that Mary, Jesus re-          have come        That we have today.  O, the       when we shall touch Him.  For we
veals Himself.  Mary had to            to seek        blessedness of hearing Jesus      shall touch Him, and see Him face
learn three things.  In the          a dead Lord,     call our name.  That was the      to face.  Not because He shall come
first place, that Jesus is alive.     and I find      blessedness of Mary.  When        to us, but because we shall be drawn
In the second place, that she          a living       she heard it, Mary turns          to Him.  And then we shall have
must keep away from Him.                Lord.         around and says, Rabboni.         fellowship with Him, for ever and
She will never be able to fol-                       This means that Mary had not       ever.   q
low, to serve, to wait on Jesus again.         yet changed.  She still wants the old
In the third place, Mary must learn            Jesus.  When Mary says, Rabboni,
to know Jesus in a higher fellow-              she means to say:  I have come to
ship than the former fellowship.  If           seek a dead Lord, and I find a liv-
Jesus had appeared to Mary as He               ing Lord.
had been before, she would never
have understood the reality of the             Jesus instructs Mary
resurrection.  Therefore, Jesus with-          in His resurrection
draws in order that Mary may be                     Jesus says, touch Me not.
instructed.                                         Why?
    First, the angels address Mary.                 That is the comfort.
They say unto her:  woman, why                      Jesus says, I am not yet as-
weepest thou.  Then she hears some-            cended to My Father.  Touch Me
thing behind her, and turning she              not, for I am not yet ascended to
sees a man.  That man was Jesus.               My Father.  That means, in the first
But Mary did not know Him.  Not                place, that Mary can no more min-
because sorrow so beclouded her                ister unto Jesus, as she had done

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  Editorial


                                       A Defense of
         (Reformed) Amillennialism
                                      4.  Matthew 24  (Again)

     The risk that an editor takes         fense of (Reformed) Amillen-                the church has ever faced.  It ren-
when he launches a series of edito-        nialism."                                   ders the people oblivious to the
rials is that the series will be inter-                                                gathering storm at this very mo-
rupted.  Reasons for the interrup-           Lest I be guilty of failing to do what    ment" (p. 318).
tion are varied -- and sometimes              little I can to stop the decline from         The second installment ran in
compelling.                                  the truth of amillennialism, I intend     the April 15, 1995 SB (pp. 341-343).
     The danger includes that the in-        to devote future editorials to a bib-     This editorial dealt with one of the
                                             lical, confessional defense of
terruption will be extended for some                                                   biblical passages that are fundamen-
                                             amillennialism against the errone-
time and several issues of the maga-                                                   tal in the controversy, Revelation 20,
                                             ous doctrine of postmillennialism.
zine.                                        These will have the "Christian Re-        the only passage that mentions the
     By the time the editor resumes          construction" movement especially         "millennium."  The editorial took
the series, the reader has forgotten         in view (SB, March 15, 1995, p.           note of the explanation of Revela-
the earlier articles in the series.          296).                                     tion 20 by Presbyterian exegete J.
     This danger with all its fullness                                                 Marcellus Kik and by the Christian
has overtaken the editor of the Stan-              The series, therefore, concerns     Reconstructionist David Chilton.  It
dard Bearer.                               the biblical doctrine of the last           demonstrated that the phrase,
     In the January 15, 1995 SB ap-        things, a prominent and vital sub-          "thousand years," is a figurative de-
peared an editorial, "Jewish               ject in our day.  It is also controver-     scription of the entire age of the new
Dreams," rejecting the earthly king-       sial as the recent exchange with Dr.        covenant during which particularly
dom of postmillennialism as the            Gary North indicated.                       the martyred saints are raised in
hope of the Christian.  The March                  The first installment appeared      their souls at the moment of death
1, 1995 issue of the magazine con-         in the April 1, 1995 issue of the SB        to live and reign with Christ in
tained two letters critical of the edi-    (pp. 317, 318).  That editorial             heaven.
torial, as well as a defense of the        showed the radical differences be-
editorial by the editor ("A Letter         tween amillennialism and post-                Revelation 20 is no support to
and Response on `Jewish Dreams'").         millennialism.  It quoted with ap-            postmillennialism, but rather a
     The March 15, 1995 SB also con-       proval the declaration by the Chris-          refutation of that error.  The saints
                                                                                         do not gain earthly victory in the
tained a letter that was sharply criti-    tian Reconstructionist Gary North             world; rather, they suffer and are
cal of "Jewish Dreams."  The au-           that                                          beheaded.  History does not come
thor of this letter was Gary DeMar,                                                      to its end with the earthly triumph
leading advocate of the post-                premillennialism, postmillen-               of the church; rather, Satan is
millennialism of the Christian Re-           nialism, and amillennialism are             loosed, and the hordes of the un-
construction movement.  The                  theologically incompatible.  God            godly attack the church and the
                                             cannot be pleased with all three.
heart of the letter was a defense of                                                     saints.  The hope held before the
                                             At least two of them should be dis-
postmillennialism on the basis of                                                        people of God is not a carnal king-
                                             carded as heretical, if not today,
Question 191 of the Westminster                                                          dom on earth; rather, it is our liv-
                                             then before Christ comes in final           ing and reigning with Christ in
Larger Catechism.  To this letter            judgment (p. 317).                          heaven at death (p. 343).
also, the editor responded ("An-
other Letter and Response on `Jew-         The editorial charged post-                     The third installment is found
ish Dreams'").                             millennialism with the sin of leav-         in the May 1, 1995 SB (pp. 365-367).
     DeMar's letter, bristling with        ing "the people (of God) unprepared         The topic of this editorial was
challenge, became the occasion for         for the struggle that lies ahead for        "Apostasy and Persecution."  With
the series of editorials on "A De-         the church, the fiercest struggle that      reference to Gary DeMar's Last

294/Standard Bearer /April 1, 1996


Days Madness:  Obsession of the             hand, rings true to history, past and      term `Antichrist' for a present-day
Modern Church (American Vision,             present.  To refer only to this one        or future political ruler.  The proper
1994), it pointed out that                  vital element in the controversy, the      context is theological and pre-A. D.
postmillennialism, especially the           true church has always been and is         70" (Last Days Madness, p. 204).
Christian Reconstructionist brand,          today the remnant according to the             The same author has written
puts the great apostasy and great           election of grace.  When and where         that the church must "recognize that
tribulation of the New Testament            has the true church ever been the          the Great Tribulation is a past
Scriptures in the past.  Against this       majority?  It was the remnant in ap-       event."  For "the tribulation had ref-
false and dangerous teaching, the           ostolic times; it was the remnant at       erence to the Jews, the people of
editorial argued from Scripture and         the time of the Reformation; it is         Judea."  It was "the destruction of
the confessions that the apostasy of        the remnant today.  Why, even in           Jerusalem" (Last Days, pp. 119,
II Thessalonians 2:3 and the great          Israel/Judah, it was the remnant.          110).
tribulation of Matthew 24:21 are still          Awareness of developments in               The exegetical basis of "Chris-
to be expected by the church, al-           the world in light of the prophecy         tian Reconstruction's" grand vision
though both are also present reali-         of the Holy Scriptures is not, how-        of a "Christianized" world -- the
ties.  It quoted the powerful state-        ever, the main reason for the aston-       victory of the gospel in history -- is
ment in chapter 11 of the Second            ishment of the Reformed Christian          largely the interpretation of Mat-
Helvetic Confession (1566):                 at the dream-world of post-                thew 24 by J. Marcellus Kik.  The
                                            millennialism.  His amazement at           Presbyterian's interpretation of
  And from heaven the same Christ           postmillennialism's rosy forecast of       Jesus' eschatological discourse has
  will return in judgment, when             the earthly future is mainly due to        been reprinted in a book titled, An
  wickedness will then be at its great-     the contrary testimony of the Bible.       Eschatology of Victory (Presbyterian
  est in the world and when the An-             What of the apostles' prediction       and Reformed, 1971), pp. 53-173.
  tichrist, having corrupted true reli-     of departure from the faith in the             Kik explains the chapter in such
  gion, will fill up all things with su-
  perstition and impiety and will cru-      last days in II Thessalonians 2:3; II      a way that verses 4-31 refer exclu-
  elly lay waste the Church with            Timothy 3, 4; II Peter 2; and I John       sively to the destruction of Jerusa-
  bloodshed and flames (Dan., ch.           2:18, 19?                                  lem by Rome in A. D. 70.  Nothing
  11).                                          What of the apostle's warning          in these verses refers at all to Jesus'
                                            of a coming Antichrist in II               second coming and the events that
    The fourth installment ap-              Thessalonians 2?                           immediately precede His coming.
peared, in sequence, in the May 15,             What of the apostle's alerting         The abomination of desolation in
1995 SB (pp. 389, 390).  The title          the saints to an impending tribula-        verse 15 refers only to the desecra-
was, "A Defense of (Reformed)               tion as an element of those things         tion of the temple by the "idolatrous
Amillennialism (4):  Matthew 24."           that must shortly come to pass be-         ensigns" of the invading Roman
So far the hazard that threatens edi-       fore the coming of the Lord, in the        army (p. 104).  The "great tribula-
torial series was avoided.  It was          book of Revelation, e.g., 3:10; 6:9-       tion" of verse 21 refers only to the
after this installment that disaster        11; 7:9-17; 11:1-12; 12:17; 13; 14:9-      suffering of the Jews at the time of
struck.                                     13;15:2; 16; 17; 19:2, 19-21; and 20:4,    the destruction of Jerusalem.  The
    As for the content of that fourth       7-10?                                      false Christs and false prophets of
installment, its subject is so impor-           The answer given by the                verse 24 refer only to the pretender-
tant to the controversy, and so             postmillennialist, particularly the        Messiahs and false teachers among
closely related to the article that         "Christian Reconstructionist" (such        the Jews at that time.
must follow, that, rather  than sum-        as Gary DeMar, who asked for this              The "coming of the Son of man"
marize it, I must reprint it in part.       biblical defense of amillennialism),       in verses 27 and 30 is not the vis-
What follows then is the last part of       to all of these astonished questions       ible, bodily return of Christ, but His
the fourth editorial in the series.         by the Reformed Christian is that          revelation in the preaching of the
This concerns the postmillennial in-        all of the prophecies of apostasy,         gospel by the apostles.  The gather-
terpretation of Matthew 24.                 Antichrist, and tribulation have al-       ing of the elect by the angels in verse
                                            ready been completely fulfilled.           31 is the spiritual saving of the elect
            ***    ***    ***
    The happy predictions of                They are past events.  The church of       through the gospel.  "Angels" are
postmillennialism for the church in         A. D. 1995 does not need to con-           human preachers.
the world are overthrown by 2,000           cern herself with them.  Nothing of            The preliminary signs in the
years of history.                           them is yet future.  All was fulfilled     heavens of verse 29 are not the lit-
    Postmillennialism's denial of           in the destruction of Jerusalem in         eral darkening of the sun and moon,
apostasy, antichrist, and persecution       A. D. 70.                                  prior to Jesus' second coming, but
is refuted by historical events.                Postmillennialist Gary DeMar           the going out of the figurative light
    Amillennialism, on the other            writes, "It is unbiblical to use the       of the Jews as a nation in A. D. 70.

                                                                                                April 1, 1996/Standard Bearer/295


"The sun of Judaism has been dark-            The key to Matthew Twenty-four             nial of apostasy, Antichrist, and
ened" (p. 128).  The shaking of the           is verse 34....  Every thing men-          great tribulation for the church in
powers of the heavens in verse 29             tioned in the previous verses were         the future.  For in the light of this
"refers to Satan and his angels" (p.          (sic) to be fulfilled before the con-      explanation of Matthew 24, the
                                              temporary generation would pass
133).                                                                                    postmillennialist goes through the
                                              away....   The first thirty-four verses
      The basis for this understand-          of Matthew 24, along with verse            entire New Testament rigorously
ing of Matthew 24:4-31 according to           35 . . . deal with the destruction of      applying all prediction of such
Kik and his "Christian Reconstruc-            Jerusalem (pp. 59, 60, 67).                things to the destruction of Jerusa-
tion" disciples is Jesus' word in                                                        lem.
verse 34:  "Verily I say unto you,              Gary DeMar agrees:                              Fundamental to this interpreta-
This generation shall not pass, till                                                     tion of Matthew 24 is Kik's expla-
all these things be fulfilled."  Kik          The events rehearsed in the Olivet         nation of verse 34, the "key" to the
explains this word as meaning, very           Discourse are signs leading up to          chapter.  If Kik is wrong here, his
simply, that every single prophecy            and including the destruction of           whole postmillennial conception of
of Christ in verses 4-31 was fulfilled,       Jerusalem in A. D. 70.  These chap-        the earthly future collapses like a
exhaustively, in the lifetime of the          ters have nothing to do with when          house of cards.
                                              Jesus will return at the final judg-
generation that was alive at the time                                                           "This generation shall not pass,
                                              ment.  There are no observable
of Jesus' instruction.  All was ex-           signs leading up to His bodily re-         till all these things be fulfilled."
haustively fulfilled in A. D. 70 in           turn (Last Days, p. 151).                         Does Christ teach that every last
the destruction of Jerusalem.  Noth-                                                     particular in the preceding verses
ing foretold in verses 4-31 pertains            This interpretation of Matthew           was fulfilled exhaustively in A. D.
to the second coming.                       24 is basic to the postmillennial de-        70?
                                                                                                We shall see.   q
                                                                                                                            -- DJE


     Letters

n
n     Psalm-Singing in the Con-             sons" -- then something is not right.         church the psalms as the spiritual
sciousness of the Congregations                 I refer Mr. Kuiper to the lengthy        song of the people").  One of the
                                            study committee report ("Acts of             conclusions of the study committee:
      Because the hymn/psalm ques-          Synod," PRC, 1960, pp. 87-116) on            "The hymn cannot and may not be
tion is larger by far than a mere dif-      the basis of which our churches              compared to the Psalm.  The former
ference of opinion between two              eventually rejected a recommenda-            is the work of man, the latter the
writers of letters to the editor, please    tion that Article 69 of the Church           work of God."
allow me to respond briefly to the          Order be changed to allow in our                    On page 111 Herman Hoeksema
letter of Mr. Gerald Kuiper ("Cor-          worship services the singing of              is quoted as having offered the CRC
rection and Comment") in the Feb-           hymns "which are faithful versifi-           synod of 1928 this bit of advice rela-
ruary 15, 1996 issue of the Standard        cations of Scripture."  In it he will        tive to the hymn-question:  that
Bearer.                                     discover that what I wrote concern-          synod "admonish the leaders and
      It seems to me that to argue, in      ing Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians            the consistories especially to coop-
defense of hymns, as Mr. Kuiper             3:16 is not just my "opinion."  It is        erate in reviving the psalms in the
does, that some hymns are better            the explanation upheld by Clement,           consciousness of the congregations."
versifications of the Scripture than        Jerome, Beza, Owen, and a "host of           That's it.  It takes a concerted effort
are "many of the songs in our               other able and accepted Reformed             to assure that the psalms are not
Psalter," and that hymns based on           Bible expositors" (pp. 105-108).             lost "in the consciousness of the con-
"other parts of the God-breathed            Clearly, it is the psalms of David           gregations."  How can we expect
Scriptures" are no less appropriate         which are here prescribed by Paul            our children to come to know and
for singing in our homes, schools,          for the people of God.  That's the           to understand and to love the
wedding, funerals, etc., than the           point.                                       psalms if, though they sing them in
psalms is to miss the point.                    "The psalms are dictated by the          church on Sunday, it is hymns, ei-
      May we sing hymns?  Of course!        Holy Ghost.  When we sing them,              ther primarily or exclusively, that
But when hymns virtually displace           we are sure that God lays His words          they memorize in school and hear
the psalms in many of our homes,            in our mouth, as though He Him-              at home?  We ought all to work
school programs, weddings, and fu-          self sings them in us in order to ex-        harder at it.  That was my point.  q
nerals -- "in times of distress and          alt His honor" (p. 108, from John                                        John VanBaren
joy, as well as during special sea-         Calvin, who "gave back to the                                            Grandville, MI

