I VOLUME XXX111                                    '    SEPTEMBER 1,.  1957  -  GFLAND   RAPIDS,  MICHIGAN                             NU;LIBER   20
I  I                                                                                  and evening of life,. they were as cut down and withering
                 M E D I T A T  SO  TV                                             i/j- grass, brown and seared by God's anger and wrath.
                                                                                         And why this troubling wrath and anger?
                                                                              `i God set our iniquities before Him, our secret sins in the
                   BREVITY AND LONGEVITY                                              light of His countenance.
                                                                                         And so he came to this conclusion:  "For all our days
                  "
                   .  .  .    for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."               are passed away in Thy wrath: we spend our years as a
                                                                 Psalm 90  :lOb
                  "He that believeth on the Son hath  .everlasting  life."            tale that is told."
                                                                   John  3:36a
                  ". . .                                                                 Indeed, our age, our life time is as a sorry tale, and its
                              and when he had said this, he fell asleep."
                                                                   .Acts 7 :60b       telling does nat take too much time.
                  ". . .
I                  .'because man goeth to his long home . . . .I' In general, it is. 70 years. And if you are strong, it is
                                                                    Eccl.  125
                                              -                                       80 years.
           Moses, the man of God, had climbed upon the mountain                          And the best of those years, that is to say our PRIDE,
       of faith, and had seen God.                                                    the days and hours which we treasure, are nothing hut
           That view had given him great wisdom. He looked                            labour  and sorrow.
       back over the ages that had gone  .before and saw the genera-                     Well, that is a sorry tale at best.
       tions of the people of God which had trusted in Him; and                          Take the most wonderful man or woman of the children
       found in Him their dwellingplace. He saw them: Abraham,                        of God, and run a talkie-movie of the life they led, as God
      Isaac and Jacob, but also Noah, Lamech and Adam, and                            saw it from the heart, and I assure you  <that the audience
       counted them blessed.                                                          would go home quiet and still. They had seen a dream.
           And his view went farther back and saw God the Cre--                          It was  soon cut off, and he or she flew away !
       ator: he saw the bringing forth of the mountains and the                          Life on this earth is a sorry'spectacle, and it is very
       forming of the earth and the world.                                            brief. It is brief not only in its entirety, but it is brief from
           But even there his  .eyes did not rest: he tried to  pene-                 the cradle to the grave. There is a hurry, a hastening from
      ,trate the wakes of the eternity which was before the earth                     the beginning to the sorry end. We fly away. even from
       sank its foundation. But he failed to see farther. It is not                   the cradle.  ~
       given to mere man to penetrate eternity. Beyond the knowl-                        What a mess we make of.life!
      edge that it is there we do not know anymore.  411 he
       could say after his view into  ,the mighty beyond  was this:                      A miserable brevity!
       "even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God !" And                                                 8  *  *  *
      to see and to believe this is grace. Beautiful grace !
          -And then his view returned again. Again he saw the                            Especially the end is miserable!
       generations of the people of God. But he sang  in. a minor                        If you wish for a commentary on the experience of old
       key. It almost sounds like a dirge.                                            age, then go to Solomon, or, rather, to the Holy Ghost in
           He saw the generations melt away in the howling winds                      Ecclesiastes 12 :l-5.           -
        of the wrath of God. As with a 3ood he saw the generations                     - What a picture of weakness,  decreptitude,  senility,
       carried away by God. Oh, it might seem in the morning of                       dotage !          -
       life as though they would amount to something, but when                           A picture of trembling,. bowing down, darkness, and
       he. returned in. his gazing, and saw them in the afternoon                     fear, yes, even fear of the chirping of a little bird. I remem-


                                                                                                                 2
      458                                         T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R

      ber travelling in my car with an old man: his, continually        mouth with good things ; so that thy youth is renewed like
      asking for slower and slower speed saw me travelling at           the  eagle's.`" Psalm 103 :5.
      twenty miles per hour. And even at that speed he was glad             And, finally, there is the assurance for someone or for
      to get home, and to be at what he called rest. That was the       some people that "With long life will I satisfy him, and
      man who in his youth had won the first prize in  "hard-
                                                         I              show him My salvation."
      rijden" in the Netherlands.                                           Summing it all up, we hear of a people whose life is
         At the age of fourscore years and ten, or at the age of        long, and whose end is peace, for they see the salvation of
      the very strong "desire shall fail and the grasshopper shall      God.
      be a burden."                                                         So there is a generation of men and women and children
         Oh yes, from the cradle to the grave we fly away! And          who partake of the conclusion of the fifth commandment:
      the tempo is fast. Miserably fast. And I mean that the            "that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy
      whole journey, the fast journey is a journey of `great misery,    God giveth thee."
      a misery that mushrooms as we approach the final gust that           After all is said and done, there must be a people who
     brings us to our long home.                                        do not partake of the miserable brevity of life, but who par-
         And it takes wisdom to see this and to agree, with this.       take of the longevity that is precious and blessed.
         The fool walks amid the old and aged, and does not                John clinches the issue when .he testifies by the Holy
     apply his heart unto wisdom. He does not nun&r  his dqs!           Spirit that: "He that believeth on the Son  ha.th  evevlastivtg
     That is, he does not see his days in the proper perspective        life  !" In other words, there is a people who not only will
     of God and His wrath.                                              receive eternal life at some future date, but who now already,
         But soon he, in his turn, walks down the street "voetje        in their life span of seventy or eighty years, partake of the
      voor voetje." He carefully walks around that stone: .he           everlasting life with God.
     might stumble over it. There was a day when he would                  They have blessed longevity here on earth. They have
     laugh at rocks and boulders. But not anymore. He is old,           eternity `with God through Jesus Christ now already.
     decrepit, senile. His lamp is almost burned out.                                             *  *  *  *
         The worst is when you see a number of such wrecks
     together. You need not see them, you can hear them blind-             Yes,  .we have to end with Jesus again, as always. And,
     folded. They have their own peculiar `sounds.                      properly speaking, we really end with the God of our sal-
                                                                        vation.
         Today you saw and heard them  ; but tomorrow you were
     told that he is dead, and she is passed away. You stood still      There was a tree in Paradise which is called the Tree
     a moment; but then hurried on again, on the way to your            of Life. While Adam and Eve ate of that tree they lived
     own days of rheumy tears and faltering steps.                      with God in covenant fellowship. And they were very
                                                                        happy on this earth.
         Brief, oh so brief is life - and miserable !
         Reduced rations, pills, plasters, none of this and none           I agree: it was not for long, but they did.
     of that, careful, grandpa, walk this way!                             And eating of that tree was the same thing as obedience
         And we fly away !                                              to God.
                               * * *  *                                    You all know how that happy period ended: they ate
                                                                        of the forbidden tree and died.
         And yet!                                                          And the result was death, misery, damnation. And they
         I read of the end of some men and women that make me           were the result of the wrath of God.
     jealous.                                                              But  Go-d remembered His eternal covenant. And that
         Especially of Stephen. He also came to the end of his          means that He remembered that' His chosen people had to
     hurried day. But after he had said some words that are             go to heaven, no matter how, but they must receive the
     precious as the diamond, he  fell  a&ep. And let us not for-       bounties He had determined to give them in His counsel.
     get the majestic dying of Jacob. In the midst of the bless-           You can say it in still another way: He determined to
     ing of his stalwart sons that stood around his bed, and            glorify Himself through Jesus Christ in the people of His
     without any transition at all, he cried out: "I have waited.,      everlasting love.
     for Thy salvation, 0 Lord  !"                                         You will kindly remember how I pictured to you the
         And God says of some people: "Mark the perfect man,            brevity, and misery of the life of man on earth because of
     and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace !"        the anger and the wrath of God which like a flood bore all
     Psalm 37 :37.                                                      the sons away. How God thunders from age to age: Re-
         And there is the testimony that God  ". . . satisfieth thy     turn, ye children of men, to destruction  ?




I


                                                T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                 459

        Well, God chose Himself a Man among men. His Name                                                                                                                                                              r
     is the Son of man.                                                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                Semi-monthly, exeept  monthly during June, July and August
        He is Jehovah Himself in our human nature.                               Published by the  REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
/       The name which God chose for Him was Jesus Christ.                      P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
     And that means: Jehovah Saves ! And: the Anointed One!                                             Editor  - REV.  HER&  HOEKSEMA
     The first stresses that the God of our salvation saves us                  Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
                                                                                              Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
     from His wrath and anger, and the second one stresses that                                                      Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
     in order to do that He must do two things : He must suffer,                All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
     the wrath of God because of our sins and guilt, and also                   G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand. Rapids 7,  Mich.
     that He must work the work which the elect of God should                   Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
                                                                                address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
     have worked, and in our stead.                                             RENEWAL:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
        Well, He came.                                                          ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                                to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
        And His appearance among the sons of men was ter-                                                Subscription. price: $4.00 per year
     rible. For a description of that appearance read Isaiah  53,               Edered as Second Class  ,matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan
     among other places.                                                  "`                                                                                                                               _I::
        So terrible was the vision that many were astonished
     at Him  ; His visage was marred more than any man, and                                                               C O N T E N T S
     His form more than the sons  ,of man. Isaiah 52  :`14.               MEDITATION  -
                                                                                    Brevity  'and Longevity.  ..__  .._..  .______._   _._____.. . . . . . . . . . . 457
        Who shall declare His generation  ? for He was cut off                               Rev. G. Vos
     out of the land of the living: for the transgression of God's        E D I T O R I A L S   -
     people was He stricken.                                                        The Free Offer  ___.,..,.....,.___.........,............................................                                    460
        All the sourness and darkness, multiplied a million times                            Rev. H. Hoeksema
     millions, came upon His defenseless head. He lived His              ,QUESTION           Box ____................................................................................                            462
     brief life in the midst of an everlasting tornado, an indescrib-                        Rev. H. Hoeksema
     able earthquake, a howling wilderness. He trembled and               OUR DOCTRINE  -
     faltered and stu'mbled as no other man or devil.                               The Book of Revelation . . . ..___..................................................                                         463
                                                                                             Rev. H. Hoeksema
        I often see old men walking alone, forsaken: who would            THE  DAY OF SHADOWS  -
     choose them for a boon companion ? One of the miseries of                      The Prophecy of Zechariah...  .___..   ._.._.   _.  .._..__  .._.............._  465
     old age is forsakenness.                                                                Rev. G. M. Ophoff
        But what shall I say of Jesus ?                                   FROM HOLY  WRIT  -
                                                                                    Exposition of I Corinthians 12-14 . . . . . . . .._.__...........................  468
        Let Him say, no, cry it: My God, My God; why hast                                    Rev. G. Lubbers
     Thou forsaken Me ?                                                   IN HIS FEAR -
        The horrible brevity of Jesus' life : cut off from among                    Living As the Lord Wills (2) . . . . . . . . . . .._...................................  470
     the living.                                                                             Rev.  1. A. Heys
                                                                          CONTENDING FOR THE  FAITH  -
                                 *  +  8  *                                         The Church and `the Sacraments ._.______........_..........................  472
                                                                                             Rev. H. Veldman
        Dear reader, have you that Jesus in your heart?                   THE VOICE OF  OUR  FATHERS  -
        Then, you may be old, feeble, miserable.                                    The Canons of Dordrecht. .____.  ._....... . . . . . . ..__ _......... . . . ..___  474
                                                                                             Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
        But in the midst of your sorrows you rejoice, .you eter-          FEATURE ARTrCLE
     nally rejoice.                                                                 Altar of Incense _...............................: . . . . . .._.............................  476
        You see, Jesus was sought out by His God. He came                                    Rev. C. Hanko                                       \
     and found Him. in the garden of Joseph and endowed Him               ALL AROUND US -
     with eternal life.                                                             Interesting Quotations and Interesting Changes  .._____...._.....  478
                                                                                             Rev. M.  Schipper
        And everyone who has this Jesus in His heart is at heart          CohiTRIsUrroNs _
     young: his youth is renewed. Here on earth he begins to                        "We Welcome You". . ..____...._  ___..._? . a.`... ___. _.. . . . . . . . . . . . ,480
     live  the eternal Sabbath.                                                              Ken Ezinga
                                                                                    Let Us Have Things Straight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
        And all for'Jesus', for God's sake ! Amen.                                           Thys Feenstra
                                                                G . V .   -_


460          -                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

