    VOLUME  XXX11                             FEBRUARY 1,  1956  -  :GRAND  RAPIDS, M.ICHIGAN                                NUMBER 9

                                                                          Jesus : that they might have to accuse Him. They hated Him,
          M E D I T A T I O N                                             and the reasons are many. They hated Jesus for He seemed
                                                                          to condone sin. He would at times smile on harlots with
                                                                          the smile of wondrous compassion and pity. At such times
                   Wisdom's Judgment                                      He would say to such harlots ; and then in accents that re-
            "And the Scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a             minds me of a crooning mother to her very sick child: Peace
            woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her            be unto thee ! Be of good cheer : your sins are forgiven you !
            in the midst,  i                                              And Pharisees do not like that.
            They say unto Him, Master, this woman was taken                       The second reason why they hated Jesus: He would con-
            in adultery, in the very act.                                 sort with sinners.. Imagine : at one occasion a publican  (of
          ' Now Moses in the law  cosmmanded  us, that `such
            should be stoned; but what sayest Thou?                       all people !) would make a great feast for Jesus, and he in-
            This they said, tempting Him, that they might have            vited many publicans, and . . . Jesus with His disciples ! For
            to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down, and with               shame !
            finger  wro,te  on the ground, as though He heard                     The third reason: the Lord~cared  not for their company.
            them not.                                                     Oh yes, at two or three occasions He had visited the Phari-
            So when they continued asking Him, He lifted up               sees in their house, but with what results ? Ask Simon the
            Himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin
            among you, let him first cast: a stone at her.                .Pharisee.  He will tell you hoti this stranger of Galilee had
            And again  -He stooped down, and wrote on the                 preferred a,nd justified a common prostitute above HIM ! Of
            ground.                                                       all things !
            And they which heard it, being convicted by their                     The fourth reason: He seemed to abrogate the Mosaic
            own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at
            the  e!dest,  even unto the last: and Jesus was left          laws and customs that were deli'irered  to God's chosen peo-
            alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When              ple.
            Jesus had lifted up Himself, and saw none but the                     There is a legend about Jesus that I would like to pass
            woman, He said unto her, Woman, where are those               on to you. Remember: it is only a legend, but there is a
            thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?                   lesson in it, if you can grasp it. According to this legend
            She said, No nian, Lord. And Jesus said unto her,
            Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.               Jesus saw on a certain Sabbath day a Jew who was chopping
                                                        Jo,hn  8 :3-11    kindling wood. And Jesus said to him: If thou knowest
                                                                          what thou art doing, thou art blest; but if thou dost not
   And it happened one' day that the Scribes and Pharisees                know what thou art doing, thou art cursed !
put a very deceitful question to our Lord Jesus.                                  Yes, it seemed that Jesus did abrogate the Law of Moses
   No, not as such ; not at the surface.                                  ,and the prophets. Although the truth of the matter is that
   The woman was guilty, and the accusation as such was                   He came with the express purpose to fulfil them.
correct. Moses did say that Fsuch- should be stoned. There                   But they did hate Him, and this history proves it again :
was really no need for a thorough investigation: they had' they stopped on their way to the judges, in order to tempt
caught. her in the very act !                                             Him that they might have to accuse Him. Hence. the .ques-
   The accusation was right as such.                                      tion.
   Although one thing was strange ; and we can see it right                                             +  *  +  *
away. Jesus might have asked them: why stop on your
way to the. Sanhedrin? Why waste time with Me ? Who has                           I called it a very deceitful question.
made Me a judge over you or your people ? Cf. Luke 12 :14.                        They were not concerned about  the- breaking of the
   But the Lord has revealed to us what their motive was.                 seventh commandment. Neither were they concerned about
They stopped on their way to the judges in order to tempt                 the poor sinner's soul.


 194                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

        Oh no, they had it all figured out: if Jesus- would con-      There  .was a very particular sin under discussion. And I
.demn her according to the Mosaic verdict, He would come              think further that the Scribes and Pharisees saw the point.
in conflict with the Roman authorities. The Jews might not               Wondrous wisdom of Jesus, of God!
sentence anyone to death. And adultery was not regarded                  That answer made it impossible to stone her.
as a capital sin by the immoral Romans. If Jesus would                   They were sinners all.
have said : you are right ; I condemn her to death, they could           I think that this is also the reason why we read in Matt.
have taken Him to the court of the governor, and Jesus                7 :l : "Judge not, that ye be not judged !"
would have been branded as a rebel against instituted author-            There is really only One who may judge, and that .One is
ity.                                                                  God.
        On the other hand, if Jesus would have said, Let her go !        You will say to me: yes, but do not the consistories of
they could have. taken Him to the Sanhedrin, as one who               God's church, and the magistrates judge? And my answer
would have come in open conflict with Moses, and the Lord             is: yes, but they are judges by a special dispensation of God.
would have been branded by all devout Jews as an arch-                Every court, be it in the church of Christ, such as our con-
heretic.                                                              s&tories, or the worldly courts, are anticipations of the great
        They had it all figured out!  Jesus   cannot  ,escape  the    Judgment Day when God in and through Jesus Christ shall
dilemma.                                                              judge the whole world.
        There was no evident way of escape. He is caught in the          And do never begrudge these judges their prerogative.
conspiracy of the clevil.                                             I would almost say: pity them! It is terrible to be a judge
                             *  *  *  8                               among men. And no one therefore, should judge. Judge
                                                                      not that you be not judged ! Let it stand : it fits us.
        But wait!                                                        Accuse! That you may do, but even then, be careful,
        Jesus is wisdom personified. He is the Wisdom of God.         loving, true, full of compassion. And never judge. Leave it
Cf. I Cor. 1 :24b.                                                    to the men who deserve our pity. Pity, for we are so wicked
        How could a mere worm catch the lion ?                        ourselves, and so short- and near-sighted. Moreover, we
        How can Wisdom of God be caught in the snare of the           are so prejudiced. Who is sufficient to be a judge among
devil ?                                                               men ? Judges must be as righteous in their interrogations,.
        Let us look strongly on Jesus and see  His. power of          examinations deliberations, and . . . judgment as God in
wisdom.                                                               heaven. Do not envy the human judge!
        As they approach, Jesus is stooped over, writing with His        Well, after Jesus expressed the wisdom of God `in His
finger on the ground. The English version adds to the in-             answer, He had again stooped down to write with His holy
 spired word the reason for such conduct: as though He                finger on the ground, '
heard them not. Note that these words are written in italics,            At long last He lifted Himself, and looked.
indicating that they are added by the translators.                       And what had happened.7 All the Scribes and Pharisees
        And He did not answer. So they renew their question.          had left. And the woman was standing, still standing in
They question Him again and again. But Jesus was stooped              the midst.
over and actecl very strange.                                            In the midst? Read the text. What can that mean ? There
        Why" I think He would indicate how deeply He de-              was no one left of the encircling mass of clamoring men,
spised them. He knows all our hearts and the secrets with-            clamoring for her condemnation. How can the Holy Ghost
in. He is God. God stooping over and writing with His                 then write: the woman standing in the  midst?              -
finger on the ground, while hell spews out its poison.                   I think the answer is this: God had convicted the woman
        The speculations as to wlzat Jesus wrote are vain-there-      of. sin. And although the accusing mob of ??zen were gone,
fore. That we should exactly not ask. The accent does not             the woman still stood in the chorus of condemnations she
fall on w,hat He was writing, but that He wrote at this oc-           had heard. They abided still. She stood in the midst of the
casion. He simply wanted to show them how much and how                chorus of voices, crying: Thou art that woman! And she
deeply He despised them !                                             stood nailed to the spot.
        And when they continued their foul questioning, He               Don't you see that she could have run for her life ? There
arose and-looked upon them. Oh, that look ! That look of was a.mple opportunity. The accusers were gone, and Jesus
 God in our sinning!                                                  was stooping down.. But she reinained. Because God held
        "He that is without sin among you let him first cast a        her there.
 stone at her !"                                                         But the men were gone. That was strange. First that
        There you have wisdom's answer.                               old, wrinkled: greybeard, that patriarch among Pharisees.
        No, I do not think that Jesus meant that the man who          Mumbling  .something  under his breath, he had ~withdrawn.
has no sin at all should be the executioner. I think that such        Then the next oldest, and so on, until that brash young fel-
explanation would rob the whole matter of its terrible sting.         low was left. And he finally left too.
 I think Jesus meant sin against the seventh commandment.                Why ?


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                        195

       They were convicted in their consciences. And the older
  we are the greater the mountain of sin.                                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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  You are a very dirty man! And the.y  had said at the same                        Communications  relative to contents  should be addressed to Rev.
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  other the next day.                                                               Entered as Second Class matter at Grand Rafiids, Mkhigan
       But they are gone.
       And the woman still stands in the midst!
       Woman, hath no man condemned thee  ? Where are  MEDITATroN   _                                              C O N T E N T S
  those thine accusers ?                                                                 Wisdomfs Judgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
       No man, Lord.                                                                           Rev. G. Vos
       Neither -do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. Here
 again, the Lord has referende to that particular sin, and not                  EDITORIALS  -
                                                                                         The Apostates of 1953 and the Three Points.. . . . . . . . . . .`. .196
  to sin in general. That is rather plain.                                                     Rev. H. Hoeksema
       But one question is left: how could Jesus so act when
  the sin was there and proven ?                                                OUR  DOCIXINE'
       The answer is: the woman died for her sin of adultery                             The Triple  Kno<wledge   (Part  III  - Of Thankfulness) . . . .  .19S
  in Jesus: He was even then dying the eternal death for His                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema'
  own.                                                                          THE  D.~Y  OF  SHADOWS-
       The answer of Jesus contains a twofold truth, and both                            The Prophecy of  Zechariah..............................ZOl
  are made up of the music of heaven: justification in His                                     Rev. G. M. Ophoff
  blood, and the call to sanctification through His wondrous                    FRoM HoLY  WRIT _.                                                                -.
  grace !                                                                                Exposition of I Corinthians 1-4 (S) . . . . . . . . . . . . :. . . . . . . . .204
       Very quietly I would say : Amen, my Lord and my God !                                  Rev. G. Lubbers
                                                                       G. v.
                                                                                IN HIS FEAR-
                                                                                         The Sabbath in His Fear (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
                                                                                               Rev. J. A. Heys
                        Notice for  Classis West
                                                                                CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -
       Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will                             The Church and the SacraJlnents..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208
  meet, the Lord willing, in Edgerton, Wednesday, March 7,                                     Rev. H.  Veldman
  1956. The consistories are reminded of the rule that they
  are expected to nominate an elder or elders who are able to                   THE VOICE  oc OUR FATHERS-
                                                                                         The Exposition of the Canoas of Dordrecht..  . . . . . . . . . . . . .210
  serve as synodical delegate.                                                                 Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
                                         Rev. H. Veldman, Stated Clerk
                                                                                FEATURJI  ARTICLE  -
                                                                                         Common or Individual Cup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-. . . . . :. . . . . . . . .212
                                                                                               Rev. H. Hanko
                                     IN MEMORIAM
                                                                                ALL AROUND  Us-
      The Men's Society of the Hull Protestant Reformed  Church                          "No Hope for Reunion". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . .214
  wishes to express its sincere sympathy to one of its  fello,w                          The Vie\vs  of H. Hoeksema and K. Schilder.. . . . . . . . . . . . .215
  members, Mr. Tom Van Maanen and his family in the loss of                                   Rev.  M.. Schipper
  their stillborn daughter.
   - May the God  of. all grace comfort and sustain the bereaved                CONTRIBUTIONS  -
  i n   t h e i r   s o r r o w .                                                        "Playing Church" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..a16
                                          Rev. J.  Heys,  President                            Rev. M. Schipper
                                          Bert Van Maanen, Secretary


 196                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      I

                                                                   tail. I am well aware that this has been done before, but it
            E D I T O R I A L S                                    certainly can do no harm to enter into and explain the mat-
                                                                   ter once again. It concerns the very life and distinctive
                                                                   existence of our churches.
  The. Apostates of 1953 and the Three Points                          The doctrine of all the apostates is briefly expressed in
    Do the apostates, those that departed from us and from         two propositions  :
the Protestant Reformed Faith, still stand principally op-             1. God promises every one of you that, if you believe,
posed to the "Three Points" and their doctrinal implications,      you shall be saved.
or do they agree with them ?                                           2. Our act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter the'
    Our reply is that they, fundamentally and principally,         kingdom of God.
agree with them.                                                       These are the two principles on which the apostates jus-
    We are convinced that, if they had been ministers or mem-      tify their schismatic action and on which they attempt to
bers of the Christian Reformed Church in 1924, they would          maintain their separate existence as churches; even in dis-
never have joined our ranks,                                       tinction from the "liberated" and from the Christian Re-
    And it is also our conviction that those members .that         formed Churches and their Three Points of 1924.
followed us in 1924 and now belong to the apostates, either            A superficial glance at the above mentioned two prin-
never understood the issue or simply went along for person-        ciples is sufficient to draw the conclusion that in this, at
al reasons whatever these reasons may have been.                   least, they must surely and utterly fail. They have no future
    This is evident from what they all teach today and teach       as distinctive churches. I am not even convinced that they
so enthusiastically that, because of it, they were willing to      care for. any separate existence as a distinct church. It is not
create a schism in the Protestant Reformed Churches.               impossible that, when the court case of the First Church is
    Today they are convinced:                                      settled (now in the Supreme Court of Michigan), whether
    1. That, the promise of God is general, not particular and     they win or lose., they will no longer even care for the name
for the elect only.                                                Protestant Reformed, and try to join some other denomi-
    2. That this promise of God is well meant for all that         nation, whether the "liberated" or the Christian Reformed
hear the gospel.                                                   Church, - it cannot possibly make any -difference to them.
    3. That this promise of God is conditional: it is, on the          Their own lawyer stated in his plea to the Supreme
part of ,God, sincerely meant for everyone that hears the          Court (`according to reports. I myself was not there because
preaching of the gospel, but, on the part of man, it is limited    I felt sure that their lawyer, the coward, now that I could
by the condition of faith.                                         not speak, would slander me right and left and this he act-
    4. That also the entering into the kingdom of God is, on       ually did) that if they did not win their case for the prop-
the part of God, left general : the kingdom of God is left wide    erty, they would be ruined as churches. This, I would not
open to all .that hear the gospel.                                 be surprised, is true, simply because they have no basic prin-
    5. That, however, man must convert himself in order to         ciple for their existence as a church. But I would add to
enter into that kingdom of God.                                    this statement of their lawyer that this will be true whether
    6. Hence, also the entrance into the kingdom,  aithough,       they win or lose. You simply cannot maintain a church ex-
on the part of God, left wide open, is conditioned by an act       cept on the basis of a fundamental principle.
on the. part of man : he must' fulfill or accomplish the act of        But let us return to our discussion of the two principles
conversion as a prerequisite before he may or can enter) the       above mentioned.
k i n g d o m   o f   .God.  -        .                                The first maintains the error, as I have stated, that the
   All this they, at least the leaders of the apostates, teach     promise of God is general and not only for all the elect, that
very deliberately and consciously, for it is intended as a         it is, on the part of God, well-meant for all that hear the'
refutation of the "Declaration of Principles" which was            gospel, but that it is, on the part of man limited by the con-
adopted by the Synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches.          dition of faith.
   That declaration states very plainly that the promise of            This is, fundamentally, the same as the doctrine of the
God is unconditional and for the elect only.                       First Point of 1924, only worse.
   And because the apostates could not get their way offi-             The fundamental error in this statement is found in the
cially in the Synod, though they attempted it repeatedly,          words  :
they agitated against the declaration from the pulpit by em-         1. God promises salvation ;
phasizing that the promise of .God is general and not only             2. To everyone of you.
for the elect.                                                         What does it mean that Go{ firo"SIZiisesP
   Hence, we claim that they propagated their conditional,             The answer to this is very clearly and succinctly stated
theology in the churches deliberately and consciously and          in Heb.  6:13-18: "For when God made promise to Abra-
that, too, in opposition to the "Declaration of Principles."       ham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by
   But let us examine their doctrine somewhat more in de-          himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multi-


