                             The
                   Standard
A Reformed         Bearer
Semi-Monthly
Magazine




                                                    In This Issue:

                   Meditation -- Rev. Cornelius Hanko
                         The Blessedness of Christ's Glorification ................................... 362

                   Editorial -- Prof. David J. Engelsma
                         The Reformed Worldview ................................................................ 364

                   Letters........................................................................................................ 366

                   That They May Teach Their Children -- Prof. Russell J. Dykstra
                         Why "Covenant Children"? ............................................................ 367

                   Decency and Order -- Rev. Ronald L. Cammenga
                         Religious Holidays ........................................................................... 369

                   Go Ye Into All the World
                         Preaching the Gospel to the Nations -- Rev. Allen J. Brummel . 372
                         Following Where He Leads -- Mr. Don Doezema......................... 374

                   Contribution -- Mr. Jimmy Frew, Sr.
                         Fight the Good Fight ........................................................................ 378

                   Book Reviews ........................................................................................... 382

                   News From Our Churches -- Mr. Benjamin Wigger ............................... 383





Vol. 74, No. 16
May 15, 1998


   Meditation                                                                                                                           Rev. Cornelius Hanko


                                                               The Blessedness
                                          of Christ's Glorification


                                                   "And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to wor-
                                           ship  at  the  feast.    The  same  came  therefore  to  Philip,  which  was  of
                                           Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus."
                                                                                                                             John 12:20, 23


                                                                  hope of Israel for the coming of the                         intermediary  to  present  them  to
       "We would see Jesus."                                      Messiah.    They  had  heard  about                          Jesus?  We have no way of know-
       As Jesus' public ministry drew                             Jesus,  evidently  in  their  visits  to                     ing.  But they evidently had become
to a close, certain Greeks came to                                Jerusalem  to  attend  the  various                          aware  of  the  fact  that  Philip  was
Jerusalem  to  keep  the  Passover                                feasts.                                                      one of Jesus' Galilean disciples, so
feast.    There  they  approached                                        What is of special importance                         they approach him with the request,
Philip with a significant request.                                is the fact that they represent the                          "Sir, we would see Jesus."
       Actually  we  know  very  little                           Gentiles, the church of the new dis-                                  For  some  reason  this  makes  a
about them.  The fact that they are                               pensation.                                                   strong impression upon Philip.  He
called Greeks might mean that they                                       Whatever made them aware of                           seems  to  be  in  a  quandary,  not
came  from  Greece.    How  many                                  Jesus, or however they had learned                           knowing whether he should inform
there were we do not know.  But                                   to know about Him, their curiosity                           Jesus  of  their  wishes,  or  possibly
we do know that they were pros-                                   was sufficiently aroused that they                           even introduce Jesus to them.  He
elytes, who had been converted to                                 wanted  to  meet  Him.    Or  was  it                        consults Andrew, another of Jesus'
the Jewish religion, since they came                              more  than  curiosity?    Was  God                           disciples, who also seems to won-
with  thousands  of  other  pilgrims                              working  the  wonder  of  grace  in                          der  what  to  do  with  this  request.
to keep the Passover in Jerusalem.                                them, so that there was in them the                          Together  they  agree  to  approach
They knew Moses and the proph-                                    beginning of faith in Jesus.  We do                          Jesus and to inform Him of the de-
ets, and they embraced in faith the                               not know, but the latter seems the                           sire of these Greeks.
                                                                  more likely.  Was it respect, awe,                                    Whether  the  Greeks  actually
                                                                  or reverence that kept them from                             saw Jesus is evidently of no impor-
Rev. Hanko is a minister emeritus in the                          approaching Jesus in person?  Why                            tance.  What makes this request sig-
Protestant Reformed Churches.                                     did they feel that they needed an                            nificant  is  the  fact  that  Jesus  is


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362/Standard Bearer/May 15, 1998


deeply impressed by it and gives a            For  Christ  this  includes  His          into isolation such as He only, the
remarkable response.  He says to          resurrection, His ascension, His ex-          Son of God in the flesh, could ex-
Philip and Andrew:  "The hour is          altation at the Father's right hand,          perience.
come that the Son of man should           the gift of the Spirit that would be              Willful suffering, complete self-
be glorified."                            given Him, and the outpouring of              surrender,  absolute  obedience
                                          that  Spirit on  Pentecost,  whereby          would  be  required  of  Him  in  all
       333    333    333                  the church will be gathered in the            His agony, for He was called to pay
                                          new dispensation.  Jesus had said             the ransom for our horrible sin, de-
    The  hour.    Repeatedly  Jesus       not long before this:  "Other sheep           liver us from death, and merit for
had spoken of that hour during the        I have, which are not of this fold:           us eternal life.
three and a half years of His pub-        them also I must bring, and they                  Only in the way of perfect obe-
lic ministry.  That hour held great       shall hear my voice; and there shall          dience would He attain to the glory
importance  for  Him.    He  was  al-     be  one  fold  and  one  shepherd"            that was promised Him before the
ways deeply aware of it.  But He          (John 10:16).  It is these sheep, rep-        foundations of the earth, a glory at
had  always  emphasized  that  this       resented by the inquiring Greeks,             the right hand of the Father in the
hour was not yet.  It was coming,         that Jesus now has  in mind.   Be-            heavens, a glory shared by all His
it  certainly  would  come  in  due       yond that He even sees the glori-             own  in  a  new,  perfect,  heavenly
time, but was not yet come.  Now          ous heavenly perfection in the new            creation!
it had come.                              creation.
    Most  amazing  it  is  that  He                                                            333    333    333
speaks of it as the hour of His glo-                 333    333    333
rification.    Previously,  when  He                                                        It was time for the Seed to be
spoke  of  that  hour  He  was  often         But  on  His  pathway  to  glory          sown into the ground and die be-
sad, burdened, troubled, as if He         stood  the  cross.    He  could  attain       fore  it  would  bring  forth  much
dreaded the very thought of it.  He       that glory for Himself and for those          fruit.  There is haste.  The time had
warned His disciples that the Son         given to Him only by going over               come for the Gentiles to be gath-
of man must be delivered into the         Golgotha,  only  by  dying  on  the           ered into the kingdom!
hands  of  wicked  men  to  be            cross.    He  says,  "Verily,  verily,  I         As the Son of God in our flesh
mocked,  spit  upon,  condemned,          say  unto  you,  Except  a  corn  of          He alone had the power to conquer
and crucified, only to rise again on      wheat fall into the ground and die,           sin,  Satan,  hell,  death,  and  the
the third day.  But now He speaks         it  abideth  alone;  but  if  it  die,  it    grave to save His own and to bring
in eager anticipation of the future.      bringeth  forth  much  fruit"  (John          them with Him to glory.
He speaks of triumph, of being glo-       12:24).                                           Our Redeemer is greatly aware
rified by the Father.  He looks be-           The hour is come!  The Son of             of that.  He says, "Now is my soul
yond all the agony, about which He        man had to be given over into the             troubled; and what shall I say?  Fa-
had  to warn  His disciples, to the       hands of sinners to be crucified and          ther, save me from this hour."  That
glory that had been promised Him          to arise again on the third day.  He          is, Father, save Me by raising Me
before the world was, the glory that      must  be  taken  prisoner  and  con-          from the dead.  Even as He came
would  follow  and  for  which  He        demned as a criminal even by His              for  that  purpose  unto  this  hour.
had come into the world as the suf-       own  people  and  the  Roman  au-             Then He adds:  "Father, glorify thy
fering  Servant  of  God.   He  knew      thorities.  He would be openly re-            name."  To which the voice from
the Scriptures.  He knew that the         jected,  mocked,  scourged,  con-             heaven responds, "I have both glo-
Scriptures  had  to  be  fulfilled  in    demned  to  suffer  the  painful,             rified it, and will glorify it again."
obedience to the Father's will.           shameful, accursed death of cruci-                That,  after  all,  is  of  chief  im-
                                          fixion, because He testified that He          portance.  Father's name must be
       333    333    333                  was indeed the Christ, the Son of             glorified through the glory of His
                                          the living God.  The whole world              Son, the Christ.  It is for that very
    The Son of man glorified.             would unite to cast Him out as one            purpose that Christ is exalted at the
    The promised victory over the         who  was  not  worthy  to  have  a            Father's  right  hand  and  given  a
powers  of  darkness,  already  an-       place in human society.                       name above all names.  All power
nounced immediately after the Fall            But still worse, deep darkness            is entrusted to Him as Head of the
in Paradise, will be realized.  The       would  settle  upon  Him,  a  loneli-         church.    He  is  our  King,  with
church will be delivered from the         ness would grip His soul as God               power to carry out God's counsel
narrow bonds of national Israel to        turned against Him in consuming               for  the  ingathering  of  the  saints.
become universal, gathered out of         wrath.  All the waves and billows             He is our great High Priest, who
every  nation,  tribe,  and  tongue       of divine judgment for the sins of            intercedes for us before the Father,
over the whole world.                     all  His  people  would  bring  Him           so  that  we  may  join  Him  in  His

                                                                                                May 15, 1998/Standard Bearer/363


glory.    And  He  is  our  great           from whence He blesses His church          now works mightily among us.  He
Prophet,  who  reveals  to  us  the         with  every  spiritual  blessing  for      is the Spirit that draws us, renews
truth of the Scriptures, in order to        time and eternity.                         us as born from above, blesses us
bring  us  into  intimate  fellowship           The church now becomes uni-            with  every  spiritual  blessing  in
with the Father now and finally in          versal.  The gospel must go forth          Christ  Jesus.    To  us  are  made
perfection  to  the  glory  of  the  Fa-    to the ends of the earth, for the time     known the mysteries of the king-
ther.                                       has come for the elect Gentiles to         dom  of  heaven.    We  see  those
                                            be  gathered  in.    The  apostles  are    things that eye cannot see, we hear
         333    333    333                  instructed:    "Go  ye  into  all  the     those things that ear cannot hear,
                                            world, and preach the gospel to ev-        but  that  are  revealed  to  us  by
    The significant hour has come           ery creature.  He that believeth and       Christ through the ministry of the
and gone.                                   is baptized shall be saved; but he         Word and by His indwelling Spirit
    Christ died and rose again on           that  believeth  not  shall  be            within us.
the third day.  Forty days later He         damned."                                       But a still greater glory awaits
ascended  to  heaven.    The  church                                                   Him.    When  the  entire  multitude
waited another ten days.  The day                    333    333    333                 that no man can number have been
of  Pentecost  had  come  and  gone.                                                   gathered  in  and  have  cast  their
And  then,  in  the  early  morning             Christ is glorified.  He is busily     crowns before the Father, then all
hours of the first day of the week,         engaged in gathering His church,           of  us  His  people  shall  live  only
the Spirit was poured out into the          of  which  we  are  privileged  to  be     unto the glory of the Father.
church.                                     members.  He is carrying out the               That will be the culmination of
    The  one  hundred  and  twenty          counsel of God both in heaven and          the  glory  of  Christ.    Also  for  us.
there present now understood the            on earth, causing all things to work       But, primarily, God will be glori-
mysteries of the kingdom.  For the          together unto the day of His return        fied  in  all  His  marvelous  perfec-
first time they fully understood the        with  the  clouds  to  take  His  own      tions in a new creation, world with-
necessity of the cross, the power of        unto Himself.                              out end!  Inexpressibly glorious is
the resurrection, and the blessed-              The Spirit of the glorified Lord       our God in all His works in Christ
ness  of  having  Christ  in  heaven,                                                  Jesus!   u


  Editorial



                The Reformed Worldview

                                            (founded by Kuyper), Calvin Col-
V                                                                                      the shallow, narrow modernists at
         ery much on the foreground         lege, and the Center for Public Jus-       the Princeton conference who con-
         in Reformed circles in North       tice.                                      centrated on taking Kuyper to task
         America of late is the sub-            At this conference, theological        for alleged patriarchy and racism
ject of the "Reformed Worldview."           pygmies  and  apostates  from              are not worthy to stand in Kuyper's
The reason is that 1998 is the 100th        Harvard,  Princeton,  and  Amster-         shadow  whether    as  a  Reformed
anniversary of Abraham Kuyper's             dam  contented  themselves  with           theologian  or  as  a  world-class
influential  lectures  at  Princeton        lambasting Kuyper for his now po-          thinker.
Theological Seminary on Calvinism           litically incorrect views on women             On March 6 and 7 of this year,
as a worldview.  Recently, a con-           and race.  The Protestant Reformed         the  Calvin  Center  for  Christian
ference  was  held  at  Princeton  on       Churches  (PRC)  regard  certain           Scholarship  held  a  conference  at
the theme, "Religion, Pluralism and         teachings of Kuyper as grievous er-        Calvin College in Grand Rapids on
Public Justice:  Abraham Kuyper's           rors.    These  errors  have  caused,      the theme, "Abraham Kuyper Re-
Legacy for the 21st Century."  The          and still do cause, the PRC real suf-      visited:   The Stone  Lectures Cen-
sponsors were Princeton Seminary,           fering.  Worse still, they have cor-       tennial."  The keynote lecture was
the Free University of Amsterdam            rupted the Reformed churches.  But         an  intriguing  speech  by  premier