296/Standard Bearer /April 1, 1996


                                   News from Seminary Hill

    By this time we are well into the second semester at the Protestant Reformed Theological
Seminary.  Prof. Engelsma taught the interim course this year on "Contemporary Theology."  In
eight successive mornings right after the Christmas/New Year break, the class covered the devel-
opment of liberal Protestant theology from Schleiermacher to Barth.
    In addition to their other course work, seven of the eight full-time students are presently
involved in practice preaching.  By the end of the semester, each will have preached twice before
the faculty and student body on assigned passages of Scripture or Lord's Days of the Heidelberg
Catechism.  Only the first-year student is exempt from these rigors.
    Four seminarians are regularly speaking a word of edification in the churches, helping in filling
vacant pulpits.  Five are assisting area pastors in teaching catechism classes.  These activities are
good experience for the students.  The professors also preach regularly.
    Four students from the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregations are taking two courses
for credit.  A graduate student at Calvin Theological Seminary is sitting in on one class.  A pre-
seminary student who plans to begin seminary this fall is taking one course.  Several members of
the PRC are auditing courses.
    A number of ministers have contributed to the spiritual life of the seminary community by
leading in our weekly chapel devotions.  We thank them for this.
    The faculty has just put out the spring, 1996 issue of the Protestant Reformed Theological
Journal.  This 84-page journal contains several articles on various aspects of the Reformed faith and
life, as well as reviews of significant theological books.  The journal is published twice each year.
    Senior seminarian Richard Smit will be examined before synod this June, God willing.  If the
examination is successful, he will graduate and be declared eligible for a call in the PRC.
    Special student Cheah Fook Meng is completing a special three-year course.  Soon after the
graduation exercises during the meeting of synod in June, he and his wife Lee Choo will return to
Singapore.  There he will be examined by the Evangelical Reformed Churches of Singapore with a
view to his entrance into the ministry in those churches.
    Internships have been arranged for third-year seminarians Daniel Kleyn and James Laning.
Mr. Kleyn will do his internship in the South Holland PRC in South Holland, IL.  The internship of
Mr. Laning will be supervised by the Council of the Southwest PRC in Grandville, MI.  The intern-
ships will run from July to the end of this year.
    Third-year, diploma non-licentiate (he does not intend to enter the ministry in the PRC) semi-
narian Darren Thole plans to do an internship during the same time under the auspices of the
Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
    The synod of 1996 must appoint a new professor to replace Professor Hanko.  This is required
by the rule that "a new professor shall be appointed when any of the active professors reaches the
age of 65."  Prof. Hanko has served the churches in the seminary since 1965.  The rules permit the
professor who has reached the age of 65 to continue to teach on a yearly basis until he is 70.  The
churches should make this important change at the seminary a matter of prayer.
    The student body, faculty, and support staff are using and enjoying the new addition to the
seminary building.  Recently, a couple donated a lovely grandfather clock to the seminary.  It
stands in the lounge area, impressively visible from the entrance to the seminary.  Such interest in
the school is encouraging.  Especially those who may not yet have seen the new addition are
warmly invited to stop in and see it -- and us.
    We ask for the continued prayers of the churches, as of all the supporters of the seminary, that
the Lord Jesus Christ by this means will give able, faithful pastors and teachers to His church.

                                                                                         For the faculty,
                                                                                    Cordially in Christ,




                                                                        Prof. David J. Engelsma, Rector



                                                                                    April 1, 1996/Standard Bearer/297


  All Around Us                                                                                   Rev. Gise VanBaren



n
n The Inclusive Bible                                                                    movement has started unveiling its
                                              Sometimes it means repeating
                                                                                         plans for more than 20 men's con-
     You have doubtlessly read of             "God" incessantly:
                                                                                         ferences at sports arenas this year,
                                                 "God is my shepherd, I shall not
the "Inclusive Bible."  It is man's                                                      and two of the events already have
                                              want.  God makes me lie down in
attempt to improve on the revela-                                                        sold out.
                                              green pastures, and leads me be-
tion of God to us given in Holy                                                            The movement, which encour-
                                              side still waters; God restores my
Scripture.  It seems that in the minds                                                   ages men to be more committed to
                                              soul.  God leads me in paths of
of some the old Bible is no longer                                                       their families and their Christian
                                              righteousness for the sake of God's
suitable for our current day and age.                                                    faith, held conferences in 13 cities
                                              name."
Nor is this merely a matter of trans-                                                    last year.  A total of more than
                                                 St. Paul doesn't address "breth-
                                                                                         720,000 men attended.
lation -- this is deliberate revision          ren," but "brothers and sisters" and
                                                                                           A 1996 conference planned for
of the Word of Holy Scripture.  We            "sisters and brothers" alternately.
                                                                                         Indianapolis sold out in eight days.
                                              Even the Devil's sex is carefully un-
quote part of an article appearing                                                       An event in Minneapolis sold out
                                              specified, so there is some comfort
in The Christian News, January 29,                                                       shortly after the Indianapolis con-
                                              for men....
1996.                                                                                    ference.
                                                 The new version avoids offense
                                                                                           "Some of them sold out relatively
                                              at all costs -- even imaginary of-
     Christians have always believed                                                     quickly last year, but eight days is
                                              fense.  "The blind" become "blind
  that God is omnipotent and omni-                                                       pretty quick," said Promise Keep-
                                              people."  "Lepers" become "people
  scient.  Well, the divine attributes                                                   ers spokesman Roger Chapman.
                                              with leprosy."  "Slaves" become
  have been expanded: He is now in-                                                        The theme of this year's confer-
                                              "enslaved people."  "Dark" and
  clusive, too.  In fact He is no longer                                                 ences is "Break Down the Walls."
                                              "darkness" have been edited out to
  "He."                                                                                    "There are centuries-old walls
                                              avoid aspersions against "dark-
     "Our Father-Mother in heaven,                                                       built of pain, hurt, neglect and
                                              skinned people."  St. John's critical
  hallowed be your name," goes the                                                       abuse," said Promise Keepers'
                                              references to "the Jews" have been
  Lord's Prayer ... in The New Tes-                                                      President Randy Phillips.  "Our de-
                                              tactfully altered, though St. John
  tament and Psalms: An Inclusive                                                        sire is to exalt the person of Christ
                                              himself (like all the central figures
  Version, published by Oxford Uni-                                                      and power of the cross in a way
                                              in the Gospel) was a Jew.  (Hey --
  versity Press.  This new version is                                                    that breaks down the walls that ex-
                                              what about the Romans?)  Even
  not really a translation, but an at-                                                   ist brother-to-brother, brother-to-
                                              "right hand" has been deleted in
  tempt, based on the New Revised                                                        sister, and church-to-church."
                                              deference to southpaws....
  Standard Version, to correct earlier
  translations.                                                                            Bill McCartney writes in his
                                                 Well!!
     According to the editors' intro-                                                  Men of Action Newsletter of Janu-
                                                 Will there be no end of attacks
  duction, it not only reflects but also                                               ary 1996,
                                            on Holy Scripture?  If the devil can
  "attempts to anticipate developments      not destroy the Bible, he will see to
  in the English language with regard                                                      We must learn what it is to be
  to specificity about a number of is-      it that it is so altered as to lose all
                                                                                         broken and emptied before the
  sues such as gender, race, and            reliability and infallibility.  Surely       Lord.  A broken man can be used
  physical disability" (emphasis in         none who value the inspired Scrip-           by God to break down walls.  This
  original).                                tures will even consider using such          means to forfeit all of our self-in-
     ... Masculine pronouns for the         a tainted paraphrase (it is not a "ver-      terests, all of our suspicions about
  Deity have been pruned away.  "In         sion" or "translation").  This type          others, all of our negative attitudes
  this version," the editors announce       of work can only come from those             and all of our unforgiveness and
  proudly, "God is never referred to        who deny the inspiration of the              condemnation of others.  Can any-
  by a masculine pronoun, or by any                                                      thing less qualify us as a disciple
                                            Word of God.
  pronoun at all."  Often this means                                                     of Jesus Christ (I John 4:19-20;
  "changing the syntax of a sentence                                                     James 5:6-10)?
  so as to avoid using a pronoun."                                                         ...Men, let us begin to break
                                                                                         down the walls -- by laying down
                                                                                         our lives and hungering for God's
                                            n
                                            n Promise Keepers                            will.
                                            Again
                                                 The Religious News Service re-            And an invitation was sent to
Rev. VanBaren is pastor of the Protes-      ports (Feb. 2, 1996):                      area churches near Ft. Collins, Colo-
tant Reformed  Church  of  Loveland,                                                   rado to attend a local rally with the
Colorado.                                        The Promise Keepers men's

298/Standard Bearer /April 1, 1996


Promise Keepers' theme: "Break              ing that began Jan. 19, became No.              We can but watch and pray.
Down the Walls."  The invitation            27 on Tuesday.                             The night is far spent, the day is at
included the plea, "Please plan to            The most recent calamity has left        hand.  It is the time for diligence
attend this evening of fellowship,          Washington, Oregon and Idaho               and faithfulness on the part of the
                                            drying out from floods that began
praise and worship.  Join us in `unit-                                                 church.
                                            a week ago.  These states estimate
ing' as the Body of Christ!!"               damage will top $620 million.
    The intent of the movement be-            The 27 declarations are close to
comes ever clearer.  This year the          the full-year average since 1991:
emphasis is upon "Breaking down             37.6 declared disasters.                   n
                                                                                       n Development of the
the walls."  These "walls" are not            Also among 1996's disasters are
only such as exist within families,         January's storms and floods in the         Computer
but also those which exist between          East.                                           Revelation 13:15, "And he had
denominations of churches as Ro-              The Eastern storms caused $585           power to give life unto the image of
                                            million in insured losses, while
man Catholic, Protestant, and even          Pennsylvania alone estimated flood         the beast, that the image of the beast
Mormon (though the latter can by            damage at $700 million.                    should both speak, and cause that
no stretch of the imagination be in-          Meanwhile, growers in the                as many as would not worship the
cluded in "church").  Clearly the           Southeast have requested a decla-          image of the beast should be killed."
walls are to be broken down not by          ration because of freezing weather              From the Denver Post:
resolving differences on the basis of       earlier this month, and Montanans
Scripture, but ignoring them.  Could        are waiting for one as a result of              Would you believe that fifty
this work be one more way of es-            floods.                                      years ago this month (February),
tablishing that one world church --            FEMA also has people deployed              scientists in Philadelphia unveiled
                                            to work in the Virgin Islands,
the church of antichrist?                                                                the Electronic Numerical Integra-
                                            Puerto Rico, Florida and Georgia,            tor and Computer, ENIAC?  The
                                            which were struck by hurricanes              first electronic computer weighed
                                            last year [and in] California, which         30 tons and filled a room.
                                            is recovering from the Northridge               A few years later, experts were
                                            earthquake in 1994.                          predicting that computers might
                                                                                         someday weigh as little as 1.5 tons,
n SIGNS OF THE TIMES:                         The theory is that the El Ni               and that dozens of them might be
                                          current in the Pacific Ocean is the            installed around the world.
"A Record-setter                          cause of this increase in disastrous              Today, computers weigh far less
for Disasters"                            storms.  And perhaps scientists can            than 1.5 tons.  Tens of millions of
                                                                                         them go into service each year,
    We have been reading of vari-         come up with some reasonable ex-
                                                                                         ranging from massively parallel
ous and serious disasters occurring       planations for every disaster that             computation engines that simulate
across our country.  A short article      strikes.                                       weather patterns to humble little
pointing this out was in the Denver           But does not Jesus indicate                chips in wrist watches and dolls
Post of February 15, 1996:                (Matt. 24:7), "For nation shall rise           and automobile dashboards.
                                          against nation, and kingdom against               What about 50 years from now?
    Floods, snow, winds and ice have      kingdom: and there shall be fam-                  Even the experts know it is reck-
  contributed to making 1996 -- only       ines, and pestilences, and earth-              less to forecast computer technol-
  six weeks old -- a record year for       quakes in divers places"?  In fact,            ogy more than five years out.  Bill
  disasters.                              we have here a strong reminder of              Gates once said that 640 kilobytes
    The government already has is-        the testimony of Revelation which              of RAM ought to be enough for
  sued 27 disaster declarations, the                                                     anyone.
                                          speaks of the seven trumpets in
  largest number so early that "any-      which one third of the earth is de-
  one can recall," said Phil Cogan of                                                       So -- what once seemed impos-
                                          stroyed -- an increase from the nor-
  the Federal Emergency Manage-                                                        sible is now taking place.  Within
                                          mal one fourth.  Do we hear the
  ment Agency; 21 states are in-                                                       fifty years we have computers
  volved.                                 beginning of the sounding of the             which are vastly superior to that
    FEMA, which provides equip-           trumpets?  We may not know yet               original one, in schools, in the work-
  ment, loans and grants to affected      for sure.  It is remarkable, however,        place, and in many homes.  It would
  communities, has staff working on       that the secular press points out the        then seem very possible that Rev-
  all 27.                                 startling increase in disasters.  If this
    "We have not had a moment that                                                     elation 13 is near fulfillment as well.
                                          continues, what will happen to the
  we could at least catch our breath                                                                                             q
                                          insurance companies?  If it contin-
  and catch up," said FEMA chief          ues, what will happen with the
  James Lee Witt.                         country's "balanced budget"?  What
    Vermont, suffering from flood-        will happen with the stock market?