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    197

plying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently              I never meant to omit this. On the contrary, I wish to
endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear               discuss thislconditional  clause in the light of the entire state-
by the greater : and an oath for confirmation is to them the         ment.
end of all stri'e. Wherein God, willing to show more abun-               And then I wish to emphasize that no statement like that
dantly unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his         to which the apostates subscribe can be found in all Scrip-
counsel, confirmed it by an oath; That by two immutable              ture, nor in any part of our Confession,
things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might              Bellflower, i. e., Doezema, made an attempt in his over-
have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay           ture on the matter to Classis West at the time, but he utterly
hold upon the hope set before us."                                   failed. Writes he, in that document: "This first statement
    Notice, in the first place, that the text speaks of the          is not heretical, because its equivalents are found in Scrip-
promise of salvation. It is, first of `all, the promise of the       ture and the Confessions. (Acts 16:15,  16; 16:31; Rom. 10:
seed to Abraham, and, therefore the promise of Christ. For           9  ; John 3  :16. Canons II,  5  ; IV, 8.  ,Heid. Cat. Q. 84.)"
that very reason it is the promise of salvation, which is also           Let us check LIP  on some of these references.
evident from the last part of this passage which makes the               Acts 16:15,  16 is evidently an error. The text there has
promise of God the very basis- of our strong consolation in          nothing to do with the matter.
respect to the hope that is set before us:                               Acts  16:31 is Paul's address to the Philippian Jailer:
    Notice, in the second place, that the promise of God is          "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,
absolutely sure of its being fulfilled, for it is an oath of God.    and thy house." Is there even the remotest similarity'be-
Its realization is not conditional. It is not in any wise de-        tween this text and the statement: "God promises every one
pendent upon man, but on God and on His immutable COLIII-            of you that, if ypu believe, you shall be saved"? Here Paul
se1 alone.                                                           calls the jailer to believe on Christ and assures him that
   And, finally, notice, too, that, for this very reason, the        then he shall be saved. This call by the apostle was, evi-
promise is not general, but particular. If it were general, if       dently, made efficacious by the Spirit of Christ, for the
we could ever say: "God promises every one of you salva-             jailer believed and was saved. But what has this to. do with
tion" every one would surely be saved, because the promise           a general conditional promise to "every one of  ~olr'~ci" Paul's
is not a-mere offer but an oath of God,. and its realization is      address, was not general but very particular and personai,
not dependent `on any condition man must fulfill, but solely         and that, too, to a man that already sought salvation; as is
on God and His immutable counsel. Hence,.God promises                evident from his question: "Sirs, what must I do- to be
with an oath, not to all men, but only to' "the heirs of the         saved ?" Where, then, is even the similarity? There is none.
promise" that are heirs, moreover, according to His  im--                                                                         .H.  II.
mutable counsel of election, that they shall be saved.
   All this confirmed in many other parts of Scripture.
   Thus, for instance, in Rom. 9 23: "They which are chil-              "It is by our good works, that we know that we possess
dren of the flesh, these are not children of God: but the            true faith, because the effect is not without its own proper
children of the promise are counted for the seed." Also from         cause, which is always known .by its effect ; so that if we are
this it is evident that you could never say to all that come         destitute of good works and new obedience, we are hypocrites
under the preaching of the gospel: "God promises salvation and have an evil conscience ,instead  of true faith ; for true ,
to .every one of you, head for head and soul for soul."              faith (which is never wanting in all the  .fruits which are
   But let this be sufficient.                                       pecular  to it) as a fruitful tree produces good works, obe-
   Besides, according to Scripture and the Confessions, the          dience and repentance ; which fruits distinguish true faith
atonement effected by Christ is limited. Christ did not die          from that faith which is merely historical and temporary, as
for all men, but only for the sheep the Father gave him. This        well as from hypocricy  itself."         Ursines, page 483;  idem.
implies that there is no salvation for all men, nor for "`every
one of you." And if there is no salvation for every man or                            WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
for "every one of you" God cannot possibly promise sal-                On February 16, 19.56, the Lord willing, our beloved parents,
vation in that unlimited sense.                                         HESSEL DEJONG and ANNA DEJONG (nee Dantuma)
   But, of course, I must say more.                                  will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.
   The apostates will otherwise object that I omit a very               We are thankful to our covenant Jehovah for all the blessings
                                                                     he'has  bestowed on them  ,and us. Our prayer is that the Lord
important part of their fundamental statement of Doctrine.           may  gra'nt them His peace all the remaining days of their pil-
We do not teach, say they, that God promises' salvation to           grimage.
every man, but we ourselves limit salvation. For we teach                                                Mr. and Mrs. John Kalsbeek
"God promises to every one .that comes under the preaching                                               Mr. and Mrs. Charles De Jong
of the gospel salvation,  if  FYe  believes." This is an impor-                                          Mr. `and Mrs. Henry  Veltman
                                                                                                         Mr: and Mrs. John Van  B&k
tant addition, they say.                                                                                 and 12 grandchildren.
   Very well.                                                        Grand Rapids, Michigan,


       198                                           TtiE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                               man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and so
                    O U R   D O C T R I N E                                    death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." It is
                                                                         /( because ,we are,,guilty of death, and death passed upon all
                                                                               men, that we are organically corrupt and depraved in our
                       THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                    whole nature. As the Canons once more correctly state, in
              A                                                                X.1, IV, 2: "Man after the fall begat children in his own
                N  EXPOSITION  OF  THE HEIDELBERG  CATECI-IISM                 likeness. A corrupt stock produced a corrupt offspring
                        PART  III - OF .THANKFULNESS                           Hence, all the posterity of Adam, Christ only excepted, have
                                 LORD'S  D                                     derived corruption from their original parent, not by imita-
                                          AY 51                                tion, as the Pelagians of old asserted, but by the prcpaga-
                                    Chapter 2                                  tion of a vicious nature." Such is the truth. And of  this
                        Asking @or Complete Remission.                         guilt of our depraved nature we are conscious before the
                                                                               throne of our Father in heaven when we pray, "Forgive us
              When we bow our heads in prayer and titter this fifth            our  debt& as` we forgive our debtors." That is, according
       petition, it is well that we elaborate upon it somewhat,                to the Heidelberg Catechism, ndt only that we pray for our
      and instead of referring to the general concept sin, we say:             actual sins, but also for the depravity of our old nature,
       "Our  Father in heaven, please forgive the evil thoughts                which is always with us, and of the presence bf which we
       that arose in my mind and -still arise within me ; the evil de-         feel guilty before God.
       sires of murder and adultery and theft and rebellion of which              For all-this we ask in this fifth petition. We desire to
       I am now conscious, as I bow before Thy throne; the evil                have the forgiveness of sins. We desire  to possesq  it, to be
       speech, the evil words which I spoke against Thee and                   assured of it in our deepest heart. We long to know and be
       against the brethren ; and all the evil deeds- which I have             assured that God has so forgiven, dismisbed, cancelled my
       conimitted. Forgive. them all, our  Father!  and remember               debts, and so clothed me with eternal righteousness that I
       them nevermore. Dismiss them from Thy mind, for they all                am still the object of His favor, and that ,He gives me eternal
       make me worthy of Thy wrath. And give me grace to be-                   life. We w+nt to have that blessedness of the forgiveness of
       lieve that in spite of`them  all, even as I am sorry for my             sins now, at once, in this world, whjle we are still in the flesh,
       sins, I am righteous before Thee in Jesus Christ my Lord."              in which everything testifies against  us,  condemns us, speaks
              But according to the Heidelberg Cate,chism  I pray in this       of wrath and death and hell. We desire to have it, not as
       petition not only for my  ,$ns, which I have committed m                something that will deliver us from the guilt of sins that we
       thought, word, and deed, but also for the non-imputation                have committed in the past, but even while we are still
       of my depravity, of the depravity of my nature. We are, as              sinful, while we are still sinning. That is the amazing wonder
       we know and confess, depraved by nature, totally depraved,              and boldness of this petition. We do not say: "Father, last
       so that there is no good left in us. Our heart and mind and             week we sinned," or, "Yesterday we sinned," or, "This
       will' and all our desires are depraved. Our body and our                morning we sinned; please forgive." But we say: "Father,
       soul are totally corrupt by nature. And it is from that evil            we are sinning all the' time. MJe  are sinning at this very
       and corrupt nature that all the sins we have mentioned in               moment, while we are praying. Please dismiss our debts
     the preceding, and many more, arise as from an evil source.               from Thy  book, and clothe  tis with righteousness in Thy
     ' And, when in this fifth petition we pray for the forgiveness            judgment. And Father, we must have an answer. Please
'      of our total depravity, we confess, of course, that the very            give us the unspeakably blessed assurance and peace of for-
       cbrruption  of our nature is our guilt, and that we are respon-         giveness in our hearts."     -
       sible for it, and not God. God created us good and after His               This is indeed a great wonder!
       own image, in true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness.                 We are, of course, very much used to the idea, at least
       But, as the Canons of.Dordrecht  have it, in III, IV, 1: "Re-           to the sound of the words, "forgiveness of sins." Perhaps we
       volting from God by the initigation  of the devil, and abusing          are so accustomed to it that we hardly feel the amazing
       the .freedom  of his own will, he forfeited these excellent: gifts ;    marvel of it all. Yet, a great wonder it is. And in this fifth
       and on the contrary entailed on himself blindness of mind,              petition we ask the Lord for grace and faith to lay hold-on
       horrible darkness, vanity and perverseness of judgment, be-             God's own wonder of redemption,  the wonder of reconcilia-
       came wicked, rebellious, and obdurate in heart and will, and            tion in the death of  His. only begotten Son. For in the
       impure in his aff-ections." Now let us note that this revolu-           mystery of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ alone is
       tion from God, this abuse of the freedom of his will, was not           found the ground of the forgiveness of sins. And in `that
       committed by one individual, Adam, but by man. The whole                cross only can we conceive of the possibility of this prayer.
       human race was legally represented by and organically pres-             For it may sound very paradox&al, but it is a fact never-
       ent in Adam when he sinned. All are responsible for that                theless, that forgiveness must be ari act of strictest justice on
       one sin of Adam, and are guilty of death. For thus the                  the part of God. It is an act of boundless grace and abundant
       Scriptures teach us in Rom. 5 :12: "Wherefore, as by one                mercy, to be sure ; but of mercy that itself is strictly just.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 199

God is holy and righteous and unchangeably just. He can-            through the Spirit of Christ and through the Word of the
not possibly deny Himself. And therefore all His acts are           gospel can bring to that conscious activity whereby we lay
truth and justice, also His acts of grace and mercy. If then        hold upon the. blessing of forgiveness.
the sinner is ever to receive forgiveness, this act of God's           Thus, you understand, it is all of Him, none of-self. It
great mercy must be based on strictest righteousness. In            is all of pure and sovereign grace. It is of sovereign grace
other wdrds, if the sinner is to be forgiven, he must be com-       alone, not of our own work, that we become truly sorry for
pletely justified. Now how can a sinner be justified before         our sins, confess them before God and before one another,
`God 7 Only by expiation of his sin. Sin must be blotted out,       and lay hold by faith on the precious blessing of forgiveness.
other wise there cannot be forgiveness. But how-can sin
                                     e                              Of God, and of Him alone, is the glorious blessing of recon;
be blotted out? Only by. an act of atonement. And what              ciliation through the blood of the cross. It is of God, and of
is atonement? The heart and essence of atonement is satis-          Him alone, that the Word of justification, through the resur-
faction of God's righteousness with respect- to sin. And what       rection of Jesus Christ from the dead, is proclaimed unto us.
may satisfy the righteousness of God with respect to sin,           It is of God, and of Him alone, that we receive the Spirit
so that the sinner is truly justified before Gzd?  Only such        of Christ, through Whom He applies the grace of the Lord
an act of perfect obedience, of the obedience of love, where-. .Tesus Christ to our hearts. It is of God, and of Him alone,
by the sinner bears the full wrath of God against sin in' all       that the true knowledge of sin and the sorrow after God is
its implications and consequences willingly. In other words,        wrought in our hearts, that causes us to need .and to cry
if the sinner willingly, obediently, from the love of  God          out for  the forgiveness of our sins. Of God, and of Him
descends into the suffering of deepest death, and thus sacri-       alone, is the faith, as well as the activity of faith, whereby we
fices himself on the altar of God's righteousness, he thereby       may and do lay hold on this abundance of grace. Thus, and
expiates his guilt and becomes righteous before God. But            thus only, the prayer is born in the heart of the believer, a
this the sinner can never do. If he could, he would neecl no        prayer to which he must have an immed&e  answer, a prayer
forgiveness. But this is forever impossible. The sinner is an       not of unbelief or of doubt, but exactly of faith: "Our Father
enemy of God, and he can only increase his debt with God            Who art in, heaven, forgive us our debts." And the answer
daily. And this is the unfathomable mystery of the love of          to this prayer thus wrought by grace in our hearts, thus
 God, not that He justify the ungodly, winks at sin and sets        uttered by iaith and in true sorrow after God, surely comes.
aside His justice, but that in the Person of Immanuel, -His         and it comes at on& Unless it come, you cannot utter an-
only begotten Son in our flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord, God          other word. In fact, unless the assurance of this grace bf
Himself accomplish& this act of perfect obedience for the           forgiveness was already in your hearts, you cannot even
expiation of our sins : "For God so loved the world that            have begun your prayer. But this petition is surely heard.
-he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in         You surely receive the answer by the Spirit. of Christ and
him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3 :16.      through the Word of the gospel.: "My son, my daughter,
And: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto him-            thy sins are forgiven thee."
+zelf, not imputing their trespasses unto them." II Cor. 5 :19.
 That is the mystery of the cross. In the moment  of the                                    Chapter Three
 cross God forever blotted out all the sins of all the elect.
 They are justified. Their sins. are no more. And it is on the                        A Serious-Limiting Clause  '
 basis of the atoning, justifying act of God in Christ that             Let us finally note that the Lord adds to this prayer for
 our sins are forgiven us.                                          forgiveness a very serious limiting clause: ". . . as we forgive
    But how shall we possibly lay hold on this mystery of           our debtors."
 reconciliation ?                                                       You understand, of course, that this clause cannot mean
    How shall we obtain for ourselves the forgiveness of sins  ?    to express a ground for our plea for forgiveness. Nor can
 How shall we, who are still in the midst of death, who sin         our act of forgiving one. another possibly be a condition for
 daily, yea, every moment, copstantly, even while we pray for       God to forgive our debt. God's covenant and promise are
 the forgiveness of sins, receive the assurance in our hearts       absolutely unconditional. We do not make ourselves worthy
 that our sins are forgiven us ?                                    of forgiveness by forgiving one another. And God's act of
    The only possible answer to this question is this : we can      forgiveness is forever based upon His act of reconciling us
 lay hold on the mystery of the cross and- the resurrection of      to Himself, by the blood of the cross, and is in deepest sense
 jesus Christ our Lord, and therefore on the forgiveness of         rooted in His eternal election.
 our sins, only when God Himself by the Spirit of Christ                For the rest, however, we must take this clause very
 and through the Word of the gospel says to us: "Your sins          seriously. You probably ask whether it means that God will
 are forgiven you."                                                 not forgive my sins if I do not forgive the brother that
    We must hear God Himself speak to us through the                Sinned  against- me? And the answer to this question is an
 Word of the gospel. And this is possible only through              emphatic "Yes." It means exactly that. It mearis nothing
 faith, which He Rimself gives unto US, and which He alone          else. God gives us the grace of forgiveness only, not on the