364/Standard Bearer/May 15, 1998


Christian Reformed thinker Nicho-                                                      "Reformed" worldview, we main-
las  P.  Wolterstorff  on    "Kuyper's    The Meaning of "Worldview"                   tain that the Reformed faith taught
Significance for the 21st Century."           Several  terms  are  commonly            by John Calvin, developed by or-
The subject of the speech was the         used  to  refer  to  the  same  reality.     thodox Calvinistic theologians, and
Reformed  worldview  in  light  of        "Worldview"  is  one.    Others  are         authoritatively set forth in the Re-
Kuyper's lectures on Calvinism at         "world-and-life-view," "life-view,"          formed  creeds calls believers and
Princeton, the "Stone Lectures."          and  the  German  word,  "weltan-            their children to live distinctively
    Two  exceptionally  fine  books       schauung."  James Sire describes a           in all the spheres of earthly life, and
have  already  been  published  in        "worldview,"  or  "world-and-life-           shows them how to do so.
commemoration  of  the  centennial        view," this way:  "A worldview is                The Reformed faith is not only
of  Kuyper's  Princeton  lectures.        a  set  of  presuppositions  (or  as-        a body of doctrines to be believed
One is  Abraham Kuyper:  A Centen-        sumptions)  which  we  hold  (con-           and confessed, although it certainly
nial  Reader,  edited  by  James  D.      sciously or subconsciously) about            is such a body of doctrines.  It does
Bratt, professor at Calvin College        the  basic  make  up of  our world"          not only command a certain wor-
(Eerdmans, 1998).  This consists of       (The       Universe     Next      Door ,     ship on the Lord's Day, although
many of Kuyper's shorter writings         InterVarsity  Press,  1976).    In  his      it  certainly  does  command  this.
on topics related to his conception       study of the worldview advocated             The Reformed faith is a view of the
of the Reformed worldview.  Most          by Abraham Kuyper in his lectures            whole, wide world.  It is an out-
of them appear in English transla-        on Calvinism, Peter S. Heslam de-            look on all of life.  It opens up to
tion for the first time.  Among them      fines "worldview" as "a set of be-           Reformed believers all of creation
are  the  important  articles,  "Com-     liefs that underlie and shape all hu-        and impels them to live enthusias-
mon  Grace"  (excerpts  from              man thought and action."                     tically  in  all  of  creation's  ordi-
Kuyper's three volumes on Gemeene             By "worldview," I understand             nances.
Gratie);  "Calvinism:    Source  and      a comprehensive, unified view of
Stronghold  of  Our  Constitutional       the whole of creation and its his-           The Reigning Worldview
Liberties"; "Common Grace in Sci-         tory,  including  creation's  origin,        in Reformed Christendom
ence";  and  "Sphere  Sovereignty"        meaning,  and  goal  and  including              The reigning worldview among
(Kuyper's famed inaugural address         my own life, in light of the triune,         Reformed  Christians,  especially
at the Free University in 1880).          true, living God.                            (though  not  exclusively)  in  the
    The other volume is a brilliant,          Every worldview, at bottom, is           Netherlands and North America, is
thorough analysis of Kuyper's six         religious, that is, it either takes the      that proposed by Abraham Kuyper
lectures on Calvinism by the Brit-        true  God  into  account  or  finds  it      in  his  lectures  on  Calvinism  at
ish scholar, Peter S. Heslam.  The        impossible to ignore Him.  It is not         Princeton in 1898.  These lectures
title makes plain that the subject is     merely  the  case  that  every               have  been  published  many  times
worldview:    Creating  a  Christian      worldview  has  its  god  and  is            in several languages.  They are in
Worldview:  Abraham Kuyper's Lec-         shaped by this god.  The fact is that        print still today.  The English title
tures  on  Calvinism   (Eerdmans,         every worldview reckons with the             is Lectures on Calvinism.
1998).                                    true God.  Either the worldview is               The worldview of the  Lectures
    In  this  subject  of  worldview,     formed in submission to Him (by              on  Calvinism ,  and  therefore  the
particularly  the  Reformed  world-       the  regenerated  believer),  or  it  is     reigning  worldview  in  Reformed
view,  and  more  particularly  still     formed  as  rebellion  against  Him          Christendom, may be called, "the
the Reformed worldview proposed           (by the unregenerated unbeliever).           worldview of common grace."
by Abraham Kuyper, the Protestant         This  is  the  teaching  of  Romans              Kuyper's purpose with the lec-
Reformed Churches have a special          1:18ff.                                      tures was to put forward  Calvin-
interest.    They  have  rejected  the        The particular, comprehensive            ism as a worldview that would suc-
worldview put forward by Kuyper           view of creation that people hold,           cessfully challenge the threatening
in  his  "Stone  Lectures,"  root  and    and  that  holds  them,  demands  a          worldview  of  modernism.    That
branch.  Because of  their rejection      certain life in the whole of creation.       doctrine which serves as the basis
of the Kuyperian worldview, they          A  worldview  moves  those  who              of Kuyper's Calvinistic worldview
are  charged  with  espousing             hold it to live in accordance with           is common grace.  The doctrine of
"world-flight."                           the worldview.  Inasmuch as it is a          common  grace,  according  to
    How,  after  100  years,  the  Re-    worldview, it warrants and requires          Kuyper, is not only genuinely Re-
formed  community  evaluates  the         life  of  a  certain  kind  in  the  wide    formed  but  also  one  of  the  main
worldview  that  Abraham  Kuyper          world.    The  whole  of  earthly  life,     pillars in the Reformed temple, a
taught in 1898  demands the clos-         work as well as worship, is deter-           veritable  Jachin  or  Boaz.    In  the
est attention of the Protestant Re-       mined by the worldview.                      opening lecture, "Calvinism a Life-
formed Churches.                              When we speak (as I do) of a             System," when he comes to explain

                                                                                                  May 15, 1998/Standard Bearer/365


the Christian's attitude toward the           corrupted  by  sin  and  Christ's          Kuyper denies that humanity is an
world, Kuyper says:                           work of re-creation (pp. 268, 269,         "aimless mass of people which only
                                              emphasis added).                           serves the purpose of giving birth
  (Calvinism) has at once placed to                                                      to the elect."  He then states:
  the front the great principle that            According to Abraham Kuyper,
  there  is  a  particular  grace  which    common grace  is the basis of the              On the contrary, the world now,
  works Salvation, and also a  com-         Calvinistic worldview inasmuch as              as well as in the beginning, is the
  mon grace by which God, maintain-         this alleged grace of God, suppos-             theater  for  the  mighty  works  of
  ing the life of the world, relaxes        edly shared by all men and women,              God, and humanity remains a cre-
  the curse which rests upon it, ar-        regenerate and unregenerate alike,             ation  of  His  hand,  which,  apart
  rests its process of corruption, and      does  several  things.    First,  it  re-      from  salvation,  completes  under
  thus allows the untrammelled de-                                                         this present dispensation, here on
  velopment of our life in which to         strains sin in the ungodly, so that            earth, a mighty process, and in its
  glorify  Himself  as  Creator  (Lec-      they are not totally depraved.  Sec-           historical  development  is  to glo-
  tures  on  Calvinism ,  Eerdmans,         ond, it enables the ungodly to see             rify  the  name  of  Almighty  God
  1953, p. 30).                             and approve the truth made known               (Lectures on Calvinism, p. 162; see
                                            by  general  revelation  and  to  do           also p. 30).
    That the worldview advocated            what is good and right in natural
by Kuyper is basically a worldview          life.  Thus, by common grace they            This is the glorification of God by
of common grace is recognized by            can develop the creation positively,         a  "development"  that  is  ethically
all.  In his exposition of Kuyper's         that is, according to God's standard         good,  a  "development"  that  is
lectures  on  Calvinism,  Heslam            and toward God the Creator.  The             praiseworthy,  a  "development"
writes:                                     ungodly,  whether  helped  by  the           that has its source and impetus in
                                            saints or by themselves, are able to         grace, a grace of God.
  Kuyper's  idea  that  common  grace       create a good culture.  And, third,              Kuyper's  worldview  of  com-
  allowed  for  the  development  of        common grace permits Christians,             mon  grace  prevails  in  Reformed
  the powers God had invested in            indeed calls them, to join hearts and        circles today.  It has captured much
  human culture provided the foun-          hands  with  the  ungodly  in  this          of the mind also of non-Reformed,
  dation for his discussion of the vo-      positive development of culture.
  cation  of  the  Christian  in  the                                                    evangelical  Christianity  in  North
  world outside the church (p. 119,             Kuyper  did  not  hesitate  to           America,  especially  in  the  strate-
  emphasis added).                          claim  that  the  effect  of  common         gic educational centers, the colleges
                                            grace is the positive development            and the universities.
    Summing  up,  in  the  section          of the world of ungodly men and                  The  PRC,  however,  repudiate
headed  "Conclusion,"  Heslam               women and their system of life  to           this worldview.
states that for Kuyper Calvinism            the glory of God the Creator.  Com-              Why?
                                            mon grace realizes the carrying out              And does this imply that they
  was the very means by which cul-          by  unbelievers  of  God's  mandate          reject the very idea of a Reformed
  ture could be transformed accord-         to  Adam  in  Paradise  to have  do-         worldview,  a  Calvinistic  "world-
  ing to God's ordinances.   Common         minion over the earth.  In his lec-          and-life-view"?
  grace served as the theological jus-      ture, "Calvinism and Art," having                These  questions  we  will  take
  tification for this argument, pro-        asserted  (apparently  without  em-          up  in  a  subsequent  issue  of  the
  viding  as  it  did  the  necessary       barrassment) that the Renaissance            Standard Bearer, God willing.   u
  bridge across the gap created by          was not a "sinful effort,"  but  "a
  the antithesis between the world                                                                                        -- DJE
                                            divinely  ordered  movement,"





  Letters


Filling Needs                               Theologians of the Cross?" (SB,              sue.    The  SB  does  things  like
I am gratified to have the Stan- April 1, 1998).  From Luther's this  with  regularity.    It  fills
  dard  Bearer  coming  steadily.           words  you  gleaned  and  ar-                needs.
In particular, I was blessed by             ranged  an  interesting,  cogent                                          Lewis Price
the  editorial,  "Where  Are  the           reminder  on  a  very  crucial  is-                                    Batesville, AR

366/Standard Bearer/May 15, 1998


  That They May Teach Their Children                                                         Prof. Russell Dykstra


             Why "Covenant Children"?

                                             unto  everlasting  life.  He  sover-       must be resolved, and the theologi-
                                             eignly  reprobates  the  rest  unto        cal explanation is not agreed upon
                                             their  damnation.  This  sovereign         by all.  Nor are the differences in-
                                             determination of God cuts through          significant.
God's covenant is established
        with  believers  and  their
        children.  This  truth  is  not      families  of  believers.  God  chose           One solution is known as "pre-
only the heart of Reformed doctrine          Isaac;  He  rejected  Ishmael.  God        supposed  regeneration."    Pro-
and  a  great  comfort  to  believing        chose Jacob; He rejected Esau.  (Cf.       pounded  by  Abraham  Kuyper,  it
parents, it is also the basis of Re-         Rom. 9.)                                   is the teaching that believing par-
formed, Christian education.                     At the same time, God prom-            ents baptize on the basis of a pre-
    That God establishes His cov-            ised  Abraham  and  believing  par-        sumed  regeneration  of  the  child.
enant with believers and their seed          ents everywhere, "I will establish         Kuyper recognized that not all chil-
means  that  children  are  in  God's        my covenant between thee and thy           dren of believers were necessarily
covenant. Reformed believers con-            seed  after  thee  for  an  everlasting    regenerated,  nor  were  they  even
fess with the Heidelberg Catechism           covenant"  (Gen.  17:7).  And  the         necessarily elect. Yet his particular
in Lord's Day 27 that infants, "as           Holy Spirit moved Peter to say to          view of the sacrament of baptism
well as the adult, are included in           the believers on Pentecost, "For the       made him insist that baptism could
the covenant and church of God."             promise  is  unto  you  and  to  your      be a sacrament only if the recipi-
    This  promise  of  God  pro-             children..." (Acts 2:39). On the ba-         ent had already received regener-
foundly affects the view that a be-          sis  of  such  promises  of  God,  be-     ating  grace.  Since  children  of  be-
lieving father and mother have of            lieving parents baptize their chil-        lievers are not all necessarily elect
the children God has given them.             dren--all their children.                   and regenerated, parents must sim-
They do not consider their children              The problem is obvious. Since          ply presuppose it of each child, and
to be as unbelieving pagans. Nor             God  is  not  obligated  to  save  all     proceed to baptism.
do  they  see  them  as  unbelievers,        children  of  believers--in  fact,  of-         However, presupposed regen-
albeit unbelievers having a better           ten He does not--how can believ-            eration is neither biblical nor con-
chance of being saved because they           ing  parents  confidently  affirm  at      fessional. Parents must not simply
are given some knowledge of God.             baptism, "This child must have the         assume that all their children are
No, they are covenant children. It           sign  and  seal  of  the  covenant"?       believers,  on  the  basis  that  they
necessarily follows that the Chris-          How can a Christian schoolteacher          presuppose that all baptized chil-
tian  schoolteacher  must  have  the         look over his classroom and main-          dren are regenerated. They recog-
same  view  of  the  students  in  the       tain,  "These  are  covenant  chil-        nize that God makes no promise to
classroom--their students are cov-            dren"?  Must  they  simply  confess        save all their children. Both Scrip-
enant children.                              these two seemingly contradictory          ture  and  their  experience  testify
    This presents the Reformed be-           doctrines  (predestination  and  the       that the lines of election and rep-
liever with a problem of sorts. On           covenant) and conclude helplessly,         robation  cut  through  the  families
the one hand, the Reformed faith             this is a mystery? They need not.          of believers. They understand from
confesses the doctrine of sovereign,         They may confidently hold to both          Romans 9 that not all children of
free,  double  predestination  as  set       sovereign, free, double predestina-        the flesh are the "seed" with whom
forth in the Canons of Dordt. God            tion and the covenant of grace with        God continues His covenant. They
sovereignly  chooses  His  people            believers  and  their  seed.  Parents,     may not  presuppose what God has
                                             with  the  teachers  who  stand  in        clearly revealed in Scripture to be
                                             their  place,  must  view  their  chil-    false.
                                             dren as covenant children.                     Another  solution  proffered  is
                                                 Thus far, almost all Reformed          that  all  children  of  believers  are
Prof. Dykstra is professor of Church His-    parents  would  agree.  But  then,         members of the covenant objectively
tory  and  New Testament  in  the Protes-    there  stands  that  conflict  which       by reason of the covenant promise
tant Reformed Seminary.