                                                                                                  April 1, 1996/Standard Bearer/299


  Ministering to the Saints                                                                     Prof. Robert Decker




                        The Gifts Necessary
                     for the Office of Elder

     Of the several passages which         or an adulterer.  Rather, he must be       pathetic, to "feel with" God's people
speak to this subject, I Timothy 3:1-      chaste.                                    in their needs after the example of
7 and Titus 1:5-9 are the most com-                In addition the elder must be      our merciful High Priest, Jesus (Heb.
prehensive.  These passages present        "vigilant, sober, and of good behav-       4:15-16).
the following qualifying gifts:            ior."  Vigilant means the elder must           The elder must be apt to teach.
blameless, the husband of one wife,        be serious minded.  He must as well        He must be skillful in teaching,
vigilant, sober, of good behavior,         be alert to the dangers which              qualified to teach.  This certainly
given to or lover of hospitality, apt      threaten God's people.  The elder          implies that the elder has a calling
to teach ("able to exhort and con-         must be aware of the temptations           to teach.  He is a "pastor-teacher,"
vince the gainsayers," Tit. 1:9), not      God's people face from the devil,          according to Ephesians 4:11 and I
given to wine, no striker, not greedy      the world, and their own sinful            Thessalonians 5:12-15.  The reference
of filthy lucre, patient, not a brawler    flesh.  Sober means of sound mind.         here is not merely to teaching cat-
("not given to riot," Tit. 1:6), not       The elder must not be swayed by            echism classes or leading Bible
covetous, rules his house well, not        sudden impulses.  He must be dis-          Study Societies, but in all his spiri-
a novice, has a good report of them        creet.  The elder must always be           tual oversight of his fellow
that are without, not soon angry,          ready and willing to listen to the         officebearers and the congregation
lover of good men, just, holy, tem-        people of God in order to form             the elder is busy teaching from the
perate.                                    sound judgments.  He must be of            Word of God.  Family visiting, sick
     The first group of these is           good behavior.  This refers to or-         visiting, comforting the sorrowing,
largely positive.  The list is headed      derliness, a well ordered life.  The       counseling those with problems, rul-
by "blameless."  Literally this word       elder must live with decorum and           ing, governing the congregation, ad-
means "not open to censure, irre-          modesty.  His life's affairs, his work,    monishing the wayward, exercising
proachable."  In all of his life there     family, and finances must be in or-        discipline -- all of these functions
must be nothing worthy of censure,         der.                                       involve teaching.  God's Word must
not even a hint of anything.  The                  Given to hospitality is another    be brought to bear in all these cir-
elder must be a man of unquestion-         necessary gift for the elder.  "A lover    cumstances and to all of these needs.
able morality and uprightness.             of strangers" is the literal meaning       The elder needs teaching skills.  The
     He must be "the husband of one        of this word.  This does not mean          elder must develop this gift of teach-
wife."  This does not mean that the        merely that the elder's house must         ing first by prayerful study of the
elder must be a married man.  Paul         be open to all, or that he must be         Word of God itself, by a study of
as an apostle was also an elder, and       willing to provide food, shelter, and      the doctrines of Holy Scripture as
he was a bachelor.  The point is that      fellowship to the needy.  It means         set forth in the Reformed confes-
the elder must be beyond reproach          this too, but there is much more.  A       sions, and by a study of good, sound
in his marriage.  He must be a good        hospitable elder is one whose heart        books.
and faithful husband, married in the       is open to the needy, the poor, the            The second group of qualifica-
Lord.  He must not be a fornicator         lonely widow or widower, the little        tions is largely negative.  The elder
                                           lambs of the flock, the young man          must not be "given to wine."  Liter-
                                           or woman in the church who has             ally the text reads, "not one who
                                           no friends, the sick, the sorrowing,       sits long at his wine."  He must not
                                           the anxious, despairing, and fear-         be a drunkard, one addicted to al-
Prof. Decker is professor of Practical     ful.  Hospitality refers to a willing-     cohol.  Scripture does not forbid the
Theology in the Protestant Reformed        ness to spend oneself and be spent         moderate use of alcohol.  Jesus
Seminary.                                  for the saints.  It is to be truly sym-    made and drank wine.  Paul in this

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same letter tells Timothy to "use a        seek wealth is indeed very sinful.            waited one year before ordaining el-
little wine for thy stomach's sake         We are called to be good stewards             ders in the churches established on
and thine often infirmities" (I Tim.       of the Lord's gifts.  Our earthly             their first missionary journey.3
5:23).  But drunkenness is every-          goods must be used for God's King-            Some churches have a rule that new
where condemned by Scripture.              dom.  Certainly a covetous lover of           converts or people coming from
Certainly one who is enslaved by           money is unfit to oversee God's               other denominations must attend
this sin is not fit for the office of      church.                                       services and participate in the life
elder.                                         Verses 4-7 of I Timothy 2 list            of the church for one year before
    The elder must be "no striker."        the last three qualifications.  An el-        becoming members.
A striker is a bruiser, always ready       der must rule well his own house.                 Finally, the elder must have a
with a blow, contentious, pugna-           He must be not a tyrant, but a faith-         good report from those who are out-
cious, or quarrelsome.  Closely re-        ful husband and father.  He must              side of the church.  "Good report"
lated to this is the "brawler" men-        be one who has his children in sub-           means a good testimony.  An elder
tioned in the same verse.  This lat-       jection with all gravity.  An elder           must not have a bad reputation in
ter was added no doubt for empha-          must not have unruly, disobedient             the work place or community.  He
sis.  It refers to a hardheadedness,       children.  The reason for this is that        must be known as a sincere, honest,
unreasonableness, one who is al-           if one does not know how to rule              and irreproachable Christian.  If he
ways fighting.  We ought to note           his own house, he cannot take care            does not have this testimony he falls
that most brawling in the church is        of the church.                                into reproach and the snare (trap)
done with words.  Samuel Miller                The elder must not be a novice.           of the devil.  And this brings shame
comments in this connection, "... of       A novice is one newly planted in              to the name of Christ and His body,
all characters in a congregation, an       the faith, a recent convert.  These           the church.   q
indiscreet, meddling, garrulous, gos-      are often full of zeal initially, but
siping, tattling Elder, is one of the      they have not yet been tested,
most pestiferous."1  Such men do           proved in the battle of faith.  They          1. Samuel Miller, The Ruling Elder,
not seek the peace of Jerusalem, but       need experience.  The danger of               p. 254.
in pride they seek themselves.  The        electing a novice is that he will be-
result is that the congregation is torn    come proud and fall into the con-             2. I Timothy 6:6-19.
by schism and strife, confusion, and       demnation of the devil.  This is no
all kinds of evil.  God's people can-      doubt why Paul and Barnabas                   3. Acts 14:21-23 and I Timothy 5:22.
not grow in the knowledge of the
truth and in the grace of the Lord
Jesus in such an environment.  Strik-                        IS LIFE WORTH LIVING?
ers and brawlers scatter the sheep
and are not fit to rule and care for
God's precious flock.                        Life is worth living,
    The elder must also be patient.            If lived to Him
Here is the sharp contrast.  The el-             Who paid my penalty.
der must be no striker or brawler,
but he must be patient.  The word            All is worth giving,                    And then the giving
itself means "seemly, suitable, equi-          If given for Him                        Of His blest Word,
table, fair, mild, gentle."  This kind           Who gave Himself for me.                That some may seek His face.
of man is fair minded, willing to
listen to all sides of a dispute.  When      Life's not worth living                 There's no real living
convinced by the Word of God he                If lived for self,                      Apart from Him
stands without compromise, but                   'Tis hollow mockery.                    Who gave Himself for us.
when convinced by the Word that
his position is in error, he readily         'Tis not worth living,                  The joy of giving
admits he is wrong.  Gently and                'Tis wasted time,                       Is known to those
with the longsuffering of Christ he              And ends in misery.                     Who bow at Jesus' cross.
leads and guides the sheep.  Pa-                                                                                 --H. McD.
tiently he bears with the weak.              Life is worth living
    Neither must an elder be covet-            If but for this,                                       from the April, 1926
ous, i.e., a lover of money.  The love           To praise Him for His grace.                               Standard Bearer
of money is the root of all evil.2
Riches and money in themselves are
not sinful.  To love money and to

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  A Cloud of Witnesses                                                                      Prof. Herman Hanko



                                      William Ames:
          Puritan in the Netherlands

Introduction                               Dutch ministers preached in English        and had the same structure of arch-
     Almost from the beginning of          churches and English preachers             bishops, bishops, and priests (along
the history of the Reformation in the      found many years of enjoyable la-          with a multitude of other offices) as
Netherlands a Puritan strain could         bor in Dutch churches.  The con-           Rome had -- except for cardinals
be found in the Dutch Reformed             tacts were of many kinds, very close,      and a pope.  In worship most of the
Churches.  This Puritan influence          and frequent.                              trappings, ceremonies, robes, litur-
was to continue for many years and             All this brought into the Neth-        gies, and symbols which were a part
it made an indelible mark on Dutch         erlands a Dutch Puritanism which           of Romish worship could be found
thought.  Some even speak of               remains in the Dutch churches to-          in the Anglican church as well --
"Dutch Puritanism."                        day.                                       and can still be found there today.
     The reason why a Puritan influ-           William Ames was one of the                Within the Anglican Church
ence could be found among the              Dutch Puritans.                            was a large group of clergy and
Dutch was the close contact,                                                          people who wanted more complete
throughout the centuries, between          Life in England                            reformation, not only in doctrine,
the Dutch and the English.  The En-            Almost nothing is known of the         but also in church polity and wor-
glish came to the help of the Dutch        early life of William Ames; not any        ship.  They made every effort to
in the War for Dutch Independence          of the details of his early life have      change the Anglican Church but
under William the Silent.  The En-         come down to us.  He was born in           were blocked in their efforts by
glish sent representatives to the          1576 in Ipswich, Suffolk, Co. Nor-         Elizabeth, who insisted on confor-
Synod of Dort (although it is a mat-       folk.  This means that he was born         mity throughout her realm.  Most
ter of debate whether they were of         in a town a short distance north of        clergy when forced to sign the Act
any assistance in the battle against       London near the Sea.  And he was           of Conformity, did so.  Some did
Arminianism).  During the time of          born when Queen Elizabeth sat on           not.  They became known as Puri-
Spanish persecution in the Nether-         the throne of England as the last of       tans because they wanted to purify
lands, many fled to England and            the Tudors.  She had already seen          the church beyond what had so far
found refuge there; and during the         to it that Parliament passed the Act       been accomplished.  They were also
efforts of the Stuart kings in England     of Conformity, which required that         known as Non-conformists, a name
to impose prelacy on all the               all churches follow the pattern of         which stuck for many years.
churches, many refugees found a            the Church of England both in wor-             For the most part the Non-con-
haven in the Netherlands.  One need        ship and church government.                formists, though continuing to pro-
only think of the Pilgrims who, af-            These circumstances of Ames'           mote their non-conformity and
ter fleeing England, lived for a time      birth are so important that his en-        though refusing to sign any Acts of
in and near Leyden before sailing          tire life was controlled by them.          Conformity, stayed in the church.
for America.  English scholars were        And so we shall have to say a few          Where else could they go?  It was
recognized for their learning and          things about the struggle which            not until the Great Ejection that non-
were invited to Dutch universities         went on in England as a result of          conformists were expelled from the
to teach, and Dutch scholars found         Elizabeth's rule.                          Anglican Church and Non-conform-
positions in English universities.             The Church of England was, at          ist Churches sprang up throughout
                                           least officially, quite Calvinistic, as    England.
                                           expressed in the 39 Articles of the            William Ames was a Puritan in
                                           Church of England -- the official           the Anglican Church, outspoken and
Prof. Hanko is professor of Church His-
                                           creed of the church.  In government,       vocal, and one who refused to bow
tory and New Testament in the Protes-
                                           the church was strictly hierarchical       before the dictates of Elizabeth.  Nor
tant Reformed Seminary.

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could Archbishop Bancroft's most         was still raging, Ames was called          ognition of his contributions to the
strenuous opposition to non-confor-      before Dr. Carey, the master of the        university, made him rector in 1626.
mity move him.  I suppose that if        college, and told he should wear a         During this time he had the privi-
Ames had been content to moder-          surplice, which was a robe worn by         lege and pleasure of serving with
ate his protests and keep his objec-     clerics to add to the dignity of their     Maccovius, of whom we spoke in
tions to himself he would have sur-      office.  The Puritans had rejected the     our last article.
vived within the Anglican Church         use of such "papal" garments, but              Sadly, though, his abilities were
and would have been able to keep         the Anglicans were then and are            not recognized by his countrymen,
his post in Cambridge.  But that was     now favorable to such clothing.  Dr.       and the adage mentioned even in
not in his nature.  He believed          Carey insisted that Scripture re-          Scripture that a prophet is not with-
deeply that prelacy, hierarchy, and      quired him to wear it, and when            out honor, save in his own country,
all the remnants of Rome that re-        Ames, rather astonished, asked for         was true of Ames.
mained in the Anglican Church dis-       the text where such a command was              During the twelve years of his
honored God and made the church          found, Carey quoted the passage:           stay in Franeker, Ames served the
a wicked institution.  His deep com-     "Put on the armour of light," which,       Dutch Reformed Churches well.  He
mitment to these principles came to      Carey insisted, referred to a white        did battle against the high church
expression in his strong opposition      surplice.  Ames' refusal to be             prelates in England and continued
to the established church's practices    swayed by such exegesis infuriated         to write against their superstitious
and made him a passionate de-            the master.                                ceremonies and Romish practices,
fender of Puritan goals.                                                            while defending vigorously the
    Ames received the bulk of his        Ames' Labors in the Netherlands            regulative principle of worship.  Ri-
education at Christ's College, Cam-          It was in the Hague that Ames          chard Baxter, famous for his still
bridge, where he studied under the       found employment as chaplain to            popular book, The Reformed Pas-
famous Puritan supralapsarian Wil-       Sir Horace Vere, the commander of          tor, left Anglicanism to join the Non-
liam Perkins.  Being an ardent Puri-     the English troops in the Nether-          conformist movement because of the
tan he could hope for no advance-        lands, and at the same time served         writings of William Ames.
ment within Anglican circles.            as minister of the English church in           Ames also wrote extensively
Hence, when an opportunity to be-        the Hague.                                 against Roman Catholic error and
come chaplain of Cambridge Uni-              But the long arm of Ames' en-          took on the great Bellarmine, per-
versity opened up, he took it.           emies in England reached across the        haps the greatest of all Roman
    His stay in Cambridge did not        channel.  The archbishop of Canter-        Catholic theologians since the time
last long.  The very nature of an        bury wrote a letter to Sir Ralph           of the Reformation.
established State Church was con-        Winwood, the English ambassador                But his chief enemies were al-
ducive in England to careless and        to Netherlands, to see to it that          ways the Arminians, whose theol-
profane living.  The students in         Ames was removed from his posi-            ogy he detested as rationalistic and
Cambridge were no exceptions.            tion.  His letter ended with these         humanistic -- which it truly is.  Not
And so, when Ames preached a ser-        words: "I wish the removing of him         only were they subjected to his
mon against various evil practices       to be as privately and as cleanly car-     scathing attacks in print, but Ames
among the students, such as card-        ried as the matter will permit.  We        was chosen to attend the Synod of
playing and gambling, his enemies        are also acquainted what English           Dort, where he participated in their
took the opportunity to work for his     preachers are entertained in Zeeland,      trial and condemnation.  He was, in
censure.  Hating him for his non-        whereunto in convenient time we            fact, paid four florins a day to at-
conformity, they used Ames' ser-         hope to give a redress."                   tend the Synod, and he served with
mon as an excuse to get rid of him.          But his persecutors could not fi-      distinction as assistant and private
    Ames quite clearly saw that he       nally keep him from finding em-            secretary to the president, the fiery
would be expelled from the Univer-       ployment in the land where he had          Johannes Bogerman.  Ames' work
sity if he fought his case; and so he    chosen to make his home -- al-              was chiefly behind the scenes.
left the university and made his way     though they tried desperately.  Be-            But William Ames always loved
to the Netherlands.  After a brief       cause of his vast learning and great       above all the pastoral ministry and
stay in Leyden, he went to the           ability Ames was called to be divin-       wanted to return to it.  Added to
Hague.                                   ity professor at Franeker in               this was a severe case of asthma,
    An interesting anecdote describ-     Friesland in 1622.  Twelve years he        which made it difficult for him to
ing an event which took place prior      served in this prestigious school,         breathe in the winter months.  He
to Ames' departure from the uni-         and his fame spread throughout all         was in fact so stricken that he feared
versity shows how clearly the issue      Europe.  Students came from remote         every winter would be his last in
was really one of non-conformity.        parts of the continent to study un-        the cold and damp northern prov-
While the storm over his sermon          der him, and the school itself, in rec-    inces.