1                                                                     words. And notice two facts. First of all, that God certainly
                  E  D.1  T  O..R I A  1  S                           does no't assume an attitude of love and favor toward him
                                                                      but, on the contrary, that of hatred : He leads him in the
                                                                      way of destruction and roots him otit of the land of living.
                         The Free Offer                               And -secondly, note, too, that the righteous rejoice at this
                                                                      attitude of God against of the wicked. This is a psalm that
        Our discussion of the pamphlet "The Free Offer" by            may be sung by the church on the sabbath!
Murray and Stonehouse was interrupted, but we will now                   The same note is heard in Ps. 58 :lff. : "Do ye indeed
continue it.                                                          speak righteousness, 0 congregation ? do ye judge uprightly,
        The last time we  w;ere discussing the contention of the      0 ye sons of men ? Yea, in heart ye work wickedness  ; ye
authors of "The Free Offer" that the gifts bestowed by God            weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. The wicked
in this present time upon the ungodly reveals that there is,          are estranged from the womb ; they go astray as soon as they
in God, a disposition of lovingkindness and mercy toward the          are born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a
ungodly as such that is not conditioned upon the penitent             serpent : they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth ,her ear ;
attitude of those that receive the gifts. It  .is a revelation of     which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming
love and mercy in God to all the ungodly without  exception.          never so wisely." In these verses again the concretely
        We might ask here, of course, whether all the suffering       existing wicked are described as they are and act in the
of this present time ending  inevitably in death and, for the         world of this present time. Now, what is the attitude of God
impenitent ungodly, in eternal death and hell, are not the            toward these wicked men as it is also reflected in the attitude
expression of the wrath and hatred and of the curse of God            of the church. Is it an attitude of lovingkindness and musr:
and whether, therefore, there is in God a mixture of love and         the same position be held by the people of God, as Murray
hatred toward the same impenitent ungodly.                            and Stonehouse would have us believe ? The very contrary
                                                                      is true as is evident from what follows in the psaim. We
        But, for the moment, we will not go into this.                read : "Break their teeth, 0 God, in their mouth: break out
        In the last issue  of The  St.andard Bearer  in which we      the great, teeth of  the young lions, 0 Lord. Let them melt
were discussing this matter we were beginning to prove from           away as waters which-run continually: when he bendeth his
Scripture that it teaches the very opposite of what Murray            bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces. As a
and Stonehouse present as the truth about the attitude of             snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away ; like
God toward the ungodly. Cf. S. B. June 1, 1957.                       the untimely birth of a woman, that they not see the  sun.
        This we will now continue.                                    Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them  away
                                                                      as with a whirlwind,. both living and in his wrath." Thus
        We must needs limit ourselves for proof from the Bible        &the  cdngregation  of God may and does still sing on the sab-
that the attitude of God toward the reprobate ungodly:is not          bath when they gather for worship. But this is quite impos-
one of love and lovingkindness but of hatred and displeasure          sible if the philosophy of a so-called "common grace?' is
is so abundant that we may well regard it as the current              taught in the church, and it is maintained that God assumes
teaching of Scripture.                                                an attitude of lovingkindness toward the wicked.
        First of all, we wish to quote a few more passages from          This note is struck thioughout the psalms. However, we
the psalms.                                                           will still call attention  to* two of them, viz. Psalm 73 and
        Of the ungodly we read in Ps.  52:1-7:  "Why  boastest        Psalm 92.
thou thyself in mischief, 0  mighty  man ? the goodness of               Asaph is the author of Psalm 73 .as we all know. In the
God endureth continually. Thy tongue deviseth  mischiefs   ;          first part of this psalm, the author describes how he was
like a sharp razor, working dedeitfully. Thou  lovest  evil more      troubled at the prosperity of the wicked. He was almost
than good  ; and lying rather than to speak righteousness.            inclined to believe, with Murray and Stonehouse, that God,
Thou  lovest. all devouring ,words, 0 thou deceitful tongue.          indeed, is filled with  l&e toward the wicked. Writes he:
God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee          "But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had
away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee         well nigh slipped. For I was envious  at the foolish, when
out of the land of the living. The righteous shall see and fear,      I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands
and shall laugh at him: Lo, this is the man that made not             in their death  ; but their strength is firm. They are not in
God his strength ; but trusted in the abundance of his riches,        trouble as other men  ; neither are they plagued like other
and strengthened himself in his wickedness."                          men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain  ;
        Notice that Scripture here describes the concretely exist-    violence covereth them as a' garment. Their eyes stand out
ing ungodly man: he boasts in his mischief, he has a very             with fatness; they have more than heart could wish. They
evil tongue, he loves evil and lying and all devouring                are corrupt, and speak wickedly Concerning oppression: they


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   eEARE,R                                                        461

speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and                 Briefly we must also consider psalm 92, particularly verses
their tongue walketh through the earth." Again we say that           4-7.
in these words the ungodly are described, not in the abstract,               This psalm is particularly  design?d  to be sung  by the'
but as they concretely exist and act, and as they live and           congregation of the people of God on the sabbath day.
reveal themselves in the  presetit  world. No wonder that
Asaph, at first, and for a time, was envious at the wicked.             The psalmist begins by saying that it is a good thing to
                                                                     give thanks unto the Lord and to sings praises to the name
   Moreover, also the  Ijeople of God assume this attitude           of the most High, to extol the lovingkindness `of our God
of folly as. they consider the prosperity of the wicked and          in the morning and His faithfulness every night, and to do
their own suffering of this present time. Listen : "Therefore        so upon the harp and the psaltery with a solemn sound.
his people return hither,: and waters of a full cup are wrung
out to them. And they say, How doth God know? and is                         Thereupon he declares that his heart has been gladdened
there knowledge in the most High  ? Behold, these are the            through the work of the  Lo&, and that in those works of
ungodly who prosper in the world ; they increase in riches.          His God he will triumph.
Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and -washed my                     The reason for this is, on the one hand, particularly ex-
hands in  innocency.  For all the day long have I. been              pressed in the passage to which we wish to call your attention
plagued, and chastened every morning." Thus was the com-             in this connection, vss. 5-7: "0 Lord, how great are thy
plaint of the people of God. They surely saw no  commoh              works! and thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man
grace, but they only imagined that God, in this present time,        knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this. When the
only favored the wicked as was evident from their earthly            wicked spring. as the grass and all the workers of iniquity
prosperity.                                                          do flourish ; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever."
   Now, the author realized that this was wrong and that he                  Note :
might ndt speak thus. In his deepest heart he knew very
well that ;.God did not and does not love the wicked but the                 1. The psalmist is speaking of the great works of the
righteous only. If, therefore, he would speak thus he would          Lord and His very deep thoughts. The meaning is, of course,
offend against the generation of the children of God. Never-         that the very deep thoughts of `God  are revealed in His great
theless, he could not understand and when he attempted to            works. The deep thoughts of the Lord are His eternal counsel
know this, it was too painful for him. Until he went into the        and purpose with, regard to all things in time, and those
sanctuary of God, and began to see these same earthly  things        thoughts  .He Himself realizes and executes in the world. They
in the light of God's own revelation. Then the whole situa-          are  deep; because they cannot be discerned on the surface
tion changed radically.                                              of things. Superficially considered, it might seem as if the
                                                                     Lord blesses and is gracious to everybody, wicked and right-
   Then he clearly sees that even the earthly prosperity of          eous alike, for they all receive the good things of this present
the wicked is meant for their destruction. For he writes:            time. In fact, it would almost appear as if the Lord favors
"Surely thou didst set them in slippery places : thou castedst       the wicked more than the righteous, for they receive more
them down into destruction. How are they brought into                of the things of this present time.
desolation as in a moment, they are utterly consumed with
terrors. As a dream when one awaketh  ; so, 0 Lord, when                     2. However, the psalmist, who has learned to know the
thou awakest, thou shalt ,despise  their image." Is this to be       deep thoughts of the  Lord and to understand His great
interpreted as the lovingkindness of the Lord toward the             works, realizes that this is not the case. It is not true that
wicked ? We know better. All the things of this present time,        the Lord is favorable to all men in the things of this present
all the prosperity of the wicked, all the so-called blessings        time ; it is still less true that He favors the wicked more than
which the wicked receive are nothing but slippery places on          the righteous. The very contrary is true. God makes the
which the Lord casts them down into destruction;                     wicked spring as the grass, and He causes all the workers of
   And the end of it  all, both for' the wicked and for the          iniquity in order that, by these means, they may become
righteous, in vss. 27 and 28 of this psalm is expressed as           great in iniquity and ripe for everlasting destruction. Such
follows : "For,  10,  they that are far from thee shall perish  ;
thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.            are the deep thoughts of God. He loves the righteous and
But  it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my            hates all the workers of iniquity.
trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works." In-                3. It is only the brutish man and the fool that does not
deed, God loveth the righteous, but, He  h@es all the workers        understand this. But he to whom the Lord reveals His great
of iniquity! There is nothing common in God. There is no
common grace or lovingkindness for the righteous and the             works and deep thoughts, understands and loves this truth.
wicked alike.                                                                                                                       H.H.


462                                           T H E   STAN'DAIW   l<EAIZEl\:

                       QUESTION BOX                                   consistory, reveals a lively interest in his work, prays for him,
                                                                      not only from the pulpit, but also in private prayer, and sup-
                                       Grand Rapids, Michigan         ports him, not only financially but also in an ethical, spiritual
                                       August 12, 1957'               manner. Besides, we have other means to extend the kingdom
                                                                      of God as we, as Protestant Reformed Churches, represent
Rev. H. Hoeksema                                                      it. Do we talk to others about the truth, and about the errors
1139 Franklin St., S. E.                                              of 192.4 ?  Do we study The ShLda.rd Beawer  and let others
Esteemed editor :                                                     read it or gain subscriptions for it? And do not forget the
                                                                      radio. The consistory ought to know all this anti more arid
       Since being in the Consistory, I have often wondered           should be able to answer the question.
about the meaning and the advisability of some of the                    2. As to the second question, I fully agree with the
questions asked in Church Visitation, and after talking with          sentiments expressed by Mr. King. I, too, fail to understand
others including some of our ministers concerning these               why the pastor, the elders and the deacons must, in  turn,
things, I find that there are many others who are not sure            absent <themselves from the meeting in order that they may
as to the meaning of these questions, and therefore take it           bk discussed. I never agreed with this methdd. Personally,
upon myself to ask you to answer them in  The  Sta:nda,rd             I feel that whatever one has to say about me, whether it be
Benrer.                                                               good or, evil, he may say in my presence, and otherwise he
       In the questions to the full consistory, question 15 reads,    better keep still.
"Is the Congregation busy in the extension of God's King-                 But, perhaps, it would not be a bad idea if Creston's
dom, especially in th.e promotion of missions, to the best of         consistory would bring the whole matter to the classis and,
its ability? Does this simply mean, meeting its classical as-         through classis,  to our synod.
sessments ? If so, is it -not rather superfluous ? If there is                                                                         H . H .
anothe;  meaning would it not be wise to make it clear in. the
question itself. I mean by  Synodical  Decision?
  Then  also j would like td know why must there be ques-                                       IN MEMORIAM
tions asked in the absence of the Pastor, Elders, or Deacons ?           T,he Mary-Martha  Society `of the Manhattan Protestant Re-
If the Pastor is guilty of  .negligence  in any of the  maiters       formed Church, hereby wishes to express its sincere sympathy to
asked by the church visitors, would it not be proper that the         Mrs.  Menn'o Flikkema and family in the loss of her father,
Elders would speak `to the Pastor, rather than the Church                                   MR. GEORGE  VRIELING
Visitors, and if this has been done, and the offense remained            May the Lord sustain and comfort them with the assurance
would it not be the duty of the consistory to place him under         that there remaineth a rest for the people of God and that all
censure? Or even if not, to place him under censure, but to           things work together for good to them that  llpve  God.
place  it before the. Church Visitors why should he not be                                            P. Vis, President
                                                                                                    Mrs. Andrew H. Leep, Secretary
present? Certainly if I have spoken to the Pastor or Elder or
Deacon, whatever tht case may be, I should have no fear                                         IN MEMORIAM
of speaking to the Church Visitors in his presence.                      The Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
       These are the questions I submit to you for your con-          Grand  Rapids, expresses its sympathy to our fellow members,
sideration, realizing that our fathers certainly had a purpose        Elder G. Yonker and Deacon G. Yonker, Jr., in  `the  loss of their
in them and their order, and therefore await your answer in           wife and  m'other,
The Standard Beaver.                                                                        MRS. MAUDE YONKER
                        Your brother in Christ,                          May the God of all grace comfort the bereaved and sustain
                                                     Joe King         them in their sorrow. "And we know that all things work to-
                                                                      gether  for good to them that love God, to them who are the
       Answer :                                                       called according to his purpose."  porn.  828.
       1. I do not believe that question 15 simply refers to the                                                Rev. C. Hanko, President
fact that the congregation pays its classical assessments. In                                                   P. Decker, Secretary
the first place, it may mean that, in larger congregations, the                                 IN MEMORIAM
church may have a missionary of its own and supports him                 The  Con&tory  of the Protestant Reformed Church of South
both financially and spiritually, in its prayers and means of         Holland, Illinois, expresses its heartfelt sympathy to our  bro,ther
encouragements. However, this cannot be done by many                  elder, Peter S. Poortinga, and family, in fhe death of his mother,
of our congregations because they are-too small. Neverthe-                             MRS.  JOH,ANNA  POORTINGA
less, the fact remains that our churches have a missionary.              "Blessed are  the dead which die in the  cord  . .  ." Rev.  14:13.
And the question, therefore, implies that the consistory knows                                               H. C. Hoeksema, President
whether or not the congregation, including, of course, the                                                   J. Van  Baren,  C'lerk