                                                                                                  May 15, 1998/Standard Bearer/367


given to each child of believers at          the elect only, not all the children        ately in Eden. The very trees in the
baptism. This view entails a condi-          of believers.                               midst  of  the  garden  pointed  to
tional  view  of  the  covenant.  Ac-            But even aside from the theo-           this--fellowship  with  God  was
cording to this, God comes to each           logical conflicts, as was pointed out       only possible through antithetical
child at baptism with the personal           earlier,  the  conditional  covenant        obedience--every day saying "Yes"
promise of salvation. The promise            does  not  truly  reconcile  the  view      to God by partaking of the Tree of
may  be  likened  to  a  check  made         of all children being covenant chil-        Life,  and  by  rejecting  the  forbid-
out  to  the  individual  child  and         dren with the reality that God rep-         den fruit. There God came to speak
signed  by  God.  The  check  prom-          robates some children of believers.         with Adam. It is evident from Gen-
ises salvation from sin and eternal          The  unavoidable  implication  of  a        esis 3:8 that God had done this be-
life--if  the  child  endorses  the           covenant that is conditional is that        fore  the  Fall,  and  Adam  had  not
check.  If  he  only  frames  it,  it  is    some of those with whom God es-             hid from God.
worth nothing. If he tears it up, he         tablishes His covenant are in fact              After the Fall, God promised to
perishes as a covenant breaker.              reprobate. Call it only a covenant          put enmity between the seed of the
    According to this covenant doc-          objectively--it does not change the          woman and the seed of the serpent.
trine, the baptism promise of God            fact that God established His cov-          How would this be done? Subse-
is not that the child  is saved and          enant with reprobate children who           quent  history  demonstrates  that
has eternal life. Rather it is that God      later spend an eternity in hell.            God puts hatred between the two
wants to save and wants to give eter-            This might not appear to be so          seeds  by  making  the  seed  of  the
nal life.  On the basis of this prom-        bad,  if  the  covenant  be  only  a        woman to be His friend-servants,
ise,  all  children  of  believers  are      promise  to  save  on  the  condition       and immediately the wicked hate
considered covenant children. This           of faith. But this neither defines nor      the  godly  seed  because  they  are
conditional  covenant  was  pro-             describes God's covenant. The cov-          friends of God.
moted  by  William  Heyns  and  by           enant is a relationship of friendship           God describes His relationship
Klaas Schilder, although they had            that God establishes with man. Yes,         to  His  people  in  terms  of  friend-
differences in their covenant views.         the  covenant  is  based  on  God's         ship. Enoch walked with God, as
The conditional covenant, far from           promises.  The  covenant  contains          did Noah. This is what friends do.
solving the problem, rather creates          promises  from  God.  But  the  cov-            Besides  that,  Abraham,  to
more problems. First of all, because         enant  does  not  consist  merely  of       whom  God  spoke  such  beautiful
this  view  teaches  that  the  child        this:  God  promises  salvation  and        covenant  promises,  is  called  the
must  believe in order to receive the        eternal  life  on  fulfillment  of  the     friend of God (James 2:23).
benefits of the promise (endorse the         condition of faith. This makes the              Israel is God's covenant people
check), it leaves the impression that        covenant to be merely the  means            in the Old Testament. God saved
faith is a condition that the child          to  the  end--salvation.  The  cov-          them from the bondage of Egypt,
must fulfill in order to get saved.          enant is in effect for this earth and       not by means of the covenant, but
Even if it is maintained, as it often        disposed  of  after  Christ  returns.       for  the  sake  of  His  covenant!  He
is, that God fulfills the condition,         That all by itself ought to give the        established them as His covenant
this  still  leaves  salvation  in  the      believer pause. Surely the covenant         people  at  Sinai,  and  commanded
hands  of  the  sinful  (dead  in  sin)      is more important to God than that.         them  to  make  Him  a  "sanctuary,
child. It also separates faith from              Since the covenant is so crucial        that  [He]  might  dwell  among
the work of salvation, as a condi-           for  Christian  education,  it  is  not     them"  (Ex.  25:8).  The  tabernacle
tion unto salvation.                         surprising that a right conception          and  later  the  temple  symbolized
    Thirdly, such a conditional cov-         of  the  covenant  is  crucial  for  the    God  dwelling  with  and  fellow-
enant  logically  demands  that  the         right view of covenant children. It         shipping  with  His  people  in  one
atonement  of  Christ  on  the  cross        is  worth  our  while,  therefore,          house.
be for all children of believers. If         briefly to set forth the true nature            Psalm 25:14 teaches the nature
God promises salvation and eter-             of God's covenant.                          of the covenant when it proclaims:
nal life to each child, salvation and            God's  covenant  is  a  relation-       "The  secret  of  the  LORD   is  with
eternal life must be available. But          ship of friendship. This is the teach-      them  that  fear  him;  and  he  will
that would mean that Christ atoned           ing  of  Scripture  taken  in  its  en-     show  them  his  covenant."     To
for the sins of some (the covenant           tirety. The very creation of man in-        whom do you tell your secrets but
breakers,  for  example)  who  ulti-         dicates  this--man  was  created             to  your  closest  friends?  To  His
mately perish. This is contrary to           above  all  creatures  in  order  to        friends, Jehovah speaks His secrets
the  Reformed  (and  thus  biblical          know God (having true knowledge,            of salvation and love, as He shows
and  confessional)  doctrine  of  the        a requisite for fellowship) and live        them His covenant.
atonement.  Christ's  atonement  is          with  Him  (being  righteous  and               The Scriptures reveal this cov-
effectual. He died for the elect, and        holy).  Fellowship  began  immedi-          enant relationship through the pic-

368/Standard Bearer/May 15, 1998


tures  of  friendship,  as  well  as  a      heaven,  prepared  as  a  bride            children" on the basis of a condi-
family--Israel  was  His  son  (Ex.           adorned  for  her  husband.  And  I        tional promise that God ostensibly
4:22);  we  are  adopted  sons  (Gal.        heard a great voice out of heaven          gives to each child at baptism.
4:4-5).                                      saying,  Behold,  the  tabernacle  of          Thus,  when  considering  their
    The ultimate picture of God's            God is with men, and he will dwell         children,  believing  parents  are  to
covenant is that of marriage. In the         with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his     avoid  the  error  of  denying  that
Old Testament, Jehovah betrothed             people, and  God himself shall be          their children are covenant children
Himself to Israel. In the New Tes-           with them, and be their God."              by considering all to be unbeliev-
tament,  the  bridegroom  came--                  The resplendent and delightful         ers until they show signs of faith.
Christ,  the  Mediator  of  the  cov-        covenant of God is a relationship          At the same time they must not call
enant.  He  came  to  redeem  His            of intimate, glorious friendship be-       all children of believers "covenant
bride  and  establish  the  covenant,        tween  God  and  His  people  in           children"  for  the  wrong  reasons--
which He did on the cross. He must           Christ. Once that is established, it       presupposed  regeneration  on  the
be  gone  for  some  time,  but  He          determines  everything  about  the         one  hand,  or  a  conditional  cov-
promised to comfort His bride in             covenant people.                           enant with every baptized child on
His  absence  with  His  Spirit,  by             Then  the  question  must  be          the other.
whom He dwells in her. When He               faced:  How, indeed, could God es-             Is  there  any  position  left  that
returns physically He will lead His          tablish a relationship of friendship       would allow the believer to main-
bride into the wedding feast,  the           with  any  reprobate?  It  is  impos-      tain  the  doctrines  of  sovereign
marriage  (covenant)  will  be  con-         sible, and even a flat contradiction       grace  consistently  (including  the
summated, and the eternal relation-          of Scripture. God never had a cov-         total depravity of man, the particu-
ship of love and fellowship will be          enant  relationship  of  friendship        lar  and  effectual  atonement  of
the  perfect  possession  of  the            with Esau, nor did He promise one.         Christ, and sovereign, double pre-
church.                                      The testimony of the unchangeable          destination), and yet maintain that
    God's  goal is  fellowship  with         Jehovah concerning him is that He          children  of  believers  are  indeed
His covenant people, as Revelation           hated him (Rom. 9).                        covenant children? There certainly
21:3-4  demonstrates.  "And  I  John             It is not right, therefore, to call    is. It is the organic view of the cov-
saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,            all  baptized  children  "covenant         enant seed.  To this we turn next.
coming  down  from  God  out  of                                                                                                  u


  Decency and Order                                                                      Rev. Ronald Cammenga


                             Religious Holidays

                                             History of Article 67                      son the synod of Dordt, 1574, ruled:
                                                                                        "As  to  the  church  holidays  aside
                                                                                        from  Sunday,  it  is  decided  that
                                             The content of Article 67 does
                                                   not express the early opinion
 "The churches shall observe, in ad-               of the Reformers with respect        people shall be content with Sun-
 dition to the Sunday, also Christ-          to the observance of the religious         day only."
 mas, Good Friday,  Easter, Ascen-           holidays.  Well known is the oppo-             VanDellen  and  Monsma  give
 sion  Day,  Pentecost,  the  Day  of        sition  of  men  like  Calvin,  Farel,     three reasons that explain the Re-
 Prayer, the National Thanksgiving           Zwingli, and Knox to the celebra-          formers'  opposition  to  the  obser-
 Day,  and  Old  and  New  Year's            tion  of  the  myriad  of  festal  days    vance of special days.
 Day."                                       counted sacred by Roman Catholi-
                                             cism.  They all did what they could          1.The  festival  days  are  not  or-
           Church Order, Article 67.
                                                                                          dained by God, but are of human
                                             to abolish the celebration of the re-
                                                                                          invention.
                                             ligious holidays.                            2.The  observance  of  the  festival
                                                 The  sentiment  of  the  Reform-
Rev.  Cammenga  is  pastor  of  Southwest                                                 days  tends  to  minimize  Sunday,
                                             ers  was  shared,  by  and  large,  by
Protestant    Reformed    Church  in                                                      the God-ordained weekly day of
Grandville, Michigan.                        the Dutch Reformed.  For this rea-           rest.

                                                                                                   May 15, 1998/Standard Bearer/369


  3.The  observance  of  the  festival         But in places where more holidays        (traditionally the second Wednes-
  days  leads  to  pagan  celebration          are observed by order of the gov-        day  of  March),  the  National
  and promotes licentiousness.1                ernment,  the  ministers  shall  put     Thanksgiving  Day,  and  Old  and
                                               forth effort to change by preach-        New Year's Day.  Article 67 in our
    Notwithstanding this early op-             ing the useless and harmful idle-        Protestant Reformed Church Order
position, the observance of the re-            ness into a sacred and beneficial        is essentially a redaction of that of
ligious holidays gradually began to            exercise.                                the Christian Reformed Church in
find  acceptance  among  the  Re-                                                       1914.
formed  in  the  Netherlands.    This            The synod of the Hague, 1586
was  due  largely  to  the  fact  that       expanded  the  observance  of  the         Regard for the Days
these days were set aside as holi-           special days.                                  A couple of things ought to be
days by the state.  Rather than to                                                      said about the regard that we Re-
have the people spend the days in              The congregations shall observe in
                                               addition to Sunday two Christmas         formed Christians have for the spe-
idleness or frivolous recreation, it           days, Easter Monday and two Pen-         cial days designated in Article 67.
was  deemed  preferable  that  the             tecost  days,  but  in  places  where        First, it ought to be plain that
saints gather for worship.                     more holidays are held by order          the special days are not on a par
    Already  the  synod  of  Dordt,            of the government in commemo-            with the weekly Lord's Day.  The
1578, decided:                                 ration of the benefits of Christ (as     language of Article 67 makes this
                                               the  circumcision  of  Christ  [New      plain, for these days are to be ob-
  It would be desirable that freedom           Years'  Day]  and  Ascension  Day)       served "... in addition to the Sun-
  to  work  six  days  as  allowed  by         the ministers shall put forth effort     day."  They are added to Sunday.
  God be maintained by the church              to change by preaching the idle-
  and  only  Sunday  be  kept  holy.           ness of the people into sacred and       That  implies  that  Sunday  is  pre-
  Nevertheless,  since  some  other            beneficial observance.                   eminent and that Sunday stands as
  festive days are observed by au-                                                      a day in distinction from the spe-
  thority of the government, such as             Our present article is based on        cial  religious  holidays  that  are
  Christmas with the day following,          the decision of Dordt, 1618-19.            added  to  it.    The  history,  too,  of
  the second Easter Day and the sec-                                                    the addition of the religious holi-
  ond  Pentecost  Day  and  in  some           The  congregations  shall  observe,      days to Article 67 indicates the pri-
  places  New  Year's  Day  and  As-           in addition to Sunday, also Christ-      ority placed on the weekly celebra-
  cension  Day,  the  ministers  shall         mas,  Easter  and  Pentecost,  with      tion of the Lord's Day.  Never was
  show  diligence  to  have  sermons           the  following  day;  and  since  in
  in  which  they  shall  especially                                                    the observance of the religious holi-
                                               most  cities  and  provinces  of  the
  teach the congregation concerning                                                     days defended on the grounds that
                                               Netherlands,  besides  these  there
  the  birth  and  resurrection  of            are also observed the day of Cir-        they were mandated by Scripture,
  Christ,  the  sending  of  the  Holy         cumcision  and  Ascension  of            whereas this was the basis for the
  Spirit  and  other  articles  of  faith      Christ, the ministers everywhere,        weekly observance of Sunday.
  and how to change the unprofit-              where this is still not the custom,          In  the  second  place,  it  was
  able exercise.2                              shall put forth effort with the au-      largely  for  practical  reasons  that
                                               thorities  that  they  may  conform      the  fathers  supported  the  obser-
Even  then,  the  synod  of  1578              with the others.                         vance  of  the  religious  holidays.
added:                                                                                  Most of these days were, and still
                                                 The  synod  of  the  Reformed          are,  set  aside  by  the  authority  of
  Meanwhile  all  churches  shall            Churches of the Netherlands, 1905,         the state as national holidays.  Fear-
  work to the end that the ordinary          adopted the following revision of          ing the temptation to turn the days
  use of all holidays except Christ-         Article 67:
  mas  (since  Easter  and  Pentecost                                                   into reckless celebration or wicked
  are  on  Sunday)  be  abolished  as                                                   idleness, it was thought far prefer-
                                               The congregations shall keep, be-
  much as possible and as early as                                                      able  to  call  the  members  of  the
                                               sides Sunday, also Christmas, Eas-
  possible.                                                                             church  together  for  prayer  and
                                               ter, Pentecost and Ascension Day.
                                               The observation of the second fes-       worship.  Knowing the tendency of
    The  synod  of  Middelburg,                tival days is left to the freedom of     human nature and fearing the im-
1581, added the observance of As-              the churches.                            pact of the worldly celebration of
cension Day to Christmas.                                                               the days, our fathers took preven-
                                                 The revision of the Church Or-         tive steps.  Their concern was not
  The congregations shall continue           der  by  the  Christian  Reformed          to  curry  the  favor  of  the  govern-
  to  work  with  the  authorities  so       Church in 1914 added several more          ment, but to promote the edifica-
  that the holidays, with the excep-         religious  holidays:    Good  Friday,      tion of the churches.
  tion of Sunday, Christmas and As-          the Annual Day of Prayer for Crops             In  the  third  place,  regard  for
  cension  Day,  may  be  abolished.                                                    the religious holidays rests in the