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     Thinking perhaps that the south-         His wife and family did move           the Anglican Church and suffered
ern part of the Netherlands would         to the new world after Ames' death         the awful persecution which was the
be better for his health, Ames took       and took his extremely valuable li-        lot of the ejected ministers.
a call to the church in Rotterdam,        brary with them.  This library was               Although Ames was by no
where he served the Lord for a brief      an extraordinarily valuable legacy         means well known, the Dutch Re-
time.  But the climate here did not       in America, for he had one of the          formed Churches owe him a great
make much difference in his asthma,       finest libraries in the country, and       debt for his unwavering and uncom-
and Ames made plans to move to            America, at this time in her history,      promising stand against Armin-
America to settle among the Dutch         was almost entirely without books.         ianism; and the Puritanism for
churches in New York or New Jer-              Ames' son William returned             which he fought in England was to
sey.  He died, however, before he         from America to England and was            be his legacy in the Netherlands as
could make the move, and finished         vocal in the Non-conformist move-          it lived on in various branches of
his work on earth on November 14,         ment in England until he, along with       the Reformed churches.   q
1633 at the age of 57.                    so many others, was ejected from


  Contending for the Faith                                                          Rev. Bernard Woudenberg


     To Keep the Record Straight
                                                        (1)

     We recently received a copy of       is little room for Canadian Reformed       marks should be seen in the light of
an article (which has by this time        writers to defend their position in        seeking to promote understanding
probably appeared in print) written       the Standard Bearer, the official pub-     and unity in the relationship with
by Dr. J. DeJong, editor of the           lication of the Protestant Reformed        the Protestant Reformed Churches.
Clarion magazine of the Canadian          Churches.                                  In many ways we share a common
Reformed Churches, the Canadian               I would not willingly return to        history and common concerns!  We
wing of the Liberated Churches.  I        these points were it not for another       can appreciate their warnings
was happy to receive it; for, if we       series of remarkable allegations pub-      against the theory of common grace,
are to gain a full understanding of       lished recently in Christian Renewal       and against the dangers of
this important chapter of our his-        by Rev. B. Woudenberg.1  Somehow           Arminianism!  But to understand
tory, it is important that we under-      the issue of the PRC's relationship        each other's position, we need to
stand also how those on the Liber-        to those whom they call "the Liber-        cover a good deal of ground, also
ated side of these issues perceive        ated" just does not want to go away.       in the exact sequence of events sur-
the matters with which we have            In fact, Rev. Woudenberg had a             rounding the early immigration.
been concerned.  His article read as      lengthy series of articles dealing
follows:                                  with the `Liberated' in the Standard       The immigration situation
                                          Bearer in which many issues previ-               In his response to Rev. J.
Just for the record                       ously discussed in the pages of            Tuininga of Lethbridge, Rev.
     Readers of Clarion will recall       Clarion were again brought for-            Woudenberg reviews the early his-
that on more than one occasion vari-      ward.2  His remarks in Christian Re-       tory of the immigration in Canada,
ous writers, including myself, have       newal only summarize what he had           and the effects this had on the Prot-
interacted with church leaders in the     said earlier in these articles.
Protestant Reformed Churches.  Re-            Some aspects of Rev. Wouden-
peated attempts to promote a mean-        berg's comments in Christian Re-           1.    This concerns a response of Rev.
ingful discussion have not had            newal merit a response.  I prefer to       Woudenberg to Rev. Jelle Tuininga of
                                                                                     Lethbridge, see Christian Renewal October
promising results.  Except for the        focus this time not primarily on doc-      13, 1995, p. 3 (Reader's Forum). The same ar-
occasional letter to the editor, there    trinal questions but questions of          ticle appeared in the Standard Bearer,  Vol.
                                          church history.  If there is to be any     72, No. 4 (Nov. 15, 1995), 89-91
                                          progress in ecumenical discussions,
Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Prot-    we must at least have a proper view        2.    I refer to the series of articles "Taking
estant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo,      of what actually happened.  My re-         Heed to Doctrine" as published intermittently
Michigan.                                                                            in the Standard Bearer from May, 1992

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estant Reformed Churches.  He says             I will bypass the remarks made         mutual correction.  He wanted to
that the Protestant Reformed               about Prof. K. Schilder.  Earlier in       give equal room to both views, and
Churches first welcomed the new            his article Woudenberg says that           so let matters resolve themselves
immigrants with open arms.  While          Schilder was not inclined to give          through process of learning, study,
Rev. H. Hoeksema had said that he          definite answers on the differences        debate and interaction.  If necessary,
did not agree with Schilder's con-         between himself and Hoeksema.  I           this would lead to a new ecclesias-
cept of the covenant, he was willing       would only ask where this informa-         tical consensus through discussion
to give Schilder and the Liberated a       tion comes from; articles in De            at the various ecclesiastical assem-
fair hearing.  New immigrants com-         Reformatie appear to tell a differ-        blies -- although it should be noted
ing from the Liberated churches in         ent story.  Yet my real concern is         that Holwerda himself does not
Holland were assured that they             the letter of Holwerda.  For in            mention this possibility.  Holwerda
were welcome in the PRC.  As               Woudenberg's view, this letter was         simply followed the norms of Scrip-
Woudenberg says, "... although we          the occasion for the rift between          ture regarding the gathering of the
had no hesitancy about receiving           "Liberated" immigrants and the             church as applied to the concrete
their members, we were careful to          Protestant Reformed Churches.  Is          situation facing the immigrants.
inform them that, while they were          this true?
free to believe about the covenant                                                    The later history
what they would, they could expect         A look at the letter                             Was this letter the occasion for
a different view to be preached from           Perhaps it should be noted first       the rift?  That appears to me as an
our pulpits."3                             of all that Prof. Holwerda's letter        inaccurate rendition of the facts.  For
    So far there is little disagree-       was published without his consent,         this advice of Holwerda was fol-
ment about the course of events.           and in complete disregard of its           lowed by the early immigrants both
There is no doubt that the early `Lib-     stated intent.  In this letter, written    in the Hamilton and in the Chatham
erated' immigrants had a view of           to brother J. Koster of Chatham,           area.  Chatham was first instituted
the covenant which differed from           Prof. Holwerda only states that, in        as a Protestant Reformed Church,
the one promoted by the Revs.              accordance with what he had                and Hamilton also opened its pul-
Hoeksema and Ophoff.  But the PRC          learned from the PRC ministers Kok         pit to ministers from the Protestant
had other ministers with different         and DeJong, there was no binding           Reformed Church.  Much apprecia-
views, and there was sufficient room       to the opinions of the Revs. Hoek-         tion was expressed for PRC work-
for various views on the covenant.         sema and Ophoff.5  In the letter           ers such as Rev. Cammenga and
The only requirement was that all          Holwerda expresses his disagree-           Rev. Petter.  Thus, while the immi-
be bound to God's Word as con-             ments with the hesitancy of the            grants did not want to adopt the
fessed in the Three Forms of Unity.        Synod of Amersfoort 1948 to enter          PRC view of the covenant they re-
                                           into correspondence with the Prot-         mained open to fellowship with
The letter of Prof. Holwerda               estant Reformed Churches, and he           these churches, and willingly ac-
    All this changed, according to         also states, "The Protestant Re-           cepted PRC ministers.
Rev. Woudenberg, when a letter was         formed Church is the true church".               How did the rift come?  It came
written by Prof. B. Holwerda to one        He then expresses the hope that Lib-       through the adoption of the infa-
of the new immigrants concerning           erated immigrants, having joined
the course of action they ought to         the PRC, might assist in a "deepen-
follow.   As Woudenberg puts it:           ing of insight."  He quotes Rev. Kok       3.    Christian Renewal,  October 23, 1995,
"But then it was discovered that           who had said, "We can learn from           page 3.
Prof. Holwerda was privately ad-           each other."  And Holwerda ex-
                                                                                      4.
vising those same immigrants (`Lib-        presses the wish that the doctrinal              Ibid., 3.
erated', JD) to join the Protestant Re-    riches of the Netherlands might be         5.
formed, but to ignore Hoeksema's           passed on to the Protestant Re-                  The text of the original letter can be
                                                                                      found in the Standard Bearer, Vol. 25, #20,
covenant view and work their own           formed Churches.                           (Aug l, 1949), p. 469. Rev. Woudenberg gives
into our churches -- and even more,             It is clear from the letter itself     a (rather poor) translation of the same in the
that certain of our ministers had pri-     that there is no substance to the          Standard Bearer, Vol. 68, #15, (May l, 1992),
vately expressed their approval of         rather coloured allegations of Rev.        355-356.
this.  That, and not Schilder's igno-      Woudenberg.  For he reads Prof.            6.    This is clear from what he wrote in 1992:
rance of our differences was what          Holwerda's letter as a distinct plan       "...Prof. Holwerda, rather than contacting our
brought about the breakdown of re-         of attack against the Protestant Re-       churches openly and discussing our differ-
lationships between us and the Lib-        formed Churches, a pre-arranged            ences, was secretly instructing the immigrants
erated, as well as causing a major         strategy of infiltration.6  But that is    to infiltrate our churches and take them over
                                                                                      for their view." The Standard Bearer, Vol. 68,
disruption in our own denomina-            entirely misconstrued, for Holwerda        No. 15 (May 1, 1992), 356.  Nothing of this
tion."4                                    promoted mutual upbuilding and             can be found in Holwerda's letter.

                                                                                                   April 1, 1996/Standard Bearer/305


mous Declaration of Principles by            facts?  We can always debate the          channels of discussion open, and
the PRC Synod of 1951.  Before that          issues, but the sequence of events        hope and pray that through contin-
time, that is, for two years (!) after       should not be hopelessly skewed           ued study, prayer and dialogue, we
the letter of Prof. Holwerda, there          and misrepresented in favour of vin-      may witness the growing unity of
was ongoing fellowship with the              dicating our theological perspectives     those who according to the norms
PRC.  Only when the Synod adopted            on the covenant.  How can we ever         of the word belong together in the
the Declaration as a binding state-          make progress in Reformed                 Lord.
ment for the institution of new              ecumenicity if we do not accurately                                            J. DeJong
churches, only then did the breach           recount the past?
come.  At this point Chatham could               Even a neutral reader can see               This then constitutes the article
no longer remain in the fellowship           that the Hoeksema-Ophoff maneu-           of Dr. DeJong.  As you may note,
of PRC churches.  The rift came not          vers in 1949 and 1950 were an over-       he focuses most of his attention on
from a personal letter, but from the         blown and highly charged reaction-        the letter of Prof. Holwerda, which
very public Declaration of Prin-             ary attempt to shore up Hoeksema's        from a historical point of view is
ciples.7                                     view of the covenant.  Had the            certainly appropriate.  In fact, how
     If the thesis of Rev. Woudenberg        brothers been more cautious and           one understands this difficult but
was correct, there would not have            less stringent in their approach, they    important juncture in our history
been a two-year interval before the          would not have lost so many people        will be reflected in how one inter-
schism with the Protestant Re-               to the CRC and the Canadian Re-           prets the various nuances found in
formed Churches actually took                formed Churches.                          that letter.  In order to try to make
place.  If the personal and private              Prof. K. Schilder repeatedly said     our viewpoint clear, we will deal
letter of Prof. Holwerda had the             to Rev. Hoeksema: we have no spe-         with that letter in terms of the his-
kind of effects as suggested by Rev.         cial view of the covenant.  Indeed,       tory that led up to it in our next
Van Woudenberg the rift would                there were many different views on        articles.    q
have taken place immediately, or at          the covenant going right back to the
least shortly after the letter itself was    early days of the Secession.  It is
written.  Not only do we have the            true that the Liberation produced a
clear mark of the two-year interval,         crystallization of Reformed under-        7.     The decision of the consistory of
we also have the official declaration        standing regarding the covenant.          Chatham is found in De Reformatie Vol. 27,
of the consistory of Chatham con-            But no one view was ever adopted          No. 9 (December l, 1951), 79. The decision
                                                                                       and further elucidation is signed by the broth-
firming the exact reasons for their          as confessionally binding.  In fact       ers J. Koster, president, and J. Van Dieren,
secession.                                   "Liberated" means that binding to         clerk. For more on the content of the Declara-
     I write these lines not to need-        one particular view on the covenant       tion of Principles and the decision of the
lessly provoke conflicts or to open          was explicitly rejected.                  consistory of Chatham, see W.W.J. VanOene,
                                                                                       Inheritance Preserved. The Canadian Re-
old wounds.  My only point is:                   Since we have so much in com-         formed Churches in Historical Perspective
should we not first be sure of the           mon, we can only strive to keep           (Premier, Winnipeg, 1975), 64-67.