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               463
 ,I/                                                               had been announced as the Lion of Juda's tribe. You see,
              O U R   DOCTRIINE                               II the assurance has been given that the Lion has overcome.
                                                                   But the question that is now answered by the appearance of
                                                                   this Lion is : how and in what capacity has He overcome ?
            9 THE BOOK OF REVELATION                               Has he gone forth like a roaring Lion, to conquer the enemy
                                                                   by His royal power ? No, the,, answer to this question is :
                          CHAPTER  XII                             the Lion of  Judas tribe has overcome in the capacity of a
                THE VISION OF  THE SEALED  BOOK                    Lamb. In fact, he has done so in the capacity of a Lamb for
                           Revelation 5                            the slaughter. Perhaps if it had required the mere power of
                                                                   the Lion, the creature could have fought the battle that would
  The Lion of Juda's tribe is at the same time the Root of         make him worthy to open the book. But it required some-
  David. But this symbol pictures in  umnistakable  language       thing far different. And that something is pictured in the
the unity of the old and the new dispensations. The kingdom        symbolism of the Lamb. The Lamb in Scripture is the sym-
 of David from its spiritual side is no other than the kingdom     bol of most perfect submission, and therefore of absolute
  of Christ in the new dispensation. The one kingdom is in its     obedience. As we read in Isaiah 53 : "As a lamb that is led
 outward manifestation only typical of the other. In essence       `to the slaughter, so he opened not his mouth." And for that
  it was the same. For  ,that same Root that sprouted and          reason it is the symbol of the most perfect sacrifice to God,
  brought forth a shoot that will  -develop  into the new and      brought in absolute submission and obedience, without rebel-
  everlasting kingdom of Christ Jesus was prese-nt  also in the    lion or murmuring. In the second place, note that the Lamb
  loins of David. Israel and the congregation,~ the old and the    stands as though He had been slain. That means, of course,
 new kingdom, are not two, but one.                                that the Lamb bears the marks of having been led to the
        Of Him the elder says that He has overcome to open         slaughter, of having been sacrificed. But it also brings out
 the book. The opening of the book, we remember, is the            very forcibly that this Lamb did not succumb, but stands
 bringing and completion of the kingdom through the break-         even after it had been slain. Although it was already sacri-
 ing of the seven seals. And therefore, that the Lion has over-    ficed, yet it stands and lives. Thirdly, we note about this
 come -to open the book implies that IIe has already gained        Lamb that it has seven eyes, which the text interprets as
 that particular victory that was required to complete the         being the Seven Spirits of God. The Lamb has received the
 kingdom of God. In what capacity He has gained this               Spirit of God in all its  fulness.  And that Spirit dwells in
 victory becomes clear when He Himself apears  on the scene        Him, but is also sent forth into all the kingdom, so that it is
 before the wondering eyes of John.                                the life of that kingdom. Then too, note that the Lamb alsa
        "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and     has seven horns. The horn is the symbol of royal power and
 of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a       dominion in Scripture. Seven is the number of completeness
 Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven           with a view to the kingdom of God. Especially is this the
 eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all      case when it is compared with the power of the beast. The
 the earth." Thus we read in the text. Also in regard to this      beast receives ten horns, and therefore he also possesses a
 wonderful Lamb interpreters have exhausted their ingenuity        complete. dominion. But the dominion of the beast is limited
 to picture to their minds its image, and artists have tried       by the decree of God and therefore his number is ten. When-
 to the utmost of their creative, genius to present its picture    ever you see the beast appear with the mark of ten, you may
 on canvas, but with little result. Evidently if you read the      depend on it that it is the kingdom of the devil. Even though
 text, it- seems quite impossible to picture a Lamb with seven     he tries to imitate this number seven, you must never be-
 horns and seven eyes. And even though this were possible,         lieve him. This indeed is what he tries to do : he continually
 so that a plastic presentation might be given of. that Lamb,      makes an attempt to change the number of his horns, as
 certainly the fact that the Lamb stands as though it had been     Daniel tells us. When he receives ten, he destroys three of
 slain can never be concretely represented. Neither is this at     them, and tries to appear, therefore, under the symbol of the
 ali essential to the interpretation of the symbolism. Rather number seven, But never believe him! Seven is the number
than this, we should pay attention to all the details that are     of the Lamb. And this number seven you find only there,
 mentioned, in order to obtain a true interpretation. We note,     where the marks of the Lamb that has been slain also appear.
 therefore, in the first place, what also John must have           .If therefore the devil appears with beautiful imitations of the
 noticed with surprise, that here stands a Lamb. The one. that     kingdom of Christ, and tries to have us enlist in the service
 would be able to take and open the book had been announced        of his kingdom, ask immediately for his marks of sacrifice.
 as a Lion. But if John now also expects that he will see a        It is the only thing which he cannot show. The Lamb has
 Lion in all his royal majesty appearing before his vision, he     seven horns, and therefore he is King over the entire king-
 is utterly mistaken. And yet it is perfectly in order that the    dom, and King everlasting. Finally, note too that this Lamb
  Savior should appear in the vision as the Lamb, though He        stands in the midst of the throne and -of the four living

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

creatures  -and  of the four and twenty elders. He is the life       of obedience. He sees that this Son of Man receives the
and center of them all, and His seven Spirits pervade them           power and the kingdom, the authority to bring and realize
all.                                                                 the kingdom. .B.ut he also sees that this kingdom is actually
        It is not difficult to understand the meaning of it all.     given Him and completed, so that all nations bow before
This Lamb is Christ Jesus, and that in His humiliation and           Him. The first of these had already been realized, so that
exaltation. It shows how he has overcome, and that He has            John merely beholds the Lamb as standing as though it had
overcome, to open the book. He has overcome like a Lamb,             been slain. The third of these must still be realized in the
that is, as the Servant of God, ready to perform the will of         future, so that John does not as yet see the completion of the
the Father to perfection. He was ready to bear His wrath.            dominion. What. John here beholds is that second element,
He was ready to suffer under that wrath. He was ready to             namely, that the power and authority is given to Christ to
walk the dark and difficult way of the cross. He was ready           bring the kingdom of God. The Lamb takes the book. It
to give His life and to fulfill all the righteousness of God.        does not say that the book is given Him: He takes it, in
There is only one way in which the kingdom of God can ever           answer to the challenge. He waits till all creation acknowl-
be established. It is the way of obedience even unto death.          edges that it cannot bring the kingdom, that it is not worthy
Hence, if one can be found that is able to bear the wrath of         to receive the book from Him that sitteth on the throne. Then
God and the penalty of sin, able to suffer and die, and that         He steps forward, silently, majestically, fully conscious of His
can satisfy the unchangeable righteousness of God. He, and           being worthy to open the book and its seven seals, and takes
He only, will be worthy and able to open the book. That              it out of the hand of Him that sitteth upon the throne.
Lamb is Christ. But not only in His humiliation, also in His             We may ask: when was this  realiz.ed?  When did Christ
exaltation He stands there. He stands there, and therefore           receive the book from the hand of Him that sits on the
He lives. He died, but He arose, and lives forever. He               throne ? In order to understand this, we must be careful, and
stands there, but only as the `victor. He has already received       not bring the time element into the vision. The Lamb re-
His glory and possesses the power of the kingdom. He                 ceives the book not at the time when John sees it; in the
possesses the Spirit that dwells in Him and that must com-           last decade of the first century. Nor can it be said `that the
nlete  the kingdom for the Father. In a word, that Lamb is           Lamb receives the book after He has received what is sym-
Christ crucified ; but at the same time it is Christ glorified.      bolized by the horns and the eyes. On the contrary, the
        This Lamb, then, takes the book: "And he- came and           whole is symbolic, to picture to us forcibly that Christ Jesus
took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the         has received all power in heaven and on earth and in hell.
throne."- We need not dwell on this at great length any more,        After He has been slain and is risen from the dead, after He
after all that has been said.  .The general meaning of this          has ascended to the Father, He is exalted to the highest posi-
action is perfectly clear. Only a few words we must add to           tion, and that in the capacity of the Lamb that has been slain.
this. We are here almost immediately reminded of that                Exalted He is to the right hand of God. And this being
beautiful portion in the Book of Daniel where he, describes          seated at the right hand of God simply means that to Him
how the one like unto the son of man approaches the Ancient          all dominion is given in principle, that all power in heaven
of days, that sitteth on the throne. There we read, Daniel           and on earth is surrendered into His hands. Christ rules His
7:13, 14:. "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like        church and His kingdom as it has been spiritually established
the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to           on earth in the new dispensation. Christ rules the world also,
the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.           -the world, that is, from its evil point of view. He con-
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a king              trols all history in the name of Him that sitteth on the throne.
dom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve           And therefore it is literally true that the Almighy has given
him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall            to the Lamb the decree that is powerful to its own fulfill-
not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be               ment. Christ now controls all history. He is busy. in the
destroyed." In principle we have the same vision here in the         preaching of the gospel, busy in wars and bloodshed of the
Book of Revelation. Of course,' in harmony with the differ-          world, busy in pestilence and famine, busy in all the social
ence in point of view,, Daniel sees the transaction in a little      relations of our time. And through them all  .He works out
different light than John. In Daniel's time none of these            the decree. He breaks seal after seal, as we shall see, and
things were yet fulfilled ; in John's time they had principally      brings to pass all that must tome to pass in this'present  .dis-
become reality. In Daniel's time the  proph.et  could not            pensation, and all this with a view to the' bringing of the
realize the distinction between the first and the second advent      glorious kingdom of God. When that kingdom shall have
of the M.essiah  ; John plainly realized this distinction. There-    been completed, and the power of opposition shall have been
fore, Daniel sees the entire transaction all in one vision. He       broken, then He shall surrender His absolute power, and
sees the approach of the Son of Man to the Ancient of days ;         subject Himself, and reign over the completed Bingdom  under
that is, in vision he sees the Christ approach the Father            God forever and ever.
along the path of humiliation and' exaltation, along the way                                                                    H.H.
                            :