370/Standard Bearer/May 15, 1998


liberty that is ours in Christ.  For      days they are no different from any        observance.  It is to be feared that
this reason, observance of the days       other days.  Nevertheless, the oc-         there is a certain laxity in regard
has  never  been  equated  with  the      casion  of  the  observance  of  the       to  the  observance  of  the  special
New Testament Sabbath.  For this          days provides the church with a fit-       days.    This  is  especially  the  case
reason  the  days  that  do  not  hap-    ting opportunity for celebration be-       with the days that are observed by
pen to fall on a Sunday are not ob-       fore God and instruction from the          mid-week services.  These services
served, and are not required to be        Word of God.                               can, at times, be rather sparsely at-
observed, as if they were Sabbath             At  the  service  on  the  Annual      tended.  God's people ought to be
Days.  Our men, for example, are          Day of Prayer for Crops the bless-         of the mind that since our Church
permitted to work on Old and New          ing of God is besought at the be-          Order  calls  for  the  observance  of
Year's Day without any fear of be-        ginning of another growing season.         these days, and since the consistory
ing charged with desecration of the       The  saints  are  reminded  that  not      summons us for worship on these
day.  For this reason, also, we take      only our soul's salvation but also         days, we ought to attend these spe-
no  issue  with  our  Presbyterian        our  daily  bread  comes  from  the        cial services faithfully.
brothers and sisters who prefer not       hand  of  our  heavenly  Father.                We  ought  to  gather  joyfully!
to  observe  the  days.    Well  and      Thanksgiving Day provides the op-          Ah,  we  have  the  opportunity  to
good;  we  do  not  bind  their  con-     portunity  for  the  congregation  to      hear the gospel set forth!  We have
sciences  by  Article  67  of  our        come together in order corporately         the opportunity to sing the praises
Church Order.                             to give thanks to God for His pro-         of our God!  We have the opportu-
    It having been said that our ob-      vision  and  care.    The  Old  Year's     nity  to  call  upon  God's  name  in
servance of the days belongs to our       evening service ought  to be  used         prayer!  We have the opportunity
liberty in Christ, we must add that       to remind the saints of the end of         to fellowship with beloved broth-
this liberty is circumscribed by the      all things, that time marches on to-       ers and sisters in Christ!
decision  of  the  majority  and  the     wards  the  God-ordained  purpose               Given the opportunity, where
lawful rule of the church.  Decency       of the coming of Christ and the fi-        would the child of God rather be?
and good order in the church de-          nal  judgment.    The  New  Year's         What would he rather be doing?
mand  this.    Because  the  mind  of     morning service ought to be a call                                                     u
the majority is that the edification      to the saints to live uprightly in the
of the churches  is best  served by       year that is to come, committing all
gathering for worship on the spe-         their way to the Lord who prom-            1    VanDellen  and  Monsma,  The
cial  days,  the  members  of  the        ises to care for us.                       Church Order Commentary (Grand Rap-
church, even those members who                                                       ids, MI:  Zondervan, 1941), p. 273.
might not agree entirely, acquiesce.      Observance of the Days of
                                          Article 67                                 2    The  reference  to  the  "second"
                                                                                     Christmas,  the  "second"  Easter,  etc.
The Days Designated in Article 67             Article 67 calls the churches to       relates to the custom of the Dutch to
    All  of  the  days  designated  in    "observe"  the  religious  holidays.       celebrate as holidays the special day
Article 67 are not alike.  The days       By  observing  the  days  the  article     itself as well as the day following.
are basically of two kinds.               means  that  the  churches  shall
    First,  there  are  those  days       gather for public worship.  In har-
which mark significant events con-        mony  with  Article  67,  the                              Absolvo Te
nected to the wonder of salvation,        consistory shall summon the con-
days  celebrating  the  work  of  our     gregation  to  worship.    Notice  of       One Priest alone can pardon
Lord  Jesus  Christ:    Christmas,        this summons is ordinarily placed               me,
Good  Friday,  Easter,  Ascension,        in the church bulletin the Sunday                 Or bid me "Go in peace";
and Pentecost.  Among these days,         preceding the special day.  All of          Can breathe that word Absolvo
too, there is distinction.  Easter and    the  elements  of  public  worship
Pentecost always fall on a Sunday;        ought  to  be  a  part  of  the  obser-         te,
Christmas only rarely; Good Friday        vance.    The  minister  ought  to                And make these heart-
and Ascension Day never.                  preach from an appropriate text of                     throbs cease:
    The  other  days  mentioned  in       Scripture so that the special signifi-      My soul has heard His priestly
Article 67 are purely artificial:  The    cance of the day is not lost on the             voice;
Annual  Day  of  Prayer  for  Crops,      congregation.                               I said, "I bore thy sin--Re-
the  National  Thanksgiving  Day,             Although the religious holidays             joice!"
and  Old  and  New  Year's  Day.          are not on a par with the weekly
They have no value whatsoever as          Sabbath, the members of the church                                Standard Bearer,
days, nor is the time of their cel-       ought to take seriously the provi-                                             1929
ebration  of  any  significance.    As    sion of Article 67 that calls for their

                                                                                                 May 15, 1998/Standard Bearer/371


  Go Ye Into All the World



                       Preaching the Gospel
                                     to the Nations
                                                                                               Rev. Allen Brummel



                                            would like, with renewed enthusi-         mission on Culture, regarding the
    "There  are  so  many  people
                                            asm  we  press  on,  knowing  that        procedure  to  be  followed  to  be-
who don't have access to the gos-
                                            God's timing is always perfect.           come  established  as  a  recognized
pel.  I would like to find ways to
                                                                                      mission church in their land.  Both
bring the gospel and the Word of
                                            Ghana                                     have encouraged us to press on in
God to them.  There are many new
                                                Rev.  Jai  Mahtani,  from  our        this labor.
ideas that can be developed and re-
                                            Trinity  Protestant  Reformed                 It is apparent that, although it
fined to spread the good news of
                                            Church in Houston, Texas, visited         is  not  required,  the  government
the  gospel.    There  are  countless
                                            Ghana this past July while consid-        strongly prefers that we enter their
ways to develop our mission pro-
                                            ering a call to serve as missionary       country  with  sponsorship.    The
gram and utilize the talent we have
                                            to that field.  While visiting with       Ministry  of  Interior  writes,  "It
available  to  us  worldwide.    We
                                            an immigration official in Ghana he       would be preferable to enter Ghana
must  figure  out  the  best  ways  to
                                            was  made  aware  of  the  necessity      with a sponsoring body which can
use our limited resources of people
                                            of obtaining a sponsoring body be-        guarantee its presence in Ghana....
and  money  to  have  the  greatest
                                            fore we could enter Ghana.  This          It would not be advisable to enter
reach  and  the  greatest  impact  on
                                            was  different  from  what  we  had       Ghana independently without any
the maximum number of people."
                                            been told previously, and therefore       sponsoring body.  ... It would also
    These are the words of one of
                                            prompted the committee to contact         not  be  advisable  to  visit  Ghana
our  volunteers  who  is  standing
                                            various  officials  for  confirmation.    with a view to finding an existing
ready  with  his  wife  to  assist  our
                                            The  Foreign  Mission  Committee          group or establishing a group who
churches  in  mission  work.    Al-
                                            (FMC) gave approval to Hull Prot-         could sponsor it for its work."
though  we  are  not  able  to  send
                                            estant Reformed Church, the call-             It appears that this sponsorship
these volunteers without a mission-
                                            ing church, to discontinue calling        is intended to enable the govern-
ary, some of them are busy read-
                                            a  missionary  until  we  could  get      ment to maintain a certain amount
ing,  researching,  and  preparing
                                            concrete details concerning the im-       of control over who is allowed to
themselves  for  the  possibility  of
                                            migration procedure.                      come into their country to labor in
serving  overseas  in  a  supportive
                                                This past year has involved the       missions.  The government officials
role  with  respect  to  our  mission-
                                            FMC in extensive correspondence           directed  us  to  a  number  of  non-
ary.  Some of these volunteers have
                                            with Ghanaian officials regarding         profit  organizations  who  are  in-
been  moved  by  God  to  consider
                                            the proper procedure to enter into        volved in sponsoring religious mis-
giving their lives for this important
                                            the country of Ghana for our mis-         sions  to  Ghana.    These  are  not
work.  For this we as a committee
                                            sion  labor.    This  correspondence      churches,  but  religious  organiza-
give thanks, and although there are
                                            has been going slowly, mostly due         tions which are recognized by the
many  difficult  decisions  to  be
                                            to the nature of working with the         government and able to take care
made, and the labor seems at times
                                            government agencies.  We believe          of  the  necessary  paperwork  for a
to  proceed  more  slowly  than  we
                                            that  we  are  finally  making  good      foreign  mission  agency.    We  are
                                            progress in learning precisely what       currently investigating the details
                                            is involved in beginning a labor in       associated with this sponsorship so
Rev. Brummel is pastor of the Protestant    Ghana.  We now have a statement           as  to  determine  whether  we  can
Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota,     in writing, both from the Ministry        proceed  in  a  way  that  is  in  har-
and the secretary of the Foreign Mission    of Interior and the National Com-         mony  with  our  constitution  and
Committee.

372/Standard Bearer/May 15, 1998


will  not  compromise  our  preach-       who  have  recently  reassured  us          islands and four different cities in
ing the Reformed faith in all its dis-    and  even  encouraged  us  to  press        the Philippines: Manila, Daet, and
tinctiveness.                             forward.    As  evident  from  the          Labo  on  Luzon;  and  Cagayan  de
    Specifically, the National Com-       above quote, these volunteers are           Oro and Davao City on Mindanao.
mission of Culture encouraged us,         committed to supporting the mis-            The preaching and teaching of the
"Be assured that the constitution of      sionary  and  the  mission program          delegation centered on simple in-
the Republic of Ghana guarantees          of our churches and are willing to          struction in the basic, fundamental
religious  freedom,  and  we  at  the     give a year or more of their lives          doctrines  of  Calvinism.    Rev.
Commission would give you every           to this labor.  This is very encour-        denHartog and I were able to speak
necessary assistance to enable you        aging  to  us  as  a  committee  and        in each of the individual locations
to  have  a  fruitful  missionary         ought  to  be  great  encouragement         and also held a five-day conference
work."  One of the officers of this       to those ministers who consider the         in Labo, Camarines Norte to which
national  agency  heads  a  private,      call to be missionary.                      contacts from throughout the Phil-
non-profit  organization  that  is            We  continue  to  have  contact         ippines were invited.  During the
"dedicated to the development of          with  our  friends  in  Ghana,  and         daytime we provided instruction to
mankind and society on the prin-          they too are willing to help us in          approximately 40 church leaders in
ciples  of  the  Word  of  God."    He    any way that is within their capac-         various doctrinal and practical sub-
states  that  this  organization,  the    ity.  We are maintaining correspon-         jects of interest, including the doc-
Action for Morals, Health, and De-        dence  with  and  continue  to  send        trine of the Holy Spirit, the church,
velopment Committee, is willing to        literature and books to certain in-         the end times, and what it means
serve as our sponsor and to help          dividuals.  We do believe that, if          to be a pastor.   The evenings, when
us to become established as a mis-        the Lord wills and we have the op-          between  50  and  60  people  were
sion in Ghana.  He states that he         portunity and are given a man to            able to attend, were spent with lec-
has been involved "in assisting sev-      labor in Ghana, we will have plenty         tures on the five points of Calvin-
eral foreign missionaries to estab-       of work to do there.                        ism.   Even though an hour or more
lish churches in Ghana."  We have                                                     was allowed for discussion, the dis-
written  letters  to  this  committee     Philippines                                 cussion periods often had to be cut
and to the Ministry of the Interior           The  FMC  was  privileged  to           short.  For some of the individuals
investigating what is involved with       send  Rev.  denHartog  from  Hope           this  was  the  first  time  they  were
such a sponsorship in the eyes of         Protestant  Reformed  Church,               hearing  lectures  on  election,  lim-
the private organization and in the       Redlands,  California,  along  with         ited atonement, and the preserva-
eyes  of  the  government.    At  this    the undersigned to the Philippines          tion  of  the  saints;  therefore,  we
time we do not have sufficient in-        for two weeks in early December.            were  peppered  with  questions.
formation concerning sponsorship,         An extensive report of this trip ap-        The people were eager to listen and
but we hope to have answers to our        peared in the March 1, 1998 issue           willing to be instructed.
questions within a month or two.          of the Standard Bearer.  The Foreign            The  FMC  was  encouraged  by
We are proposing that synod give          Mission  Committee,  as  well  as           the  keen  interest  shown  by  these
the FMC the authority to proceed          many of our local evangelism com-           contacts  in  the  Philippines  in  the
with this sponsorship as long as it       mittees, has had increasing corre-          doctrines  which  were  being  pre-
does not involve us in an ungodly         spondence with individuals in the           sented and by their desire for more
union  or  bind  us  with  respect  to    Philippines.    Our  churches  have         instruction.  The books, pamphlets,
our  teaching  and  preaching.            sent thousands of dollars worth of          and  letters  sent  to  this  country
Should synod grant that approval,         books  and  pamphlets  to  various          have, by the grace of God, begun
the FMC would advise Hull PRC             contacts,  but  found  it  difficult  to    to work fruit in the hearts of God's
to resume calling a missionary for        determine the sincerity of the con-         people  there.    For  this  we  give
the field.                                tacts without a personal visit.  Rev.       thanks  to  God  and  pray  that  the
    Our  committee  is  encouraged        Kortering and his wife visited the          seeds planted will continue to be
with regard to the calling of a mis-      country  last  spring  on  their  way       watered  and  nurtured  by  His
sionary to this field by the fact that    back to the United States.  Encour-         Spirit.  May this be an encourage-
our Lord has given to our churches        aged  by  their  visit  and  report,        ment to our individual evangelism
an abundance of men for the min-          synod approved that the FMC send            committees, as well as individuals
istry of the Word.  There are labor-      a delegation to the Philippines to          who have sent  books, pamphlets,
ers available for the various fields      preach and  teach, with  a view to          and  letters  to  our  contacts  in  the
in which our churches have deter-         investigating the possibility of fur-       Philippines.
mined to labor.                           ther work in this country.                      The FMC believes that contact
    With respect to the  particular           Our  delegation  was  kept  ex-         must  be  maintained  with  the
work in Ghana we have volunteers          tremely busy visiting the two main          people, in order to determine God's