  In His Fear                                                                                   Rev. Arie denHartog


                              The Calling of the
                 Young Women to Marry
                and to Bear Children (2)

                                                 We return in this article to the      enant children.  3) Guide the house.
                                             three exhortations that Paul, the in-     We saw in our last article how these
                                             spired apostle of the Lord, gives to      three are related.
Rev. denHartog is pastor of Hope Prot-       young women in the church in I                  Young women in the church
estant Reformed Church in Redlands,          Timothy 5:14.  He exhorts them to:        must realize what a tremendous
California.                                  1) Marry in the Lord.  2) Bear cov-       calling it is to bear covenant chil-

306/Standard Bearer /April 1, 1996


dren.  God has given you this call-      deemed eternally in heaven prais-             can be absolutely sure that all the
ing in His grand and wonderful cov-      ing and glorifying God?  What                 urging for a supposed societal role
enant purpose.  It is His purpose to     earthly achievement or career could           in caring for children is going to fall
gather His church from the begin-        possibly compare with this?  The              flat in helping to improve the way
ning to the end of the world from        God-fearing woman properly de-                America raises its youth, as long as
the generations of believers.            sires to serve her Lord in this man-          women everywhere are being en-
    We conceive and bring forth our      ner.  She says with Mary, the mother          couraged to forsake their God-or-
children in sin.  From birth they are    of the Lord, "Behold the handmaid             dained responsibility to "guide their
just as wicked and depraved and          of the Lord; be it unto me accord-            house."
damn-worthy as we are.  Not one          ing to thy word" (Luke 1:38).                       The word that is translated in
of them could possibly by his physi-         The calling of the young woman            the KJV as "guide the house" is a
cal birth have any claim to the king-    in the church, however, does not              compound word. The compound
dom of God.  If it were not for the      end when she has given birth to cov-          word is a combination of a word
grace of God, we with our children       enant children.  She must for the             that means house and another that
would be condemned forever with          sake of these covenant children, and          is, literally, "despot."  The godly
the ungodly world.  But God, by          also for the continuation of God's            young woman is to be a "despot"
His sovereign grace, is pleased to       purpose for her marriage, "guide              in her home.  That of course does
save us and also those He has or-        her house."  Covenant children must           not mean that she is to be a cruel,
dained among our children.  He is        be nurtured, cared for, protected,            unloving tyrant in her home.  Nei-
sovereignly pleased to continue His      trained, and disciplined in the cov-          ther does it mean that the young
covenant with them from generation       enant home.  God ordained it that             woman is to usurp the authority of
to generation.                           way.  The godly woman has a very              her husband in marriage and in the
    In every age new lines of the        great role in this also.  Except for          home.  Such an interpretation would
covenant are begun.  By the power        those children whom the Lord is               contradict other Scriptures.  Rather
of the preaching of the gospel to the    pleased to take out of this life in           the wife and mother is a "despot"
nations, God's elect are brought         infancy, God will have His covenant           in her home when she takes charge
unto salvation and into His church.      children trained from childhood on            in the covenant home.  She must
Sometimes whole families are saved       in the way of the Lord.  For this                 manage her home.  She must bear
at once, as we find to have been         He is pleased to use God-fear-                      the responsibility that God has
true several times in the book of        ing women.  This role for the                         given her.  She must manage
                                                                                  There
Acts.  The church of God is contin-      godly woman requires great                             her home well, to be "on top
                                                                             is hardly
ued with these new generations and       responsibility, years of faith-                          of things," have things un-
                                                                            any earthly
with those who have for many gen-        ful labors, and tremendous                               der control for the purpose
                                                                            occupation
erations been members of God's           self-sacrifice.  But this is                             of raising her children in the
                                                                            that re
covenant.  What a wonder it is that      pleasing unto the Lord and                               fear of the Lord.  This re-
                                                                             more self-
many of us can trace God's covenant      will be greatly rewarded.                                quires her constant presence
                                                                              sacrifice
lines back for many generations.             No other institution in                              in the home.  This requires
                                                                            than the role
This is all because of the faithful-     the world, only the covenant                             hard and diligent work on
                                                                              of being
ness and mercy of God and not be-        home, can nurture covenant                               her part.  This requires great
                                                                              a godly
cause of our own efforts.  It is not     children.  Not even the church                         talents and great skill and
                                                                              mother.
something inherited on account of        without the home can really do                        great wisdom on her part.  It
our natural relationships to our par-    that.  Certainly not an ungodly                     requires wholehearted and
ents and grandparents on the one         "day-care institution."  How can any              complete devotion.  There are in
side and to our children on the          thinking, godly woman imagine                 fact hardly any God-given talents
other.  God saves each new genera-       such a thing?  For this reason God            that cannot be employed for this
tion by His amazing grace in Christ      has called you young women to                 purpose to the fullest extent.  There
Jesus and through repentance and         "guide your house."  Mrs. Hillary             is hardly any earthly occupation that
faith in Him.                            Clinton is advocating in her newly            requires more self-sacrifice than the
    Among the greatest of God's          publicized book that society in gen-          role of being a godly mother.  Lov-
wonders is that He uses us, and par-     eral must nurture children.  This is          ing self-sacrifice is one of the most
ticularly you godly young women,         all terribly hypocritical when she is         glorious of all Christian virtues.
to bring forth the children of the       a leading advocate of feminist phi-                 Children need a lot of love and
covenant.  Stop and think of the as-     losophy that promotes the great evil          care and discipline, especially in
tounding wonder of this!  What           of abortion and does everything in            their early lives.  They are very im-
could be more wonderful than that        its power to "liberate" the woman             pressionable.  They are greatly in-
our children will some day be            from the home and to demean the               fluenced by what goes on in the
among the company of the re-             role of the women in the home.  We            home, or, in some instances, what

                                                                                                  April 1, 1996/Standard Bearer/307


does not go on in the home.  They              children.  She must be a role model           when this woman faithfully serves
need to be molded and directed in              for them.  She must be a model of             God, all that mockery will be put to
their young lives.  The world is full          self-sacrifice and tender and com-            silence, because God will exalt her.
of great evils that have tremendous            passionate Christian love.  Children,             Paul laments that already in his
potential to corrupt our children and          especially covenant children who              day many had turned aside unto the
to harden the sinful nature that they          have the Spirit of God in their               devil.  Many more today in the
were born with.  The world can eas-            hearts, will notice this.  They will          sphere of the church who profess to
ily lead our children totally astray,          be greatly influenced by this.  They          be Christians have "turned aside
through books they read and televi-            will by the grace of God in their             unto the devil."  They have done
sion they watch and all the other              hearts follow this role model.  This          this because they have forsaken their
many influences of the world that              will be to the credit of their godly          responsibility in the home in order
come into their lives almost from              mothers, and to the rightful and              to go out into the world.
birth on.  The devil wants our chil-           godly praise of these great women                 The role of the God-fearing
dren, especially those born of cov-            in the church.                                young woman in the home is an
enant parents.  If he can get them                    Paul concludes his admonition          honorable role.  It is one of greatest
already when they are young, they              to the godly young woman by tell-             significance.  It is one that when
will follow him all their life.  The           ing her that she must be careful that         faithfully carried out will bring the
wicked world wants to make its                 the adversary does not speak re-              greatest reward from the Lord.
own impact on our children, to                 proachfully of her.  The positive im-         Proverbs 31 describes the virtuous
mold them according to its own evil            plication of that statement is of             woman.  She is very obviously the
and godless philosophy.  The godly             course that the great concern of the          woman who "guides her house"
woman is called to do all in her               God-fearing woman must be that                well for the sake of her husband and
power to prevent this from happen-             she glorifies God.  To do that she            family.  She is no modern-day, glam-
ing.                                           must avoid as much as possible a              orous career-woman great in the
        Chiefly, covenant children need        life-style that will bring reproach to        world of the ungodly.  She is a
to be nurtured and instructed in the           the name of God. The world follows            woman who fears God.  The in-
great principles of the Word of                       the devil.  It praises its own.  It    spired writer of Proverbs says:
God and the fear of His                                  glamorizes the most wicked          "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is
name.  They must from                                      women of the world.  The          vain:  but a woman that feareth the
                                        The godly
childhood be told the                                       heroines of the world are        Lord, she shall be praised."  The
                                          woman
blessed truths of the gos-                                  the Marilyn Monroes, the         godly woman who has been a guide
                                          in the
pel.  It takes a lot of time                                 Elizabeth Taylors, the          of her house will be praised.  She
                                      covenant home
and effort and sacrifice to                                  Murphy Browns, and all          will not in our modern world have
                                         must be
do this.  There is no such                                   the other wicked, vain,         the praise of men.  But who cares
                                      a daily example
thing as quality time ver-                                   and adulterous movie            about that anyway?  All such
                                        before her
sus quantity time in this                                    stars that are so famous        worldly praise is vain.  The godly
                                         growing,
matter.  It takes a lot of                                  in the media.  The wicked        woman who has been faithful to
                                      impressionable
quality time and effort.                                   world knows very well             serve in her God-ordained sphere
                                         children.
The godly mother in her                                   that God's Word demands            in the home shall finally be praised
God-ordained sphere in the                             a radically different life on the     by God.  And an added blessing of
home must diligently and faithfully            part of those who profess the Chris-          no small account which God gives
teach her children the truths of               tian faith.  Therefore when those             as her reward already in this life is
God's Word, as these little children           who profess the Christian faith live          that her children shall rise up and
eat from her hands and sit on her              just like the rest of the world, the          call her blessed; her husband also,
knees.  Mother must each day give              adversary will speak reproachfully.           and he shall praise her.   q
her children a balanced measure of                    The adversary loves nothing
love, care, and compassion, with               more than ridiculing God's people.
firm and consistent discipline.  A             By doing this the devil blasphemes
woman who is totally exhausted by              God and those who confess to be
a career outside of the home is                His children.  The God-fearing
hardly fit to do this.  She does not           woman strives by God's grace as
have the emotional and psychologi-             much as possible to avoid this, be-
cal energy that is needed for this             cause she loves God and seeks in
role.                                          all things the glory of His name.
        The godly woman in the cov-            Certainly the world, especially to-
enant home must be a daily example             day, mocks the godly woman in the
before her growing, impressionable             role that God has given her.  But

308/Standard Bearer /April 1, 1996


  Da                                                                                               Homer Hoeksema



                                                      Chapter 6
    The Fall of Our First Parents

The Tempter (1)                              thology.  It consisted in some deed;         says -- for the Bible is the Word of
    We now turn to Scripture's               it involved an actual temptation.  If        God -- that the serpent was the
record concerning the temptation             this is not true, then there is no such      tempter, and that the serpent spoke
and fall of our first parents in Para-       thing as the fact of sin.  If it is true,    to Eve.  Men say, "No, this is myth;
dise the First, and in particular to         then why is it not literally as Scrip-       there was no serpent, and there was
the record of Scripture concerning           ture informs us?                             no speech of the serpent," contra-
the tempter, the agent in that temp-             Moreover, we call attention to           dicting God.  This is the serious-
tation and fall.  He is described in         the fact that there is absolutely noth-      ness of the matter.  A theory like
the opening words of Genesis 3:              ing in the simple and matter-of-fact         this is the lie of the devil over
"Now the serpent was more subtle             narrative which leaves the impres-           against the truth of God.
than any beast of the field which            sion that Scripture intends to relate            There are others who attempt
the Lord God had made.  And he               myths or to put forth parables or            to explain that the name "serpent"
said unto the woman, Yea, hath God           allegories.  The Bible indeed uses           here is a mere symbolical name for
said, Ye shall not eat of every tree         parables and allegories, and even            the devil.  Certainly, they say, the
of the garden?"                              fables, but when it does so, it leaves       "serpent" spoke, but, they say, all
    The first fact which must be em-         no doubt about the fact that it is           the rest of Scripture plainly tells us
phasized in this connection is that          doing so.  Here in Genesis there is          that the serpent is the devil.
the tempter was a real serpent.              not even so much as a hint of this.              Now it is certainly true that the
    There are many modern theolo-            There is only one possibility open,          Bible elsewhere alludes to the ser-
gians and teachers who in one de-            and that is to accept what is written        pent and his poison figuratively, as
vious manner or another want to              here literally.                              symbolizing the power of evil and
deny this and want to maintain that              Moreover, it must be empha-              the influence of the devil.  Thus, you
this narrative of the Fall is a bit of       sized that this is a very serious            read in Psalm 140:3, a passage which
mythology.  They point to what they          thing, not a matter of theological           is quoted in Romans 3:13, where the
claim is the obvious impossibility of        hair-splitting and something about           apostle is describing the depravity
a narrative like this, and they go on        which the church ought not to con-           of the natural man:  "They have
to assert that it does not really mat-       cern itself.  We must not be deceived        sharpened their tongues like a ser-
ter whether you believe in those             about this in this age of alleged tol-       pent; adders' poison is under their
wonderful stories literally.  The im-        erance.  The truth comes to the part-        lips."  The Lord Jesus addresses the
portant thing is that you retain the         ing of the ways with the lie at this         hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees in
kernel of truth that is conveyed by          point.  Those who deny the literal           the following language, according to
the stories.  What is that so-called         character of the narrative and the           Matthew 23:33:  "Ye serpents, ye
kernel of truth?  This, that somehow         factualness of what is related are de-       generation of vipers, how can ye es-
man was tempted to sin.                      nying the reality of the fall into sin.      cape the damnation of hell?"  But
    But we call your attention to            They are denying sin.  When you              references of this kind do not prove
this, that the fact of sin is "some-         deny sin, you must needs deny sal-           the point.  For, in the first place,
how" not a bit of mythology, but a           vation also:  for there is no room           these very figurative references are
terrible and real fact.  That fact of sin    for salvation where there is no sin.         only possible because of the fact that
certainly took place.  It certainly has          In addition, they are doing the          the serpent, the real serpent, was
its origin in fact, not in a bit of my-      very thing that the devil did accord-        the instrument of the devil in the
                                             ing to this narrative.  God had said,        first temptation.  In the second
                                             "Thou shalt surely die."  The devil          place, it is obvious from the text in
                                             said, "Ye shall not surely die," con-        Genesis that this serpent was not a
The late Homer Hoeksema was profes-
                                             tradicting God.  Thus it is with the         symbolical serpent.  According to
sor of Dogmatics and Old Testament
                                             question under consideration.  God           verse 1, he is classed with the beasts
in the Protestant Reformed Seminary.

                                                                                                   April 1, 1996/Standard Bearer/309


of the field, "He was more subtle          If you ask whether the serpent             man this is different.  The devil has
than any beast of the field which          spoke, whether he was able to com-         access to our hearts and minds.  He
the Lord God had made."  Accord-           municate with man, the answer              has an ally in man's sinful nature.
ing to the curse pronounced upon           must needs be:  yes, for the Bible         This is also true of the Christian in
him in verse 14, this serpent is the       tells us this.  If you then ask whether    this life, even though he is regener-
same creature that we now know             this is not impossible, then the           ated and is principally a new man.
as going on his belly in the dust of       counter-question is in order:  why         The foe is within the gate, in the
the ground.                                should it be impossible, when God          Christian's flesh, his old nature.  Be-
     Hence, there can be no question       Himself tells us that he spoke to          cause of this situation, the devil can
about it, that the Word of God here        Eve?  Is the fact that the serpent         tempt us from within.  But that was
is speaking of a real serpent.             does not now so speak a reason why         not the case with Adam.  Adam was
     However, we must remember             he should not have had some power          perfect, even though he was fallible.
that it was the serpent not as we          to communicate with man origi-             He was filled with the knowledge
know the snake today.  We know             nally, or a reason why the devil           of God and righteousness and holi-
him as he has been humiliated and          could not have used that power for         ness.  There was no corruption and
cursed because of his speaking             his end?  For while we must remem-         no inclination toward corruption in
against God and against man, as he         ber that the devil was the moral,          his nature.  The avenues of his mind
is described in 3:14:  "And the Lord       rational subject speaking through          and heart were closed toward the
God said unto the serpent, Because         the serpent in Paradise, yet we must       devil.  Hence, he could only be ap-
thou hast done this, thou art cursed       also remember that the devil could         proached from without.  For this,
above all cattle, and above every          not give to the serpent the power of       the devil, who is a spirit, had need
beast of the field; upon thy belly         speech.  The devil is not God!  Be-        of an outward form, of an instru-
shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou         sides, the narrative certainly does        ment, an agency, from the realm of
eat all the days of thy life."             not leave the impression that Eve          man's earthly sense-experience.
     This does not mean that we are        was taken by surprise, that she con-           This meant, of course, that the
able to determine in detail the            sidered it extraordinary that the ser-     devil was limited to some created
former appearance of this creature.        pent spoke to her.  At least, the nar-     form.  The devil cannot create a
Nor is this necessary.  There may,         rative tells us very matter-of-factly      form for himself; he is but a crea-
in fact, be many questions which we        that Eve replied to him.                   ture himself, and does not have the
cannot answer, but also which we               3) As we already pointed out,          power to create.  Certainly, God
need not answer, except for                later in the chapter we learn that         does not create special forms suit-
curiosity's sake.                          originally the serpent did not belong      able for the devil's nature: for the
     On the other hand, we may well        to the "creeping things," but that the     devil is the enemy of God.  Satan
take note of some significant points       curse pronounced upon him re-              was, therefore, limited to some cre-
in the light of Scripture.                 versed his status from the most            ated form.  Then he would natu-
     1) The Bible tells us that the        subtle among the beasts to that of         rally choose the animal.  For this
serpent was the most subtle of the         the lowliest.  Again, if you inquire       was the creature nearest to man.  It
animals.  We must not understand           whether originally the serpent had         was through this creature that he
the term "subtle" in the evil sense,       wings or legs, there is no answer.         could most easily approach man and
but in the favorable sense.  This          But surely, Scripture leaves the im-       the subject of the forbidden tree.  If
points to the fact that the serpent        pression that the serpent was origi-       then we remember that the serpent
was endowed originally with a high         nally among the higher animals,            was more cunning than any beast
degree of animal intelligence.  Al-        those which would be classed as            of the field, and that the serpent had
though we can hardly imagine this          most nearly akin to man, and that          the power of communication with
today, after the radical change            he was originally noble in form and        man, and was perhaps of all the ani-
which was wrought through the              stature, not lowly and crawling on         mals nearest to man originally, then
curse, it is not impossible that origi-    his belly in the dust of the ground.       we can somewhat understand that
nally the serpent was closest to man           All this brings us to the ques-        Satan saw in the serpent the instru-
among the animals and somehow              tion:  why did the devil employ the        ment most fit to serve him in his
represented the animal world with          serpent in the temptation of our first     wicked purpose.     q
man.                                       parents?
     2) It is evident that the serpent         In answer to this question, we
possessed some form of speech.  If         should note, in the first place, that
you ask whether the serpent had the        the devil had need of some external
power of human language, we                form and some external instrument
would have to answer that this is          in order to approach Adam and Eve
obviously limited to human beings.         with his temptation.  With sinful