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE-ARER,                                                    465
II                                                                        of whose government and peace there shall be no end (Isa.
          THE.DAY OF SHADOWS                                         II 9:6E).  2 He was the theme of all the prophets-He, His
                                                                          person and works and mighty achievements as King of Zion.
                                                                             Who then is this King but the Son of God. in His office
              The Prophecy of Zecharia$                                   of Mediator, who in the fulness of time assumed the flesh
                                                                          and blood of His brethren and became thereby Son of God.
                     The coming of Zion's king.                           incarnate, our Lord Jesus Christ. There cannot be the least
                            Chapter 9 :9, 10                              bit of doubt about this. For just before His crucifixion He
                                                                          literally comes to Jerusalem riding upon an ass, the colt of
      9. Rejoice greatly, dauglzte? of Zion, shout, daughter of           she-asses. And there was a multitude that went before. And
JerusalewaJ behold thy king cometh unto thee, just is he `and             they shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David . . ." And He
saved, meek  a.nd  riding  upon,   an ass,  even   ztpon- a  colt, the    did not forbid them (Matt. 21 :lff). -And His answer to the
she-aisses foal. 10.  ;4nd I  ~$1 cut off the  chwiot  from,              request of the Pharisees that He rebuke His disciples was,
E$hro&, a.nd the horse front Jerusalem, a,nd the battle bow               "I  #tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones
shall be cut off; and he shall spea,k pea,ce to the na.tions, and         would immediately cry out" (Luke 19  140 j. And the com-
his dominion skaJ1 be from sea to sea,, nnd f~o& the river to             ment of Matthew is that all this was done, that it might be
 the ,ends of the earth.                                                  fulfilled which was spoken by our `prophet (Matt. X:4).
      In the foregoing verses (chapter 9 :1-S)  the prophet fore-            Marvellous things are said about Zion's king again in the
tells the overthrow of the world powers and the deliverance               verses under consideration. Let us concentrate on each of
and preservation of the chosen remnant by the unseen power                them.
of God. That in the verses now to be considered our prophet                  Zion's King is just. He is righteous. That it is of greatest
rather abruptly introduces Zion's King can only mean that                 significance that He is just the inhabitants of Jerusalem well
with His appearance the salvation of the church is insepar-               know from their experience with all the kings that had
ately  connected.                                                         reigned in Jerusalem. The just kings in this long line of
      In verse 9 Zion is called upon to hail the King. Rejoice            rulers had been a blessing to their subjects, the unjust a
grea,tly . . . shout  - Not a mere repetition. Zion could re-             curse. Zion's king is just. He judges not after the sight of
joice without shouting. Then were her joy unexpressed. But                His eyes, but with righteousness He judges the poor and
she must` also shout, make a joyful sound. She must let                   argues with equity for the meek of the earth. And righteous-
shine her light, that men may see her good works. The es-                 ness is the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of
pressions are prophecy that the Lord only can fulfil, which               His reins (.Isa. 9 :3ff). He makes a right separation between
He does by causing the hearts of His people to overflow                   the sheep and the goats, and to the pretenders in His kingdom
with heavenly gladness so that by His mercy they shout with               He says, "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, for I
joy. The  hughter of Zion . . . Jerusalewz,  -  The two es-               never knew thee." Truly Zion's king is just. He is righteous.
pressions are synonymous. Denoted is the church as re-                    In the law of the Lord is His whole delight. In His law He
presented in that day by the earthly Jerusalem and the                    meditates day and night. His heart is perfect with the Lord.
Israelite commonwealth. Though the Lord had turned the                    B,esides the Lord He has no one and desires no one. -To do
captivity of Judah, His people were still under the dominion              the will of His God is verily His meat and drink. The best
of heathen rulers. The bulk of them were scattered abroad                 of the just and righteous kings who had reigned in Jerusalem,
in every province of what was then the civilized world. And               such as David and Hezekiah,  were but weak and sinful men
many of them were wasting away in the dungeons of the                     often bringing grief upon Jerusalem through their follies and
adversaries. Surely from a human standpoint Zion's plight                 lapses into sin. For they were but shadow. But not so
is hopeless; The Lord must come to *the rescue, and He does               Zion's king. He is the body. Though made sin for His
so. He brings in Zion's King.  Thy king  chmeth unto thee.                brethren, whose flesh He assumes, He knows no sin. As
He is not just another king like unto the kings that had                  Zion's king He is without one moral flaw.           t
sat in David'sthrone before it was fallen but He is only. And                Zion's King is saved of God. He saves Himself He is
He is Zion's King not because Zion had chosen Him, but                    Saviour. In this context the Hebrew  (Nephal' participle
because God had chosen Zion in Him. And He exists and                     from the root ya.s!za to save) has these three meanings.
reigns and His people know Him and look forward to His                       Zion's King is saved of God. Here the thought, taken
coming. For the Lord has announced His coming through                     in its widest sense, is that during all the time that He bears
all the ages of the past as far back as the-days of the first             the burden of God's wrath against the sin of His brethren
paradise. In the Protevangel of  ,Gen. 3  :15 He is presented             God helps and succours  Him, sustains and-supports Him by
to view as the seed that shall crush the head of the serpent.             His Spirit resting upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and
In the book of Isaiah He is the child born and the son                    understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of
given us, upon whose shoulder the government shall be and                 knowledge and the fear of the Lord, making Him quick of


 466                                        T.HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 understanding in the fear. of the Lord (Isa. 11 :2ff). But the     comes to Zion riding upon the colt of asses, and not as
 thought in its more restricted sense is, that when He has          mounted upon a horse at the head of an army equiped with
  done with our sin, God delivers Him out of all His troubles       horses and chariots. As compared with the horse, that is the
  and crowns Him with greatest and heavenly glory, and that, stallion, the ass is a lowly creature. It is smaller and cannot
  He does so by raising Him up from the dead and setting Him        run as fast. It hasn't the stateliness and beauty and the
 at the right hand of the throne far above all heavens, that He     nervous energy of the horse. The people of Israel were for-
 might fill all things (Eph. 5  :lO). If God thus saves Zion's      bidden of the Lord to multiply unto themselves horses. In
 King, also He, this King, saves Himself. Said He not,              the faith that the victory is the Lord's and that He fights for
 "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my           His people, they had to do without horses and chariots in
 life, that I might take it up again" (John 10 :17). Speaking       their warfare with the heathen. Asses were allowed them, but
 here is the incarnate Son of God, Zion's King. And what He         not the horse. But the people of Israel were  seldom capable
 tells us is that, being very God as well as very man, He, in       of the exercise of such faith. But not so Zion's king. God is
His assumed humanity, will die and live again by a power            all His confidence. From Him He expects all His salvation.
 that, though given Him of the Father, is yet His very own.         So, in His battle with Zion's enemies, He rides upon the colt
 Being thus saved of God and of Himself He is the Savior            of asses. And His faith is His victory.
having salvation for Zion. This King-just and righteous                Truly, Zion's king is the meek One. Opposed to true
 and therefore Savior and o how mighty to save - Zion.,             meekness is unbelief and sinful pride, the vile imagining of
     Zion's king is afflicted. Matthew, quoting this verse          man that he is lord supreme and that God is His footstool.
  (21  5) has meek. The Hebrew  (ani from the root  anah to         But Zion's king is meek. He is servant-servant of God
 be afflicted and in its secondary signification, to be bowed       and therefore Zion's king. And He comes riding upon the
 down, meek, lowly, patient) has both these meanings.               colt of. asses. Thereby Zion knows that it is her King who
     Zion's king is afflicted. God afflicts Him. Men afflict        comes unto her. And that He comes unto her means not
 Him, for their works are evil ahd His works are righteous.         alone that by His nameless afflictions He prepares salvation
 But when He is reviled, He reviles not again. He suffers           for Zion, but also that, as King exalted, He actually saves
 and he threatens not. He is brought to the slaughter, and          her. The house of David that is fallen He raises up. Its
 opens not His mouth. He forbids His followers to fight for         breaches He closes. Its ruins He raises up. And He builds
 Him. But as hiding himself in God in the firm knowledge            it as in the days of old (Amos 9 :2). By His Spirit of which
 that He must suffer these things to come into His kingdom,         He poured out upon all flesh when the day of Pentecost was
 He endures. This is what it means that He is the meek one.         fully come, He gathers and builds His church by nature dead
 As trusting in God He endures these sorrows for the sake           in sin and under the curse, imparts His life unto His chosen
 of His Father's kingdom. He endures because this king-             people in all the nations, sheds abroad in their hearts the
 dom He loves and because this kingdom He seeks. He en-             love of <the Father. And as thus saved they are built up as
 dures because the citizens of this kingdom are by nature           living stones a spiritual house, an holy priesthood. And they
 under the curse owing to their sins. He endures in the certain     say with our prophet, "Rejoice greatly 0 Zion, make a joyful
 and joyful confidence that when He has done with sin, has          sound, for thy King  cometh  unto thee. Also this latter ac-
 by His afflictions and death satisfied the righteousness of His    tion of Zion's King, His actually saving Zion, belongs to the
 God and met all the demands of His law, His God will raise         picture  <that our prophet here hangs up before us of the
 Him up and place this kingdom into His actual possession.          workings of Zion's King. And He will continue so to come
 As making God all His confidence, He humbles Himself and           to Zion until she is clothed of Him with life in glory.  Not:
 is obedient unto death, even unto the death of the cross This      until then shall He come to rest.
 is His meekness. Some trust in chariots and some in horses.           So then, He who comes to Zion is Zion's King. `And this
 For the kingdoms they seek are of this earth. And God is           is the kind of King'He is. And in this way and manner does
 not in all their thoughts. And therefore they have great use       He come unto Zion. He comes to Her a King, the King,
for `chariots and horses and battleships and bombs and fol-         Zion's king, obliterating by His sufferings and death all her
 lowers who fight for them. But it is different with Zion's         sins, with the right therefore to- save her. He comes to her a
 king and the kingdom that He seeks. It is not of this earth        King who can save her, seeing that to His power to save
 but is spiritual and heavenly as to its character. And it can      there is no limit. He comes to her a King who actually
 be established only by Zion's king pouring ,out His soul in        saves her. He comes, in a word, a King victorious, triumph-
 death. And `it is God's own conception and gift. Zion's king       ant, irresistible. For He comes unto Zion a King just and
 therefore has no need of horses and chariots. He considers         saved and afflicted and meek, riding upon the colt of asses.
 that a horse is a vain thing to trust in (Ps. 33 :17), and that       And this is God's Gospel to Zion. It is His Gospel to
 at the rebuke of God both the chariot and the horse are cast       Zion in all the days of the past. It is His Gospel to Zion at
 down (Ps. 76  :6). As so considering, He remembers the             the present time. It is His Gospel to Zion in all the days
 name of. the Lord His God (Ps. 20 :7) and in token thereof         to come as long as the world endureth. It is the only Gospel


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER                                                             467

  there is, the Gospel of Christ and of God. Another Gospel           His word, speaks His gospel of peace in the hearts of the
  there is not. And He proclaims this Gospel through His              heathen, of all such among the heathen chosen in Him unto
  servants, the human preachers of the Word, And He, Him-             eternal life. He establishes His kingdom in their hearts.
  self, speaks this Gospel in the heart of Zion. And He will          In the words of this verse, He speaks peace unto the heathen.
  not hold His peace and will- not rest until Zion's righteous-       And His kingdom extends to the ends of the earth. It is
  ness goes forth as brightness and her salvation as a lamp           thus universal as to its character. And as to its citizens,
  that burns (Isa. 62  :l).        `.                                 their lives are hidden with Him in God and therefore they
     As was observed, Christ came to Jerusalem literally rid-         shall also appear with Him in glory at His second coming.
  ing upon the colt of an ass, in fulfilment of prophecy. The                                                                    G.M.O.
  doing of the Saviour has no significance beyond that of
  pointing to his meekness. According to many the trait in-                                           NOTICE!
  dicated is His poverty, and according to still others the               Delegates to the fall session of  Classis  West in need of
  peaceable character of His kingdom. Although these ideas            lodging should write to: Mr. John Van  Baren,  Route  1.
  need not be excluded, yet doubtless the principal character-        Box 208-B. Glenwood-Lansing Road, Chicago Heights,
  istic indicated is the meekness of Christ, and His implicit,        Illinois.                         1
  trust in God as God's servant. In all His afflictions He hid
  Himself in God in the unshakable conviction that, in the way
  of His expiating the sins of His people by His suffering and                         Notice of Annual Meeting
  death, God would reward Him by raising Him up and giving                   The Annual Membership meeting of the REFORMED
  Him the kingdom. That Matthew has meek and not poor is                 PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION will be held  Thursday
  conclusive,                                                            evening,  Sept.  Z%th,   in our First Prot. Ref. Church, Grand
                  even  though He had before him the Hebrew as           Rapids, Michigan.
  translated by the LXX.
     I explained these verses in the light of all `the Scriptures.        We urge all our brethren  .who  cherish the welfare of
  It is the only proper way of dealing with any of its sections.         The Standard Bearer  to attend this important meeting.
                                                                         In addition to a pleasant opportunity thus offered for
  What meaning could we derive from the one verse, if in ex-             an evening of fellowship with your brethren who love
  plaining it, we were to hold ourselves strictly to it, and             our Protestant Reformed truth, come out this last Thurs-
                                                                         day of the month to hear our beloved Reverend Herman
  looked not beyond.                                                     Hoeksema speak on the subject, "The Standard Bearer and
     10. The Lord will cut off the chariot from Ephraim                  t h e   Y e a r s   A h e a d . " Q  *  *
  and the horse from Jerusalem and the battle bow shall He                                 Thursday Evening . . . . September 26th
cut -off.                                                                                                    +  * *
     In this verse Ephraim is the Israel of the ten tribes and                       See further announcement in next issue.
  Jerusalem is Judah. Indicated in the first instance is the                                                              THE BOARD
  kingdom of Judah as including the ten northern tribes, sec-
  ond the church of this new Dispensation of the world as
  including both Jews and Gentiles and with the Jerusalem                              THE FOLLY OF UNBELIEF
  which is above  as' its captial, and finally the kingdom of
  Christ in glory. The chariot and the horse  land the bow                                Fools in their heart have said,
  represent doubtless the enemies of the church, `the  world-                                  There is no God of might;              :
  powers with Satan as their prince to which' must be added                                 Corrupt are they and base their deeds,
sin, death and hell. Looking at this prophecy from our                                         In evil they delight.
  vantage point, then we say that Zion's king, the Christ of                                God looked from heaven above
  God, overcame them one and all by His suffering and death                                    On all the human race,
  upon the cross. And His victory was His trust in. God  -                                 To see if any understood,
  a trust that was symbolized by His coming to Jerusalem as                                    If any sought His face.
  riding  uponthe colt of asses. As Zion's King exalted at
  the right hand of the throne He reigns in the midst of His                               They all are gone aside,
  enemies. The kings of the earth He rules with a rod of                                    Corruption doth abound ;
  iron and breaks them in pieces like a potter's vessel (Ps. 2).                           There is not one that doeth good,
  The saints of God see it before their eyes in the perpetual                                  Not even one is found.
  rise and fall of the kingdoms of this earth, thus in the con-                            These men of evil deeds,
  tinuous passing away of this world in preparation of the                                     Will they no knowledge gain,
  appearance of Christ's kingdom in glory. So is He now                                    Who feed upon my people's woes,
  always engaged in cutting off from Jerusalem the enemies.                                    And prayer to God disdain?
  At the same time He gathers His church by His Spirit and                                                                Psalm 53 :l-4