                                                                                              May 15, 1998/Standard Bearer/373


direction for our churches with re-         lishing a mission field in the Phil-       ister benevolent need and to deter-
spect to the Philippines.  In accor-        ippines.  These delegations will be        mine which men might be able to
dance  with  this  the  FMC  has  ap-       providing  more  instruction  and          benefit from further instruction in
proved  a  visit  of  Rev.  and  Mrs.       will  try  to  determine  how  and         either  Singapore  or  the  United
Kortering  to  Bacolod  City  on  the       where to begin a labor in the Phil-        States.
island  of  Negros  in  May.    While       ippines,  should  God  provide  the            Our  prayer  is  that  God  will
on  their  way  back  to  the  United       means.  We have contact with or-           continue to use us as churches to
States  for  their  furlough,  the          ganized churches, Bible study fel-         bring the gospel of grace to Ghana,
Korterings intend to spend May 20-          lowships,  and  many  sincere  indi-       the        Philippines,     Singapore,
25  in  the  Philippines,  giving  in-      viduals.    Determining  how  and          Myanmar, and wherever He in His
struction especially in the doctrine        where to begin a labor will demand         good  pleasure  sends  it,  in  order
of  the  covenant.    The  contacts  in     much  wisdom  and  prayer.    We           that His saints might be gathered
Bacolod  City  are  more  familiar          covet  your  prayers  that  God  will      and brought to the joy of their sal-
with the Reformed faith than most           continue to guide us by His Spirit.        vation.  May He bless the labors of
of  our  other  contacts,  some  com-       The delegations will investigate the       the FMC toward this end.
ing out of Reformed denominations           immigration  requirements  associ-             The FMC continues to pursue
in the Philippines.  Because of the         ated  with  beginning  a  mission          correspondence  with  individuals
influence  of  Pentecostalism  and          work in the Philippines.  Concerns         from  various  parts  of  the  world.
Arminianism in their respective de-         about political unrest, safety, and        We seek God's guidance, not only
nominations, they were searching            the  economy  of  the  country  will       with respect to the areas of labor
for  a  more  faithful  group  with         also have to be dealt with before          He has already given us, but also
whom  to affiliate.  Providentially         we can consider beginning a labor          with respect to other parts of the
they were led to the Protestant Re-         in the Philippines.                        world.    If  you  our  readers  have
formed Churches, and through cor-               Should  God  bless  our  labors        promising  correspondence  from
respondence, pamphlets, and books           and provide the means, we believe          various parts of the world, we en-
they have come to appreciate our            that there will be the possibility of      courage  you  to  share  it  with  us.
emphasis  on  the  inspiration  of          sending a missionary to the Philip-        God is blessing our churches with
Holy  Scripture  and  God's  sover-         pines within a couple of years.  The       laborers and we are confident that
eign  grace,  and  they  desire  more       people  with  whom  we  have  con-         He will also continue to open fields
instruction in our distinctives.  We        tact desire more training and a mis-       of labor for us.  May we labor dili-
pray that God will bless Rev. and           sionary.  The FMC is busy sending          gently while it is yet day, seeking
Mrs. Kortering's visit and that our         books and pamphlets, and we con-           to  use  our  limited  resources  to
ties to these saints might be made          tinue to provide as much instruc-          reach as many nations and people
stronger through it.                        tion and assistance through corre-         as we are able.  We give thanks to
    The FMC is proposing to synod           spondence  as  possible.    Besides        God  that  He  will  not  allow  His
that, if possible, two more preach-         providing Reformed teaching and            Word to go forth void, but will use
ing  and  teaching  delegations  be         preaching  in  this  predominantly         us to hasten the coming of our Lord
sent to the Philippines before synod        Roman Catholic country, a mission-         Jesus Christ on the clouds of glory.
1999 to prepare the way for estab-          ary  would  also  be  necessary  to                                            u
                                            teach the churches how to admin-




             Following Where He Leads
                                                                                                      Mr. Don Doezema


    "There is a danger, of course,          and our funds accomplish the work          our very best efforts in this area of
that we begin to think that our ef-         [of missions].  This is absolutely not     the churches' calling, in harmony
forts, our program, our machinery,          the case.  The work is the Lord's,         with the means which the Lord has
                                            and He alone can and will gather           given us.  Only then can we expect
                                            His  church.    But  as  surely  as  we    the  Lord's  blessing  upon  our  la-
                                            are called to be busy in this work,        bors."
Mr. Doezema is secretary of the Domestic    it  is  our  responsibility  to  expend        That was a concluding "word
Mission Committee.

374/Standard Bearer/May 15, 1998


of  caution"  expressed  by  the  au-         only in the way of hard work on             did not neglect the pursuit of con-
thors of a policy for missions which          the part of the church.  Hard work          tacts in the broader U.K.  After or-
was adopted by the 1965 synod of              on  the  part  of  the  DMC  and  the       ganization of the Covenant Protes-
the PRC.  The policy dealt for the            calling church who must together            tant Reformed Church in Northern
most  part  with  the  mechanics  of          determine  "a  field  of  labor,  the       Ireland, Rev. Hanko has been able
missions--how  to  make  effective             time  of  labor, and  the  method  of       to devote a greater amount of time
use of literature and radio, for ex-          labor" (cf. Constitution of the Do-         to developing contacts elsewhere.
ample.  It has been a useful guide            mestic Mission Committee).  Hard            All of which was to the liking of
in the developing of programs and             work on the part of God's people            the  CPRC;  for  organization  had
machinery for labor in the various            generally, who must not only sup-           never been intended by the CRF to
fields in which our churches have             port  missions  with  dollars  or           be  the  be-all  and  end-all  of  their
been involved over the years.  Rev.           pounds,  but,  more  importantly,           efforts.    They  made  that  clear  in
Miersma's extensive use of printed            must  pray  for  missions  fervently        their  request  for  organization,  as
matter and advertising in the San             and specifically.  And  hard work           submitted  to  synod  1996,  when
Luis Valley, and the Domestic Mis-            especially on the part of the mis-          they spoke of a desire not simply
sion Committee's recent introduc-             sionary who must, according to the          that  they  become  an  indigenous
tion  of  radio  broadcasting  in  the        1965  policy  for  missions,  "in  a        congregation, but that the CPRC be
Pittsburgh area are cases in point.           sense  create  his  own  field  of  la-     the "beginning of an indigenous de-
This  is  as  it  should  be.    Serious-     bor"--as opposed to "sitting back            nomination."    Not  for  a  minute
ness  of  purpose  in  missions  de-          and  waiting  for  assignment  to  a        therefore did they, so to speak, rest
mands that the "machinery" of it              specific field."                            on their laurels after achieving the
not be taken lightly.  And regular                Further, the fact that both Rev.        much-sought-after goal of organi-
reports of the missionaries to their          Hanko  and  Rev.  Miersma  have             zation.    Vigorous  activity  in  the
respective calling churches and to            been  called  to  labor  in  specific       form of literature distribution and
the DMC illustrate clearly that they          places does not mean we have now            lectures  continued  unabated  as
do indeed "expend [their] very best           passed that hurdle, that the matter         church extension work within the
efforts in this area of the churches'         of places of labor is, for the present      community  and  mission  activity
calling, in harmony with the means            at least, settled.  For the fact is that    beyond.    The  work  of  creating
which the Lord has given us."                 in  both  instances  their  "assign-        fields goes on.
    Equally clear it is, from those           ment" was not simply to labor with              During the year that followed
same  reports,  that our  missionar-          a mission group.  Rev. Hanko, it is         the organization of the CPRC, Rev.
ies  attribute  the  fruit  of  their  la-    true, was positioned in the Larne/          Hanko did what he could to nur-
bors  not  first  of  all  to  their  own     Ballymena area and was expected             ture contacts, especially in Wales;
activity but to the will of the King          to  work  primarily  with  the  Cov-        but  it  became  increasingly  clear
of the church.  And that makes the            enant Reformed Fellowship ... but             that responsibilities in Ballymena,
work  of  the  DMC,  though  some-            also  to  "pursue  other  contacts  in      including  those  to  this  family,
times difficult, never tedious, never         the British Isles" (cf. Acts 1990, Art.     made it difficult for Rev. Hanko to
simply  a  once-a-month  job  to  be          46).  Rev. Miersma was sent to la-          do justice to work outside of North-
done,  but  a  great  privilege.    The       bor initially in the San Luis Valley        ern Ireland.  Synod 1997 therefore
work of missions, after all, is the           ... but also "to work elsewhere for           instructed the Mission Committee
work of the great Sender, who de-             longer or shorter periods of time"          "to attempt to send someone to the
termines the where and the when               in order to cultivate and develop           UK  periodically  to  help  in  this
and the who in the gathering of His           contacts "in different areas of home        work."  The DMC arranged to have
church.  "The work is the Lord's,             missions" (cf. Acts 1994, Art. 15).         Candidate  Daniel  Kleyn  take  up
and He alone can and will gather              For our current home missionaries,          the work in the CPRC last Septem-
the church."  Our calling is to fol-          therefore,  the  work  of  "creating        ber,  to  free  Rev.  Hanko  to  spend
low--where He leads.                           their own fields" goes on.                  most of that month in Wales.  Then,
                                                  For  Rev.  Hanko,  that  means          in  December  and  January,  Prof.
        333    333    333                     working  outside  of  Ballymena             Hanko  spent  several  busy  weeks
                                              (elsewhere  in  Northern  Ireland),         lecturing  and  preaching  in  North
The British Isles                             and outside of Northern Ireland (in         and  South  Wales.    Missionary
    Hardly does that mean that the            other  parts  of  the  United  King-        Hanko returned to Wales again in
church's  doing  of  missions  is  an         dom).    He  had  done  that,  really,      March and planned to go again in
easy thing--just follow.  Macedo-              from  the  beginning.    For,  though       early  May.    We  are  hoping,  too,
nian calls do not come to armchair            the  building  up  of  the  Covenant        that, when Prof. Hanko travels to
Christians.    The  truth  is  that  the      Reformed  Fellowship  was  always           the U.K. this summer for the BRF
direction  of  the  Lord  is  revealed        the main focus of his attention, he         Family Conference, he will be able

                                                                                                  May 15, 1998/Standard Bearer/375


to extend his visit by a couple of          ing of contacts in different areas of         roborated by all others who have
weeks  for  additional  work  in            home  missions  brought  him  dur-            worked  there,  is  that  the  little
Wales.                                      ing  the  past  year  to  Houston,            group  in  Pittsburgh  "eagerly  re-
    Prof.  Hanko  spoke  at  the  last      Texas;  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania;            ceives  the  Word  and  instruction
three  of  the  biennial  BRF  Family       and Spokane, Washington.                      both in preaching and catechism at
Conferences.    So  he  had  already                                                      all age levels."
come to know and to appreciate the          Houston                                           The key word here, in the opin-
people who each time made their                 Early  in  July  of  1997  Rev.           ion of our home missionary, is "in-
way,  from  various  parts  of  the         Miersma and Rev. Mahtani (pastor              struction."  The group in Pittsburgh
U.K., to the site of that week-long         of  Trinity  PRC)  spoke  at  the             is largely of Roman Catholic back-
affair.  He was therefore quick to          SWAMI (Sindhis with a Mission In-             ground with "little practical knowl-
agree  to  give  up  a  well-deserved       ternational)  Conference  in  Hous-           edge  of  Reformed  practice  and
between-semesters'  break  at  the          ton.  (SWAMI is a national organi-            church life."  It goes without say-
seminary to work in Wales at the            zation of newly converted Indian              ing, perhaps, that the distinctives
turn  of  the  year.    He  readily  ad-    Christians  who  desire  to  evange-          of the Reformed faith and the prin-
mits that his "heart has been in the        lize others of their ethnic group.)           ciples  of  Reformed  practice  are
British Isles for some years," and          Rev. Miersma was convinced that               such that they must be learned, they
acknowledges  that  "it  is  difficult      he and Rev. Mahtani were able to              must be  assimilated, if they are to
not  to  permit  one's  great  sorrow       leave "a clear and strong witness"            be  lived  by.    And  this  in  turn  re-
that these few sheep have no shep-          with  the  young  Christians  of              quires  patient  and  consistent  in-
herds to bias one's thinking."  At-         SWAMI, many of whom were hear-                struction.  There is no question that
tempting  nonetheless  to  make  an         ing the distinctives of the Reformed          the group has made progress un-
objective judgment, he offered this         faith for the first time.  A good part        der  the  kind  of  instruction  they
to the DMC, that "there is no ques-         of  the  4th  of  July  Rev.  Miersma         have  so  far  received.    And,  too,
tion about it that there is a field of      spent talking to Hindus, Muslims,             they  have  grown  in  number--
work there."                                and Sihks in Houston's Indian com-            which is a testimony to the zeal of
    The sentiments of Prof. Hanko           munity.  A valuable experience he             the members of the group to wit-
are  echoed  by  others  who  at  one       considered  it  all  to  be,  in  that  it    ness to others.  And their witness-
time or another have had opportu-           gave him "opportunity to speak to             ing in turn is a measure of the ap-
nity to associate with these "scat-         those  who  have  never  heard  the           preciation which they have for Re-
tered sheep."  The DMC agrees.  It          gospel and to learn how to do this            formed truth.  But there can be no
was only the lack of a "concentra-          work across cultural boundaries."             question  either  that,  as  Rev.
tion of contacts" where a mission-          He returned to Houston one more               Miersma puts it, we are "reaching
ary could establish a base that led         time  in  October,  to  give  a  Refor-       a limit in what can be done there
us to advise synod  '97  that more          mation Day lecture there,  and to             on a part-time basis."  In view of
preparatory  work  needed  to  be           give further assistance to Trinity's          Rev.  Miersma's  responsibilities
done before a second full-time mis-         evangelism work.                              elsewhere,  therefore,  we  believe
sionary to the U.K. be called by the                                                      that the time has come to call a sec-
PRC.    The  work  of  Missionary           Pittsburgh                                    ond home missionary, stationed in
Hanko and Prof. Hanko in the past               The  work  in  Pittsburgh  was            Pittsburgh  as  a  base  for  work  in
months has been useful to that end.         considerably  more  extensive.                the Eastern States.
And we hope to be able to arrange           Synod  1997  decided  against  the                Such  is  the  work  of  creating
for work of longer duration (sev-           calling of a missionary to the East-          new fields.
eral months, if possible) later this        ern States, believing that the work
year,  and  are  advising  synod  ac-       should be further developed by our            Spokane
cordingly.  We cannot know at this          present home missionary and the                   The other area that came into
point  what  more  the  King  of  the       DMC  in  order  to  determine                 the scope of our home missionary's
church  has  in  store  for  us  in  the    whether it warranted "the commit-             activities is Spokane.  Several years
British Isles.  For now, we can only        ment of a second missionary."  Rev.           ago the Sovereign Grace Reformed
thank Him for the blessed fruit He          Miersma  therefore  went  to  work            Church,  of  which  Rev.  Robert
has given on our labors there thus          with a will.  He arranged to make             Hargrove  is  pastor,  applied  for
far,  and  continue  to  press  ahead       bi-monthly  visits  to  Pittsburgh.           membership  in  the  PRC.    They
where He leads.                             And minister-members of the DMC               withdrew  their  request  when  the
                                            spent at least a weekend in Pitts-            Mission  Committee  made  it  clear
          333    333    333                 burgh  during  the  months  when              that  divorced  and  remarried  per-
                                            Rev. Miersma was not there.  The              sons  cannot  be  received  as  mem-
    For Rev. Miersma, the cultivat-         testimony  of  Rev.  Miersma,  cor-           bers in our churches.  In the years