310/Standard Bearer /April 1, 1996


  Ne                                                                                     Mr. Ben




Sister-Church Activities                   provided an interesting report of his    come, God willing, the C PRC in
    The Covenant and First Evan-           and Mr. Tom Bodbyl's recently con-       Northern Ireland.  May God grant
gelical Reformed Churches of               cluded visit with our missionary,        them the desires of their heart."
Singapore, through their Evangeli-         Rev. R. Hanko, his family, and the
cal Reformed Bible School, recently        Covenant Reformed Fellowship in          Congregational Activities
sponsored a new Bible study class.         Northern Ireland.                            The Reformed Fellowship of the
Rev. Lau Chin Kwee, pastor at Cov-             Rev. Gritters writes that the        South Holland, IL PRC invited all
enant, set the course direction for        "CRF is eager to organize.  And that     those in their congregation inter-
this three-month course.  The course       was the work that Tom and he dis-        ested in hearing a lecture on the doc-
title was "Spiritual Gifts."  It was       cussed with them throughout the          trine of the last things to join them
designed to address spiritual gifts        stay there.  They met with all the       on Sunday, February 25, in the as-
in the church, treating I Corinthians      men of the Fellowship and tried to       sembly room at South Holland PR
12, and applying it to the unique          lay out the questions the Consistory     School, to hear Prof. D. Engelsma,
situation faced by those two con-          of Hudsonville and the Mission           of our seminary, speak on that topic.
gregations in Singapore.  The course       Committee had asked to be dis-           A coffee pot was also promised to
was to include also some workshops         cussed.  Then, throughout the stay,      be on.
for practical applications as well.        they had dinner (`tea') with each
This class was to meet every week          family, family visitation with the       Evangelism Activities
at the First E.R.C. beginning Febru-       family, and then lengthy discussion          This past year the Evangelism
ary 6 and running through April 30.        with the adult family members            Committee of the Faith PRC in
                                           about organization.  They also met       Jenison, MI has tried something a
Mission Activities                         with the whole group the Sunday          little different, in that they have ad-
    Our Home Missionary, Rev. T.           evening before they left, summa-         vertised in the Traverse City paper,
Miersma, was in Florence, KY for           rized for them what they had found,      Cadillac paper, and Muskegon
three weeks in mid-February to in-         and left them with their very favor-     Chronicle, offering a one-year free
vestigate the possibility of a field in    able impressions of the group and        subscription to the Standard Bearer.
this area.  The request to investi-        our missionary's work.                   These three cities are all between
gate this area came from the Coun-             "They also tried to meet with        one and two hours north of the
cil of the South Holland, IL PRC to        Rev. Hanko daily to discuss his          Jenison area and represent smaller
the Mission Committee last fall.  It       work as missionary.  They were           areas that may have been over-
was South Holland's belief that this       very encouraged by the diligence he      looked in the past.  Faith has also
area was worthy of being investi-          shows in his work.  He spends day        been encouraged by the results, a
gated and that they (South Holland)        and night preparing for sermons          total of seven families so far have
had gone as far as they could in this      and speeches, Bible studies and vis-     requested this subscription.
work.  Rev. Miersma also planned           its.  He writes letters to people all        The Evangelism Committee of
to make a trip to Pittsburgh, PA dur-      over the UK (England, Scotland,          the Grandville, MI PRC is experi-
ing that three-week period to visit        Wales, and Northern Ireland) an-         menting with video taping their
some families there who have ex-           swering questions that are raised        worship services for possible broad-
pressed interest in the Reformed           from their bi-weekly Newsletter.         casting at a later date.
faith and our churches.                    Many of their visitors, as well as
    In the most recent issue of "The       isolated groups of believers, have
Closer Look," a monthly newsletter         come to them through the Newslet-            The Young People's Society of
of the Hudsonville, MI PRC, Rev.           ter that he writes and mails out to      the Randolph, WI PRC again invited
B. Gritters, Hudsonville's pastor,         over 500 addresses.  The members         the young people of the South Hol-
                                           of the CRF receive his ministry with     land, Peace, Bethel, and Pella con-
                                           great joy and enthusiasm.  We are        gregations to a skiing outing at Cas-
                                           thankful that God gives them a           cade Mt. in Portage, WI.  This was
                                           faithful missionary and pastor."         to be an overnight trip with a gym-
                                               Rev. Gritters concludes his re-      night scheduled for Friday night,
Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protes-
                                           port by writing, "Seek God's bless-      February 2, and skiing on Saturday,
tant Reformed  Church  of  Hudsonville,
                                           ing on the CRF, which hopes to be-       February 3.  The expected 70 young
Michigan.

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        THE
STANDARD                                                                                                                 SEC
     BEARER                                                                                                              P
                                                                                                                         G
     P.
     G



people were to stay with members                            Rev. M. Dick, of the Immanuel        Food for Thought
of our Randolph church.                               PRC in Lacombe, AB, Canada, has                    "The true Christian will main-
                                                      accepted the call he had been ex-          tain firmly that nothing can be right
Minister Activities                                   tended from the Grace PRC in               which God says is wrong"
          Rev. W. Bruinsma declined the               Standale, MI                                                            -- J.C. Ryle   q
call he had been extended from our
Doon, IA PRC.

                                                           ANNOUNCEMENTS

          WEDDING ANNI                                                                                   WEDDING ANNI
                                                           RESOL
          On March 23, 1996, our                                                                         On A
and grand                                                                                        the 40th wedding anni
                                                      of the First PRC of Holland, Michi-
           MR. and MRS. HOWARD                        gan e
                    KRAKER,                           tian sym
cele                                                                                                             KLAMER.
                                                      Frances Doe
                                                                                                 We than
                                                      her 
          We are than                                                                            the faithfulness He has shown us
                                                                JAMES DYKSTRA.
Father for gi                                                                                    through their lo
                                                            May they find comfort in God
ents and for the co                                   Word, 
tion we recei                                                                                    tinue to 
                                                      uge and underneath are the e
our                                                   lasting arms
to                                                                                               fore
                                                                          Alan El
come.                                                                 Shirley Casemier, Sec
                                                                                                 tions
is e                                                                                             `
                                                                      NOTICE
to all generations                                                                                        Brandon, Heidi, Heather,
                                                            Classis East will meet in regular
`         Dale and Ruth Kra                                                                                                               Hillary
                                                      session on Wednesday, May 8, 1996
           Ryan, Lauren, and Lisa                                                                `       Re
                                                      at the Grand
`         Da                                                                                              Corey, Am
                                                      formed Church.  Material to 
`         Da                                          treated at this session must 
           Danae                                                                                 `       John G. and 
                                                      the hands of the Stated Cler
                                                                                                          Jennifer, Jordan, Jill, Jared
                               Allendale, Michigan    A
                                                                                                 `       Bruce and JoAnn Klamer
                                                                Jon J. Huis
                                                                                                          Alyssa, Jaycen, Deanna,

     RESOL                                                 RESOL
                                                                                                 `       Da
the Lo                                                                                                    Nathan, Katelyn, Chad
                                                      of the First Protestant Reformed
Church e                                                                                         `       Ste
                                                      Church in Holland, MI e
Paul Griess in the death of his sis-                                                                      Daniel, 
                                                      their heartfelt sym
ter,                                                                                             `       Brent and Shelli Klamer
                                                      Mrs. Henry Lu
        MRS. CONNIE TRO                                                                                   Jessica
                                                      his sister,
                                                                                                                              Byron Center, Michigan
It is our                                                       HERMINA JELSEMA.
ciously 
He wor                                                die, we are the Lord                            `
to them that lo                                       14:8).                                                      `
                Re                                                    Alan El                                                      `
                      Ro                                   Mrs. La

312/Standard Bearer /April 1, 1996


                  NOTICE!!                                  NOTICE!!                                   CALL TO S
    Classis West of the Protestant                All students enrolled in the Prot-          Synod 199- appointed -- Protes-
Reformed Churches will meet in --             estant Reformed Seminary who will           tant Reformed Church, --, -- the call-
on Wednesday, March --, 199--, at             be in need of financial assistance for      ing church for the 199- Synod.
8:30 AM, the Lord willing.  All ma-           the coming school year are asked to             The Consistory hereby notifies
terial for the Agenda is to be in the         contact the Student Aid Committee           our churches that the 199- Synod of
hands of the Stated Clerk 30 days             Secretary, Mr. ---- ------  (Phone: ----    the Protestant Reformed Churches
before Classis convenes.  All del-            ).  This contact should be made be-         in America will convene, the Lord
egates in need of lodging or trans-           fore the next scheduled meeting,            willing, on Tuesday, June --, 199- at
portation from the airport should             March --, 199--, D.V.                       9:00 a.m. in the -- Protestant Re-
notify the Clerk of --'s Consistory,                       Student Aid Committee          formed Church, ----, --, --.
using the forms provided for that                                       --, Secretary         The Pre-Synodical Service will
purpose.                                                                                  be held on Monday evening, June --
           Rev. R. Hanko, Stated Clerk                                                    , at 7:30 p.m.  Rev. --, president of
                                                            NOTICE!!                      the 199- Synod, will preach the ser-
CALL TO ASPIRANTS                                 All standing and special com-           mon.  Synodical delegates are re-
TO THE MINISTR                                mittees of Synod, as well as indi-          quested to meet with the Consistory
    All young men desiring to be-             viduals who wish to address Synod           before the service.
gin studies for the 199- - 199- aca-          199-, are hereby notified that all ma-          Delegates in need of lodging
demic year in the Theological School          terial for the 199- Synod of the Prot-      should contact Mr. --, --, --, --.
of the Protestant Reformed                    estant Reformed Churches should             Phone:  --.
Churches should make application              be in the hands of the Stated Clerk                                      Consistory of
at the March --, 199- meeting of the          no later than April 1.  Please send                                                     --
Theological School Committee.                 material to the Stated Clerk:                                                  --, Clerk.
    A testimonial from the prospec-                     Rev. M. Joostens
tive student's consistory that he is a                 2016 Tekonsha S.E.                    NOTIFICATION OF CANDI-
member in full communion, sound                    Grand Rapids, MI  49506.                                   DAC
in faith, and upright in walk; a cer-                                                         All Protestant Reformed con-
tificate of health from a reputable                        NOTICE!!!                      sistories are hereby informed that
physician; and high school and col-               Classis East will meet in regu-         the 199- Synod of the Protestant Re-
lege transcripts must accompany the           lar session on Wednesday, May --,           formed Churches in America has de-
application.  Before entering the             100- at the --- Protestant Reformed         clared Mr. -- a candidate for the gos-
seminary, all students must have              Church.  Material to be treated at          pel ministry in the Protestant Re-
earned a bachelor's degree and met            this session must be in the hands of        formed Churches.  Candidate -- will
all of the course requirements for            the Stated Clerk by April --, 199-.         be eligible for a call on or after July
entrance to the seminary.  These en-                   Jon J. Huisken, Stated Clerk       --, 199-.
trance requirements are listed in the                                                         Mr. --'s address is:
seminary catalog available from the                                                                              --
school.                                                                                                          --
    All applicants must appear be-                                                                          Phone:  --
fore the Theological School Commit-                                                                        Rev. Meindert Joostens,
tee for interview before admission                                                                                        Stated Clerk
is granted.  In the event that a stu-
dent cannot appear at the March --                                                                          NOTICE!!
meeting, notification of this fact,                                                           Classis West of the Protestant
along with a suggested interview                                                          Reformed Churches will meet in --,
date, must be given to the secretary                                                      --, on Wednesday, September --, 199-
of the Theological School Commit-                                                         , at 8:30 AM, the Lord willing.  All
tee before this meeting.                                                                  material for the Agenda is to be in
    All correspondence should be                                                          the hands of the Stated Clerk 30
directed to the Theological School                                                        days before Classis convenes, that
Committee,                                                                                is, by August --, 199-.  All delegates
           4949 Ivanrest Avenue                                                           in need of lodging or transportation
       Grandville, MI  49418.                                                             from the airport should notify the
                   Jon Huisken, Secretary                                                 Clerk of --'s Consistory using the
           *    *    *    *    *    *    *                                                forms provided for that purpose.
    The Protestant Reformed Semi-                                                          Rev. R. VanOverloop, Stated Clerk
nary admits students of any race,                                                                      April 1, 1996/Standard Bearer/313
color, and national or ethnic origin.


                  NOTICE!!                        Classis East will meet in regu-
     Classis East will meet in regu-          lar session on Wednesday, January
lar session on Wednesday, Septem-             --, 199-, at the -- Protestant Re-
ber --, 199- at the -- Protestant Re-         formed Church, --, --.  Material for
formed Church, --, --.  Material for          this session must be in the hands of
this session must be in the hands of          the Stated Clerk by December --,
the Stated Clerk no later than Au-            199-.
gust --, 199-.                                                     Jon J. Huisken
                           Jon J. Huisken                            Stated Clerk
                              Stated Clerk

                  NOTICE!!
     Classis West of the Protestant
Reformed Churches will meet in --,
--, on Wednesday, September --,
199-, at 8:30 AM, the Lord willing.
All delegates in need of lodging or
transportation from the airport
should notify the Clerk of --'s
Consistory.
 Rev. R. VanOverloop, Stated Clerk




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                  for a
      CHRISTMAS
                  GIFT
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                  to the
   Standard Bearer.
   Standard Bearer.