   468                                          TH.E  STA-N,DARD   B E A R E R

                                                                          We are, says the apostle, to follow after love as if it were
              FROM HOLY WRIT ! I a veritable chase. All our actions are to be controlled by this
                                                                      love. Without this love we are nothing ! Hence, all our af-
                                                                      fections are to be after a life in the congregation which is
                Exposition of I Corinthians 12-14                     motivated by love. Then will our life be one of faith and
                                                                      hope. This trilogy is inseparable. The opposite trilogy is:
                                 IX.                                  doubt, despair and hatred ! ' Horrible to even contemplate.
                           (I Cor.  14:1-19)                          Hence, for our very life's sake we are to pursue love in the
                                                                      church. And to this rule there are no exceptions neither is
                                                                                                                           !
      We now come to the final discussion of Paul on the rel-         anyone exempt from this rule.
  ative value of the spiritual gifts of "speaking with tongues"           As we have stated before more than once, it should be
  and of the greater gift of "prophesying" in the church.             noted that love does not put to nought the .spiritual  gifts in
          It will be of benefit to us to follow the reasoning of      the church, but rather brings each gift to its own rank and
  Paul step by step. In so doing we should observe that Paul          place in the divine economy. Thus only will the entire church
  ends this discussion of spiritual gifts in a  yery conclusive       grow toward Christ their head, and will each member be
  manner. There are three phases to this,final  argument of the       truly profited. Without this love -one must needs walk in
  apostle.                                                            hatred toward the brother. Such a one walks in darkness and
      First there is the. argument, the basic position, that even     knows not really whither he is going. Surely he is like the
  though "love': excels all other gifts, both in character and        foolish man, who hears the word and does it not. He is like
  in duration, this .does  not mean that the Corinthians should       the man who builds his house upon the sand. And great will
  now fall into the extreme of casting away all spiritual gifts       be the fall of such a one.
  in the church. For these- gifts are meant not for selfish dis-          Hence while pursuing love - earnestly desire spiritual
  play in the church, but they are most definitely meant for          gifts. They are all wonderful gifts from God in the church.
  our edification. Such is the argument in the verses- 1-19.          Yet, not all the gifts are to be equally desired. There are
      Then Paul presses the matter further and argues the more        especially two gifts which Paul will compare rather in detail
  basic consideration of the meaning of "speaking with tongues"       to demonstrate this point that we should desire most earnestly
  as such, in the light of the Scriptures. He quotes Isaiah 25 :ll    to prophesy.
  in so doing. And this Scriptural principle he brings to bear            They are the gifts of "speaking with tongues" and that of
  upon the actual situation in the congregation, demonstrating        "prophesying."
  concretely what seriousand evil consequences it has in prac-            To make his point clear in this matter Paul points out the
  tical life when this principal meaning of the "speaking with1       very, very limited a&se and profit of "speaking with tongues"
  tongues" is not clearly and maturely understood. This is the        when compared with "prophesying." And the argument pro-
  argument in verses 20-25.                                           ceeds from the assumption, that, that which is more for the
      Finally, Paul gives some positive directives, applying what     "profit of, all," is the greater gift. It proceeds from the
  he has said in the former argument, in -which he tells the          assumption that any office-bearer in the church is first of all
  congregation how they are to conduct a congregational wor-          a brother in the midst of the brethren, a living member in
  ship service. This is not flattering for the Corinthians to thus    the church of Christ, and, therefore one who will surely
  be instructed. However, it is time that they cease acting ,the      exercise the communion of the saints. No one is lord and
  part of children, and that they quit themselves like men            master in the church, even when he teaches. One is Lord.
  with matured understanding. Certainly they are not to act           He is the Head of the Church, our Lord, Jesus Christ. A
" as if either wisdom had its origin in them (went forth from         teacher may be an "eye" in the body. But he is not an "eye"
  them) or that it ended with them, (came to them only).              by itself, but only in and for the profit of the body!
  Rather each should be willing to learn from the other. The              With this in mind let us attend to the instruction of the
  spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets. Thus Paul       apostle on this point.
  ends this discussion in the verses 26-40.                               It is so true what Paul writes in the verses 2-4 of this
     Let us try to follow the argument of Paul in each of these       Chapter. We read, "For he that spea,keth in a tongate speak-
  three phases a little more in detail.                               et/z not ,unto men, bwt unto God; for no vmn undwstandeth;
     In this essay we would call your attention to the verses         but in the sfiirit he speaketh vny'stev-ies. But he that prophe:
  1-19 of this fourteenth chapter of I Corinthians.                   sieth speaketh unto WLen  ed,ification,  and e+rhorfafiiovz  and con-
     Writes Paul in verse 1 as follows:  `Follow after love:          solation. He that  spea$ketlz  in  a  tongus edifietk, (builds up)
  yet  de&Ye  earnestly spiritual gifts,  b,+ rather that ye  may     himself; but he that prophesieth  ed,ifieth a church . . ."
  prophesy."                                                              Now certainly God is not a member  in the body of Christ.


                                                  T H E   STAiVDARD   B E A R E R                                                                                              469
      -..A             - --.
     He is not in need of edification1 True, these gifts are. in the            Shall one then earnestly seek the "best gifts" this must
     church for God's purpose but they are not in the church for          be. done prayerfully. If a man receive the gift to speak with
     the  benefit of God. He is not in need of them for his well-         tongues, let him pray that he may interpret. Such is Paul's
     being. But the church is in need of the benefit of these gifts.      admonition to the Corinthians in that day. And well may
     She must be built `up in the most holy faith ! And she is thus       every minister apply this to his daily prayer. For that is his
     built up not by "speaking with tongues." Such speaking in-           calling in the church. For every word of Scripture is profit-
     deed has as its content the  pjzysterigs  of the Kingdom of         able for teaching first of all. The minister must be a teacher
     heaven.. However, the Holy Spirit cannot by these "tongues"         first and last. Then in his teaching there must also be- correc-
     bring the content of these "mysteries" to the believing and          tion and reproof, that the man of God be thoroughly furnished
     saving knowledge of the church.                                     `unto every good work.
              Such can only be done by prophesying!                            It is not a question of how "long" one's sermon is. .And
                                                                          how "long" the congregational prayer is. Better to speak
.        Prophesying is performed in the language understood by           "five words" unto edification both in preaching  gnd in
     all. In clear prose. Only thus does the Holy Spirit work            prayer, than to speak ten thousand words and not be under-
     edification, cheer, and spiritual incentive to the believers.       stood. Did not Jesus say: Think not that you shall be heard
     Only thus can the church as "mother of believers" come              because of the "abundance of words ?"
     to her own purpose in this present dispensation, where we
     see in part and know in part. And that role each member                   I think it is a serious mistake to "try to fill the hour"
     must strive to perform. He must know it his duty cheerfully         rather than to use as much of it as is needed for "edification !"
     to employ his gifts for the benefit and advantage of his fellow-     It surely `is an able preacher who knows when to say ."amen"
     member in Christ.                                                   to his own sermon, and this is no less the case with the
                                                                         prayer !
         Paul surely does not frown upon the "speaking with
     tongues." Does he not speak with tongues more than anyone                 These are simply, first rudiments in the church of which
     else? Hence, he writes, "Now I would  have  you all speak            Paul is here speaking. They may be repeated, however.  .And
     with tongues, but rather that ye,shuld prophesy." However,          we shall try to live up to this even `in writing this brief essay.
     if the "church receive edifying" is to be the chief considera-            This is simply the expression of childlike simplicity.
     tion. Surely, this is a principle which every minister is to              Of this we shall have more to say in the next essay, D.V.
     bear in mind ! It is not first of all a question whether a min-
     ister can display his natural gifts. The question is: are the                                                                                                        G.L.
     sheep fed with the bread -and water of life ! Do they really                                                                                         :
     receive the instruction unto godliness and faith which they
     need! Are the people of God really comforted in this vale of                              Notice  Bos  Classis West                                       /  ~  1
     tears! Truly, no one can rest on his laurels as though he                 Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will
     had already attained, Surely such ministry requires an in-          meet, the Lord willing, in South Holland, Illinois,' Wednes-
     tense love for the sheep of Christ's pasture ; one must, indeed,    day, September 18, 1957. The consistories are reminded of
     be consumed with the zeal of God's house!                           the rule that all matters for the classical agendum must be
         It is really a very homely illustration which Paul employs      in the hands of the stated clerk thirty days before the meeting
     to make this point clear that "prophecy" excels over "speak-        of Classis.
     ing with tongues." He employs the examples of an inanimate                                                                Rev. H. Veldman,  .Stated  Clerk
     thing such as a musical instrument. Even this must follow
     the rules of- music,: of tone, beat and measure, and proper
     enunciation of a distinctive "sound." Such a sound for call-                                         WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
`ing to the.battle  is quite distinct from the doleful tones of the            On September 9, 1957, the Lord willing, our dear parents,
     funeral procession. And it ought to be. How much more the                           R E V .   A N D   ,MRS.  H E R M A N   V E L D M A N   -'  I.:.
     VOX humana  ! For it was the eternal good pleasure to use this
     human voice to proclaim the word to others. It is the medium        hope to commemorate their 25th wedding-anniversary.
     par excellence to bring the ,message of the mysteries. of God             We  thank-ou?  God that He has given them to  us-  2nd  .thht  He
     in Christ. Hence, our. preaching should be "easy to be under-       may continue  to:ble$s  them as He has done  itl the past  3s `the
     stood." Such exalted purpose is not best served by speaking         prayer of their grateful children.                                         `_                    :
     with tongues. And it is not really served unless there be                                                    _            Mr.  atid Mrs. Cornelius Den  Odden
     "prophesying." Hence Paul writes "If I know not the mean-                                 -,
                                                                                        i,               .,;,          .-      Elaine                            . .
     ing of the voice, I shall be to him that spea,keth a barbavian,                            . . :                        . Joanne                            .        7 . . ._.
     and he that speaketh will be a barbariaiz  unto me."                L_                                                    One grandson.  a . .