376/Standard Bearer/May 15, 1998


that followed, Rev. Miersma main-          Miersma  to  Spokane  on  a  one-        church begins to wrestle with the
tained contact with Rev. Hargrove,         week-per-month  basis,  to  preach       question  of  whether  it  would  be
and  in  so  doing  learned  that  the     for the SGRC, and to give instruc-       advisable, in light of opportunities
SGRC  had  come  to  see  that  their      tion  in  the  areas  which  need        elsewhere,  to  relocate  their  mis-
looking elsewhere for church affili-       strengthening.                           sionary.
ation was a mistake.  A visit to Spo-          Here again, it's too early to see
kane by Rev. Miersma in Septem-            where this will lead.  But we are               333    333    333
ber of last year was followed soon         favorably  impressed  by  what  we
after by a letter from the SGRC to         know  of  Rev.  Hargrove  and  the           That  is,  of  course,  one  of  the
the Mission Committee.  "Through           Sovereign Grace Reformed Church          most  difficult  questions  in  the
the process of examination and ob-         of Spokane, are glad for the oppor-      church's doing of missions:  where
servation,"  they  declared,  "God         tunity to work with them, and will       should  the  missionary  be  based,
brought us back again to the Prot-         be pleased if this contact develops      how long should he concentrate his
estant Reformed Churches.  We, as          into  a  work  which  requires  more     efforts in a given place, how should
a congregation, stand in agreement         intensive effort on the part of our      his time and effort be divided be-
with  your  strong  doctrinal  posi-       missionary.                              tween the work at the base and the
tions and distinctives."  They stated          Thus does the Lord point out         work  which  beckons  elsewhere?
forthrightly  that  they  knew  that       the field:  through the patient and      The difficulty is illustrated clearly
there  were  a  "few  areas  of  diffi-    persistent efforts of the missionary.    by  our  attempt  to maintain  some
culty," but indicated that they were                                                kind of a balance in Rev. Miersma's
"open  to  instruction"  and  were         San Luis Valley                          involvement in the Valley, in Pitts-
convinced  that  the  difficulties             Meanwhile,  Rev.  Miersma            burgh,  and  then  Spokane.    Last
could be overcome.  They then in-          maintains an active presence in the      year the DMC, concerned that Rev.
vited  the  Mission  Committee  to         San  Luis  Valley.    Preaching  and     Miersma was being overextended,
"come and visit with the church to         teaching constitute a large part of      advised synod 1997  to call a sec-
discuss the course and viability of        his work there, as it would in any       ond  home  missionary,  whose  la-
becoming a PRC mission work and            other setting where a pastor is re-      bors would be concentrated in the
church."                                   sponsible  for  regular  proclama-       East,  while  Rev.  Miersma  would
    In early November two mem-             tion of the gospel to a gathering of     focus on the West.  Synod decided
bers  of  the  Mission  Committee          believers.  And, in spite of the in-     that  the  contacts  in  Pittsburgh
made that visit ... and found that           creasingly apparent spiritual leth-      ought to be developed further, to
matters were exactly as the SGRC           argy in the Valley, our missionary       determine with more certainty that
had stated them.   The SGRC is a           and  the  members  of  the  mission      the work warrants the commitment
solidly Reformed church.  And the          group have continued their efforts       of a second missionary; and after
road to becoming such was not an           to  make  their  presence  known  in     laboring there for another year, we
easy  one.    Over  the  course  of  20    the community.  They have tried a        have come to believe that the dem-
years the church progressed from           public Bible study in the local col-     onstration  of  commitment  on  the
being  Arminian  Baptist  to  being        lege.  They have arranged for the        part of the group, the evidence of
Calvinistic Baptist, then to become        broadcast of the Reformed Witness        potential work in the area, and the
covenantal  and  postmillennial            Hour on a local radio station, us-       level  of  activity  of  Rev.  Miersma
Presbyterian,  and  now  fully  and        ing the radio program as a means         elsewhere dictate at this time the
consistently Reformed.  And they           also to advertise their Bible study      calling of a missionary in the East-
lost members at every step of the          and, especially, their worship ser-      ern States, based in Pittsburgh.  We
way--to the point where now their           vices.  They even developed a se-        plan to advise synod accordingly.
total membership is only some 30           ries of newspaper ads in both En-            But that still leaves the Valley
souls.    They  no  longer  have  a        glish and Spanish in an attempt to       and Spokane to be dealt with.  The
church building of their own; and          reach the Spanish population in the      original  intention  regarding  the
Rev. Hargrove tries hard to do the         Valley.  The number of visitors to       work of the home missionary was
work of the ministry, while hold-          the  services,  however,  has  been      that he "begin his labors in the San
ing down also a full-time job else-        "minimal," says Rev. Miersma, and        Luis Valley in southern Colorado.
where.  His is a tent-making min-          all of the advertising has "thus far     He will labor there until the will
istry out of sheer necessity.              failed to produce any noticeable re-     of  the  Lord  is  accomplished,  al-
    Clearly,  the  SGRC  needs  to         sults."                                  though  he  may  also  investigate
grow  through  evangelism.    More             That's  after  more  than  three     other areas of interest as they arise.
work, therefore, for the home mis-         years of labor.  The members of the      When mission work in one area is
sionary.    Loveland,  the  calling        group  "struggle  with  what  more       terminated (because a church is or-
church,  decided  to  send  Rev.           can  be  done."    And  the  calling     ganized or the work is unfruitful)

                                                                                            May 15, 1998/Standard Bearer/377


the  missionary  will  move  else-        stances, we are sure, will be moni-         it in an  SB article on missions 65
where,  yet  under  the  jurisdiction     tored  closely  during  the  coming         years ago (the May 15, 1933 issue),
of  Loveland's  consistory"  (Acts        months  by  the  parties  involved.         Christ  "prepares  the  field,  He
1994, p. 81).  This is exactly where      And, in the doing of that work, we          points out the field to His church,
those difficult questions have to be      look for continued good coopera-            He  prepares  and  calls  and  sepa-
faced.    Loveland  has  wisely  ad-      tion between the Mission Commit-            rates the  men for  the  field.   And
vised that Rev. Miersma "continue         tee, which supervises the domestic          the  church  must  follow  Him  and
his labors from his base in the San       mission activity of the churches in         go  where  and  when  He  calls."
Luis Valley through 1998.  Before         common,  and  the  calling  church,         Please remember the Mission Com-
the  end  of  1998,  the  Loveland        which  actually  perform  the  work         mittee,  the  calling  churches,  and
consistory  and  the  Mission  Com-       of missions, through their mission-         the  missionaries  in  your  prayers,
mittee would then thoroughly re-          ary.  Laboring together, according          that they might labor untiringly, in
view  and  evaluate  the  situation       to a policy and a constitution laid         the confidence that in so doing, it
with the  missionary to determine         out for us years ago, is a distinct         will also become clear where and
if  he  should  remain  based  in  the    privilege and pleasure--especially           how the King of the church will be
San Luis Valley or be moved to an-        so as we together follow the same           pleased to use their efforts, how-
other mission field."                     Leader.  As Herman Hoeksema put             ever small they be, to accomplish
    The  DMC  concurs.    Circum-                                                     His good purpose.    u


  Contribution                                                                                  Mr. Jimmy Frew, Sr.



                         Fight the Good Fight

                                          and ask yourself, How much far-             sued  in  most  quarters  of  the
    "No  lover  of  the  gospel  can      ther could they go?  What doctrine          "Christian" church.  It is therefore
conceal from himself the fact that        remains  to  be  abandoned?    What         a time to encourage those men in
the days are evil.  We are willing        other truth to be the object of con-        the forefront of the battle, to have
to make a large discount from the         tempt?"                                     them  know  that  there  are  those
apprehensions  on  the  score  of  ti-        Thus wrote  C.H.  Spurgeon  in          who are concerned for the biblical
midity, the caution of age, and the       1887,  a  man  scorned  by  his  con-       truths,  holiness  of  life,  and  the
weakness  produced  by  pain;  but        temporaries  to  the  extent  he  was       cause of Christ.  Though of timid
yet  our  solemn  conviction  is  that    maligned  both  in  public  and  in         conscience, we must see ourselves
things  are  much  worse  in  many        print for his stand for the truth.  Is      even as those who "kept the stuff,"
Churches than they seem to be, and        it not less than amazing that those         playing our part in whatever way
are  rapidly  tending  downward.          sentiments could almost have been           we can, as those who upheld the
Read those newspapers which rep-          written for this very moment.  Who          arms of the prophet when the battle
resent the broad school of dissent,       will  deny  that  "the  atonement  is       raged.
                                          `scouted,' the inspiration of Scrip-
                                          ture is derided, the Holy Spirit is         The same battle
Mr. Frew attends the Free Church of       degraded to an influence, the pun-              Heed  the  warning  of  Mr.
Scotland in Ayr.  He is a member of       ishment  of  sin  is  turned  into  fic-    Spurgeon once again when he as-
the British Reformed Fellowship.  The     tion."    The  battle  against  the  on-    serts:  "Around us there are influ-
article appeared first in the Autumn      slaught of these errors caused the          ences  at  work  which  are  directly
1995 issue of Focus, a quarterly jour-    valiant Spurgeon much heartbreak            antagonistic  to  Christianity,  and
nal committed to the exposition of the    and  ill  health.    Today  those  who      that  anyone  may  see  them  who
Protestant Reformed faith as expressed    love  the  true  gospel  can  in  some      chooses  to  do  so.    The  babyish
in  the  Westminster  Standards  and      small way know that of which Mr.            game  of  shutting  your  eyes,  and
published in England.  The article is     Spurgeon  speaks,  as  today  those         then crying, `I cannot see you,' has
reprinted here with permission.           same blatant errors are being pur-          been played long enough; it is time

378/Standard Bearer/May 15, 1998


that the most prejudiced should ac-       to the reader, that the proponents          such as from which every man may
knowledge  that  which  everybody         of  the  well-meant  but  unbiblical        conclude  his  own  duty;  none,
sees except themselves."  Today the       "free offer" are traveling the same         God's purpose, which yet may be
controversy is the same, the battle       road.                                       known  upon  performance  of  his
is the same.  If the inspiration and          Let me supply only a few ex-            duty.   Their objection, then, is vain,
preservation of Scripture is upheld       tracts from this great work and let         who affirm that God hath given Christ
you cause controversy; if these er-       the reader discern that the battle is       for all to whom he offers Christ in the
rors  are  opposed,  you  are  a          the same:                                   preaching  of  the  Gospel"  (Death  of
troubler of Israel; if you deny Uni-          "What  motive  would  it  be            Death, page 136).
versalism  you  are  branded  a           hereunto to tell believers that God             "It is a vain imagination of some,
Hyper-Calvinist by those who do           would have those saved who nei-             that when the command and prom-
not  understand  what  the  term          ther do, nor ever will or shall be-         ise of believing are made out to any
means  (I  say  that  concerning  the     lieve?    That  I  say  nothing  how        man, though he be of the number
majority of congregations, realizing      strange it seems that Christ should         of them that shall certainly perish,
that there are those who do know,         be  the  Saviour  of  them  who  are        yet the Lord hath a conditional will
but for their own ends and to os-         never  saved,  to  whom  He  never          of His salvation, and intends that
tracize  their  opponents,  deliber-      gives  grace  to  believe,  for  whom       he shall be saved, on condition that
ately sow falsehood to the less dis-      He denies to intercede, John 17:9"          he will believe;  when the condition
cerning).                                 (Death of Death, page 79).                  lieth  not  at  all  in  the  will  of  God"
    This more than any other sub-             "Neither is that other exception        (Death of Death, page 199).
ject  has  come  under  debate,  and      that Christ might as well satisfy for           "First, if the object be here re-
through  the  diligence  of  faithful     them that were eternally damned             strained, so that some only believe
servants  of  God  the  myths  sur-       at  the  time  of  His  suffering  (for     and are saved of them for whose
rounding the term "free offer" (by        whom  it  could  not  be  useful),  as      sake Christ is sent, then this restric-
which  we  understand  our  oppo-         for  them  that  were  then  actually       tion and determination of the fruits
nents to mean God making a gift           saved (for whom it was not need-            of this love dependeth on the will
of His Son in the preaching of the        ful), of any more value.  For, first,       of  God,  or  on  the  persons  them-
gospel, having a serious intention        those that were saved were saved            selves.    If  on  the  persons  them-
to save all to whom the gospel is         upon  this  ground,  that  Christ           selves, then they make themselves
preached) are beginning to be ex-         should certainly suffer for them in         to differ from others; contrary to I
ploded.  But in doing so, not only        due  time;  which  suffering  of  His       Corinthians 4:7.  If on the will of
has the  lie been exposed,  but the       was as effectual in the purpose and         God, then you make the sense of
enemy has been discovered digging         promise as in the execution and ac-         the place, as to this particular, to
under the walls of the citadel, the       complishment.  It was in the mind           be,  `God  so  loved  all  as  that  but
proponents  of  the  unbiblical  free     of God accounted for them as ac-            some of them should partake of the
offer are now beginning to be seen        complished, the compact and cov-            fruits of His love.'  To what end,
not  only  as  sounding  an  unclear      enant  with  Christ  about  it  being       then,  I  pray,  did  He  love  those
sound but also leading their people       surely  ratified  upon  mutual,  un-        other some?  Is it not this, `Out with
dressed in another garb.                  changeable promises (according to           the sword, and run the dragon through
    Though  they  advance  their          our  conception);  and  so  our  Sav-       with  the  spear?'  "  (Objections  and
cause  in  the  name  of  Reformed,       iour  was  to  perform  it,  and  so  it    Text  of  Scripture  Considered,  page
claiming support from learned men         was needful for them that were ac-          127).
and  biblical  authorities,  there        tually  saved:    but  for  those  that
seems  to  be  more  than  a  hint  of    were  actually  damned,  there  was         John Kennedy
universalism in the colour of their       no  such  inducement  to  it,  or               We could give other examples
flag.                                     ground  for  it,  or  issue  to  be  ex-    from many other godly men, men
                                          pected  out  of  it.    And  when  they     like  John  Kennedy  of  Dingwall,
John Owen                                 make proffers and tenders in the name       who was hailed as the "Spurgeon
    Many  would  perhaps  think           of God to all, they do not say to all,      of the North."  In his book,  Man's
these statements rather too strong,       `It is the purpose and intention of God     Relations to God, he wrote:
believing that these battles have al-     that  ye  should  believe'  (who  gave          "The doctrine of the double ref-
ready been fought and won.  Not           them any such power?),  but that it         erence is an oil and water mixture;
so!  I urge all those who disagree,       is  His  command,  which  makes  it         it is opposed to Scripture; no one
to read John Owen's Death of Death,       their  duty  to  do what  is  required      who has subscribed the Confession
and although this is a treatise deal-     of them; and they do not  declare           of Faith can consistently hold it; it
ing with the doctrine of Universal-       His mind, what Himself in particu-          adopts  the  practical  bearing  of
ism, it will soon become apparent         lar will do.  The external offer is         Arminianism; it endangers the doc-