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  ground or on condition that, but as we forgive one another.        delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that
  The Lord Jesus emphasizes this point very strongly. He             was due -unto him. Sp likewise shall my heavenly Fathei-
  even singles it out, apd puts it in bold relief. At the close      do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every
  of this prayer as we find it in the gospel according to Mat-       one his brother their trespasses."
  thew we read this special explanation of the fifth petition:           According to the context, the apostle Peter had been'
  "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father      asking a very practical question: "Lord, how oft shall my
  will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their tres-       brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times ?,'
  passes, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your tres-       It is evident that Peter considers himself rather liberal when
  passes." Matt.  6:14, 15. And in Matt. 5 :21-24 we read:           he proposes to forgive h@ brother seven times. But the Lord
  "Ye have heard that it was said by them. of old time, Thou         answered him: "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but,
  shalt not kill ; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of    Until seventy times seven." The meaning is, of course, that
  the judgment : But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry         our forgiving the brother has no end. When he comes to us
  with his brother without a catise shall be in danger of the        and confesses his sin, we must always forgive him. And of
  judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother,  Rata,           this the parable of the unmerciful servant is a concrete illus-
  shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say,        tration.
  Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou          Without entering into. minute detail, we will make a few
 bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy         remarks about this parable. in connection with our present
  brother hath ought against thee ; Leave there thy gift before      subject of the limiting clause of the forgiveness of sins.
  the altar, and go thy way ; first be reconciled to thy broiher,        The parable illustrates the kingdom of heaven, accord-
  and then come and offer thy gift." And most emphatically           ing. to verse 23. The question may be asked immediately:
  this truth is taught in the well-known parable of the un-          from what point of view is the kingdom of heaven likened
  merciful servant, which the Lord Himself applies in the well-      unto the king mentioned in this `parable, that takes account
  known words  : "So likewise shall my heavenly Father do            of his servants 1 The viewpoint' is evidently that in the king-
  also unto you, if ye from  .your hearts forgive not every one      dom of. heaven God our Gather  `forgives His people `the@
  his brother their trespasses." Matt.  18:35. If, therefore,        sins as they forgive everyone his trespasses. But again wk
  you appear with. this plea for the forgiveness of your sins        ask : what -is the specific teaching of this parable concerning
before the face of God, you must be quite sure that there            this subject? Does the parable intend to teach that the Lord
  is no one toward whom you Assume  an unforgiving or un-            first forgives, and later imputes the same  debt to' anyone ?
  merciful attitude, lest the Lord deliver you to the tormentors.    This is quite $npossible, because it would be in conflict with
         In this connection it might be well to offer a brief ex-    all. the rest of the Word of God. Scripture teaches quite
  planation of the parable of the unmerciful servant. It is          plainly that one who is once justified is justified forever. But
  found in Matt. 1s :23-35, Bnd I will quote it here: "There-        we may emphasize that the parable instructs us in the truth
  fore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king,         that God is merciful to them that show mercy, that He for-
  which would take account of  his servants. And when he             gives the sins of those that forgive the sins of their brethren,
  had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which               not as a condition or ground on which the Lord forgives
  owed him -ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had            them their sins, but as an inevitable fruit and manifestation
 ,not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his             in life of those to whom the sins are really forgiven and that
  wife, and his children, and all that he had, and payment to be     therefore tasted the mercy of God. Those that tasted the
  made. The servant therefore fell down, aid worshipped him,         mercy of forgiveness surely will show mercy in forgiving
saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.        one another their trespasses. On the contrary, those that
  Then  the lord of that servant was moved with compassion,          shut up the bowels of compassion to the brethren that em-
 and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same              ploy them for forgiveness have never tasted the mercy of
  servant went out, and, found one of his fellowservants, which      God. Such is the plain teaching of the parable.
  owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and               We must emphasize, <therefore, from the outset, as will
  took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.            become very ~evident in the rest of our explanation of this
  And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought          parable, that the unmerciful servant was never sorry for
  hiin, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.      his sins, that he never tasted the grace of his lord, that he
 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till           was not a believer,' but`evidently  an unbeliever and reprobate.
 he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw                  Notice, then, that the relation of the servant to his lord
 `what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told             in the parable is like unto the relation of men to. God. In
  unto their lord a.ll ,that was done. Then his lord, after that     the parable the lord was sovereign over his servant, and his
 he had called him, said unto him, 0 thou wicked serva&,  I          servant's duty was to obey. The same is true of the relation
 forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me : Shouldr     of men to God. They are but servants, and God is their Lord
 est note thou also have had compassion ofi thy fellowservant,       and Sovereign, Who must be obeyed willingly and from love,
  even as I had. pity on thee.? And his lord was wroth, and                                                                    H.H.


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE4RER                                                        201
 II                                                                          to be inferred' from verse 4 and the general tenor of the
            TH'E DAY OF SHADOWi                                         1 chapter. But this cannot be.
                                                                                 The Scriptures make more mention of such. measurings.
                                                                             In Ezekiel's vision a man measures not alone Jerusalem
                The. Prophecy of Zechariah                                   but also the temple in all its parts (Chapter xlff). In his
                              Chapter II                                     vision the apostle John is giiren  a rod that he may measure
       The  third vision  - the  9tza.n  with the  utzeasuring  li%e,        the temple,, its `furniture and even the worshippers thkrein
 I-13.                                                                       (Rev. iii I). The angel that talked with him measures the
       The Gospel of this vision is that, with the kingdoms of               new Jerusalem with its gates and walls (Rev. xxi, 14-17).
 the nations' overthrown and thereby rendered harmless,  Jeru-               And it is found that the city forms a square and even a cube
 -salem shall be exalted, Jehovah shail come and dwell in her                (verse 16) ) . But let us have the text here, "And the city
midst, and many nations shall be joined to Jehovah. in that                  lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth ;
 day, and shall be His people'.                                              and he measured the city with a reed, twelve thousand fur-
       I. And I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a                longs. The length and  the- breadth and the height are
 man and in his Imtd a mea,suring line.                                      equal." What now do these measurements- bespeak ? The
       2.  Then I said,  z&zither   gocst thou? And he said  unto            perfection of the church in glory, here symbolized by the
 me. To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth there-                 new Jerusalem that John sees coming down from God out
 of, and what is the length thereof.                                         of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her, husband
       3. And behold, the  angel tha,t  ta,lked with  vtze we&               (verse I). This clearly suggests why John must come to
                                                                   forth,
 and anotker angel went forth to m~eet him.                                  know the measurements of the Jerusalem the beautiful of his
       4. And said unto  him,  Run,  spea,k to this young  ma.%              vision. The reason is that he must become fully and lively
 saying, As towns -without wa.lls shall Jemssalem be inhabited               aware of the future spiritual and numerical perfection of the
 for the multitude of men and cattle therein.                                sinful, ill-deserving, small, despised and persecuted flock of
       5. For I, saitk Jehovah, will be to  her  a wall of  fire             God on this earth and thereby be fully assured that the
 a~rozmd about, and will be to tke.glory in the midst of her.                church shall be gathered, that .is that all that the Father has
       I. And I lifted UP q&ne eyes - Again indicating that a                given td Christ shall surely Come to Him, so that, .when the
 new vision absorbed the prophet's attention.  A  vxgtan with  a             temple of God eventually appears  pith Christ in glory it
 Nzeasztring  line - An extention of the promise of I, 16. This              shall be without one superfluous stone and without one stone
 man is not to be identified with the interpreting angel, for                missing and without sin, spotlessly clean.
 in v&-se 3 the latter is distinguished from him. Nor must he                    But can this- also be the reason why the man of Zech-
 be regarded as the angel of Jehovah'for a reason that will be-              ariah's vision must measure the holy city and thereby come
 come plain.                                                                 to know its dimensions, namely that he may become fully
       2. And I, sa.id, Whether goest thou? - In all the other               aware of the future glory of God's little flock? This cannot
 v&ions the prophet directs his appeals for instruction to the               well be. For unlike the Jerusalem of John's vision, the Jeru-
 interpreting angel, here to the man with the measuring line.                salem that the man of Zechariah's vision must measure has
 The interpreting angel does not appear upon the scene until                 no beauty. It is in a sad state. Its walls are broken down.
 the question is answered. And he said unto me, To measuT*e                  Its gates are- burnt. Its houses are in ruins. Its inhabitants               .
 Jerusalem - The succeeding clause is a statement of the                     - the .remnant of Judah - are sinful men that continually
 purpose of the measuring. .To see wlmt is the breadth them-                 have to be admonished to repent in order that they may be
 of,  and wht is the length thereof - ascertain the dimen-                   forgiven. And they are but a small group, poverty-stricken
 sions of the city. But why must the man come to be in the                   and beset on all sides by  h&tle powers. From a human
 possession of this knowledge  ? According to some, because                  standpoint the case of the city is, hopeless. Yet the man          -
 much more space must be marked off for the city, should it                  must measure this Jerusalem, the reason being that he and
- be discovered that, as a result of the anticipated phenomenal              the prophet with him must become aware of its wretched-
 growth of the city's population, the present space will be                  ness. And certainly the plighd of the city will deeply grieve
 much to small. But according to verse 4, it is told thd man                 him and all such that love Zion. .But, as appears from the              ,
 that the city will undergo a marvelous growth, and this                     succeeding verses, even before the man has opportunity to
 implies that he is not anticipating it. According to others,                address himself to the task of measuring the city,. the Lord
 the man had to measure the city in order to know where to                   tells him what great good He has in store for the city by
 build the new walls. But this could not have been the pur-                  hanging before his eye a word-picture of Jerusalem the
 pose. For the old walls, though broken down in many places,                 beautiful.
 still stood. It was not necessary, therefore, to build new                      3. And behold, the amgel t?&at talked with me went forth
 -walls  but only to mend the old.                                           - The interpreting angel. From whence did he go forth ?
       It is plain that these are mistaken views. It is admitted             Doubtless from the place where'he stood beside the prophet,
 that they are not stated by the man, but that they are clearly              or from the background to which he had retired after he


   202                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

   had interpreted the preceding vision.  And  ti.notjler angel           midst of h&v - In the midst of Jerusalem. This glory - the
   went  fo+tk to meet hi~z. - As the interpreting angel goes             total of God's `virtues - shines first in the face of Christ in
   forth, he is met'by another angel that comes upon the scene            whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and through
   from the opposite direction.                                           Him in the face of every redeemed and glorified inhabitant
      4.. And said unto him - The interpreting angel is the               of Jerusalem and thereby it fills the whole city so that she
   speaker.  Ru.n, speak to the ybung mun - Mandate of the                has no need of the sun.
   interpreting angel to the other angel, so that the latter be-             Exhortation to the exiles in Babylon, verses 6-13.
   comes his servant that he, himself, may remain with the                   6. Ho ! ho ! flee out of the land of the north, saith Jeho-
   prophet, whose interpreter he is throughout all the visions.           vah, For as the four winds of the north I have scattered you,
   The young man is not the prophet but the man with the                  saith Jehovah.
   measuring rod, who meanwhile has gone his way. But he                     7. Ho! Zion, save thyself, Thou that dwellest with the
   must not be allowed to measure the city before he hears                daughter of Babylon.
   the glad tiding regarding its glorious future. The messenger,             8. For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, After glory hath He
   therefore, is admonished to run, saying, As towvts witho,ztt           sent me to the nations that plundered you, For he that
   walls shall Jemsale,m be inha.bited   becaztse  of the m.ultitat.de    toucheth you, toucheth the apple of His eye.
   of men and cattle therein - This could be taken to mean
   that, because of the wonderful increase of Jerusalem's popu-              9. For behold, I swing my hand over them, And they
   lation., the inhabitants of the holy city would be crowded             shall become a spoil to their own servants, And ye shall
   for room as was the case in those days with the people that            know that Jehovah of  I hosts hath sent me.
  . dwelt in towns without walls. But why should open towns                  It. cannot be determined whether these words of exhor-
   with no walls to prevent them from sprawling be crowded                tation were uttered by the interpreting angel in the hearing
   places and the walled citiks have room to spare ? The re-              of the prophet that the latter might proclaim them, or
   verse `must .have been the case.. Doubtless, therefore, the            whether they were spoken by the prophet himself, in which
   meaning must be taken to be this : The new Jerusalem will              case the. vision ends with verse 5. But in either case, the
   not be encompassed by walls as is the case with the post-              words are an expansion of the Gospel contained in verses
   exilic capital of the kingdom, but the city will be like a vast        4 `and 5. And a glorious Gospel it is. Jerusalem will be
   wide-open country covered with towns and villages. And                 exalted. This is its promise. But it can go into fulfilment
   this extension is owing to the marvelous increase of Jeru-             only if! the Lord overthrows the hostile political powers that
   salem's population.                                                    beset His church. Because that is .what he will now begin
      What we have here in language typical .and earthly is a             to do, His people still in exile must return to the Holy City,
   description of the felicity of Jerusalem  - the church  - in           the only safe dwelling-place, without any further delay, lest
   glory. With all her children gathered, a multitude that no             they, too, be overtaken by the storm of His judgments about
   man can  number will then be dwelling in her. And she                  to break over the kingdoms -of the nations.
   will not be crowded for room. For she then will have  in-                 6. Ho, ho - The Hebrew word is translated also "woe"
   herited'the new earth over which she will be spread.                   "alas." It is more than an interjection calling to attention.
          5. A Wa.ZZ of j%-e - But will the city be a safe place to       It is an expression of grief and pain that is caused by the
   dwell ? Will not the absence of walls expose her inhabitants           consideration of the sad plight of those addressed, here God's
   to hostile attack ? There need be no fear. For the city has            people that remained in exile. FZee - The time of the. real-
   a protect&m  that the strongest wall cannot give. She is en-           ization of the promise has come, when Jehovah will send
   compassed by Jehovah. He will be unto her a wall of fire               judgment upon their present abode. So, let them .flee.  Tjte
   round about, a defence of fire that will consume any force             land of thti north - Babylonia the land of the exile. There
   or combination of forces that dare to approach her with hos-           were, no doubt, many Jews who, because of age or attach-
tile intent.                                                              ment to property, chose to remain in exile rather than en-
       But on the new earth the enemies are no more, so that              dure the hardships of a journey back to the Holy City.  ..
   here the promise can apply only to the church - God's little           Doubtless, therefore, the number that received the grace to
   flock - on this earth, beset, as she is, on every hand by              heed the call was small. But the call was not alone intended
   enemies. But as her citizenship is in the Holy city, the               for them. Its purpose was also to show God's despondent
   Jerusalem which is above, Jehovah is her defence, so that              people in Palestine that the hour in which He would punish
   all her enemies that come near her as bent on her destruc-             their adversaries  .for the wrong that they had done His
   tion are cut off. The wicked are dying every day by the                people was now at hand: For as the four winds of the north I
   thousandS the world over. God does that. He kills them in              have scattered you - There are many interpretations of
   His anger through every kind of agency and casts them into             these words. Some, regardin,m the tense of the verb as a
   perdition and thkreby He sees to it that His little flock is           prophetic perfect (often used by the prophets to describe a
   not overwhelmed by hell's gates, Certainly, we deal here in            future event as if it already had taken place) translate here.,
   these prophecies with realities. Aped will be the glory in the         "I shall scatter you," and then take the meaning of the clause