4 7 0              :                       T H E   S T A N D A - R D   B E A R E R                                         -        -
                                                                   and in spite of fierce and evil opposition. 0 no ! Listen to
              I N   H I S   F E A R                                Acts 2  123, "Him being delivered by the determinate will and
                                                                   foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands
                                                                   have crucified and slain." The Son of God. came into our
                Living As the Lord Wills                           flesh, suffered and died according to the determinate will of
                                                                   God. Our salvation-and all things-is realized as the
                                 (2)                               Lord.wills it to be realized. Wicked men He used ; but the
    W e   c e r t a i n l y   m u s t .                            actual outcome of their works, their wicked, rebellious works,
    We always do live and die as the Lord wills. Whether           never frustrated His will. They opposed His will only in
we live or whether we die depends entirely upon His will.          the sense that as far as their intentions and desires were
.That we considered last time.                                     concerned their wills were divergent from God's will. They
                                                                   did what He willed that they should do, and yet they hated
    But it is equally true that we wmst live as the Lord wills.    Him and the things He performed through them. Ethically
    It is our calling  :always  to submit- to His will. Always     and spiritually they opposed His will.
must we so live, that is, so conduct our lives, that we are
                                                        1'                 That brings us to the point: that we may not do ! We
inwardly in agreement with His will with us.                       must will what the Lord wills. We must so live that in-
    As to the actual outcome and fruit of our works we never       wardly and outwardly we are in harmony with His will with
oppose His determinative will. No man. canrdo  that, for the       us. The inner activity of our lives, the will and the mind
simple reason that all things, even our thinking and willing       should never entertain thoughts and harbor desires that go
are constantly governed by His will of decree. See for             contrary to the Lord's will but should always be in perfect
example Romans 9 : 19, ". . . Who hath resisted His will ?"        harmony with His will. We should be ready to drop our will
    Never can a creature as much as delay the execution of         and our plans as soon as the Lord makes plain that it is not
God's decree. Never is God hindered in any way or to any           His will and plan with us.
degree in the execution of that which He with His sovereign        -       What is more, we must live in the consciousness of the
will has decreed from before the foundation of the world.          fact that we live only as He wills. It is one thing to yield to
All the human race together, Satan and all his host, the anti-     His will when He leads us in a way in which we did not
christ with the whole world behind him cannot in the slightest          intend to walk. It takes grace to do that. And it is a  .thing
degree as much as make it hard or harder for God to do the         that is demanded of us, for He is the Lord. By His grace we 0
things which He wills to do. All these are always and en-               will do that and say, "Not my will but Thy will be done,"
tirely subject to His'will to do as He wills.                      when He touches us sorely and takes from us what we hold
    Before we say anything more about this let us first point           dear and precious. But there is another thing that is de-
out that we are considering the fact that we must live as the      manded of us, and that is, that we always live in the con-
Lord  z&s. Even when we speak of His' eternal will, the            sciousness of that fact that we live only as He wills and that
decree which He had in Himself in His eternal heart and            all our planning and charting of our course is done with that
mind, we do not say that we live as He willed but as He            in .mind.
wills. True what happens today was His will when only                      We must not live as though  IIe and His will do not
Adam and Eve stood upon this earth, yea was His will               exist until He makes His almighty presence known by the
before He created the worlds. And yet we say, Living as                 works of His hands. It must be said of us as it was
the Lord wills. For His will never changes. Listen to `the         said in the last world war, "There are no atheists in the
word of God in Malachi 3 :6, "For I am the, Lord, I change         foxholes." We must not live as atheists until we get into
not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Or                   trouble and then begin to think of Him and of His will. We
again to Hebrews 13  :8, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday,              surely must think of Him in calamities and see these calam-
and today and forever." His will never changes and nothing         ities as coming by His will. But we must also think of Him
and no one can possibly change that will. What He -willed          while the sailing is smooth.
in the past He sit11 continues to will today.                              Living as the Lord wills means that we live in the `con-
    Of Judas who betrayed God's  .B,eloved Son we read in               sciousness that what He wills. we shall receive and that we
Luke 22 ~22, "The Son of man goeth, as it was determined:          are to be humble and submissive before that will. It also
but woe unto that man by whom He is betrayed." Judas did                means that we think, plan and will with His sovereign will
not frustrate the will of God. He did not make it hard (or         i n   m i n d .
harder) for God to realize our salvation. He did not cause
the Kingdom of Heaven to be delayed somewhat in its com-                   James has a word to say about this in his epistle.
ing. He did not cause God to change His plans and to save                  We read in James  4:13-15,  "Go to now ye that say,
us in spite of the cross, in spite of the ,wicked  hands of men         today or tomorrow w.e will go into such a city and continue


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  471

there  8. year, and buy and sell and get gain  ; Whereas ye        appears to be a need unto us. The sluggard is admonished
know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your             to go to the ant who provides food for its future needs. The
life: It is even as a vapour, that appeareth for a little time     man who does not sit down and carefully consider the cost
and then  variisheth  away, For that ye ought to  say, If the      before he begins to build his house is considered, in Scripture,
Lord will, we shall live and do this or that."                     to be a fool. He that sows sparingly is told that he must not
                                                                   expect to reap abundantly. And nowhere in Scripture is a
   Leaving out the element of buying  and selling and of           man told that he may not go and sow his seed with a view to
going to  9 certain city for these things how often is it not      a future harvest. James does not forbid a man `to go to such
that the picture James draws here is of our behaviour ? HOW        and such .a city to buy, and sell and get gain. He is  ndt
often do we not make plans with little or no thought of Him        condemning all thought for the future., No, for he says, "For
and His sovereign unchangeable will? We do remember that           that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do
we live by His will after our will is brushed aside by God         this or that." We may plan but in subservience to God's
and our plans are shown to be nothing more than wishes.            will to give us life and to cause our plans to materialize.
But do we havk Him in our minds when we make our plans ?
Do we say,  as' James does, If the Lord wills we shall do             God reaches down and makes a loved one desperately
this or that!                                                      sick. Death seems to be very near. A squeal of brakes and a
                                                                   sudden sickening thud of colliding automobiles ! Ghastly
   It certainly' is a fundamental element of the fear of the       bruised bodies and bloody injuries ! It is not in His fear to
Lord that we remember Him, have Him in our thoughts and            say, "The Lord willed death through these works of his. Call
make all our plans before His face. And before His face we         no ambulance, seek no  skill;d services of `surgeon and
surely have Him in mind as the Lord Who rules us and               physician." He has willed to lead man in the development
sovereignly charts  our.whole  course through life. Plan all       of life-saving surgery and discovery of powerful antibiotics
in His fear and you live as the Lord wills. Your whole life        that destroy the death-dealing germs  that invade our bodies.
will show it.                                                      And we may use and seek these provided we put our trust
   The  .world, those that have not the fear of God in their       not in men but in God and humbly commit our loved ones
hearts, is quite accustomed to say, "We will be back tomor-        to His care, confessing that only His will, to restore and
row at *this same time with the latest news. Listen tomorrow       heal-can do so.
again at this same time and  you will again hear . .  ."  GO          Did Jesus rebuke those who brought their sick children
to, James says to all who so speak and think. That is not          to Him and tell them that they were not living as the Lord
living as the Lord wills. It is ignoring His will and ruling
Him out of His Own creation. And we ? Are we any other-            wills? Not at all. Once I-Ie stopped a funeral procession to
wise in our ways and actions ? It is certain ,that in our con-     raise a widow's son without-her plea. He went along with
versation with one another we very seldom mention His will         Jairus, heeding his pleas and raised his daughter from the
when we speak of our plans. It is a rather rare thing, out-        dead. He went to Bethany  to raise Lazarus from the dead.
side perhaps of ecclesiastical publications  - and often so        We may be concerned. We must  be concerned with the
rarely even there - that ,the D.V. (Deo Volente - the Lord         physical wellbeing of our loved ones and of all men. We
willing) is to .be heard  qr seen in print. But is. it as much,
everi, as in our thoughts ? The tongue usually utters what .is     may seek recovery for them when it wills God to make them
in the heart. The hypocrite may say with his lips that which       ill, provided we leave their recovery to His will and do not
his heart does not mean. And there are times when our lips         mean by our efforts to seek recovery to dethrone Him-and
do not say what is in the heart. We do  ,find it difficult to      try to make Him live as we will.
reveal our faith and our thoughts of God by the words of our           When He makes His will known to us we mu& change
mouths. Confession publicly we often find hard even though
we do believe. Therefore we ask, Is that the will of God as        our will and make His will to -be ours.
much as in our thoughts when we make our plans and speak               Unless we will His determinative will and live in the
of them ? If it does make its appearance in our thoughts, we       consciousness that we are constantly bound to His determin-
may as well be  hone3 about it, that is usually an after-          ative will, we violate and oppose also His ethical will.
thought. We first make our plans and then when-we be-
come fearful of not having then-? materlalize we have that             He is God. And unless we in deed as well as in word
fear  becauie  we did not begin with the consideration of          love His will with us, we deny Him His divinity.
God's will but of our own.                                             That is not in His fear.
    No, we are not advocating, nor does Scripture advocate a           In His fear we reverence Him as God.
certain fatalism. We are not forbidden the activity of plan-
ning, looking into the future and providing for that which                                                                     J.A.H.


472                                             .TH-E   S T A N D A R D   - B E A R E R

II                                                                    the whole question'to  the decision of a general council. This
            Contending For The Faith                             !I story, however, is discredited by the Catholic historians. The
                                                                      pope had no need to protest his innocence, and had referred
                                                                      the. charges against the king to a German tribunal ; the king
           The Church and the Sacraments                              had previously promised him to appear before this tribunal  ;
      J~I$WS  D                                                       his present purpose was simply to get rid of the interdict, so
                   URING THE THIRD PERIOD  (75011517  A.D.)           as to be free to act. Be declining the ordeal he would have
                     THE SUPREMACY OF  THE POPE                       confessed his guilt and justified the pope, and superseded the
            GREGORY  VII  AND THE PAPACY  (continued).                action of the German tribunal.
                                                                         After mass, the pope entertained the king courteously at
        The stern old pope, as hard as a rock and as cold as          dinner and dismissed him with some fatherly warnings and
the. snow, refused admittance,  notwithstanding  the earnest          counsels, and with his renewed apostolic blessing.
 entreaties of Matilda and Hugo, till he was satisfied that
 the cup of humiliation was drained to the dregs, or that                Henry gained his object,. but at ,the sacrifice of his royal
 further resistance would be impolitic. He first exacted from         dignity. He confessed by his act of humiliation that the pope
 Henry, as a condition of absolution, the promise to submit           had a right to depose a king and heir of the imperial crown,
 to' his decision at the approaching meeting of the German            and to absolve subjects from the oath of allegiance.- The head
 nobles under the presidency of the pope as arbiter, and to           of the State acknowledged the temporal supremacy of the
grant him and his deput'ies protection on their journey to the        Church. Canossa marks the deepest humiliation of the State
north. In the meantime he was to abstain from exercising the          and the highest exaltation of the Church,  - we mean  the
functions of royalty. This last point is  oltiitted by a certain      political papal Church of Rome, not the spiritual Church of
 Berthold, but expressly mentioned by Lambert  of Hersfeld,           Christ, who wore a crown of thorns in this world and who
 and confirmed by Gregory, who says in his account of the             prayed on the cross for his murderers.
 Canossa event to the -German prelates and princes, that he              G&gory acted on this occasion in the sole ,interest of the
 received Henry only, into the communion of the Church,               hierarchy. His own friends, as we learn from his official ac-
 without reinstating him in his reign, and without binding            count to the Germans, deemed his conduct to be "tyrannical
the faithful to their oath of allegiance, reserving this to future    cruelty, rather than apostolic severity." He saw in Henry
 decision. The same view he expresses in the sentence of the          the embodiment of the secular power in opposition to the
second excommunication.                                               ecclesiastical `power, and he achieved a signal triumph, but
        The king made the promise, and two bishops and several        only for a short time. He overshot his mark, and was at
nobles, in his behalf, swore upon sacred relics that he would         last e*pelled  from Rome by the very man against whom he
keep it. Hugo, being a monk, could not swear, but pledged             had closed ,the gate. (However, the question may well be
his word before the all-seeing God. Hugo, the bishops, noble?,        asked: "Did the pope, after ,all, gain such a signal triumph
and the Countess Matilda and Adelheid signed the written              over Henry J.V, even at Canossa ? We must remember that
agreement, which still exists.                                        a meeting held Oct. 16, 1076, at Tribur, near Mainz, had
        After these preliminaries, the inner gate was opened. The     demanded of Henry that he should submit to the pope, seek
king,  ,in the prime of life, the heir of many crowned mon-           absolution from him within twelve months from the date of
archs, and a man of tall and noble presence, threw himself            excommunication, at the risk of forfeiting the crown. The
a! the feet of the gray-haired pope, a man of low origin and          people of Germany were generally in sympathy with the pope
of small and unimpressive stature, who by his word had dis-           because they resented the iron hand. with which Henry had
armed an empire. He burst into tears, and cried, "Spare me,           ruled. over Germany. And this meetihg,  Oct. 16, 1076, also
holy father; spare me." The company was moved to tears;               decided that Henry should appear at a diet to be held at
even the iron pope showed signs of tender compassion. He              Augsburg on Feb. 2, 1077, under the presidency of the pdpe,
heard the confession of Henry, raised him up, gave him ab-            where the king could present his grievances and where his
solutidn and his apostolic blessing, conducted him to the             fate would be decided. Had the king appeared at this me&ng,
chapel, and skaled the reconciliation by the celebration of the       Feb. 2, 1077, while yet under excommunication, he would
Sacrifice of the mass.                     -                          surely have suffered a shameful defeat and lost his crown.
       Some chroniclers add the following incident, which has         Hence, the king went to Canoss? to regain admittance into
often been Repeated,  but is very improbable. Gregory, before         the church and therefqre be able to attend the meeting at
-partaking .of the sacrament, called upon God to strike. him          Augsburg as in the good .graces  of the pope. Henry went tii
dead if he were guilty of the crimes charged on him, and,             Canossa while the pope was on his way to Germany and to
after eating one-half of th& consecrated wafer unharmed, he           Augsburg. In fact, the pope retired into the castle at Ca-
offered the other half to Henry, requesting him to submit to          nossa, because he had heard that Henry was approaching
tlie same awful ordeal ! but the king declined it, and referred       Italy with a large company of men. When Henry appeared