                                                                                               May 15, 1998/Standard Bearer/379


trine  of  the  atonement,  and  it  is      deemed all for whom He died, and nei-        even that he doeth' (Job 23:13-14)"
quite unavailing for the purpose to          ther  therefore  could  hold  the            (Absolute Predestination, page 13).
which  it  is  applied"  ("Man  as           double reference" (ibid., page 110).             "As  God  knows  nothing  now
Evangelised," pages 104-108).                    "The idea of the call being the          which  He  did  not  know  from  all
    "Those  who  hold  it  are  in  a        offer of a gift has driven the scrip-        eternity, so He wills nothing now
transition  state,  and  occupy  no          tural form of it out of the minds of         which He did not will from ever-
fixed dogmatic ground.  Sometimes            many men altogether.  This other             lasting, and again, page 23, God is
they seem staunch Calvinists, and            was the form it alone assumed in             likewise unchangeable with regard
at  other  times  utter  Arminians.          the  thinking  and  teaching  of  `the       to  His  purposes  and  promises.
They try to move on the boundary             Marrow-men.'  To their successors            `God is not a man, that he should
line between the two systems, and            it  suggested  more  than  these  fa-        lie; neither the son of man, that He
would  fain  keep  a  foot  on  either       thers meant.  They began to regard           should  repent;  hath  He  said  and
side.  But the fence is too high to          it  as  necessarily  an  expression  of      shall He not do it?'" (p. 26).
admit of this.  They therefore dis-          love to the individual to whom it                "Since this absolute will of God
play their agility in leaps from side        is  addressed.    They  desiderated          is both immutable and omnipotent,
to side.  But this is very fatiguing         some sort of interest of all in Christ       we infer that the salvation of ev-
work; and must soon be given up.             before  the  call  is  accepted,  in  or-    ery one of the elect is most infalli-
They will find that they must walk           der to justify its being given.  Ex-         bly  certain  and  can  by  no  means
on  either  side.    As  it  was  an         tending  the  idea  of  the  Marrow-         be prevented.  This necessarily fol-
Arminian bias that moved them to             men's `deed of gift and grant,' they         lows  from  what  we  have  already
these gambols, the most probable             reached at last the universal refer-         asserted and proved concerning the
finale  is,  that  they  shall  utterly      ence of the atonement, while still           Divine will, which,  as it cannot be
abandon the Calvinistic side.  It is         stretching  a  long  arm  to  keep  a        disappointed or made void, must un-
opposed  to  Scripture,  as  seen  in        weak hold of the Calvinism of the            doubtedly secure the salvation of
Bible light" (ibid., page 105).              Confession.    They  hesitate  not  to       all  whom  God  wills  should  be
    "No subscriber of the Confes-            say that without the universal ref-          saved" (page 24).
sion can both intelligently and hon-         erence  they  could  not  preach  the            Every time the true church has
estly maintain the doctrine of the           gospel at all, in other words, that          taken up the sword against the en-
double reference of the atonement.           this is the only basis they find for         emy,  fought  the  good  fight  and
It is not in the Confession; it is in-       the call of the gospel.  And what            won the day, always there has been
consistent with several of its state-        do they find there on which to base          a  regrouping  of  the  enemy,  who
ments; and a view of the question            the offer?" (ibid., page 115).               gathered  strength  as  the  church
as to the reference of the atonement                                                      later  slept.    The  biblical  pattern
was  present  to  the  minds  of  the        Jerome Zanchius                              from the time of the church in the
Westminster  divines,  utterly  in-              Jerome Zanchius is worthy of             Old Testament right up to present
compatible with any such doctrine.           note for those who assert a double           time has always been the same.
The doctrine of `the double reference'       will in God; i.e., "that though God's
is not in the Confession of Faith.1   The    desire is in the salvation of all men        The Trojan horse
only attempts made to find it there          (He, being a God of infinite love)               God blessed as the church fol-
have resulted in utter failure" (ibid.,      yet He somehow foregoes His own              lowed His commandments.  As the
page 107).                                   will, or denies Himself in not de-           church  became  slothful  and  lazy,
    "But the doctrine of the double          creeing  what  is  His  desire."             the enemy crept in under the ban-
reference  is  utterly  opposed  to          Zanchius comments:                           ner of friendship, the people were
some statements of the Confession                "The  will  of  God,  respecting         enticed from the truth and left the
of Faith.  There was a view of the           the salvation and condemnation of            true paths, God was wrathful, the
question  before  the  minds  of  the        men, is never contrary to itself; He         people lost His blessing.  Who can
Westminster divines utterly incom-           immutably  wills  the  salvation  of         deny  these  truths  are  less  appar-
patible  with  the  doctrine  of  the        the elect and vice-versa; nor can He         ent today?  The church is being en-
double reference" (emphasis mine)            ever deviate from His own will in            ticed with treats of universal love:
(ibid., pages 108-110).                      any instance whatever, so as that            God  wants  to  save  all  men,  say
    "The statements in the Confes-           that  should  be  done,  which  He           some;  we  are  all  God's  children,
sion,  bearing  on  the  atonement,          willeth not or that not brought to           say others.  The god  of the Mus-
were  adapted  to  the  state  of  the       pass which He willeth. `My coun-             lim, Hindu, and pagan is the same
question of the extent of the atone-         sel  shall  stand,  and  I  will  do  all    God as the Christian under a dif-
ment, as discussed between Calvin-           my pleasure' (Isaiah 46:10).  `He is         ferent name.  The Trojan horse has
ists  and  the  French  universalists.       of  one  mind,  and  who  can  turn          already been pulled into the camp,
Both  parties  held,  that  Christ  re-      Him?  and what His soul desireth,            the  people  are  rejoicing  (literally

380/Standard Bearer/May 15, 1998


laughing in the aisles), and inside          slough  of  materialism  and  crawl        liant?  Yes, with Christ's visage.  To
lurks  the  enemy  of  men's  souls,         out on the side of the city of de-         be  faithful  unto  the  end,  to  be
Pelagius, Arminius, Amaraut, and             struction.                                 strong  in  the  Lord,  and  in  the
the  pope  of  Rome,  all  dressed  in                                                  power of His might.  Oh where are
the new garb of modernism, new               Courage to stand                           the zealots of the Lord's cause will-
Evangelicalism,  and  enlightened                Oh!  Praise God for the valiant        ing to spend and be spent?  Why,
thinking,  "the  world  for  Jesus"          of  Israel!    The  Moseses,  who  led     even Judas was commanded, "that
clearly emblazoned on their breast-          the people out from the onions and         thou doest, do quickly."  Our Mas-
plate.  But we would say they have           garlic of Egypt into the trial of free-    ter  hates  the  sluggard,  let  us  not
sold Jesus for the world!                    dom; the Davids who stood against          be  found  among  them.    As  Mr.
    Where is the militant church on          the enemy when more respectable            Spurgeon said, "Gentlemen, let us
earth,  that  seeks  after  holiness  of     warriors hid in their tents; and the       do something."
living, of glory to God, of the Jesus        Daniels, with the courage to stand                  Some brethren need help and
of the Bible; where is the church of         for the truth, willing to obey God         encouragement.    When  were  we
the Reformation?                             rather than men.                           last  as  Paul,  helping  the  Lord's
    We hear cries of put aside doc-              It  is  time  for  the  people  to     cause?  Let us be Protestants of the
trine, do not major on the minors,           awake  from  their  slumber,  cast         New Testament mettle.
for  doctrine  divides.    "This  is  a      aside "Mr. Worldly Wiseman" and                     Finally, let those that love the
heart religion" that needs not doc-          challenge "Talkative" on the way           old paths and the doctrines of the
trine.  But what saith the Scripture?        of salvation.  Ah!  Christian reader,      Word put more of their resources
I Timothy 4:13:  "Till I come, give          if  you  feel  sometimes  inadequate       to  His  services,  let  us  bear  one
attendance to reading, to exhorta-           for the battle, lacking a great love       another's burdens and rally against
tion, to doctrine."  I Timothy 4:16:         for the truth and a zeal for God's         all  falsehood  and  error,  and  the
"Take heed unto thyself, and unto            glory, perhaps we should remind            God  of  truth  will  establish  our
the doctrine; continue in them:  for         ourselves of David, only a youth,          hearts  and  His  cause.    Let  us  be
in doing this thou shalt both save           who when his God was mocked ran            faithful  unto  death  and  He  will
thyself, and them that hear thee."           toward  the  giant  and  slew  him.        give us a crown of life.   u
Matthew  23:27:    "Woe  unto  you,          John  the  Baptist,  having  nothing,
scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites!        yet  having  all,  and  of  whom  the
for ye are like unto whited sepul-           Lord  said  there  is  none  greater.
chers, which indeed appear beau-             Lydia,  a  seller  of  purple,  used           1      The  doctrine  of  "The  Double
tiful outward,  but  are within  full        mightily to support God's servant.         Reference" is referring to the idea that
of dead men's bones, and of all un-          Onesimus,  a  runaway  slave,  who         God has two wills (sometimes known
cleanness."                                  ministered  to  the  needs  of  the        as the two lines in Scripture); viz., His
    No  great  marvel  that  the             apostle whilst he was in captivity.        secret, eternal will in the which God
                                                                                        brings  to  pass  His  eternal  covenant
church of today is hard to distin-               What  is  our  calling?    To  be      counsel in the saving of His election
guish from the world.  They have             rich?   Yes, and  given to hospital-       of grace (Eph. 1:11) and a revealed will
left the form of sound doctrine, to          ity.    Famous?    Yes,  for  holiness.    in  which  God  is  reputed  to  love  all
wander  in  the  wilderness  of  self        Brave?  Indeed, for the truth.  Bril-      mankind  and  thus  has  a  sincere  de-
gratification,  only  to  fall  into  the                                               sire to save all mankind.


  Book Reviews

                                             evangelical theology that interacts        cal  scene  and  the  theologians  on
                                             with contemporary thought with-            this  scene.    The  weakness  is  that
God the Almighty:  Power, Wisdom,            out  altogether  breaking  with  the       there is not enough positive devel-
Holiness, Love, by Donald G. Bloesch.
Downers Grove, IL:  InterVarsity, 1995.      theology  of  the  Reformation  and        opment of the  main topics of the
329 pp., $24.99 (cloth).  [Reviewed by       the theology of the early, post-ap-        theology.  Bloesch's treatment, e.g.,
the editor.]                                 ostolic church.  Indeed, it is both a      of predestination, from every point
                                             strength  and  a  weakness  of  the        of view a fundamental part of one's
                                             book that Bloesch devotes so much          doctrine of God, is woefully scanty.
The  Reformed  theologian  will
    read  Donald  Bloesch's  pro-            space to quoting, referring to, and        In  only  four  and  a  half  pages,
jected seven-volume set of dogmat-           positioning  himself  in  relation  to     Bloesch deals with "God as Elector
ics with profit.  Bloesch, who de-           contemporary  theologians.    The          and  Persuader"  (pp.  69-73),  al-
scribes his stance as "centrist evan-        strength  is  that  the  reader  learns    though there is the stray reference
gelical,"  intends  to  develop  an          much  about  the  present  theologi-       to predestination elsewhere.