       Half-price for
            first-time
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314/Standard Bearer /April 1, 1996


Directory of Churches,
Directory of Churches,                      MICHI                                  IOWA (cont.):
Protestant Reformed
Protestant Reformed                            Hudsonville P.R. Church                   Hull P.R. Church
                                               5101 Beechtree Ave.                       1204 Third St.
                                               Hudsonville, MI  49426                    Hull, IA  51239
                                                                                         Services:  9:30 
                                               Services:  9:30                                          9:30 
                                               Pastor:  Rev. B. 
Seminary                                                                                 Pastor:  Rev. R. Moore
                                               Pastor's Phone:  (616) 669-0755           Pastor's Phone:  (712) 439-1326
   4949 Ivanrest Avenue
   Grandville, MI  49418                       Kalama                                    Pella P.R. Church
   (616) 531-1490                              4515                                      410 Franklin St.
                                               Kalama                                    Pella, IA  50219
                                               Services:  9:30                           Services:  9:30 
NEW JERSE                                      Pastor:  Rev. B. Woudenberg               Pastor:  Rev. W. Bekkerin
   Covenant P.R. Church                        Pastor's Phone:  (616) 345-4556           Pastor's Phone:  (515) 628-4747
   283 S
   Wyckoff, NJ  07481                          Southeast P.R. Church               MINNESOTA:
   Services:  10:00                            1535 Cambridge S.E.                       Ed
                                                                                         Corner 3rd and Maple St.
   Pastor:  Rev. R. Flikkema
   Pastor's Phone:  (201) 891-0902             Services:  9:30                           Ed
                                                                                         Services:  9:30 
                                               Pastor:  Rev. Dale Kuiper                                  9:30 
                                               Pastor's Phone:  (616) 452-7047           Pastor:  Rev. A. Brummel
                                                                                         Pastor's Phone:  (507) 442-4441
MICHI                                          Southwest P.R. Church
   Byron Center P.R. Church                    4875 Ivanrest Ave.                  TE
   1945  84th St.                                                                        Trinit
   Byron Center, MI  49315                     Services:  9:30                           214 Barker-Clodine Rd.
   Services:  9:30                             Pastor:  Rev. R. Cammenga                 Houston, T
   Pastor:  Rev. Doug Kuiper                   Pastor's Phone:  (616) 532-4846           Services:  9:30 
   Pastor's Phone:  (616) 878-3255                                                       Pastor:  Rev.  J. Mahtani
                                                                                         Pastor's Phone:  (713) 492-0844
   Faith P.R. Church                        ILLINOIS:
   7194  20th Ave.                             Bethel P.R. Church                  COLORADO:
   Jenison, MI  49428                          Children's World Learning Center          Loveland P.R. Church
   Services:  9:30                             1050 Bonaventura Dr.                      709 E. 57th St.
                                                                                         Loveland, CO  80537
   Pastor:  Rev. K. Koole                      Elk                                       Services:  9:30 
   Pastor's Phone:  (616) 457-5848             Services:  10:00                                       9:30 
                                               Pastor:  Rev. C. Haak                     Pastor:  Rev. 
   First P.R. Church (                         Pastor's Phone:  (708) 529-4676           Pastor's Phone:  (303) 667-1347
   2800 Michigan St. N.E.
                                               Peace P.R. Church                   CALIFORNIA:
   Services:  9:30                             Illiana Christian High School             Hope P.R. Church
   Pastor:  Rev. J. Slopsema                   2261 Indiana Ave.                         1307 E. Brockton Ave.
   Pastor's Phone:  (616) 247-0638             Lansing, Illinois                         Redlands, CA  92374
                                               Services:  9:30                           Services:  10:00 
   First P.R. Church (Holland)                 Pastor:  Rev. S. Houck                    Pastor:  Rev. A. denHarto
   290 E. 18th St.                             Pastor's Phone:   (708) 474-6064          Pastor's Phone:  (714) 792-0307
   Holland, MI  49423
   Services:  9:30                             South Holland P.R. Church           WASHIN
   Pastor:  Rev. W. Bruinsma                   16511 South Park Ave.                     L
                                                                                         315 North Park Dr.
   Pastor's Phone:  (616) 396-8303             South Holland, IL  60473                  L
                                               Services:  9:30                           Services:  10:00 
                                               Pastor:  Rev. C. Terpstra                               10:00 
   temp. meeting in Heritage Chr. School       Pastor's Phone:  (708) 333-1314           Pastor:  Rev. M. Joostens
   4900  40th Ave., Hudsonville, MI                                                      Pastor's Phone:  (206) 354-4337
   Services:  9:30 
   Pastor:  Rev. R. VanOverloop             WISCONSIN:                             CANADA:
   Pastor's Phone:  (616) 662-0257             Randolph P.R. Church                      First P.R. Church (Edmonton)
                                               229 Hammond St.                           15911  107A Ave.
                                               Randolph, WI  53956                       Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
   4320  40th St.                              Services:  9:30                           Services:  11:00 
                                               Pastor:  Rev. S. Key                      Pastor:  Rev. M. DeVries
   Services:  9:30                             Pastor's Phone:  (414) 326-5642           Pastor's Phone:  (403) 489-6470
   Pastor:  Rev. A. Spriensma
                                                                                         Immanuel P.R. Church (Lacombe)
   Pastor's Phone:  (616) 538-2575          IOWA:                                        C 
   Hope P.R. Church (Walker)                   Doon P.R. Church                          (St. C
   1580 Ferndale S.W.                          408  6th Ave.                             Lacombe, Alberta, Canada
   Walker, MI  49504                           Doon, IA  51235                           Services: 11:30 
                                                                                         Pastor:  Rev. M. Dick
   Services:  9:30                             Services:  9:30                           Pastor's Phone:  (403) 782-5444
   Pastor:  Rev. R. Dykstra                    Pastor:  Rev.
   Pastor's Phone:  (616) 453-3253             Pastor's Phone:  (712) 726-3382

                                                                                                   April 1, 1996/Standard Bearer/315


                                      Taking Heed to the Doctrine                    In 1988 a committee was ap-
                                      Rev. Steven Key                            pointed in the Christian Reformed
                                                                                 Church to investigate for the Board
                                      Man:  God's Unique Creation                of Trustees of Calvin College and
                                                                                 Seminary the teachings of three pro-
                                          It is unquestionably true, as one      fessors on the subject of creation and
                                      who subjects himself to the revela-        evolution.  In the "Report of the Ad
                                      tion of Holy Scripture can easily see,     Hoc Committee" which contained
                                      that man occupies a unique place in        the conclusions and recommenda-
                                      God's creation.  For that very rea-        tions of the committee as a result of
                                      son Scripture gives special attention      the investigation, Dr. Clarence
                                      to the account of man's creation.   In     Menninga, one of the professors be-
                                      doing so, Scripture demonstrates the       ing investigated, stated his thoughts
                                      importance of having a correct un-         concerning Genesis 2:7, where we
                                      derstanding of Adam, the first man,        are told that "the LORD God
                                      and of his place in the creation and       formed man of the dust of the
                                      before his God.                            ground."  Dr. Menninga stated,
                                                                                 "Maybe the dust is a figure of
                                      Necessary Knowledge                        speech and maybe God formed
                                          A scriptural view of man is es-        Adam by enabling a more primitive
                                      sential.  That is true not only in or-     mother to give birth to an offspring
                                      der that we might gain a correct bib-      who possessed the image of God."
                                      lical understanding of ourselves,          Immediately after recording
                                      who are descendants of Adam.  But          Menninga's thoughts, the commit-
                                      to have a correct understanding of         tee concluded that Dr. Menninga in-
                                      man is essential also to a true knowl-     terprets the Scriptures in harmony
                                      edge of Jesus Christ.                      with the Reformed Creeds and Syn-
                                          This last statement would cer-         odical Guidelines.
                                      tainly find its objectors in our day.          Another professor investigated
                                      Many theologians and preachers in          by that Committee, Dr. Howard Van
                                      our day see no relationship between        Till, states in his book The Fourth
                                      Adam and Christ.  "The important           Day, "I see no reason whatsoever to
                                      thing," they say, "is that we know         deny that the creation might have
                                      Jesus.  There is no need to know           had an evolutionary history or that
                                      Adam, if only we know Jesus."              morally responsible creatures might
                                          There are several reasons for          have been formed through the pro-
                                      this disinterest in Adam.  For one         cesses of evolutionary develop-
                                      thing, it is indicative of a general       ment."  Professor Van Till also was
                                      disinterest in biblical doctrine.  For     judged by the Committee "to be
                                      another, the Old Testament with all        submissive to the Word of God as
                                      its rich revelation, has fallen on hard    interpreted in the Creeds and by the
                                      times in the church today.  This por-      synodical guidelines."  The Ad Hoc
                                      tion of the biblical canon is largely      Committee showed itself utterly in-
                                      neglected, if not outright rejected.       capable of defending the Genesis ac-
                                          But a significant reason for           count of man's creation.
                                      much of the disinterest in Adam is             According to others -- and
                                      that men have elevated their theo-         Howard Van Till also fits in this cat-
                                      ries of science to the level of a god,     egory, as his book demonstrates --
                                      and they insist that the biblical ac-      the record in Genesis must be so
                                      count of man's creation cannot be          interpreted as to deny the literal,
                                      understand literally.  Even in Re-         historical account.  It must be made
                                      formed circles in recent years it has      a literary device, a sort of poetic art
                                      become popular to deny the Bible's         form into which the theories of man
                                      literal account of man's creation in       can be made to fit, while setting
                                      an attempt to compromise in one            aside the literal interpretation of the
                                      way or another with the philosophy         biblical account.
                                      of evolution.                                  But what is so deceitful about

316/Standard Bearer /April 1, 1996


all these presentations is that they       made a living soul; the last Adam            ated Adam the father of the human
are made under the guise of exege-         was made a quickening spirit" (I             race, and therefore the root of the
sis, faithful attempts at biblical in-     Cor. 15:45).  All these comparisons          organism which is the human race.
terpretation; while, in fact, they are     -- and there are others -- show us             Out of this one man the whole hu-
no exegesis whatsoever, but simply         that our knowledge of Adam is es-            man race developed organically,
the introduction of mere human             sential to true knowledge of Jesus           even as a tree develops as one or-
speculation, anti-biblical specula-        Christ.  And true knowledge of               ganism from a single seed.  The
tion.  They are attempts to force          Christ is life eternal!                      apostle Paul referred to that truth
upon the Bible various theories and                How urgently necessary it is,        in his sermon to the Athenians,
views which plainly contradict what        therefore, to bow before what God            when he said (Acts 17:26), that God
the Bible states so clearly.               teaches us in Scripture concerning           "hath made of one blood all nations
    Clearly, these men are so un-          the creation of man!                         of men for to dwell on all the face
comfortable with what the Bible            A                                            of the earth."
teaches concerning Adam and                        Indeed, man is himself a unique          The whole human race finds its
Adam's origin and Adam's God-              creation of God.  Adam was cre-              root in Adam.
given place in creation that they will     ated by God to stand at the pin-                 To put it in clear terms, no mat-
do anything to deny that biblical          nacle of all earthly things, as the          ter what color or nationality we may
revelation.                                highest earthly creature.  Man is            be, we are all related.  The biblical
    So we hear their cries:  "It           God's masterpiece, a significant and         truth concerning man rules out any
doesn't matter what we believe con-        unique masterpiece according to              false ideas of a superior race when
cerning Adam; for we all believe in        God's sovereign and eternal coun-            it comes to skin color or national-
Jesus!"  Such talk is bold to the ex-      sel.                                         ity.  God has made of one blood all
treme.  It is the talk of sinful man,              Adam was created to occupy a         nations of men.
standing in rebellion against God by       position at the head of the whole                That is also a truth that comes
openly despising His Word, and yet         human race.                                  to most beautiful expression in the
still claiming Christ.  God was not                Oh yes, Adam was created an          redeemed church as the elect body
clear enough, except in revealing          individual, with his own personal            of Christ, gathered from all nations,
Christ.  God was not clear enough          characteristics.  And he was person-         tribes, and tongues.  In fact (just to
in His account of man's creation.          ally responsible for all that he did         show how all Reformed doctrine
After all, His account doesn't quite       over against his God.  But Adam              stands related), the truth of the com-
measure up to the "evidences" of           was more than an individual.  He             munion of saints is actually rooted
science.  "But we all believe in           was created to stand in a unique             in the truth of God's creation of
Jesus!"  Such is their thinking.           relationship to all those who would          man.  Even as the human race is
    Let us understand, even the            follow him in his generations.               one in Adam, so we who are re-
simple call of the gospel, "Believe                In the first place, Adam was cre-    deemed in Christ Jesus are one
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou         ated the head of all mankind, our            body.  There is no individualism.
shalt be saved," presupposes a             representative head.  God created            This is a very practical point when
wealth of doctrine.  Back of this gos-     Adam to stand as our legal head.             it comes to the truth of the church.
pel call lies the doctrine of man, the     That is evident from Romans 5:12ff:          All individualism and refusal to be
doctrine of his fall into sin, and the     "Wherefore, as by one man sin en-            one with the body of Christ is re-
effects of that fall.  Behind the call     tered into the world, and death by           bellion against God who created
of the gospel lies the doctrine of         sin; and so death passed upon all            man an organism, and redeemed an
God's absolute sovereignty, the doc-       men, for that all have sinned."  All         elect organism in Christ Jesus.  Re-
trine of Christ's anointing, of            sinned in Adam.  We must develop             gardless of what men may say, and
Christ's headship, of Christ's rela-       that truth further at a later date.          what we may think, we do not stand
tionship to the first Adam.                When we study the consequences               by ourselves in this world.  The hu-
    We must realize, therefore:  You       of man's fall, we must certainly con-        man race is an organism with its
cannot understand the gospel un-           sider the question:  How can I be            root in Adam, even as the church is
less you have at least a basic under-      guilty for that sin which Adam com-          an organism with Christ as its or-
standing of biblical truth, also con-      mitted some 6,000 years before I was         ganic head.
cerning man.  When one reads I             even born?  But the very brief an-               So man, the first Adam, occu-
Corinthians 15:22, "For as in Adam         swer to that is this:  Adam stood as         pied a unique place in God's cre-
all die, even so in Christ shall all be    the legal, representative head of the        ation -- the representative head,
made alive," he cannot understand          human race, a unique creature.  Be-          and the first father, the organic root.
life in Christ, unless he understands      cause he is our head, his guilt is               The uniqueness of man's place
Adam and his death.  "And so it is         also ours.                                   is also signified by his very creation.
written, The first man Adam was                    In the second place, God cre-        Man was created by a special act of