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 473
-    -
finally, not with a great military, company, but as a penitent,    hold on to his crown.' For him Canossa was a humiliation
the pope was really put on the spot. Absolution must always        and before the bar of historic jud&ent  the act wherein the
be given to the penitent. That is the command of Christ.           State prostrated itself at the feet of the pope must be re-
But the pope was torn between his duty to give absolution          garded as a humiliation. Streams of blood have been shed
and the fear that, from a political viewpoint, it might be un-     to wipe  out the disgrace of Henry's humiliation before  Hilde-
wise to give the king absolution and thereby give him the          brand. The memory of that scene was revived in the Cdtztr-
opportunity to retain his crown. This is probably the reason       kampf   between the State of Prussia and the Vatican from
why he kept the .youthful monarch waiting in the cold and          1870  to 1587. At the beginning of the conflict, Prince  Bis-
snow for three days before granting him an interview. The real     marck declared in the Prussian Chambers that "he would
struggle was going on in the soul of Gregory. In the end           never go to Canossa" ;. but ten.years  afterwards he. found it
Henry really wrung absoiution from'the pope and therewith          politic to move in that direction, and to make a compromise
the restoration of his kingdom. The king had humbled him-          with Leo XIII, who proved his equal as a master of diplo-
self before the pope and thereby gained a great victory over       macy. The anti-papal May-laws were repealed, one by one,
the German nobles who now no longer had a good reason to           till nothing is left of them except the technical  AnzeigepfZicht,
resist his occupancy of the throne. Henry had humbled him-         a modern term for investiture. The Roman Church gained
self to keep his crown. In this he had succeeded. - H. V.)         new strength in Prussia and Germany from legal persecu-
     Gregory's relation to Matilda was political and ecclesias-    tion, and enjoys now more freedom and independence than
tical. The charge of his enemies that he entertained carnal        ever, and much more than the Protestant Church, which has
intimacy with her is monstrous and incredible, considering         innocently from the operation from the May-laws.
his ,advanced  age and unrelenting war against priestly con-       Renewal of the Conflict. Two  Kings &ad Two Popes.
cubinage. The best modern historians, Protestant as well as           The result of Canossa was civil war in Germany and
Catholic, reject this charge. The countess was the most            Italy: king against king, pope against pope, nobles against
powerful  pgincess in Northern Italy, and afforded to the          nobles, bishops against bishops, father against son, and son
pope the best protection against a possible invasion of a          against father. It lasted several years. Gregory and Henry
Northern army. She was devoted to Hildebrand as the vis-           died in exile. Gregory was' defeated by Henry, Henry by
ible head of the Church, and felt proud and happy to aid him.      his rebellious son. The long wars of the Guelphs and the
In 1077 she made a reversionary grant of her dominion to           Ghibellines originated in that period. The Duke Guelph IV
the patrimony of Peter ("patrimony" refers to an inheri-           of Bavaria was present at Forchheim when Henry was de-
tance from a father or an ancestor; also, any inheritance; an      posed, and took up arms against him. The popes sided with
endowment, as of a church - H.V.), and thus increased the          the Guelphs against the Hohenstaufen emperor and the
fatal gift of Constantine, from which Dante derives the evils      Ghibellines.
of the Church. She continued the war with Henry, and                  The friends and supporters of Henry in. Lombardy and
aided Conrad and  Henry  V in  th,e rebellion against their        Germany were dissatisfied, and regarded his humiliation as
father. In the political interest of the papacy she contracted,    an act of cowardice, and the pope's conduct as an insult to
in her fifty-fifth year, a second marriage with Guelph, a          the German nation and the royal crown. His enemies, a
youth of eighteen, the son of the Duke of Bavaria, the most        small number of Saxon and  Swabian nobles and bishops,
powerful enemy of Henry IV  (1089))  but the marriage, it          assembled at Forchheim, March 18, 1077, and, in the pres-
seems, was never consummated, and was dissolved a few              e&e of two legates of the pope, but without his express
years afterwards (1095). She died? 1115. It is supposed by         authority, offered the crown of Germany to Rudolf, Duke
many that Dante's Matilda, who carried him over the river          of Swabia, Henry's brother-in-law, but oti two important
Lethe  to Beatrice, is the famous countess ; but Dante never       conditions (which may be traced to the influence of the
mentions Gregory VII, probably on account of his quarrel           pope's legates), namely, that he should denounce a hereditary
with the emperor.                                                  claim to the throne, and guarantee the freedom of ecclesias-
     Canossa @as become a proverbial name for the triumph          tical appointments. He was crowned March 26, at Mainz,
of priestcraft over  kipgcraft. Some seek to make out that         by Archbishop Siegfried, but under bad omens: the conse-
Henry's act at Canossa was regarded by his age as an act           crated oil ran short, the Gospel was read by a simoniacal
of humility and not of humiliation. The contemporary writ-         deacon, the citizens raised a tumult, and Rudolf had to
ers speak of it as an act of unheard of and wonderful humil-       make his escape by night with Siegfried,, who never returned.
ity. In view of the profound reverence for the Church which        He found little support in Southern Germany, and went to
prevailed it may be taken as certain that the people               Henry's enemies in Saxony. Henry, therefore, we can easily
looked upon it as an act of humble piety. But for Henry it         understand, regarded this Rudolp as the robber'of his crown.
was a different thing. As a certain Mirbt agrees, the king         But we will continue with Schaff's  description of this in our
was not moved by deep religious concern but by a desire to         following article.                                          H.V..


474                                             T H E   STATU'DARD   B E A R E R

II                                                                        to comprehend fully in this life the work of creation or of
            The Voice of Our Fathers                                 II the resurrection ? Is it possible fully to understand the work
                                                                          of justification? Besides, why do the fathers hasten to add
                                                                          that in the meantime believers are not spiritually disturbed
                 The Ccinons of Dordrecht                                 by. this. inability fully to understand the manner of God's
                                                                          operation ? Why do they add that they rest satisfied in this,
                              PART  TWO                                   that they know and experience that by this grace of God they
                   EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                               believe with the heart and love their Savior?
                                                                             I believe that the answer to these questions is to be sought
            THIRD AND FOURTH HEADS OF DOCTRINE                            in more than one direction.
      OF  THE CORRUPTION OF  MAN, HIS  CONVERSION TO GOD,                    First of all, let us notice that the article itself calls atten-
                                                                          tion to a very sound reason for its being inserted at this point
                   AND THE MANNER THEREOF                                 in the Canons. For when it states that the "manner of this
              Article 13. The manner osf this operation cannot be         operation cannot be fully comprehended by believers in this
            fully comprehended by believers in this life. Notwith-
              standing which, they rest satisfied with knowing and        life," we may infer that perhaps the impression might be left
              experiencing that by this grace of God they are en-         in the preceding paragraphs that this was now the full and
              ab,led to believe with the heart, and love their Savior.    complete explanation of -this work of God, that there was
       The above  translation is not correct  in that it draws an         nothing more to be said about it, and that the fathers had
 adversative relationship between the two realities stated in             expounded this operation of God down to its very last detail.
 this article,  - something which neither the original Latin,             Atid the  present'paragraph  of the  CGnons  removes the  pas-
 which uses the word interim, nor the official Dutch transla-             sibility of any such impression.
tion, which uses the word  opl-der&sschen,  does. We prefer                  Let us observe thaf the fathers here speak not simply of
the following rendition : "The manner of this operation be-               this operation of God, but of "the manner of this operation."
 lievers are not able in this life fully to comprehend; mean-             Besides, they do not say that the manner of this operation
 while they rest satisfied in this, that they know and ex-                cannot be known and understood at all, but that it cannot
 perience that by this grace of God they believe with the                 be fully comprehended in this life, - not even by believers.
 heart and love their Savior." The reader will observe in this               What does this mean?
 translation that we make one more, rather important, correc-                It implies, in the first place, that there is much that can
tion when we eliminate the term are elza~bled. The latter term            be understood and said concerning the manner of this opera-
 does not belong in the translation either according to the               tion. It nieans  not only that in the light of Scripture we may
 language or the intent of the fathers. Believers do not merely           know that there iS such an operation of `God; but we may
 rest satisfied in this, that they are enabled to believe with            a.lso know something about this operation of God. And
the heart and to love their Savior. But they rest satisfied in            notice that it is exactly about  the  wmzner  of this operation
this, that they do actually believe with the heart and do actu-           that the fathers have been speaking in the preceding para-
 ally love )their Savior.                                                 graphs. All that they have written there we may know con-
       The appearance of this little article in our  Cmmzs  may           cerning it. In brief, they have been emphasizing that the
leave the impression upon the reader as being rather sudden               manner of this operation is  efficaciozts. That certainly be-
and inexplicable. Why, after the rather thorough  treatment               longs to what may be known concerning the work of calling
 of the incapability of the natural man to convert himself, and           and regeneration. We may know also that the manner of this
after the thoroughgoing description of the work of efficacious            operation is such that it results in a complete and radical
calling and regeneration, -why should our fathers insert.  in             spiritual, ethical change,  - the change from a sinner to a
a confessional statement the proposition that believers c&not             saint. The fathers give us to understand too that this opera-
in this life fully comprehend the manner of this operation of             tion of God fakes place in such a way that it does not leave
 God ? What they refer to when they speak of "the manner                  the regenerated Christian passive and inactive, but that the
 of this operation" must be quite evident. They have in mind              renewed will, being actuated and influenced by God becomes
the operation just referred to, and denominated "a new                    itself active, so that  man.is himself rightly said to believe and
 creation, a resurrection from the dead, a making alive." It              repent by virtue of the grace received.
is the work of regeneration (conceived of now in its broader                 But if, in the light of Holy Writ, much can be said con-
 sense) to which they refer, and concerning ,which they state             cerning this work of God and its manner, it is equally true,
that its manner is not to be fully understood in this life. But           in the second place, that there is `much that we cannot com-
 why particularly concerning this work do the fathers make                prehend concerning that same work. On the one.hand, even
a point of stating that it cannot be fully understood in this             that which we do know and, to an extent, understand, we
life? After all, is it not quite in order to make the  `same              canndt  fully  covapreherzd.  We may say many things  .a.bozA,t
 statement concerning all the works of God ? Is it possible               this work of God, but we can never fully comprehend it.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       475