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   203

  to be that the people are to flee because Jehovah does not        God in his heart,, that precisely is what he will do. And at
  want them to perish with their enemies, seeing that He has        this moment his pursuing the salvation and glory of the
  decreed to make of them a great nation, whose influence will      church consists in his prophesying against the plundering
  be felt everywhere, just as the winds of the heaven blow in       nation's, that is in his proclaimitig unto them that the Lord
 .&very direction (so Keil). But this is not in agreement with      is about to overtake them with His judgment for all the harm
  the content. Doubtless the reference of the &use is to the        that they had done and were $11 doing God's chosen people.
  scattering of the covenant people in exile, and then as - ndt     So then, rightly considered,  %s pursuing in the discharge
  to - the four winds,- that is with "a violence,that  would re-    of his office the salvation and -glory of the church consists
  sult from the combined force of all the winds of heaven."         in his proclaiming the full Gospel, namely the redemption of
     7. Ho - a repetition of the call of verse 7. Zion - The        the church, the body of the elect, by the blood of Christ and
  inhabitants of Zion who still dwell in exile. Others take the     the overthrow and final passing away of the reprobated world
  clause as an accusative of direction - escape to Zion. That       in order that in this way. the church may be gathered and
  dwell with the daughter of Babylon  - among the inhabitants       eventually appear with Christ in glory.
  of .Babylon personified by a woman.                                       So, in this way, does the prophet pursue the salvation of
     8. Verses 8 and 9 give further reason why they are to          the church. And the Lord will surely bring `all the words
  flee from Babylon. Jehovah is about to visit the oppressors       of the prophet to pass. For he speaks God's word and not
  with judgment. Fo+ thusaith Jehovah - A statement that            his own. And the result will be that God's believing people
  introduces Jehovah as thespeaker of the discourse that fol-       shall know that Jehovah sent him (vs. 9). This I consider
  lows. Yet of the remaining sentences of this verse the proph-     to be the meaning of the statement in questiop. Thus the
  et (or the angel) is the speaker. These sentences therefore       Hebrew wofd rendered in the versions by "after" I construe
  seem to be a parenthesis and to require that the pa.ssage  be     in the sense of "in pursuit of," as in the sentence, "As the
  punctuated as follows : - For  thus saith  Jehozlah  of Hosts     heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul
  (&fter glory ha.th He sent me to the nations that plundered       after thee, 0 God" (Ps. xlii. I). That precisely is the idea,
  you:, for he that toucheth you tolrcheth the apple of His eye)    namely that, in the discharge of his office, as a preacher
  for behold, I tinge my kund over them, and they  shall be-        of the Gospel, the heart of the prophet pants after the sal-
  come a. spoil to the@ own servants (and ye shall kizozu that      vation of the church and thus after  the glory of God. (Ge-
  Jehovah. of hosts hath sent tie.                                  senius construes the preposition after, its Hebrew equiva-
     The words that prove a puzzle are the following: After         lent, in this sense).
  glory hatlz  He sent me to the nations that plundered you.           For he that  tou.cheth  yo'u,  toztcheth the apple of His eye
     The question is, what are we to understand by "glory." - literally the door of the-eye, that is the pupil, which is at
  Some, taking "glory" to be the promise of verses 5 and 6          once most precious and most sensitive and therefore call for
  interpret here: After my proclamation of the promise of           double protection. The connection between this clause and
Jerusalem's exaltation, He  - the Lord  - sent me to the            the preceding is evident. That the prophet in his preaching
plundering nations. Others, taking "glory" to be the  fulfil-       must pant after the salvation of the church necessarily im-
  ment of the promise, that is, Jerusalem's actual exaltation,      plies that the church is the object of his endearment and that
  interpret : After Jerusalem's exaltation, Jehovah sent me         therefore He will surely punish the nations for plundering
  etc. But it seems to me that both these interpretations must      her.                                                 cr
  be set aside as being too unlikely. There is a better inter-         To think that `God's people are to Him as the pupil of
  pretation, one that has the support of the context and that       His eye. How determined and ready He must bc to shield
  takes into account the two parenthesis. Let us see what this      them. How it must pain Him when His people are being
  better interpretation is.                                         spoiled by the  advery. How His wrath must burn. How
     First this remark: That Jehovah sent the prophet to the        angry He must be with the spoilers.
 ~plundering nations means that he must prophecy against               9. For behold, I will .&wing  my hand over them - That
  them, proclaim that they are about to be overthrown. It           is, He is about to do so. The event is eminent. With what
  does not mean that he must tour the lands of the nations          infinite ease He brings the adversaries to nought. Merely
as an itinerant preacher.                                           by swinging His hand over them. It cannot well be other-
     Now the expression "after glory." By "glory" is to be          wise,. seeing that He is God and that apart from His power
  understood the salvation and glory of the church -that is         the nations have no existence. A spoil to their serzmts - A
  promised in thei verses 5 and 6 (see above). "After" glory        spoil to the Israelites, whom the adversaries had pressed into
  must. be taken to mean in &rsuit of it. The meaning of the        their service and were holding captive.  Ib means that by the
statement then is that Zechariah was sent of Jehovah in pur-        atonement  pf Christ they shall be overcome unto victory.
  suit of the promised salvation and glojr of the church. This         And ye &a,11 know that Jehovah hath sent wL.e' - Behold-
  is what he must! pursue, seek, set his heart upon in the dis-     in this mighty  word of Jehovah as foretold by the prophet,
  charge of His office as Jehovah's prophet. And under the          God's believing people shall know that he truely spake in
  constraint of a living faith and as impelled by the love of       the name of Jehovah.                                       G. M.  01


  204                                             T H E 'S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  II                                                                        of this doctrine of election is so far from encouraging remiss-
             .FROM  H O L Y   W R I T                                  II ness in the observance of the divine commands, or from
                                                                            sinking men in carnal security, that these, in the just judg-
                                                                            ment of God, are the usual effects of rash presumption, or
               Exposition of I ,Corinthians 1-4                             of idle and wanton trifling with the grace of election, in those
                                   a                                        who refuse to walk in the ways of the elect."         .
                                                                                Now we should notice in these verses of I Corinthians
        We have repeatedly taken notice of the beautiful pedu-              1 ~24-31  that the admonition of Paul is : the @op@' considera-
  gogical  afiproa.clz  of Paul in this letter to a church, ,full of sin    tion, of  their efficacious calling into the fellowship of  God's
  and imperfections of the flesh !                                          Son.
        Paul never ceased to be mindful of the fact that he is                  Such proper consideration is conducive to cause  US to
  addressing the church of the living God, called into the fel-             walk.in  the ways of the elect," and God brings us into these
  lowship of His Son, and who, thereforej  will be placed one               ways by the efficacious grace of good warnings and admoni-
  day without spot or blemish-before God in' the light. He                  tions, His own means of grace! We should notice this very
  never addresses her as being simply mankind, potential can-               clearly expressed confessional truth in our text also, lest by
  didates for heaven or hell, but as those who have the First-              insisting that the preaching is not grace for all who hear,
  fruits of the Spirit, and are partakers of the heavenly calling.          we forget to emphasize in which manner the preaching, to-
        Such, we have noticed, is Paul's pedagogical approach.              gether with its implicit and explicit warnings, is indeed grace
  The term pedagogy exactly means : training of children, does              for the called saints -causing them to persevere in the faith
  it not?                                                                   and the walk of faith. Not to do this is' tempting God!
        Such Paul does here. He instructs, reproves, corrects in            Canons III, IV, 17.           .
  the pedagogy of the righteousness of the Kingdom, and that,                  However, the "warnings and threatenings" of the Word
  too, to the children. of the Kingdom.                                     of God are never such that they pront& salvation to every
        Paul in this correction and reproof warns thesechildren of          one, if they believe, but are such that are directed to "the
  God, church of Christ, living members, not to glory at all in             called saint" in, Christ Jesus. The former is no pedagogical
  the flesh, but that it is comely to her to glory alone in the             approach at all, but it-is the approach of the "street-hawker,"
  Lord, Jehovah God, who has completely saved her, redeemed                 who cries Christ for sale in the public market place! Such
  her from all her sins.                                                    is also the clear language of the Canons in V, 17. The
        Shall the Corinthian church, (and we with her,) rightly             fathers here clearly are speaking of the means whereby God
  humble themselves before the living God, boasting alone                   "prolongs and supports life," comparing the spiritual life,
  in Him and in His work, then they must' notice a very                     in its being supported by means of grace, with the natural
  peculiar charactistic of His having called them into the fel-             life as it is supported by means also. Such is the pedagogy
  lowship of His Son.                                                       of which our fathers speaks, in the Canons, V,. 17, and in
        Two things we must notice.                                          doing so they .simply trace the A-B-C lines of Paul as the
        The first is that God's having called us is rooted in a             master-builder, who layed  down in our text the master lines,
  deeper consideration of God. It is this: God has called us                according to the grace of apostleship given him.
  even as H"e elected us in Christ before the foundation of the                We will not complain that the fathers make a simple thing
  world. The reason why the Apostle brings this up is that                  complicated and involved when they compare the need of
  this stresses the sovereignly free grace of God's eflfficacio,tcs         nourishment of the new-born babe in Christ with the need
calling, and it is this c.onsideration  of this calling, as rooted          of nourishment of the child in natural life!
  in sovereign election, which makes for profound and true                     Those who wish to distill a "promise to all" out of V,
  humiliation. And let me add : this is not a reason for the                17, complain about this as being involved, when they would
  humble gratitude of the believer, but it is  the  fundamental             have a simple gospel, which is neither "simple" (nothing
  reason and ground for the proper considera.tion  of faith which           added j nor is it "gospel !" We will with Canons V, 17,
  makes for humility in the called saint. A man truly reformed              and Paul, here in this Scripture passage, maintain the
  alone can be truly humble; he alone can truly adore  .the                 "simple" truth that to properly consider our "calling" we must
  mercies of God, which lift him from his sin and guilt into                keep it properly linked with our election! That is Scriptural
  the glorious liberty of the church of God !            _                  and confessional pedagogy ! And the other? It is neither
        Such is the glorious confession of the fathers of Dort in           Scripture nor is it peda-gogy  !
  Head of Doctrine I, Art. 13, where we read "The sense and                    Forsooth,, Paul does not say: consider yoztr calling. And
  certainty of this election afford to the children of God ad-              in this "consideration" you having nothing to do with
  ditional matter for daily humiliation before him, for adoring             "election  ;" these two lie on two altogether different  p!anes:
  the depths of his mercies,. for cleansing themselves, and                 to wit, on that of the "revealed" and the non-revealed," but
  rendering grateful returns of ardent love to him, who first               he would have us see our election Zn ozcr ca,ll,ing, particularly
  manifested so great love towards them. The  consideration                 in its marvelous manner, its strikingly obvious manner: that