                                                                                                 April 1, 1996/Standard Bearer/317


God.                                     the broad school of dissent, and ask       troversy, if these errors are opposed,
     You will notice in the creation     yourself, How much farther could           you are a troubler of Israel, if you
account of Genesis 1 a significant       they go?  What doctrine remains to         deny Universalism you are branded
pause immediately before the             be abandoned?  What other truth to         a Hyper Calvinist by those who do
record of man's creation.  That          be the object of contempt?"                not understand what the term
pause is found in Genesis 1:26,              Thus wrote C.H. Spurgeon in            means (I say that concerning the
where God speaks to Himself.  In         1887, a man scorned by his contem-         majority of congregations, realizing
the fellowship of His own Triune         poraries to the extent he was ma-          that there are those who do know,
Being He communicates in love.           ligned both in public and in print         but for their own ends and to ostra-
The God who is One in Being and          for his stand for the truth.  Is it not    cize their opponents, deliberately
yet three in Persons speaks within       less than amazing that those senti-        sow falsehood to the less discern-
Himself concerning the place that        ments could almost have been writ-         ing).
His next creature will occupy.           ten for this very moment.  Who will            This more than any other sub-
"And God said (within Himself            deny that "the atonement is                ject has come under debate, and
                                         `scouted,' the inspiration of Scrip-       through the diligence of faithful ser-
age, after our likeness."                ture is derided, the Holy Spirit is        vants of God, the myths surround-
     Man is to be distinct from all      degraded to an influence, the pun-         ing the term "free offer" (by which
other creatures.  God created him        ishment of sin is turned into fiction."    we understand our opponents to
in distinction from the angels.  He      The battle against the onslaught of        mean God making a gift of His Son
created man in distinction from the      these errors caused the valiant            in the preaching of the Gospel, hav-
animals.                                 Spurgeon much heartbreak and ill           ing a serious intention to save all to
     Man was created in the image        health.  Today those who love the          whom the Gospel is preached), are
of God.  It is to that truth that we     true Gospel can in some small way          beginning to be exploded.  But in
must turn our attention next time,       know that of which Mr. Spurgeon            doing so not only has the lie been
God willing.   q                         speaks, as today those same blatant        exposed, but the enemy has been
                                         errors are being pursued in most           discovered digging under the walls
Contribution                             quarters of the "Christian" Church.        of the citadel, the proponents of the
Mr. Jimmy Frew, Sr.                      It is therefore a time to encourage        unbiblical free offer, are now begin-
                                         those men in the forefront of the          ning to be seen not only as sound-
     Mr. Frew attends the Free           battle, to have them know that there       ing an unclear sound, but also lead-
Church of Scotland in Ayr.  He is a      are those who are concerned for the        ing their people dressed in another
member of the British Reformed           biblical truths, holiness of life, and     garb.
Fellowship.  The article appeared        the cause of Christ.  Though of timid          Though they advance their
first in the Autumn 1995 issue of        conscience, we must see ourselves          cause in the name of Reformed,
Focus, a quarterly journal commit-       even as those who "kept the stuff"         claiming support from learned men
ted to the exposition of the Protes-     playing our part in whatever way           and biblical authorities, there seems
tant Reformed Faith as expressed         we can, as those who upheld the            to be more than a hint of universal-
in the Westminster Standards and         arms of the prophet when the battle        ism in the colour of their flag.
published in England.  The editor        raged.                                     John Owen
is the Rev. J.E. North, president of                                                    Many would perhaps think
the British Reformed Fellowship.         The same battle                            these statements rather too strong,
The article is reprinted here with           Heed the warning of Mr.                believing that these battles have al-
permission.                              Spurgeon once again when he as-            ready been fought and won.  Not
Fight the Good Fight                     serts:  "Around us there are influ-        so!  I urge all those who disagree,
                                         ences at work which are directly an-       to read John Owen's Death of Death,
     "No lover of the gospel can con-    tagonistic to Christianity, and that       and although this is a treatise deal-
ceal from himself the fact that the      anyone may see them who chooses            ing with the doctrine of Universal-
days are evil.  We are willing to        to do so.  The babyish game of shut-       ism, it will soon become apparent
make a large discount from the ap-       ting your eyes, and they crying, `I        to the reader, that the proponents
prehensions on the score of timid-       cannot see you,' has been played           of the well-meant but unbiblical
ity, the caution of age, and the         long enough; it is time that the most      "free offer" are travelling the same
weakness produced by pain; but yet       prejudiced should acknowledge that         road.
our solemn conviction is that things     which everybody sees except them-              Let me supply only a few ex-
are much worse in many Churches          selves."  Today the controversy is         tracts from this great work and let
than they seem to be, and are rap-       the same, the battle is the same.  If      the reader discern that the battle is
idly tending downward.  Read             the inspiration and preservation of        the same:
those newspapers which represent         Scripture is upheld you cause con-             "What motive would it be

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hereunto to tell believers that God         ise of believing are made out to any        admit of this. They therefore dis-
would have those saved who nei-             man, though he be of the number of          play their agility in leaps from side
ther do -- nor ever will or shall be-        them that shall certainly perish, yet       to side.  But this is very fatiguing
lieve?  That I say nothing how              the Lord hath a conditional will of         work; and must soon be given up.
strange it seems that Christ should         His salvation, and intends that he          They will find that they must walk
be the Saviour of them who are              shall be saved, on condition that he        on either side.  As it was an
never saved, to whom He never               will believe; when the condition lieth      Arminian bias that moved them to
gives grace to believe, for whom He         not at all in the will of God" (Death of    these gambols, the most probable fi-
denies to intercede, John 17:9"             Death, page 199).                           nale is, that they shall utterly aban-
(Death of Death, page 79).                      "First, if the object be here re-       don the Calvinistic side.  It is op-
    "Neither is that other exception        strained, so that some only believe         posed to Scripture, as seen in Bible
that Christ might as well satisfy for       and are saved of them for whose             light" (ibid., page 105).
them that were eternally damned at          sake Christ is sent, then this restric-         "No subscriber of the Confes-
the time of His suffering (for whom         tion and determination of the fruits        sion can both intelligently and hon-
it could not be useful), as for them        of this love dependeth on the will          estly maintain the doctrine of the
that were then actually saved (for          of God, or on the persons them-             double reference of the atonement.
whom it was not needful), of any            selves.  If on the persons themselves,      It is not in the Confession; it is in-
more value.  For, first, those that         then they make themselves to differ         consistent with several of its state-
were saved were saved upon this             from others; contrary to I                  ments; and a view of the question
ground, that Christ should certainly        Corinthians 4:7.  If on the will of         as to the reference of the atonement
suffer for them in due time; which          God, then you make the sense of             was present to the minds of the
suffering of His was as effectual in        the place, as to this particular, to        Westminster divines, utterly incom-
the purpose and promise as in the           be, `God so loved all as that but           patible with any such doctrine.  The
execution and accomplishment.  It           some of them should partake of the          doctrine of 
was in the mid of God accounted             fruits of His love.'  To what end,          in the Confession of Faith.11  The only
for them as accomplished, the com-          then, I pray, did He love those other       attempts made to find it there have
pact and covenant with Christ about         some?  Is it not this,                      resulted in utter failure" (ibid., page
it being surely ratified upon mutual,       sword, and run the dragon through with      107).
unchangeable promises (according            the spear
to our conception); and so our Sav-         Scripture Considered, page 127).            erence is utterly opposed to some state-
iour was to perform it, and so it           John Kennedy                                ments of the Confession of Faith.  There
was needful for them that were ac-              We could give other examples            was a view of the 
tually saved:  but for those that were      from many other godly men, men              minds of the Westminster divines ut-
actually damned, there was no such          like John Kennedy of Dingwall who           terly incompatible with the doctrine of
inducement to it, or ground for it,         was hailed as the "Spurgeon of the          the double reference" (emphasis mine)
or issue to be expected out of it.          North."  In his book, Man's Rela-           (ibid., pages 108-110).
And when they make proffers and ten-        tions to God, he wrote:                         "The statements in the Confes-
ders in the name of God to all, they do         "The doctrine of the double ref-        sion, bearing on the atonement,
not say to all,                             erence is an oil and water mixture;         were adapted to the state of the
intention of God that ye should believe'    it is opposed to Scripture; no one          question of the extent of the atone-
(who gave them any such power?),            who has subscribed the Confession           ment, as discussed between Calvin-
but that it is His command, which           of Faith can consistently hold it; it       ists and the French universalists.
makes it their duty to do what is           adopts the practical bearing of             Both parties held, that Christ re-
required of them; and they do not           Arminianism; it endangers the doc-          deemed all for whom He died, and nei-
declare His mind, what Himself in           trine of the atonement, and it is           ther therefore could hold the double
particular will do.  The external of-       quite unavailing for the purpose to         reference"  "Man as Evangelised"
fer is such as from which every man         which it is applied" ("Man as               (ibid., page 110).
may conclude his own duty; none,            Evangelised," pages 104-108).                   "The idea of the call being the
God's purpose, which yet may be                 "Those who hold it are in a tran-       offer of a gift has driven the scrip-
known upon performance of his               sition state, and occupy no fixed           tural form of it out of the minds of
duty.  Their ob                             dogmatic ground.  Sometimes they            many men altogether.  This other
who affirm that God hath given Christ       seem staunch Calvinists, and at             was the form it alone assumed in
for all to whom he offers Christ in the     other times utter Arminians.  They          the thinking and teaching of "the
preaching of the Gospel" (Death of          try to move on the boundary line            Marrow-men."  To their successors
Death, page 136).                           between the two systems, and                it suggested more than these fathers
                                            would fain keep a foot on either            meant.  They began to regard it as
that when the command and prom-             side.  But the fence is too high to         necessarily an expression of love to

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the individual to whom it is ad-          is both immutable and omnipotent,               We hear cries of put aside doc-
dressed. They desiderated  some           we infer that the salvation of every        trine, do not major on the minors,
sort of interest of all in Christ be-     one of the elect is most infallibly cer-    for doctrine divides.  "This is a heart
fore the call is accepted, in order to    tain and can by no means be pre-            religion" that needs not doctrine.
justify its being given.  Extending       vented.  This necessarily follows           But what saith the Scripture?  I
the idea of the Marrow-men's `deed        from what we have already asserted          Timothy 4:13:  "Till I come, give at-
of gift and grant,' they reached at       and proved concerning the Divine            tendance to reading, to exhortation,
last the universal reference of the       will, which, as it cannot be disap-         to doctrine."  I Timothy 4:16:  "Take
atonement, while still stretching a       pointed or made void, must undoubt-         heed unto thyself, and unto the doc-
long arm to keep a weak hold of           edly secure the salvation of all            trine; continue in them:  for in do-
the Calvinism of the Confession.          whom God wills should be saved"             ing this thou shalt both save thy-
They hesitate not to say that with-       (page 24).                                  self, and them that hear thee."  Mat-
out the universal reference they              Every time the true Church has          thew 23:27:  "Woe unto you, scribes
could not preach the Gospel at all,       taken up the sword against the en-          and Pharisees, hypocrites!  for ye
in other words, that this is the only     emy, fought the good fight and won          are like unto whited sepulchers,
basis they find for the call of the       the day, always there has been a re-        which indeed appear beautiful out-
Gospel.  And what do they find            grouping of the enemy, who gath-            ward, but are within full of dead
there on which to base the offer?"        ered strength as the Church later
(ibid., page 115).                        slept.  The biblical pattern from the       ness."
Jerome                                    time of the Church in the Old Tes-              No great marvel that the Church
     Jerome Zanchius is worthy of         tament right up to present time has         of today is hard to distinguish from
note for those who assert a double        always been the same.                       the world, they have left the form
will in God; i.e., "that though God's                                                 of sound doctrine, to wander in the
desire is in the salvation of all men     The Tro                                     wilderness of self gratification, only
(He, being a God of infinite love)            God blessed as the Church fol-          to fall into the slough of material-
yet He somehow foregoes His own           lowed His commandments.  As the             ism and crawl out on the side of
will, or denies Himself in not de-        Church became slothful and lazy,            the city of destruction.
creeing what is His desire."              the enemy crept in under the ban-
Zanchius comments:                        ner of friendship, the people were          Courage to stand
     "The will of God, respecting the     enticed from the truth and left the             Oh!  Praise God for the valiant
salvation and condemnation of men,        true paths, God was wrathful, the           of Israel!  The Moses, who led the
is never contrary to itself; He im-       people lost His blessing.  Who can          people out from the onions and gar-
mutably wills the salvation of the        deny these truths are less apparent         lic of Egypt into the trial of free-
elect and vice-versa; nor can He ever     today?  The Church is being enticed         dom, for the Davids who stood
deviate from His own will in any          with treats of universal love, God          against the enemy when more re-
instance whatever, so as that that        wants to save all men, say some,            spectable warriors hid in their tents,
should be done, which He willeth          we are all God's children say oth-          and the Daniels, with the courage
not or that not brought to pass           ers, the god of the Muslim, Hindu,          to stand for the truth, willing to
which He willeth. `My counsel shall       and pagan, is the same God as the           obey God rather than men.
stand, and I will do all my plea-         Christian under a different name.               It is time for the people to
sure' (Isaiah 46:10).  `He is of one      The Trojan horse has already been           awake from their slumber, cast aside
mind, and who can turn Him?  and          pulled into the camp, the people are        "Mr. Worldly Wiseman" and chal-
what His soul desireth, even that         rejoicing (literally laughing in the        lenge "Talkative" on the way of sal-
he doeth' (Job 23:13-14)" (Absolute       aisles) and inside lurks the enemy          vation.  Ah!  Christian reader, if you
Predestination, page 13).                 of men's souls, Pelagius, Arminius,         feel sometimes inadequate for the
     "As God knows nothing now            Amaraut, and the pope of Rome, all          battle, lacking a great love for the
which He did not know from all            dressed in the new garb of modern-          truth, and a zeal for God's glory,
eternity, so He wills nothing now         ism, new Evangelicalism and en-             perhaps we should remind our-
which He did not will from everlast-      lightened thinking, "the world for          selves of David, only a youth, who
ing, and again, page 23, God is like-     Jesus" clearly emblazoned on their          when his God was mocked, ran to-
wise unchangeable with regard to His      breastplate.  But we would say they         ward the giant and slew him.  John
purposes and promises.  `God is not a     have sold Jesus for the world!              the Baptist, having nothing, yet hav-
man, that he should lie; neither the          Where is the militant Church on         ing all, and of whom the Lord said
son of man, that He should repent;        earth, that seeks after holiness of liv-    there is none greater.  Lydia, a seller
hath He said and shall He not do it       ing, of glory to God, of the Jesus of       of purple, used mightily to support
(page 26).                                the Bible; where is the Church of           God's servant.  Onesemus, a run-
     "Since this absolute will of God     the Reformation?                            away slave, who ministered to the

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needs of the apostle whilst he was
in captivity.
      What is our calling?  To be rich?
       and given to hospitality.  Fa-
mous?             for holiness.  Brave?
Indeed for the truth.  Brilliant?  
with Christ's visage.  To be faithful
unto the end, to be strong in the
Lord, and in the power of His might.
Oh where are the zealots of the
Lord's cause willing to spend and
be spent?  Why, even Judas was
commanded, "that thou doest do
quickly."  Our Master hates the slug-
gard, let us not be found among
them.  As Mr. Spurgeon said,
"gentlemen let us do something."
      Some brethren need help and
encouragement.  When were we last
as Paul, helping the Lord's cause?
Let us be Protestants of the New
Testament mettle.
      Finally, let those that love the
old paths and the doctrines of the
Word put more of their resources
to His services, let us bear one
another's burdens and rally against
all falsehood and error, and the God
of truth will establish our hearts and
His cause.  Let us be faithful unto
death and He will give us a crown
of life.   q



11    The doctrine of "The Double
Reference" is referring to the idea
that God has two wills (sometimes
known as the two lines in Scripture);
viz., His secret, eternal will in the
which God brings to pass His eter-
nal covenant counsel in the saving
of His election of grace (Ephesians
1:11) and a revealed will in which
God is reputed to love all mankind
and thus has a sincere desire to save
all mankind.





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