                                                                                                    May 15, 1998/Standard Bearer/381


    This is the third volume of the          analysis of the difference between         Divine wrath is only the chastising
projected  seven-volume  set.    The         the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  of         of sinners in love.
first was theological prolegomena,           merit and the Reformation doctrine             To which the question must be
A Theolology of Word & Spirit:  Au-          of grace (pp. 224-28).                     put, "What then of hell?"
thority & Method in Theology.  The               Nevertheless,  the  Reformed               The  wrath  of  God  is  merely
second  was  Bloesch's  doctrine  of         theologian must vigorously dissent         provisional, not eternal.
Scripture,  Holy  Scripture:    Revela-      from  important  elements  of                  To which the question must be
tion,  Inspiration  &  Interpretation.       Bloesch's  theology.    To  read  the      put, "What then of hell?"
Both were reviewed in the  Protes-           work with profit is by no means to             Divine  love  overcomes  wrath
tant  Reformed  Theological  Journal         read it with assent.                       for everyone, for Christ died for all.
(April, 1994, pp. 69, 70; April, 1996,           There is no place in Bloesch's             To which the question must be
pp. 72-75).  The third volume is de-         doctrine  of  an  almighty  God  for       put, "What then of hell?"
voted to theology proper, the doc-           predestination.  Bloesch dismisses             "Hell  is  not  the  final  word."
trine  of  God.    In  his  preface,  the    Reformed orthodoxy on this truth           The reason, according to Bloesch,
author states that he regards "this          as  "causal  determinism"  (p.  58).       in  a  strange  phrase,  is  that  there
particular  volume  ...  as  perhaps           His  brief  treatment  of  election  is    will be "the penetration of hell by
the most important in this series"           long  enough  for  him  to  declare,       divine grace" (pp. 142-145).
(p. 13).                                     without  a  shred  of  biblical  evi-          Bloesch is a disciple of the neo-
    Following  an  introduction  in          dence, that "God's predestination          orthodox  theologians,  Barth  and
which Bloesch sets his theology in           is not an irreversible decree made         Brunner.  His doctrine of Scripture
the contemporary scene, the book             and completed outside time but an          is not faith's acceptance of an in-
treats God's being; God's self-rev-          electing  grace  that  is  realized  in    spired book (see my review of vol-
elation;  God's  attributes;  and  the       time" (p. 72; cf. the remark on Ro-        ume two).  And he is far too open
doctrine of the Trinity.  In two con-        mans 9:13 on pp. 141, 142).                to  the  modern  theological  trends
cluding chapters, Bloesch critiques              The denial of predestination as        which, in part, he criticizes.
both "the biblical-classical synthe-         an eternal decree involves Bloesch             Startling is Bloesch's denuncia-
sis" and "the biblical-modern syn-           in other grievous errors.  God's om-       tion, on the opening page, of Re-
thesis."  He is critical of both these       nipotence  is  compromised  by  the        formed      theologian       Herman
syntheses  (about  the  former,  one         affirmation  that  God  willingly          Hoeksema:  "A work of this kind
should say  alleged synthesis).  In a        makes Himself dependent on men,            will  necessarily  have  a  polemical
brief epilogue, he opts for a "bibli-        so that they cooperate with Him in         thrust.  I sternly oppose those who
cal-prophetic"  theology":    "I  am         carrying  out  His  plan.    This  re-     would make God culpable for hu-
not  interested  in  returning  to  an       quires  the  loss  of  immutability.       man  misery  (such  as  Herman
earlier age, nor am I  mesmerized            God  "can  change  himself."    He         Hoeksema  ...)."    From  Donald
by the present age" (p. 261).                does, in fact, change Himself in re-       Bloesch, who remarkably maintains
    There  is  pointed  criticism  of        action to our "response to his gra-        his equanimity when dealing with
contemporary errors, including the           cious initiative" (p. 95).  Bloesch is     even the most outrageous of her-
feminism that refuses to call God            a  representative  of  the  powerful       esies, this is severe condemnation
"He"; the panentheistic notion that          movement in modern theology that           indeed.  Wherever did he read that
God  needs  the  creation;  and  the         strips God of such attributes as om-       Hoeksema made "God culpable for
dissolving  of  God's  holiness  into        nipotence  and  immutability  by           human misery"?  There is no quo-
love.  In opposition to a strong cur-        having  Him  Himself  voluntarily          tation from or reference to any of
rent  in  modern  theology,  Bloesch         surrender these attributes, suppos-        Hoeksema's works in the book.  It
defends  God's  simplicity.    He  is        edly in the interests of His grace.        is  apparent  that  Bloesch  knows
right to relate simplicity insepara-         The  result  is  still,  however,  that    Hoeksema  only  through  James
bly to God's spirituality:  "To af-          God is not truly almighty and that         Daane's  The  Freedom  of  God.     To
firm God's spirituality is also to af-       He is changeable.  Since He is His         hold up Hoeksema for condemna-
firm his simplicity" (p. 90).  Bloesch       attributes, the result is still, in re-    tion on this basis is unfair.  Daane
declines to minimize the perfection          ality, that He is no longer God.  The      was an avowed critic of Hoeksema.
of  holiness  in  relation  to  divine       only difference from the older er-         Nor  was  he  a  friend  of  the
love.  "Holiness together with love          ror  is  that  God  has  voluntarily       (decretal) theology of the Canons
is  the  quintessential  attribute  of       "ungodded" Himself.                        of Dordt which he, like Hoeksema,
God" (p. 139).  In keeping with his              Acknowledging that the alter-          was bound by a vow to uphold.
method,  Bloesch  treats  these  two         native would be the "double pre-                                                 s
attributes  together,  "Holiness  &          destination"  of  the  "older  theol-
                                                                                        The Westminster Standards (An Origi-
Love."                                       ogy,"  Bloesch  opts  for  universal-
                                                                                        nal  Facsimile).    Audubon,  NJ:    Old
    There  is  a  succinct,  incisive        ism:  all will be saved in the end.

382/Standard Bearer/May 15, 1998


Paths  Publications,  1997.    $49.95        Inside  the original is a handwrit-       not completed by the Westminster
(cloth).  [Reviewed by the editor.]          ten note stating, "This is Warfield's     divines.
                                             Edition  Three,  the  first  with             In the margins of the Confes-
        In observance of the 350th an-       proofs."  This note is faithfully re-     sion  of  Faith  and  the  Catechisms
niversary of the publication of the          produced  in  the  Old  Paths  fac-       are all the passages of Scripture on
Westminster standards, Old Paths             simile edition.                           which the instruction is based.
Publications  has  produced  this                The  volume  contains  the                As an anniversary publication
handsome  "limited  anniversary              Westminster Larger Catechism; the         containing several of the most im-
edition"  of  the  documents  pro-           Westminster  Shorter  Catechism;          portant confessional statements of
duced by the Westminster Assem-              the  Westminster  Confession  of          Reformed Christianity, the volume
bly.  The book is a facsimile of one         Faith; the Directory for the Public       is appropriately attractive.  It is a
of  the  rare  copies  of  the  original     Worship of God; and the Proceed-          hardcover  book.    The  binding  is
1648  edition  of  the  Westminster          ings  of  the  Assembly  of  Divines      black  with  gold  lettering  on  the
standards.  Only 600 copies were             upon the Thirty-nine Articles of the      front  and  back  covers,  as well  as
printed.  The original is found in           Church of England.  This last was         on the spine.
the library of Princeton Seminary.                                                         A valuable, lovely work.   u


  News From Our Churches                                                                    Mr. Benjamin Wigger

                                             to  give  a  concert  the  following          The Evangelism Society of the
                                             evening  in  our Loveland  school's       First  PRC  in  Edmonton,  Alberta,
School Activities                            gym.  Loveland's Young People's           Canada invited their congregation
                                             Society also extended a special in-       recently  to  an  evening  of  fellow-
                                             vitation  to  all  the  visiting  band    ship stuffing envelopes with their
The  Association for Protestant
        Reformed Secondary Education
in Lansing, IL, consisting of mem-           members  to  a  time  of  fellowship      "Welcome" brochures and magnets
bers  from    our  Chicago  area             and  refreshments  in  their  church      in  preparation  for  distribution  in
churches, held its annual meeting            basement after the evening service.       mailboxes later this spring.
on March 31.  Besides receiving a                Not  to  be  outdone  by  the             On April 3, Prof. D. Engelsma
reportedly  large  number  of  new           band's trip to Colorado, Covenant's       spoke  at  a  Spring  Lecture  spon-
members, they approved the pur-              choir traveled to Iowa on April 17        sored by the Evangelism Society of
chase of a 14.5 acre piece of land           to  participate  in  a  High  School      the  Hope  PRC  in  Redlands,  CA.
immediately behind Peace PRC in              Choir Festival sponsored by Dordt         He spoke on the subject, "Marriage,
Lansing and made the momentous               College.    While  there,  they  were     an Unbreakable Bond."
decision to begin a PR high school           able also to give a concert for the           Our Byron Center, MI congre-
in the fall of 2000, the Lord will-          students of our Hull PR Christian         gation,  through  their  Evangelism
ing.  Let us pray for God's bless-           School.                                   Society, sponsored again this year
ing upon these labors, as the mem-               On April 4 the Hope Founda-           a special service for their commu-
bers  of  this  association  stand  be-      tion,  of  the  Hope  PRC  in  Grand      nity on Easter morning.
fore  the  tremendous  amount  of            Rapids, MI, sponsored their second
work that needs to be done, and as           annual  night  of  ice-skating  at        Congregational Activities
they continue to work toward the             Griff's Ice House.  Plans called for
goal  of  providing  their  covenant         an organized and officiated hockey        The  Adult  Bible  Study of  the
                                                                                           Byron Center, MI PRC made a
children  with  a  distinctive  high         game  as  well  as  plenty  of  open      visit recently to the Scriptorium in
school education.                            skating time.                             Grand Haven, MI.
        On Sunday, April 5, the audi-                                                      The  Southeast  PRC  in  Grand
torium  of  the  Loveland,  CO  PRC          Evangelism Activities                     Rapids, MI continues to make plans
was filled to capacity with the ad-                                                    for this year's Young People's Con-
dition of some fifty band members            Rev.  S.  Key,  pastor  of  the
                                                 Randolph, WI PRC, by invita-          vention  scheduled  for  July  20-25.
and  chaperons  from  Covenant               tion and with the approval of his         On April 17 they hosted their last
Christian  High  School  in  Grand           consistory  brought  the  Word  of        fund  raiser  for  that  convention
Rapids, MI.  They were in Loveland           God  recently  to  the  congregation      when they sponsored a very excit-
                                             of the Second Christian Reformed          ing basketball game between two
                                             Church in Randolph.  He preached          '93-'94 state championship teams.
                                             from Luke 4:16-30 under the theme,        Covenant Christian's Class D and
Mr. Wigger is an elder in the Protestant     "The Rejected Christ:  Rejected in        Calvin  Christian's  Class  C  teams
Reformed  Church  of  Hudsonville, Michi-
gan.                                         His Own City."                            (Calvin Christian is a school with

                                                                                               May 15, 1998/Standard Bearer/383


        The
Standard
 Bearer                                                                                                                               PERIODICAL
                                                                                                                                      Postage Paid at
       P.O. Box 603                                                                                                                   Grandville,
  Grandville, MI  49468-0603                                                                                                          Michigan


an  enrollment  of  539  located  in                                                                                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
Grandville, MI) played their game                    ANNOUNCEMENTS                                                With thanks to our heavenly Father we
before a good-sized crowd of 1700                                                                           celebrate on May 27, 1998, the 50th wedding
at  Grandville  High  School.      The                                                                      anniversary of our parents and grandparents,
                                                           WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                   ALBERT and MARIAN KARSEMEYER.
game was won by Covenant, 89 to                     On June 18, 1998, we celebrate the 50th                 We  praise  God  for  the  covenant  instruction
78.                                            wedding anniversary of our parents and grand-                and love they have given us, and pray for His
        The Choir of the Peace PRC in          parents,                                                     continued blessing in their marriage.  "Except
Lansing,  IL  hosted  a  combined                    EDWARD and JENNIE STOUWIE.                             the Lord build the house, they labor in vain
choir program and singspiration on             We  are  thankful  to  God  for  giving  them  so            that build it" (Psalm 127:1).
Sunday, April 12.  They sang the               many years together.  Their faithfulness, love,              b     Jerry and Pat Schipper
Easter cantata "Resurrection Alle-             and humility in marriage and in the church have                        Jason, Jeremy, Emily
luia."                                         always been a source of comfort and inspira-                           Robb, Becky, Ali VandenHeuvel
        On Sunday evening, April 19,           tion to us.  We thank God for them and pray                  b     Ed and Jeanne Karsemeyer
                                               that He will continue to bless them according                          Shawn, Renae, Todd, Ryan, Kyle
the Choral Society of the Faith PRC            to His promises in Christ Jesus.  "I will sing of            b     Greg and Elaine Engelsma
in Jenison, MI presented their an-             the mercies of the Lord forever:  with my mouth                        Chad and Pam, Shannon, Valerie
nual Spring Concert.                           will I make known thy faithfulness to all gen-               b     Al and Carol Karsemeyer
        Faith also hosted this year's an-      erations" (Psalm 89:1).                                                Clint, Ronda, Kirk, Jessica, A.J., Troy
nual Mr. & Mrs. Adult and Junior               b    Lenore Dieck                                                                                    Jenison, Michigan
Society League  Mass Meeting on                b    Randy and Jan Bode                                                RESOLUTION OF SYMPATHY
April 14.  Prof. H. Hanko spoke on             b    Ed and Mary Stouwie                                           The Martha Society of the Doon Protes-
"Teaching Our Children Kingdom                 b    Gys and Joanne VanBaren                                 tant Reformed Church expresses their sincere
Service."                                      b    Craig and Sharon Derks                                  sympathy  to  our  fellow  member,  Mrs.  Dick
                                                       17 grandchildren                                     Burgers, in the death of her sister,
                                                       2 great grandchildren                                             NELLIE MIDDENDORP.
Mission Activities
R                                                                                      Lansing, Illinois          May she be comforted from God's Word
        ev.  and  Mrs.  J.  Kortering  left                                                                 knowing that "all things work together for good
        April 10 for a three-week trip                                                                      to them that love God, to them who are the
to  India  to  investigate  mission                                                                         called  according  to  his  purpose"  (Romans
work in that country.  Plans called                                                                         8:28).
for them to visit another mission-                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                                        Rev. Richard Smit, Pres.
ary  family  sent  by  Cornerstone                  The  Lord  willing,  on  May  4,  1998,  our                                     Henrietta VanOort, Sec'y.
Church  in  Hudsonville,  MI,  the             parents,
                                                    MR. and MRS. DAN DE MEESTER,
Poelmans,  as  well  as  traveling  to                                                                                      CALL TO SYNOD!!
                                               celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary.  We                     Synod 1997 appointed Hope Protestant
speak  to  and  preach  for  many  of          give thanks to our covenant God that He has                  Reformed  Church,  Walker,  MI  the  calling
the contacts that they  have made              given us godly parents who continually teach                 church for the 1998 synod.
there.                                         us in the love and fear of His name.  It is our                    The  consistory  hereby  notifies  our
                                               prayer that the Lord will continue to guide them             churches that the 1998 synod of the Protes-
Minister Activities                            in their marriage and bless them together in                 tant Reformed Churches in America will con-
Our South Holland, IL PRC was the years to come.                                                            vene, the Lord willing, on Tuesday, June 9,
         scheduled to call a pastor on              "Blessed  is  every  one  that  feareth  the            1998 at 9:00  A.M. in the Hope Protestant Re-
April 30 from a trio consisting of             LORD; that walketh in his ways.  The LORD shall              formed Church, Walker, MI.
                                               bless thee out of Zion:  and thou shalt see the
Candidate D. Kleyn, and Revs. A.                                                                                  The Pre-Synodical Service will  be held
                                               good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.  Yea,
Brummel and J. Mahtani.                                                                                     on Monday evening, June 8, at 7:30 P.M.  Rev.
                                               thou  shalt  see  thy  children's  children,  and            Koole, president of the 1997 synod, will preach
                                               peace upon Israel" (Psalm 128:1, 5, 6).                      the  sermon.    Synodical  delegates  are  re-
               Food For Thought                b    Melinda DeMeester                                       quested to meet with the consistory before the
        "Love toward God is the source         b    Tamara DeMeester and fiancee                            service.
of all true love toward one's neigh-                                               Dan Kalsbeek                   Delegates in need of lodging should con-
bor, and love to one's neighbor is             b    Rich DeMeester                                          tact Mr. Harry Langerak, O-356 Begole SW,
the test of love toward God."                                                   Grand Rapids, Michigan      Grand Rapids, MI, 49544.  Phone: (616) 453-
                   --Otto Thelemann   u                                                                      7317.
                                                                                                                                      Consistory of Hope PRC
                                                                                                                                        Harry Langerak, Clerk.
384/Standard Bearer/May 15, 1998