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    205
                     -._._-
  God called not many wise-men according to the flesh, not                In this plan of God wherein all, that is great in the world's
 manyoof the world's great, and not many of noble and pro-            estimation, must be put to shame also fits the election of a
 minent birth ! '                                                     certain type of people as these live and move and exist histori-
     It is a marvelous fact that Paul in these verses changes         cally ! Wherefore God elected :
 from "called" to "elected" in our text. Says he "For con-               2. The' "weak" of the world, that which is of "ignoble':
 sider your calling that it indicates that God  hatlz chosen -        birth, that which is "despised" and that. which is "nothing !"
  God ha.tlz chosen - God hth chosen . . . ."                             Such stones God chose for His body, the church, to make
     And who hath God chosen, when we see this choice of              living members of them and to make them partakers of the
 God, this sovereignly free election  crystalized before our          heavenly calling. Such were the living stones which God
 believing and considering eyes  ?                                    by His efficacious calling fashions for His temple of  -the
     They are: not many wise according to this world, not             Holy Spirit.
 many mighty, and not many of noble birth. Paul is here                  Thus the stones get no glory at all.
 speaking of the general, observable rule of election as it is
 revealed in the eficacious  calling. That makes the matter              Here we can only tremble in the beauty of meekness and
 very concrete,, does it not? It, however, does not limit the         lowliness of mind. Here we see the work of the Architect
 power of God's efficacious calling, as if God could not call         and Builder; God. Here we exclaim, considering our calling :
 also the wise of the world and the mighty into the fellowship        What God hath wrought!
 of His Son. This indeed God did upon several occasions.                 Wrought how ?
 But such was not the rule in general in God's work, and                 That we are out of God, out of His sovereign election, as
 such was surely not the rule in the congregation of God at           the fountain and cause of our salvation, in Christ Jesus. The
 Corinth! That God does not generally call the world's great,         only reason why we are `in Christ is because we are out of
 having elected them, is not due to the fact, that God has no         God. And we are out of God having been- chosen by him.
 power to save them.1 However, in our text, another con-              And this is `evidenced in our `calling into the fellowship of
 sideration of the Lord is to be noticed. It is expressed in          His Son!
 the virtue, the perfection of God's "wisdom !" The Gospel               And thus we see it: J/l/isdovlz  Christ is for us in our com-
 is not merely a flower of God to us, but it is also the wisdowh      plete redemption. And this complete redemption is; right-
 of God to us in the Cross of Jesus Christ, and as SUCF, the          eousness and sanctificat,ion.
 power.                                                                  A dogmatic truth that Christ is our sanctification ? In-
     Wherefore, the rule in this calling this &se and effica-         deed, it is. Only it is meant here to be a motive toward
 cio,~ts calling is : not w%any wise according to the flesh, not      putting away all glory in man, boasting alone in the Lord.
 ytzany mighty ones, and not wzany  of noble birth, kings and            For the proper consideration of the calling and the proper
 rulers !                                                             boast in the Lord is what we are in Christ's sanctification
     Were God's calling not rooted in election, but were the          and in His righteousness.
 Gospel merely an offer -then one would expect that the                  Thus we see how Paul masterfully teaches those who
 wise, the noble and the strong would accept it.                      contradict themselves and oppose themselves, without falling
     But that would not be to the glory of God's grace in his         into the error of st&&g with them, so that through his good
 elective love and mercy ; and the point of our "considering"         instruction God may work in their hearts the grace of boast-
 our calling would fall flat.                                         ing alone in the Lord.
     Now, however, it is the chief consideration (for in-con-            Thus Paul is free from the blood of those who repent
 sidering our calling we notice which rule God follows, hav-          not, and can glory in the Lord in their turning from sinful
 ing  .set it for Himself in His good-pleasure) is that God           party-strife and schism, to a glorying alone in the Lord !
 has elected :                                                                                                                   ~G. L.
     1. The  foolish things  of the world in order to put to
 shame the wise men (not  Uzings)  of the world. To these
 foolish "things" belong the Cross, the salvation accomplished
 on the Cross, the victory in Christ's resurrection, the preach-                                I N   M E M O R I A M
ing of the Word of the Cross, the power of God and His                  The Martha Ladies Aid Society  of. the Hull Protestant Re-
 wisdom in the same-all of which are accounted by worldly             formed Church herewith expresses its sincere sympathy to one
 wisdom to be so much foolish "things." But these God chose           of its members, Mrs. Tom Van Maanen, in the loss  o,f their infant
 in his sovereign foreordination,. in which all things must  ,lead    daughter at birth.
 to the eternal glory of the Church in the ages to come.                 May the  God of all grace sustain and comfort the family in
     This first observation shows us the general plan of God.         their sorrow.
     However, Paul enumerates a few more particulars in this                                           Rev. John A. Heys, President
 general over-all plan and-design of God.                                                              Mrs. Nellie Brummel, Secretary.


206                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
Ii.                                                                 after work some night? I should say not ! Man, I have to
                    I N H I  .S  F E A  R.                     II get some sleep because I have to work the next day! 0
                                                                        Sure, it is not a question of what we may not do' but
                                                                    what we should do. But what we should do is set a day aside
                    The Sabbath In His Fear                         to hear His word, to call upon Him and to worship Him for
               ,                                                    the great work of salvation. It certainly is a question as to
                                (3)                                 what helps us use the day aright and as to what hinders us
       "It is not so much a question as to whether we may do        and keeps us from hallowing the day. This all may sound
this or may do that as it is a question of what we ought to         old-fashioned and narrow-minded  ; but that is far better than
do." That remark is often made about keeping the Sabbath.           losing the Sabbath. And if one is sincere in his statement
       That there is an element of truth in the statement we        that it is not a question as whether I may do this and in-
will not deny. In fact, if understood in the proper sense, if       stead a question of what is my calling with the day, he will
the proper construction is placed upon it; that is the ques-        find that there is' so much that he can and should do on the
tion in regard to the Sabbath in this New Testament dispen-         day that he will not find time for those things about which
sation.                                                             he has questions, nor want to be interrupted in doing the
       However it is so. easy to place a wrong construction on      things he must do by the things after- -which he places a
these words and to quote it in order to defend things that          question mark.                                             &_
definitely destroy the whole idea of the Sabbath. And our              That there are things which we may `and can perform
philosophy and hatred of the Sabbath as given by" God soon          without being guilty of walking contrary to the command-
results in the fact that we have lost it and lost one of the        ment cannot be denied. That there is legitimate work which
commandments in the Decalogue. And our day does not dis-            we may accomplish, yea often ought to perform, is also
play love to God in His works but love for self in our own          granted. The Israelites-walked around Jericho on the Sab-
works.                                                              bath day. In fact it is not impossible that it was the Sabbath
       The positive approach to the meaning of the command-         when they walked around it seven times and rushed for-
ments is always good and even essential for a proper and full       ward with victory when the walls fell down. And this was
understanding of our calling here below. We have no desire          @cr Israel had been given the Decalogue with this Fourth
to make the commandments negative in meaning and  applica-          Commandment in it. After God had clearly told Israel "Six
`tion and to fail to stress the positive side of them.:  But we     days shalt thou labor and do all thy work ; .but the seventh
certainly are opposed to all that which sets no limits, never       day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt do
says that this or that is out of place and improper on the          no manner of work . . .",, God Himself told Israel to perform
Sabbath and lets the sky be the limit after the positive side       this work on the Sabbath. The reason for this is plain, if
of the commandment has been complied with briefly and               you have followed us in our former writings on this matter.
half-heartedly.                                                     On the Sabbath we are busy with God's glorious work of
       It is so easy to insist positively that. we "frequent the    salvation in a way and to a degree impossible during the
church of God to hear His word, to use the sacraments,              week. And that victory of Israel over Jericho is typically
publicly to call upon the Lord . . ." as the Heidelberg Cate-       identified with this glorious work of salvation. Israel was
chism positively presents the meaning of the Fourth Com-            not defiling the Sabbath by being busy with a work that
mandment, and then defend the filling of the rest of the day        taught the truth of salvation by the grace and might of God!
with all the things of the flesh which - as we wrote before         Israel was busy with God's work when Israel walked about
- we would not take time for during the week because it Jericho. It was an act of faith. It was a work in which Is-
would cost us some hard earned cash or we did not want to           rael entered into the blessedness and assurance of salvation.
give up a little of our much needed sleep.                          That work was not and is not to be condemned. No need
       We live in an age when sermons have to be made shorter       to put a question mark behind such works and ask whether
and shorter, services have to be crowded closer and. closer         we may do them.
together - or spaced wider and wider apart  - so that we               Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who denied that there are
have more time for ourselves, for our flesh. Everything else        works that are proper on the Sabbath. He pierced them
must have more time, and services of divine worship must be         with the truth when He called their attention to the fact
treated almost as a "necessary evil" instead of a blessed           they would save a beast that fell into a pit on the Sabbath.
hour. 0, we must frequent the house of God. We must hear            He surely might heal on the Sabbath and so display by
His word. We must call upon the name of the Lord. But               ,physical  and psychical healing that He is come to heal and
these must not hold us up too long. After all, we have to go        save us `spiritually. There again you have that great and
here and there yet too today.. We just have to go and see           glorious work.of salvation by the power and grace of God
so and so whom we have not seen for so long. Give up my             brought to man's attention. by works upon the Sabbath.
fishing trip Saturday for that. Oh, no! What do you think              But our point is that we do not have a license to satisfy
I am anyway? That is the only pleasure I get all week. Go           our flesh by a day when we may leave the factory, the field,


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    207

the shop, the store behind. It is not a time given us by God           our time" for a few brief minutes in doing these things pre-'
to choke the word that' has been sown in the morning and               scribed. in that answer of the Heidelberg Catechism. It is
,evening service by a card game after that service ! It is not         always wrong when we are dealing with things spiritual
a day given us to forsake and leave divine services behind             and with our calling before the Infinite and, Sovereign God
and to fly by the fastest plane across more than half of our           to be asking about a "minimum" or service. Such a thing
country, from the West Coast to the Great Lakes region to              always reveals that the heart is not right. `It reveals that the
try to cast our illegal vote at a consistory meeting where we          heart is not in that activity for which we seek to ascertain
intend to defend heresy. It is not given us to get ready for           the minimum which is required in order to get it over with
Monday's sins. Then let us apply the rule and say that it is           .as quickly as we can. One almost gets the impression when ,
a question of what we ought to do and not of whether we                observing the Sabbath activity of some, that those things
may do this or that! There may be and is legitimate travel             prescribed in the Heidelberg Catechism.!as  the New Testa-
on the Sabbath. Paul undoubtedly traveled much on the                  ment interpretation of the teaching of the Fourth Command-
Sabbath and -was on the high seas many a Sabbath on his                ment - to which outwardly they will agree - that they
journey to Rome. But let us concentrate on what! we ought              consider such church attendance with all that it implies as
to do and understand that if we do it properly and with a              some bitter medicine that has. to be taken for spiritual health
pure heart, we will not ask whether we may do this or that;            and recovery ; and we better get it over with as quickly as
and many of the things after which we place a question                 we can. With these it is not as with the psalmist who sings:
mark will fall away, because we are too busy to do them                             "With joy and gladness in- my soul
and will lose interest in doing them.                             /                     I hear the call to prayer;
   There is no work that is in itself wrong to perform on                               Let us go up to God's own house
the Sabbath that is not wrong to perform also on the other                              And bow before Him there."
days of the week. No act in itself suddenly becomes wrong
when a new day rolls around. And the rising of the sun in                 We condemn, and correctly so, the idea of going to early
the East does not cast certain works, lawful in themselves             Mass to confess our sins of the past week - and I mean
according to the other nine commandments in the Decalogue,             early Mass - so we can have plenty of time that Sabbath
in a different light one day in the week so that on that day           day to go and do some more of the same things we just
they become "shady" and works of darkness. Of course,                  confessed. And the present trend in Sabbath observance
that which is evil to perform on Monday is also evil to per-           seems to\ suggest that man in his. wisdom ( ?) now sees that
form on the Sabbath. But equally true it is that what is               God made a mistake by allotting a whole day to the observ-
good and according to God's law on Monday is also good                 ance and worship for His glorious work of salvation. He
and according to God's law on the Sabbath. The works                   should know that we in this age of speed. and culture and
God forbad Israel on the seventh day of the week were not              higher education do not need nearly that much time ! That
works that in themselves were corrupt. These He forbids                trend surely is not in His fear. Sabbath observance in. His
every day and every ,minute  in every day of the week. No,             fear is Sabbath observance Coram Deo: in the consciousness
God Himself gives the reason why Israel shall not work on              of being in the presence of God. And yet on the Sabbath
the Sabbath. And that reason is not that they have been                we all too easily and plainly -reveal that we do not care to
performing works that are sinful. In fact the Fourth Com-              be in His presence too much or to.0 long. The day has to be
mandment takes us back to the original creation. It speaks             before us for all kinds of other things. If we only dared,
of God creating the heavens and the earth in six days and              the present trend would lead us to decide to have our serv-
of God resting the seventh day from that work of creation.             ices some night during the week so that we could have the
The Sabbath was for- Adam to observe even before there                 whole day for our works of pleasure, sleep, and a host of
was sin in the world, even before there were works per-                other things.
formed that did not comply with the other nine command-                   It is strange what men dare to do with this command-
ments.                                                                 ment while they maintain the others with vigor and vehe-
   The point we wish to make and which we believe Scrip-               mence.  That we are not to be idle as the Old Testament
ture makes is that a work becomes wrong on the Sabbath                 form of the commandment literally seepl~s  to teach is one
when its execution is due to a despising of IGod?s  work of            thing. But how the cross and resurrection and ascension of
salvation and when it is carried on in contempt of His glori-          Christ suddenly alter this commandment nlone so that a
ous work of salvation. It is wrong when we let it interfere            whole new series of actions are approved and the day loses
with our calling to "frequent the church of God, to hear His           its -peculiar character, we fail to see. Adam in the state of
word, to use the sacraments, publicly to call upon the                 perfection had a day and not simply an activity to perform.
Lord . .  ."                                                           And Jesus says that the Sabbath, not some little part of it,
  We like that answer of the Heidelberg. catechism. But                is made for man.
we do not like the wrong use that is made of it -as though                We like next time, the Lord willing, to give some posi-
it approves of everything just as long as we have "put in              tive content to that activity of that clay.            J. A. H.


     20s                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   ,BEARER

                                                                       whole of southern Gaul. Hilary renewed his efforts, but was
     11         Contending For The Faith 11 opposed by Leo the Great, who finally deposed him. Hence,
                                                                       it is worthy of note that this Hilary- irrespective, now, of
                                                                       his  arminian  position and' denial of the Scriptural truth of
                 The Church and the Sacraments                         sovereign predestination- having been deposed by Leo the
                                                                       Great, was later canonized-H. V.)
           VIEWS DURING THE SECOND PERIOD  (300-750 A.D.)                 In carrying his idea of the papacy into effect, Leo dis-
                                                                       played the cunning tact, the diplomatic address, and the iron
                     THE DOCTRINE OF  .THE  CHURCH                     consistency which characterize the greatest popes of the
                     THE PAPACY  (by Philip  Schaff).-                 middle age. The circumstances in general were in his favor :
                                                                       the East rent by dogmatic. controversies ; Africa devastated
                                (Continued)                            by the barbarians ; the West weak in a weak emp-eror ;  no-
                                                                       where a powerful `and pure bishop or divine, like Athanasius,
            While Peter himself passes over his prerogative in si-     Augustine, or Jerome, in the former generation  ; the over-
     lence, and expressly warns against hierarchical assumption,       throw of the Western empire at hand ; a new age breaking,
     Leo cannot speak frequently and emphatically enough of his        with new peoples, .for whose childhood the. papacy was just
     authority. While Peter in Antioch meekly submits to the           the needful school ; the most numerous and last important
     rebuke of the junior apostle Paul (see Gal. 2  :ll), Leo          general council convened; and the system of ecumenical
     pronounces resistance to his authority to be impious pride ,orthocloxy ready to be closed with the decision concerning
     and the sure way to hell. Obedience to the pope is thus           the relation of the two natures in Christ.
     necessary to salvation. Whosoever, says he, is not with              Leo first took `advantage of the distractions of the North
     the apostolic see, that is, with the head of the body, whence     African church under the Arian Vandals, and wrote to its
     all gifts of grace descend throughout the body,-is not in the     bishops in the tone of an acknowledged over-shepherd.
     body of the church, and has no part in her grace. This is the     Under the stress of the times, and in the absence of a tower-
     fearful but legitimate logic of the papal principle, which        ing character like Cyprian and Augustine, the Africans sub-
     confines the kingdom of God to the narrow lines of a par-         mitted to his authority (443). He banished the remnants
     ticular organization, and makes the universal, spiritual reign    of the Manichaeans and  `Pelagians  from Italy, and threat-
     of Christ dependent on  a.temporal  form and a human organ.       ened the bishops with his anger, if they should not purge
     But in its very first application this papal ban proved itself    their churches of the heresy. In East Illyria. which was
     a brutum  fulmen, when in spite of it the Gallican archbishop     important to Rome as the ecclesiastical outpost toward Con-
     Hilary, against whom it was directed, died universally es-        stantinople, he succeeded in regarding and establishing the
     teemed and loved, and then was canonized. This very im-           supremacy, which had been acquired by Samasus, but had
     practicability of that principle, which would exclude all         afterward slipped away. Anastasius of Thessalonica applied
     Greek and Protestant Christians from the kingdom of               to him to be confirmed in his office. Leo granted the prayer
     .heaven, is a refutation of the.principle  itself.      .
-                                                                      in 444, extending the jurisdiction of Anastasius over all the
            (Concerning this Hilary we may note the following.         Illyrian bishops,, .but reserving to them a right of appeal in
     Hilary owes his importance chiefly to his attitude toward         important cases, which ought' to be decided by the pope
     Augustinianism. He repudiated the Augustinian doctrine of         according to divine revelation. And a case to his purpose
     predestination, accusing Augustine of fatalism. He believed       soon presented itself, in which Leo brought his vicar to feel
     that every man had sinned in Adam  and.could  be saved only       that he was called indeed to a participation of his care, but
     by the grace of God in regeneration. Salvation by the blood       not to a plentitude of power  (plenitude  potestatis).   In the
     of Christ was offered to all men without exception, and all       affairs of the Spanish church also Leo had an opportunity
     who are willing to accept faith and baptism could be saved.       to make his influence felt, when Turibius, bishop of Astorga,
     God predestined for his kingdom all whom he foresaw               besought his intervention against the Priscillianists. He
     would be worthy of their election after their gratuitous call,    refuted these heretics point by point, and on the basis of his
     and therefore every man is to be exhorted to take part in the     exposition the Spaniards drew up an' orthodox regztla  fidei
     divine institutions in order that nobody may despair of at-       with eighteen anathemas against the Priscillianist error.
     taining eternal life, since this depends upon voluntary con-         But in Gaul he met, as we have already seen, with a
     secration. As Augustine maintained his independent judg-          strenuous antagonist in Hilary of Arles, and, though he
     ment against a great authority, so also Hilary tried to           called the secular power to his aid, and procured from the
     vindicate the independence of his position. On account of         emperor Valentinian an edict entirely favorable to his claims,
     the political importance of the city of Arles - Hilary was        he attained but a partial victory. Still less successful was his.
     bishop of Aries - in the fifth century, its bishops took the      effort to establish his primacy in the East, and to prevent
     first rank in the Gallic  episcopate, and Bishop Patroclus had    his rival at Constantinople from being elevated,  _ by the
     already attempted to extend the primacy or Arles" over the        famous twenty-eighth canon of Chalcedon,  to official equal-


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                209

  ity with himself. His earnest protest against that decree           a middle ground'on the doctrine of predestination, with the
  produced no lasting effect. But otherwise he had the most           view to reconcile the Semipelagians and Augustinians, are
  powerful influence in the second stage of the Christological        of doubtful genuineness.
  controversy. He neutralized' the tyranny of Dioscurus of
  Alexandria and the results of the shameful robber-council of             THE PAPCY FROM LEO I TO GREGORY I
Ephesus (449)  ,. furnished the chief occasion of the fourth                                  A. D. 461-590.
  ecumenical council, presided over' it by his legates (which            The first Leo and the first Gregory are the two greatest
  the Roman bishop had done at neither of the three councils          bishops of Rome in the first six centuries. Between them
before), and gave the turn to the final solution of its doc-          no important personage appears on the chair of Peter; and
  trinal problem by that celebrated letter to Flavian of Con-         in the course of that intervening century the idea and the
  stantinople, the main points of which were incorporated in          power of the pacay  make no material advance. In truth, they
  the new symbol. Yet he owed `this influence by no means             went farther in Leo's mind than they did in Gregory's. Leo
  to his office alone, but most of all .to his deep insight of the    thought and acted as an absolute monarch ; Gregory as first
  question, and to the masterly tact with which  ,he held the         among the patriarchs  ; but both under -the full conviction
  Catholic orthodox mean between the Alexandrian and Anti-            that they were the successors of Peter.
  ochian, Eutychian and Nestorian extremes. The particulars              After the death of Leo, the archdeacon Hilary, who had
  of his connection with this important dogma belong, however,        represented him at the council of Ephesus, was elected to
 .to the history of doctrine.                                         his place, and ruled (461-468) upon his principles, asserting
     Besides thus shaping the polity and doctrine of the              `the strict orthodoxy in the East and the authority of the
  church, Leo. did immortal service to the city of Rome, in           primacy in Gaul.
  twice rescuing it from destruction. When Attila, king of               His successor, Simplicius  (46S-483),  saw the final dis-
  the Huns, the "scourge of God," after destroying Aquileia,          solution of the empire under Romulus Augustulus  (476),
  was seriously threatening the capital of the world (A.D.            but,. as he takes not the slightest notice of it in his epistles,
  452),  Leo, with only two companions,  crazier  in hand,
  trusting in the help of God, ventured into the hostile camp,.       he seems to have ascribed to it but little importance. The
                                                                      papal power had been rather favored than hindered in its
  and by his venerable form, his remonstrances, and his gifts,        growth  by the imbecility of the latest emperors. Now, to a
  changed the wild heathen's purpose. The later legend, which         certain extent, it stepped into the imperial vacancy, and the
  Raphael's pen-i1  has employed, adorned the fact with a visible     successor of Peter became, in the mind of the Western na-
  appearance of Peter and Paul, accompanying the bishop, and,         tions, sole heir of the old Roman imperial succession.
  with drawn sword, threatening Attila with destruction un-
  less he should desist. A similar case occurred several years           On the fall of the empire the pope became the political
 -after  (455),  when the Vandal king Genseric, invited out of        subject of the barbarian and heretical (for they were Arian)
  revenge by  the. empress Eudoxia, pushed his ravages to             kings ; but these princes, as most of the heathen emperors had
  Rome.. Leo obtained from him the promise that at least he           done, allowed him, either from policy, or from ignorance or
  would spare the city the inflictions of murder and fire ; but       indifference, entire freedom in ecclesiastical affairs. In
  the barbarians subjected it to a fourteen days' pillage, the        Italy the Catholics had by far the  ascendency  in numbers
  enormous spoils of which they transported to Carthage  ; and        and  -in culture. And the Arianism of the new rulers was
  afterward the pope did everything to alleviate the conse-           rather an outward profession than an inward conviction.
  quent destitution and suffering, and to restore the churches.       Odoacer, who first assumed the kingdom of Italy (476-493),
     Leo died in  461,,  and was buried in the church of St.          was tolerant toward the orthodox faith, yet attempted to
  Peter. The day and circumstances of his death are unknown.          control the papal election in 483 in the interest of the
  Of Leo it has been said that he was without doubt a man of          state, and prohibited, under penalty of the anathema, the
  extraordinary parts, a superior to all who had governed             alienation of church property by any bishop. Twenty years
  that church'bcfore him, and scarce equalled  by any since.          later,a Roman council protested against this intervention of
     The literary works of Leo consist of ninety-six sermons          a layman, and pronounced the above prohibition null and
  and one hundred and seventy-three epistles including epistles       void, but itself passed a similar decree against the alienation
  of others to him., They are earnest, forcible, full of thought,     of church estates.
  churchly, abounding in bold antitheses and allegorical freaks                                                                  H.V<
  of exegesis, and sometimes heavy, turgid, and obscure in
  style.' His collection of sermons is the firsti we have from a
  Roman bishop. In his inaugural discourse he declared preach-           "TO say that good works-are necessary in them that are
  ing to be his sacred duty. The sermons are short and simple,        to be justified,  is to speak ambiguously, because it may be so      .
  and were delivered mostly on high festivals and on the an-          understood as if it were required before justification, and so
  niversaries of his own elevation. Other works ascribed to           become a cause of our justification."
  him, such as that on the calling of all nations, which takes                                                     Ursinus, Page 485


210                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

I!                                                                     Canons by the Rev. T. Bos: ,,Dit  word! opzettelijk tegen
            The Voice off Our Fathers                                  de Remonstranten uitgesproken. Dezen  tech redeneerden  al-
                                                                       dus : Indien de prediker gelooft  aan de verkiezing, en hij
                 The Canons of Dordrecht                               gelobft  niet dat Jezus voor alle menschen gestorven is, dan
                                                                       staat hij  met- zijn Evangelie geheel verlegen, want zijne'
                              PART TWO                                 verkiezing en zijne particuliere  genade staan hem in den w`eg.
                                                                       We1 een bewijs, dat de Remonstranten de  Gereformeerden
                   EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                            of niet begrkpen of niet wilden begrijpen. De prediking  des
                    S                                                  Evangelies is immers niet de aankondiging in den naam des
                     ECOND HEAD OF DOCTRINE                            Heeren, dat  allen door  den Middelaar Jesus  Christus zalig
      OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST,  AND THE REDEMPTION                      zullen  worden, gelijk zij  allen in Adam verdoemelijk zijn,
                          OF MEN THEREBY                               maar veeleer de aankondigiilg,  dat er voor het verloren men-
                         Article 5 (continued)                         schelij  k- geslacht een weg tot zaligheid is gelegd in Jezus
                                                                       Christus. Die prediking gaat niet van de vooronderstelling
       Our English translation of this article is rather accurate.     -uit, dat de mensch door zijn eigen kracht de door Christus
It might have been improved by placing the words,. "to-                aangebrachte gerechtigheid kan  aannemen  ter zijner  ver-
gether with the  con&and to repent and believe," in closer             lossing, maar veeleer, dat heel de zaligheid van zondaren ligt
connection with the words "ought to be declared and pub-               in God, zoowel de verwerving als de toepassing."
lished," as the Dutch translation has them. And also the                  Now this bit of history is significant for the proger  un-
Dutch terms "verkondigd en voorgesteld"  are more accurate             derstanding of the article. In the first place, let it be noted
than our English "declared and published" as a translation             that this is the same objection that is often raised against the
of the Latin  an~~~~~ciari   et  jwoponi.   There is no inaccuracy,    Protestant Reformed position in one form  or another. It is
however, that fundamentally affects the  ,meaning of the               claimed that the view of the Protestant Reformed Churches
article.                                                               is such that they lose the "addressability" of the gospel. We
      `As to the historical background of the article, we may          too are charged  v&h believing that only the elect must be
not& the following. In the first place, the occasion for this          preached to, foolish as the charge is in the light of the fact
article lay in the fact that the Arminians  claimed that with          that we do not know who the elect are. And although such
their doctrine of sovereign predestination and limited atone-          an argument is not conclusive, nevertheless let it be noted
ment the Reformed had no basis for a general preaching of              that this charge puts us in good company, in the company
the gospel. In fact, the Arminian claimed that the Reformed            of the fathers of Dordrecht. And I submit that while this
man could not really preach the gospel at all. And in the              charge was indeed levelled  against the fathers of Dordrecht,
second place, the Arminian also charged that the Reformed              and will be  levelled  against any genuine Calvinist,  - was, in
view left no room for the preaching of .faith  and repentance.         fact, brought against Calvin himself, - it is at the same time
Both of these  Arminian charges were aimed ultimately at               indeed striking that it will not be brought against any who
the Reformed view of sovereign election. We should not                 teach a general, well-meant offer of salvat'ion  to all that hear
overlook this fact: On the one hand, the Arminian charged              the preaching or a general, conditional promise. If the
that since the atoning work of Christ was limited to the               fathers of Dordt had taught such a general, well-meant offer,
elect, and since the preacher would have something to pro-             they would, it  ,is  safe to say, never have had to face this
claim, therefore, only to the elect, but since he does not             Arminian charge and answer it in Canons II,, 5.
know who the elect are, he cannot preach at all. He does                  In the second place, this historical background is signi-
not know whom he must approach with his message of limited             ficant because it gives an indication of what to expect in this
atonement  sinr.e  only God knows who is elect and who is              article. The accusation of the Arminians concerned the
non-elect. On the other hand, the Arminian charged that                .p?rea.c?zing of the gospel, and the preaching of the command
since salvation is, according*  to the Refdrmed iiew, only for         to believe and repent. And the charge was that the Reformed
those who are sovereignly elected,, and surely for them, so            could not engage in such preaching. This charge was based
that their salvation is not dependent on any act of faith              op the fundamental position of the Reformed faith regarding
and repentance on their part, therefore it is both unnecessary         sovereign election and limited atonement. Now what would
and impossible really to call upon men to believe and re-              you expect in the way of an answer to such a charge? Would
pent. I need not refer to the official record of  the Synod            you expect the fathers to desert that fundamental position in
of Dordrecht in order to show that this is the background              some way,, to compromise, and to say after all that God
of the article  ; for this is conceded by all who know the             will.4 and intends the salvation of all who hear the preaching ?
Ca.nons.  Even. those who speak of a well-meaning and                  That would not' be an answer to the accusation, but a re-
general offer of the gospel, and of a well-meant invitation to         moval of the occasion for `the accusation. No, it is to be
faith and repentance on the part of God to all, concede this.          expected that the fathers say somethifig  about the preaching.
 I will quote in this connection from a commentary on the              And the latter is exactly what the fathers do. For the main


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .                                                    211

proposition of this article is : "This promise . . . . ought to      Christ-crucified-for-all-men was also preached to all men ?
be declared and published . . . together with  the command to        The answer is in the negative. The preaching of the gospel
repent and believe." And notice too that- this proposition is        has ever gone in the course determined by God. And there:
such, that the fathers do not appear. to feel the need of ex-        fore, it never was His good pleasure that the gospel should
plaining any contradiction between it and their preceding            be proclaimed to  all men and to every man. Even the
teaching of sovereign election and limited atonement by seek-        prea.ching  of the gospel,-according to God's good pleasure,
ing refuge in a claim of "paradox" or "mystery." Nothing             is by no means general and universal in the sense of in-
of the kind is found in our  Canons.  Why  not? Because a            cluding every individual human be&g. But then how abgurd
Reformed man has no need of such subterfuge ; he does not            .it is to teach that according to that same divine good pleasure
involve himself in such obvious contradictions, no more              Christ died for all men and for every man. Was it "truly
than Scripture does.                                                 God's good pleasure that the precious merits of Jesus Christ
   With this in mind, let us turn. to the article itself. Does       should be wasted  ? Did God  -intend that the blood of His
it actually say something about the preaching ? Does it say          Son should be shed in vain ? Such must be the conclusion on
something about the scope of the preaching ? Does it in any          the basis of the Arminian position. And therefore, not the
way teach that the scope of the preaching is general ? And :, Reformed truth, but the Arminian error makes real gospel
what does it say of the content of the preaching?                    preaching impossible. But the gospel of God goes on. And
   Let us treat these matters through a process of elimina-          it is preached not upon the basis that there is a possible sal-
tion, gradually narrowing down the subject until we come             vatiori for all men in the blood of Christ;  but it goes forth
td the core of the whole matter.                                     according to God's good pleasure exactly to those nations
   First of all, let us note that according to this fifth article    and those persons whom it is destined  to reach.
also the preaching of the gospel follows the path determined             If the question is asked as to how that course of the
for it by God's good pleasure.  God sends the gospel. And            gospel is determined, the answer, is not difficult to state. Also
He sends it according to His good pleasure, or in behalf of          that course of the gospel is not arbitrary. For not only is it
His good pleasure,  pro  sue beneplacito.  Hence, when the           true, as has been stated earlier, that the preaching of the
gospel comes to certain nations and persons through the              gospel has ever followed a certain easily discerned course
preaching, it does so -strictly according to divine. determina-      in history,. so that it .can be traced quite -clearly ; but certainly,
tion. And when  it does not come to certain nations and              that gospel preaching has ever been directed there, where
persons, that is, conversely, also according to that same divine     God has His elect. Not one `of them can perish. And there-
good pleasure. To put it very negatively: it was not God's           fore, they must all be brought into living contact with Christ
gbod pleasure to send the gospel unto them. Now this is              crucified. And since that contact is wrought through the
significant, even though the same truth was already set forth        preaching of the gospel, that proclamation must surely reach
in the First Head of Doctrine, Article 3. It is significant be-      all God's elect. And from this positive point of view, there-
cause it shows the absurdity of the Arminian error of general        fore, it may be said that the preaching of the gospel surely
atonement. Surely, if the Arminian teaches that Christ died          reaches, according to God's good pleasure, those nations and
for all men, he must teach also that Christ thus died accord-        those persons among whom God has His elect people. In
ing to the divine good pleasure. And such was literally his          that process also the reprobate are reached by the preaching
teaching. The second article of the Remonstrance begins              of the gospel. And even this is not arbitrary: God surely
~with the words, "That agreeably thereto, Jesus Christ, the          has a reason and a purpose in having the gospel proclaimed
Saviour of the world, died for all tid for every man . . . ."        to the reprobate also. But the positive purpose of the preach-
And the words "agreeably thereto" refer to ,the first article,       ing of that gospel is always that the elect may be brought
which speaks of an "eternal, unchangeable purpose" of God.           to a saving knowledge of Christ our Savior.
Hence, the Arminian position is: Christ died for all and for                                                                       H.C.H.
every man according to God's good pleasure. Yet, as also
the Arminian must admit, the gospel of that death of Christ
was by no means preached to all men and to every man. As
we pointed out previously, there were millions upon millions
of individuals and many nations in the old dispensation who              "No man can come unto Christ unless it shall be given
never heard the preaching of the gospel at all. And in the           unto him, and unless the Father shall draw him  ; and all
new dispensation the same has been true. Was that an acci-           men are not drawn by the Father, that they may come to the
dent? Was that merely due to the vagaries of human con-              Son."
duct ? Is  it. to be attributed to a gross failure and neglect                Art. 8, Lambeth  Articles, A.D. 1595, composed by Dr.
on the part of men, on the part of the church  ? Is it to be
said that the church must hasten to fulfill its mission mandate               Whitaker, Regius  professor'pf  Divinity at Cambridge,
before any more poor sinners for whom Christ died go lost?                    and accepted by the Dublin Convocation of 1615, and
Was God perhaps powerless to .see to it that the gospel of                    engrafted on the Irish Articles.


   212                                       T H E   STANDA-RD   BEARER

             COMMON OR INDIVIDUAL CUB IN                            gathering-- together of the believers about the table of the
                         COMMUNION                                  Lord. This is symbolic of the communion of the saints as
                                                                    they are  `one in the Spirit of Christ and as they dwell to-
          It was common practice in the Reformed Churches for       gether with their God in .covenant  fellowship, which` fellow-
   the participants in the sacranient of the Lord's Supper to       ship is only possible as based upon the sacrifice of Christ. 7)
  drink of the wine from a  commo_n  cup. In rather recent          Finally, there is the Word of the minister which he speaks.
  years the change has been made in many churches from the          This is not in reality part of the symbolism, for when the
  common or communal cup to the individual cup. By the              minister speaks, Christ speaks through him the Word of Life.
  former is meant a rather large cup from which many com-           But it is, nonetheless, a very important, or let me say, the
   municants drank. In larger congregations more than one of        most important part of the celebration.
  these cups would be used. By the latter is meant a small           Besides the various elements of the symbolism of the
  cup or glass which would hold enough wine for one person,         sacrament, there are also various elements as to the general
  so that, each person would have his or .her own glass from        form of celebration of the sacrament. I would say that the
  which to drink. Undoubtedly the tendency toward individual        former `constitute the content of Lord's Supper while the
   cups arose with the more recent discoveries of germs and         latter constitute the form. The form has varied and may
  communicable diseases.                                            very well vary according to the locale of the particular don-
      The question has therefore, often come up whkther  or not     gregation  .and also according to the circumstances of the
  the change from a common `to an individual cup detracts from      times in which a particular church may live. The important
  the symbolical significance of the sacrament.                     thing to remember, however, is that the variations in .form
      Although in the Protestant Reformed Churches it has           may never effect in any way the essential symbolism. The
  become rather common to use the individual cup, neverthe-         content is all important, for by it the conscious believer in
  less, it might be well to discuss briefly whether this usage      Christ is assured of his union with Christ through the Holy
  does in' reality detract from the beautiful symbolical signi-     Spirit. So that if the general form of the sacrament changes
  ficance of the table of the Lord.                                 from time to time, with varied circumstances, the church
      The relevant article of the Church Order,  lZrticle 62,       must always be on her guard that this form never effects
  reads as follows: "Every church shall administer the Lord's       the true contents. So also it is important to notice the
   Supper in such a manner as it shall judge most conducive         language of the Church Order in this connection. In the
  to edification; provided, however, that the  .outward  cere-      article which we quoted we read, "Every church shali ad-
  monies as prescribed in God's Word be not changed and             minister the Lord's Supper in such a manner as it shall
  all superstition be avoided, and that at the conclusion of the    judge most conducive to edification  ; provided, however, that
  sermon and the usual prayers, the form for the administra-        the `outward ceremonies as prescribed in God's Word be not
  tion of the Lord's Supper, together with the prayer for that      changed and all superstition be avoided . . ." Thus the form
  purpose, shall be read."                                          of the celebration of this ceremony is left to the discretion of
      It will probably help us to an understanding of the prob-     the local church as long as it does not change "the outward
  lem if first of all we discuss the various elements that enter    ceremonies as prescribed in God's Word" and as long as
  into the symbolism of the Lord's table. The signs themselves      "all superstition is avoided." .
 are two, namely, the bread and the wine ; but the symbolism           Among the various elements that constitute difference in
  is more inclusive. We may say that there are seven elements       form we may mention: 1) The posture of the participants.
  to that symbolism of the sacrament of communion. 1) There         In times past and maybe .in some reformed churches of the
  is first of all the symbol of the bread which points to the       present it has been customary to sit or to kneel or even to
  body of Christ. 2) Secondly, there is the symbolism of the        walk past the minister while one receives from the minister
  broken bread, symbolic of the broken body of Christ upon          the bread and the wine. In this' connection also may be
* the cross. 3) Thirdly, tliere is the wine signifying Christ's     mentioned the fact that sometimes the minister himself gives
  blood. 4) Fourthly, the poured out wine which signifies the       the .bread  and the wine to the communicants while at other
  shed blood of the  ,Lord. We may add  her: parenthetically        times the elders will do this. 2) Secondly, there has often
  that this should be a part of our celebration of the sacrament    been variation as to where the communicants sit during the
  of communipn.  It is often not done where the individual cup      sacrament. Sometimes the congregation would come to the
  is in use, but this is undoubtedly a mistake. For the wine        front in `small groups and sit about the table of the Lord
  poured out is also a part of the symbolism which is essential     literally, and the minister would conduct the ceremony with-
  to our celebration of communion. 5) Fifthly, there is the         out the reading of the form for each group. The form would
  symbolism of the congregation as they eat the bread and           be read first to all. Or at times the communicants would
  drink the wine. This symbolizes to the believers the truth        come to the front rows of pews and partake of the bread
  that by faith he eats and drinks the body and blood of His        and wine as a group. Or again, the communicants may re-
  Savior, and thus becomes partaker of all the benefits merited     main in their .pews  tiith their families scattered throughout
  by Christ for him in His suffer&g. 6) Sixthly, there is the       the auditorium of the church building. 3) Sometmes it is


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   `B E A R E R                                                        2'13

customary for  the minister to break all the bread in the           understanding of this as appears from the following passage
presence of the `congregation ; or, in places where the con-        contained in the  fo;m for the administration of the Lord's
gregation is quite large, the minister may break only a part        Supper, `For as out of many grains one meal is ground, and
of the bread. 4) Again, it may be customary for a passage           one bread baked, and out of many berries being pressed
of Scripture to be read or an appropriate Psalm sung while          together, one wine floweth, and  m&eth  itself together; so
the people are partaking of the bread and wine. Then again,         shall we all,  zc~ho  by  a  true  faitlz  are-  `engrafted  ,irt  Christ,
the -communicant may be silent and in meditation upon the           be altogether one body; through brotherly love, for Christ's
sacrifice and atonement of Jestis  Christ while the elders or       sake . .  .' Thus believers are one by reason of their being
minister distribute the wine and the bread. These matters           grafted in Christ by a tme Faith and; hence by their eating
all relate to the form of the celebration of the Lord's Supper      his flesh and drinking His blood by faith. The question of
and in no way effect the essential symbolism of the sacra-          the one cup (necessity calls in most churches for more than
merit..                                                             one cup) (and we may add that that already destroys the
                                                                    "principle", H.H.) belongs to the `Things indifferent.' "
    Now the question is, whether the common or individual           (p. 147.) Thus Rev. Ophoff finds the symbolism of the
cup is a part of the content, the symbolism of the sacrament,       communion of the saints not in the communal cup, but in
or whether it is a part of the form of the ceremony.                the wine made from many berries, and the common drinking
 Those who argue in favor of the communal  cui, insists             from one wine. Not one cup, but one wine.
that it is a part of the symbolic significance of the whole
ceremony. And the symbolism lies in this,  thati by it iS ex-          Thus far our conclusion is that either one of the two may
pressed the communion of saints. They say that it is neces-         be used. It remains yet to say a word about the question of
sary in order to preserve the distinctive feature of the sacra-     which the two is the better. It can probably be argued that
ment that the believers partake in the fellowship of the            the individual cup is the better of the two. This in the first
Spirit and therefore in the fellowship of one another of the        place,  .because in a large congregation not as much time is
benefits of Christ's atonement. If this were the case,. it cer-     taken in the celebration of the sacrament with the individual
tainly would be necessary to retain the communal cup in             cup as with the common.cup.  Thus there is left more time for
favor of the individual cup.                                        the sermon which precedes this celebration. Secondly, the
                                                                    preference of individual cups may be argued on -the basis of
    Yet such is hardly the case. For,,  iti the first place, the    the Church Order. "Every church shall minister  the Lord's
symbolism is not in the cup but in the wine. As Rev. H.             Supper in such a manner as it shall judge most conducive to
HQeksema  remarks, "There certainly can be no objection             edification ; . . ." It is conceivable that the possibility of the
against the use of the individual cup. An especially for            transference of germs and the communication of colds and
large congregations the individual cup is undoubtedly to be         illnesses should detract from the edification of some people,
preferred. The symbolism is not in the cup, but in the wine.        so that they become more concerned over this than the
Yet, where the individual cup' is used, there certainly could       spiritual significance of their participation in the Lord's Sup-
be no objection, and on the  cdntrary, it would be-entirely         per. As Van  Dellen  and  Monsma observe in their Com-
proper if the minister would pour out the wine into one             mentary on the Church Order, "In this day of widespread
cup in the.sight of the congregation, rather than immediately       and more thorough knowle'dge  concerning disease germs' of
passing all the cups already filled to the communicants."           individual drinking cups in the home, of individual paper
(Eating and Drinking Christ, p. 26). Secondly, the  `sym-           cups and drinking fountains in public places, it is very natural
bolism of the. communion of saints is not expressed in the          that the common cup at the Lord's Table, going from mouth
drinking of. one cup, but rather in the gathering. of the con-      to mouth' constitutes a detraction and a hindrance for at
gregation together -on the Sabbath under the preaching of           least some communicants. By using individual cups this
the Word by the  consistory  and around  &e table of the            source of detraction and hindrance is removed. And that is
Lord. As is expressed in the Notes on Reformed Church               gain." (p. 261.)
Polity by  Re.v. Ophoff, "Some regard the one  cup'-- all              Therefore, in the light of all these considerations, the
drinking from the one cup -as an element in the institution         individual cup does not detract from the symbolism and
of the Lord's Supper by Christ, thus regard it as being a           essence of the celebration -of communion, and is even to be
symbol setting forth the truth of the oneness of God's people       preferred over the communal cup.
in Christ, he being the one spiritual nourishment  *of them all
of whom all the believers partake. But the words of the in-                                                                      H., Hanko
stitution of the Lord's Supper do not indicate that the one
cup has this symbolical significance. According to Scripture
(I Cor. 10:17)  the oneness of the believers is symbolized by
their all partaking of the one bread and of the one wine.               "Good works do not precede them that are justified, but
`For we being many are one bread and one body ; for zve a.re        follow them that are justified."
all partakers of that one bread.' Our Reformed Fathers .had                                                                   - Augustine


 214                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                      lukewarmness which prevents anyone from being sufficiently
              A,LL AR-OU-ND US                                        serious about the church to care to fight.
                                                                         "Ever since things came to open division among the Prot-
 "No Hope  fov Reunion?"                                              estant Reformed brethren many have wondered if there was
                                                                      a possibility for reunion of at least one section of that de-
    This question Rev. John H.  Piersma  asks in the Januarv.?a nomination with the Christian Reformed Church from which
 issue of  torch and  tmw@et  in his rubric "Under Church             the original separation was effected in 1924. Reports were
  Spires." He reflects on an editorial which the Rev. E. Knott        that those who separated from the leadership of the Rev.
 wrote in the November 10th Reformed Guardkn.                         Herman Hoeksema had changed their attitude on the  all-
        Rev.  Piersma,  it seems, along with many others in the       important matter of the well-meant offer of salvation, long
  Chr. Ref. Church, had hopes that the group Rev. Knott re7           regarded as most crucial in the common grace dispute of
presents were ready to hop right over to his churches. But            1924. Revived interest in evangelism and missions, a more
after reading Knott's editorial Piersma  observes some things         cordial attitude toward ministers and members of other
 that Knott poses as obstacles in the way of such a union.            denominations -these and other indications have been in-
  However, at the conclusion of his article Piersma'sees a ray        terpreted by some `to mean that those who no longer identify
  of hope not only that ultimately such a reunion can be worked       themselves with the Rev. Mr. Hoeksema have in effect taken
  out, but also that Knott's group can be made to see that "The       over the Christian Reformed position at more than one
  Three Points of 1924 are not necessarily a hindrance but            point; and that they might as well retu?n to the fellowship
 an aid to unfettered Gospel preaching."                              of that denomination.
        It's all very interesting, not only to see how these men          "Two incidents have occurred recently which seem to
  spar each other with no intention of really hitting, but also       indicate that' there is little reason to hope for such reunion,
  how they maneuver to gain the same objective, namely, to            at least for the present time. The first-not in itself proof
  bring the schismatic group which left                               for the above opinion - is the application of the Rev. James
                                            us  back into the Chr.
  Ref. Church. Knott in his editorial feigns with his right and       Van Weelden for admission to the Christian Reformed min-
  realiy says that he, like Van Weelden, would desire much to         istry. The Rev. Mr. Van Weelden has  .served  the Prot-
  get back into the Chr. Ref. Church, but he will not go in like      estant Reformed congregation in Sioux Center, Iowa, for
  Van Weelden  did.. Van Weelden just collapsed and was               several years. We understand that with few exceptions his
  carried in. But Knott, who always  -was a little stubborn,          entire congregation has decided with him to' re-enter the
  says that he just wants to walk in by himself, i.e., on his own     Christian Reformed denomination.
 power. Can't the Chr. Ref. Chu.rch  see that it is no longer a           "The October 7, 1955 issue of The Bazner,  Christian Re-
  case of just  one- man with a few of his parishioners that          formed denominational weekly, carried an  anouncement  of
 wants to come in, but now it is a considerable group ? There-        Classis  Sioux Center to the effect that Mr. Van Weelden
 fore the Chr. Ref. Church ought to make quite a concession,          had been granted licensure to preach in the churches of the
 and say nothing about the Three Points. But Piersma  feigns          Christian Reformed denomination with a view to his possible
  with his left, and he says ta Knott et al, now really its not       acceptance as a full-fledged. minister pending synodical  ap-
  so bad that those Three Points are there  ; if you can only         proval. To this announcement the Rev. Edward Knott reacts
 hurdle over them you will find that they will work right             in an. editorial in The  Rejoumed   Guag*dian,  November 10,
  clown your alley. ,The thing you really want is with us and         1955. His attitude is reflected in the editorial's title, `No
 that is : expanded Mission endeavor,  ecumenicity,  and un-          C h a n g e . '
 fettered Gospel preaching.  You  can preach conditions in                "The aptness of this title for its writer is determined .
 our churches to your heart's content. Yes sir, it looks like         by the fact that-Classis Sioux Center declared in the afore-
 Knott and  .Piersma   -are fighting each other, but really its       .mentioned announcement that they had `heard his (Van
  just a friendly sparring match in which no one gets hurt,           Weelden's, J.H.P.  j  confession of guilt that he was  co-
  and in the end they walk off together arm in arm. But why           responsible in  both- misrepresenting the Chr. Ref. Church
 should I tell you all about this, when you can read it for           and in engaging in un-Christian practices against our de-
 yourselves ? Here is what Rev. Piersma  wrote :                      nomination . . .'
        "The fact of a recent division `in the Protestant Re-             "This, declares. brother Knott, is certain evidence that.
 formed Churches is not a valid reason for rejoicing on the           there has been `no essential change in the position or attitude
 part of anyone. Church strife is most unpleasant, and its            of the church in which we were denied a place some thirty
 consequences too grievous to allow any other reaction but            years ago. And seeing that such is the case, it is our emphatic
 sadness. This is not to deny that there may well be occasion         position that there is no more room in that church -for us
 for struggle and battle and separation in the history of             today than there was then . . . that if we took the correct
 Christ's Church on earth. After all, there is a situation            position in 1,924, which I am convinced that we did, we can-
 worse than church strife, and that is the indifference and           not before God, silence our conscience today and simply go


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  215

   back.' This second incident seems to destroy all hope                 of condemnation is the  .rebellious  sinner's persistent rejection
   for reunion.                                                          of God's unsimulated call to salvation. No one disbelieves
       "All  in'all, we feel that Mr. Knott's editorial is a very        because he is, reprobate. He is a reprobate because he does
  helpful statement of at least his own personal reaction to the         not want to believe, because he wills to live without God, and
  fact of his former colleague's return to the Christian Re-             because he resists the redemptive will  bf God revealed in
  formed denomination, the manner in which this return was               the gospel call. His unbelief, his rejection, his  resistence
  handled by Classis  Sioux Center, and of the desirability and          bears an indirect relation to, the will of God's decree similar
  possibility of others doing the same thing. This editorial is          to God's `permissive will' in relation to sin.' "
  marked by fairness, charity and frankness-there  .is no                    Mr. Hill does not deprecate this writing of De Jong as
 . need to be in dark as to the writer's position if it is read          the  speach of Arminius, but very carefully  hs writes: "Cal-
   carefully.                                                            v?n did not accept this view of reprobation. While holding
       "And yet we wonder, is there no hope for a healing of             man fully responsible for his condition, Calvin always goes
  at least this breach in the forces of Christ? `I am convinced          back to God as the first cause of reprobation."
  that the direction which is indicated by the official adoption            Apart from this light criticism  the reviewer is quite
   of the three points' is the direction of error and that as long       satisfied that De Jong. has properly done away with  thy
   as she (the Christian Reformed Church, J. H. P.) maintains            "logic" of Hoeksema. He approves of De Jong's assertion
   those `points' as part of her official confession I cannot, and       that with Hoeksema's logic you must destroy man's re-
   before God, may not become a. member of that church as long           sponsibility. Rather he would go along with De Jong in
   as I can be a member of and preach the gospel of Christ in            believing that "the problem of a well-meant gospel. offer
   a denomination that stands unfettered on the- Three Forms             involves a complex of paradoxes or apparent contradictions :
   of  unity only' - Knott asserts (italics inserted). We like           universal offer - limited redemption ; conditionality - un-
   to think, however, that &en for the writer `No Change' does           conditionality ; common grace-particular grace  ; divine
   not. men `No Hope,' for he adds, `That does not mean that             sovereignty-human responsibility ; grace - freedom. There
   we cannot have, or should not have, any contact with the              is no real conflict between any of these pairs of truths. The
   Christian Reformed Church.' May that `contact' be more                unlimited offer of the gospel is not inconsistent with the
   than a desire for vindication of. some pet theory or the              doctrine of particular redemption. These two truths involve
   satisfaction of knowing that `we were  right all along.' May          a paradox which human reason cannot solve. But as both
c it yet be a fruitful contact, one out of which1 mutual under-          are clearly taught in Scripture, we should accept both on the
   standing and willingness to conside; even each other's ad-            authority of God, and reverently refrain from trying to ex-
   monitions will come. And such contact may even bring to               plain the paradox by human reason. The weakness of both
   light that the Three Points of 1924 are not necessarily a             the  Arminian and the hyper-Calvinist is that they try to solve
   hindrance but an aid to unfettered Gospel preaching."                 the paradox logically . . ."
   The  Views  of H.  Hoeksevtza  and  I<.  Schilder.                        Well, that's enough of that! It amuses me how these
       In the same issue of  torch and trumpet,  in the rubric           bright lights hate the "logic" of Hoeksema, yet they are al-
   titled: Is It Worth Reading? edited by Prof. H. R. Van Til,           -ways talking about it. They take trips way to the Free
   appears a review of the book recently produce? by  -Dr.               University of Amsterclam  to do research on, the theology of
   Alexander C. De Jong titled : The Well-Meant Gospel Offer,            Hoeksema. What do you know about that ! But that "abomin-
   The Views of H. Hoeksema and  I<. Schilder, and signed                able logic" of his ! We  hatk it! We love paradoxes rather,
   by Joseph A. Hill, Walton, .New York.                                 paradoxes that we can philosophize about and have more
                                                                         material for more of our confusing books.
       We have not read the book referred to and therefore
   cannot check the statements Mr. Hill makes in his review.                 In the meantime they do away with the clear, uncon-
   Assuming that what he writes in criticism of De Jong's book           tradictable t&h of the Word of God and keep on maintaining
   is based upon a correct interpretation of the text, then Mr.          the  Arminianism of the First Point. What a pity!
   Hill is generally pleased with De `Jong's analyzation not                                                                          M.S.
   only of Hoeksema's and Schilder's views but also of De
   Jong's argument for The Well-Meant Gospel Offer.                          "We are assured of our election by our justification; and
       Mr. Hill, however, does not go along fully  iith De               that we are justified in Christ (which benefit is never granted
                                                                         unto the  elect without sanctification) tie know from faith ;
   Jong's "reaction against an absolute parallelism between elec-
   tion and reprobation." He claims that De Jong "perhaps                of which we are again assured by the fruits of faith, which
                                                                         are good works, new obedience and  true.repentance."
   goes a bit too far in the other direction in his constant                                                            - Ursinus, Idem.
   emphasis on sin as the cause of reprobation. In under-
   scoring man's responsibility he fails, to do full justice to God's        "There is predestinate& a certain number of the predest-
   will as the ultimate cause of reprobation. On page 130 he             inate, which can deither be augmented nor diminished."
   .says, `The cause of faith is election in Christ, and the cause                                - Article 3. Lamheth Articles, Iclem.


  _.                                                                      -____-
 21'6             ..                          T H E   S T A N D A R D -   B E A R E R -

                                                                          did suggest that maybe such a rule might be helpful. I also
                        CONTkWJTlONS                          _           realize that there may be good, cogent reasons why a family
                                                                          goes across town to worship. ..But I also have reason to be-
                                                                          lieve these reasons are not  albays sound. It was therefore
                         "Playing Church"                                 my purpose to impress upon them the necessity of weighing
        The "Contributions." of the Rev. G. Lubbers and brother           seriously  .in their  .own minds the reasons why they by-pass
 J. King appearing in the S. B. of Jan. 15, 1956, reflecting on           a small struggling church to attend a larger one where  this
 an article the undersigned wrote in the S.B. of Dec. 15, 1955,           condition -does not obtain. I know this is a tick&h subject,
 demand an answer, Both of these brethren, and perhaps                    and please do not think it evil of me that I say what I `think.
 there are others, were deeply offended by a certain expression               I am also of the conviction that the  s&ali struggling
 undersigned used which appears_  in quotation marks above.               church that resides in a city  where  three or four other
 These brethren applied it tb the little church at  Creston, while        chdrches  are flourishing should ask itself the question not
 others may have applied it to themselves, especially. those              only why it is being by-passed, but ultimately also whether it
 who were described by me as bypassing a church to attend                 should continue. I do not believe that just because the L&-d
 `elsewhere.                                                              has  led the church through deep and bitter ways that this
        It is this offense that I desire to remove if possible by         necessarily means thst it is His will it should continue. The
 apologizing for the use of that expression. I confess that               con,$ition of the Church of Philadelphia (Rev. 3) is beside
 I used the expression carelessly, not being conscious at the             the point, as I see it. It was separated by at least 25 miles
 time I wrote it of all the evil implications  it contained, as           from the nearest church. I am not talking about little,
 both the brethren have ably pointed  qut to me. I realize                stranded churches, but about a church in a city where three
 more `than ever that words have meaning, and one who                     or four or more churches reside. And mark you, I do not
writes or speaks should weigh them carefully. I want to                   say by this either that I believe it is the Lord's will that
 assure these brethren that the thought never entered my                  Creston  &ould disband. I  dori't know what  th& Lord's will
 soul that Creston was "playing church" when it stood firmly              is for  Cieston.  But I do believe it is Creston's duty to  -seek
 in the midst of the battle recently waged in our churches                the Lord's will in this1 matter. I do not believe that just be-
 when by the act of schism or by the exercise of Christian                cause the church has had a trying experience and the Lord  -
 discipline the greater portion of this church fell away. Nor             has brought to manifestation His faithful few, that the few
 did I ever think Creston was "playing church"' when each                 ought to conclude that this is necessarily a sign from heaven
 Lordfs  Day  she preaches the Word and administers the                   that they must continue.
 sacraments, and at each Classjcal meeting asks .for Classical                Rev. Lubbers does not lil&  the'word "ridiculous" which
 appointments. If I did, I would have refused to accept such              I also used in my article. I don't either after I read his
 appointments and stated publicly my reasons for doing so.                contribution. His article suggests that I should rather have
 Nor is it so that when I keep such appointments at Creston               used the antonym  "cOmmendable"  instead. This, not only I
 that I feel in my soul that I am helping her to "play church."           but our  Classis  as well has already done. We say it is  in-
 Nor do I believe that everyone who bypasses  Creston, or any             deepd commendable that a little group of eight families pays
 other church for that matter, to attend the church of his                a  budget`almost  twice as much as anybody else. But I as-
 choice across town is necessarily guilty of "playing church."            sure these brethren that my commendation turns, to pity if
 I feel now that I have offended good people by the use of                that condition continues and it should prove to be unneces-
 that expression, and fbr this I `am sincerely sorry.                     sary.
        However, I do not wish to have my apology destroy all                It is not my purpose to discourage  Creston, nor to tell
 that I wrote. The intent which was not evil, but good, I                 her to disband. Creston will solve her own problems. But I
 will defend.                                                             do like to look at things objectively and factually.
        I purposed to lay it upon the heart of all those who by-                                                             M.  Schipper
pass the church of their neighborhood to attend another of
their choice to weigh heavily their reasons for doing so.
And I admit that I had in the back of my mind the church
at.  Creston when I wrote. That surely could not be con-                     "The moving or efficient cause of predestination unto life
sidered evil of me that I addressed myself to Creston's                   is not the foresight of faith, or of perseverance, or of good
neighbors to cause them to reflect seriously on the reasons               works, or of  any thing that is in the  pe&on predestinated,
why they do not attend there. I was seeking the good of                   but only the good will and pleasure of God."
Creston as well as that of the people in question. I realize,
of course, that you cannot legislate church membership, i.0                                  Article 2, The  Lambeth  Articles, Creeds
                                                                   111
cannot force people to go to any particular church though I                                  of Christendom,  Schaff.