grasp it in its very essence, so that we can exactly define it.       truth to mockery with the false claim that one had to under-
Even when we offer a formal definition of regeneration or of          stand fully the work of God before he could actually know
the calling, we must never forget that in a sense it is not           whether- he was regenerated. Over against this they  wduld
more than a "working definition.!' If we could comprehend             present their own so-called simple gospel of "Believe and
God's works, we could fathom God Himself. But this is ever            repent. Just come to Jesus. Only accept Christ."
impossible. Thus, for example, we may, according to Scrip-                    Hence, the fathers calmly state, in the first place, that the
ture, compare this work of God to other  ,works. The new              manner of this operation cannot be fully comprehended by
birth is like a new creation ; it is like a resurrection -from the    believers in this life. And they want all to understand that
dead. Or we may use the Scriptural example of the sprouting           they do not make the claim that *this work of God can be
of a seed, or of the grafting of a branch. But .even then the         fully comprehended, thQugh  they insist that this operation of
fact remains that one incomprehensible reality is' compared           God can be known and that its manner can be understood, -
with another, and  both remain equally incomprehensible.              at least understood in so far that it may be clearly ap-
These examples,  - and they are given us by Scripture itself,         prehended as a unique work of God.
- certainly are of great value in aiding us to know and                       And therefore believers need not be and are not disturbed,
understand God's work. But never do they enable us fully              spiritually upset, by the fact that they cannot fully com-
to comprehend. And on the other  hand: there are many                 prehend God's work in them.
things concerning this work which we cannot say at all. Just          _       You see, it is not thus that one first fully comprehends
exactly how the Spirit regenerates us we cannot say.. We              God's work and then experiences and identifies that work of -
cannot say what is taking place in our inmost heart. We                    God in himself. It is never thus in the  work'of salvation.' Fact
may know and experience the result of His work. We may                is that the order is the very opposite: One first apprehends
judge the "before" and "after" of .a man in whom this work            the work of God in himself, and apprehends indeed ,that it
is wrought. But we cannot say what takes place. We cannot             is the work of God; and then he begins to comprehend that
say either just exactly when this work takes place, cannot                 work of God in as far as that is possible in the light of Scrip-
determine the exact moment of our rebirth, so that, for ex-           ture.
ample, we can say, "Right now I am being  regknerated.".                      How does he apprehend, know and, experience that work
Besides, we cannot say. just how it is possible that this work        of God in himself? By its fruit. What is its fruit? First of
of God is efficacious, - or, if you will, irresistible, -and yet           all, *that he believes with the heart, that is, he engages in that
is such that man is not a stock and block. The fact of this we             spiritual activity whereby as a confessed sinner he cleaves to
may apprehend, so that we state with Article 12: "Where-                   Christ with his whole soul and puts all his trust in Him for
upon the will thus renewed, is not only actuated and in-              his righteousness before G,od. And secondly, by the fruit of
fluenced by God, but in consequence of this influence, becomes             love toward his Savior. For the activity of faith is never
itself active." Or we may even state that God works in such           to be separated from the activity of love. And that love is not
a way that He never interferes between the will  and its                   natural, but spiritual; it is not a mere sentiment, but an act
activity. But when all is said that is posible to say, then the            of the will which reveals itself in keeping Christ's command-
fact remains that we do not fully comprehend.                              ments. Hereby we know that we abide in  Him, and He in
   And although our fathers add the phrase "in this life," we              us: if we believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and
must not forget that never shall we be able to comprehend                  keep His commandments. In this activity of faith and love
God and His works. Certainly it is true that here we "know                 of the Savior Jesus Christ, which are the fruits of regenera-
in part," and that presently we shall know perfectly, "know                tion, we know and experience the regenerating grace of God.
even as also we are known." But our knowledge shall for-                      And in this the believers rest satisfied. To be sure, when
ever be a creaturely knowledge, and shall foreper fall short               they believe with the heart and love their Savior, they want
`of full comprehension. And while in glory we shall un-                    to know all that it is possible to know concerning the wonder-
doubtedly know and understand far better than we do now,                   ful work of God's sovereign grace in  their hearts. You can
the fact remains that neither now nor then shall believers                 see this too in  a covenant child as  .he grows up. To begin
fully comprehknd.                                                          with, he does not at all comprehend the work of God in him.
    All this leads us to a second reason for the insertion of              But even as a child he knows and experiences that grace of
this little  paragiaph  in our  Cn.~ao~s, The Arminians were               God, for he believes with the heart and loves his Savior. And
ever wont to accuse our fathers of "prying into the deep                   as he grows up, he strives diligently to grow in the grace and
things of God" and of acting as though they were able to                   knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But even though the
expound the mysteries of God down to their very last detail.               believer never fully comprehends the marvelous manner of
And they would try to capitalize on this evil accusation. by               God's work in him, he knows and experiences the grace of
pointing to the so-called intricate and involved Reformed                  God in his heart. For it is not a question of comp'rehension.
view in comparison ivith the so-called simple Arminian gos-                And therefore, believing with the heart and loving his Savior,
pel. And they would love to hold up the beautiful Reformed                 he has the peace which passeth all understanding.         H.C.H.

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

                      THE ALTAR OF INCENSE                                 fice was placed on the horns of the altar to purge even this
            Anyone standing in the outer court of the tabernacle in        altar from the sins of the people, but no sacrifice might be
      the old dispensation and looking into the Holy Place, where          laid upon it.  It,was used-only to burn incense.
      only the priest might enter, would immediately have his at-              Every morning and every evening the officiating priest
      tention focused on the square piece of furniture standing            brought coals from the altar of burnt offering (no strange
      immediately in front of the veil that separated the Holy Place       fire might be brought on this altar, as the sons of Aaron had
      from the Holy of  Holies. This was the altar of incense,             done, for which they were punished by death) and incense
      from which sweet and pleasant odors of incense arose which           was laid upon these coals of fire. According to some, the
     .filled both apartments of the house of God. At the wall to           altar served as a stand for the pot containing the live coals
      the right stood the table of shewbread, and to  .the left the        and. the incense, which was replaced every morning and every
      golden candlestick.                                                  evening. According to others, and this seems more likely
        In Exodus  30:1-10  we are told that this altar was made           to us, golden censers in the shape of spoons, were laid upon
      of shittim wood, also known as acacia, a fine grained,  very         the altar with live coals in them, and the incense was laid
                                                                           upon these censers.
      hard and durable wood, exactly suited for this purpose. It
      stood two cubits (approximately three feet) high, and was                The incense was a composition formed of four kinds of
      a cubit (approximately eighteen inches) square. The entire           sweet spices,  stacte, onycha, galbarnum and pure frankin-
      altar was overlaid with gold, with a wreath about the top            cense. The composition was made with the view of yielding
.     and horns on the.four  corners. Below this wreath were rings         the most fragrant and appealing odor. The people were ex-
      for the staves which served for carrying while Israel was on         pressly forbidden to use it at any time, and the priests were
      their journeys.                                                      restricted in the use of it only for this purpose. It was said
            This original altar made by Moses was later superceded         to be "salted, pure, and holy." The smoke of the incense
      by'the one made by Solomon. The latter was made of cedar             constantly arose before the face of God as a sweet smelling
      wood and was overlaid with gold. Sometimes it was referred           odor as He dwelt within the Holy of  Holies. Typically,
      to as the golden altar. .                                            there was never a moment that the Lord did not have this
                                                                           smoke of the incense filling His nostrils.
            It is interesting to note that this altar was carried away
      with the other furniture of the temple to Babylon at the time           This already accounts for the peculiar position of the altar
      of the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, but was restored again            of incense immediately before the veil in the Holy Place.
      after the captivity. The book of the Maccabees relates that              Our attention is, first of all, called to the fact that this
      Antiochus Epiphanes removed this altar, and that it was              altar stands in a direct line between the altar of burnt offer-
      restored by Judas Maccabaeus. We know that the altar                 ing and laver,  which stood in the Outer Court, and the ark
      of incense stood at its appointed place at the time when the         of the covenant, which stood in the Holy of  Holies. The
      angel appeared to Zacharias at the right of the altar to an-         symbolism of this position is obviously that for spiritual Is-
      nounce the birth of John the Baptist.                                rael access to God was through the altar of burnt offering
            In passing it may be well to mention that Ezekiel also         and the altar of incense. God has prepared the only possible
      sees an altar of incense in his vision of the temple. But in this    channel of access to His presence through the blood of atone-
      case the altar is larger, for the height is three cubits and its     ment and the incense of prayer. Or, to express it in language
     breadth and depth two cubits. It also appears in the book of          of the new dispensation, God prepared the way of intimate
     Revelation, particularly in chapter 8, in connection with the         covenant fellowship with Him through the cross of Christ
     opening of the seventh seal, where we read that an angel              and by the operation of the Spirit arousing response in the
     came and offered incense upon the altar before the throne             hearts of the believers.
     of God.                                                                  But there is, in the second place, something far more
            We shall have occasion to return to these references later,    remarkable about the position of the altar of incense before
     but for the moment we are interested in the use of the altar          the veil. It cannot escape us that Scripture always associates
     in the old dispensation. In Exodus 30 ~7, 8 we are told, "And         this altar with the furnishings of the Most Holy Place. Al-
     Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning : when           ready in Exodus we read that Aaron shall burn incense upon
     he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.' And            it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout the
     when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn in-              generations of Israel. So this incense was always before
     cense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord through-           the Lord, as if it arose within the .Holy of Holies, where the
     out your generations." From this it becomes evident that              Lord dwelt in the lighted cloud. In the account of the con-
     this is no altar in the ordinary sense of the word, since no          struction of the temple in Solomon's time, the golden altar is
     sacrifice was ever brought upon it. God had strictly forbidden        mentioned in connection with the Most Holy Place, as one
     the use of this altar for any kind of sacrifice whatever. Once        of its furnishings. Hebrews  9:4 speaks as if the golden
     a year, on the great day of atonement, the blood of the sacri-        tenser was actually behind the veil, in that "which is called


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   477
 -
 the Holiest of all." In that light we can understand Lev.            pensation, steps as it were out of the Most Holy Place to in-
 16:18, which speaks of this altar as the "altar that is before       form Zacharias of the birth of John the Baptist. Therefore
the Lord."                                                            the angel can also assure Zacharias, "Fear not, for thy prayer
      This can only mean one thing. The altar of incense adu-         is heard." The very prayers that were symbolized by the
 ally belonged within the veil. It stood in most intimate rela-       incense of the altar were pleasing to the Lord and were also
 tionship to the mercy seat and the ark of the covenant, where        heard in the coming of John the Baptist as forerunner of the
 God's presence was symbolized by the lighted cloud. Even in          Christ.
 its position immediately before the veil, as close to the Holy         Also in the book of Revelation the prayers of the saints
 of  Holies as posible, the smoke of the incense could arise          are associated with the sacrifice of incense. In chapter  8,
 and enter into the Most Holy Place as a perpetual incense            verses  3 and 4, we read, "And another angel came and
 before God's face.                                                   stood at the altar, having a golden  tenser ; and there was
      The only ,reason  why this altar was not within the inner-      given unto him much incense,, that he should offer it with
 most sanctuary was that the veil still separated the people          the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was
 from God. The way into the sanctuary had not yet been                before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came
 opened by the blo?d of atonement. When Christ died on the            with the prayers of the saints, ascended ,up before God out
 cross the veil of the temple rent from the top to the bottom,        of the angel's hand." Here' is described an occasion very
 opening the way for the saints into the innermost sanctuary          similar to the one when the people were praying and the
 of God. At that moment, so to speak, the altar came into             priest was laying the incense upon the altar for the morning
 its proper place, every sin and hindrance had been removed,          sacrifice, for the first verse mentions that there `was silence
 so that we now have free access to God through the new               in heaven about the space of half an hour. Twice in this
 and living way of His flesh. Of course, we hasten to add,            short passage the prayers of the saints are associated with
 that this actually marked the end of the old dispensation and        the smoke of the incense that ascended up before God. Nor
opened the way for the outpouring of the Spirit, so that we           must it escape us that they are not the prayers of the `people
 no  .more serve the Lord through type and shadow, but in             as they are by nature, or even the people in general, but the
 Spirit and in truth.                                                 prayers of the saints. These saints are redeemed by the
      From all that has been said the significance of this altar      blood of the cross and sanctified by the Spirit Who applies
 of incense is very obvious.                                          the cleansing and renewing power of the blood to the hearts
      The psalmist expresses it by saying (Psalm 141:2),  "Let        of God's elect. Their prayers are always as a sweet smelling
my  .prayer  be set forth before thee as incense." The  ' im-         savor in the nostrils of the Lord. And these prayers are also
plication is that prayer is in the reality what incense is in the     heard, for we read in verse 5, "And the angel took the
 symbol. Sanctified by the blood of atonement and renewed             tenser,  and filled. it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the
by the Spirit in our hearts, our Spirit-inspired prayers are          earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and  light-
continually before Him as pleasing unto Him as the smoke              nings, and an earthquake." The church had prayed that
 of incense arising from the altar.                                   God's will may be done on earth as in heaven, and in the
      Also Isaiah 6 is significant in this connection. The prophet    same breath had added, "Come, Lord  ,Jesus." In -answer
 sees a vision of the Lord sitting upon an exalted throne in          to that prayer the Lord sends His judgments  .upon  the
the temple, with worshipping seraphim round about Him                 earth, saying, "Behold, I come quickly."
 raising their voices in adoration. Then we read, "And the               In conclusion we see that,
house `was filled with smoke." What else could this smoke                First, the Lord has prepared the only possible access
refer to but the smoke from the altar of incense? And                 unto. covenant fellowship with Him by the blood of the
 since this is mentioned in connection with the call of Isaiah        cross and the altar of incense, that is, through -Christ who
to the office of prophet in the mids tof God's covenant people,       brings us into covenant fellowship with God in prayer by
it undoubtedly means that the prayers of the saints have              the operation of His Spirit in our hearts. Prayer is com-
arisen before God's face as a sweet smelling sacrifice, and           munion with God.
that in answer of these prayers the Lord is calling and                  Second, this fellowship is very real for we have the
mandating Isaiah unto. the salvation' of His people.                  assurance that the prayers of the saints are as a sweet and
      Previously we had occasion to refer to Luke 1, where we         pleasant incense before the face of  God.
read that the rare privilege had fallen upon Zacliarias to burn        . Thirdly, these prayers are pleasing to God because they
incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.. Signi-             are the prayers of the saints, who pray in perfect harmony
ficantly it is added that "the whole multitude of the people          with His holy will, even as we are taught to pray by our
were praying without at the time of (morning) incense."               Lord, "Hallowed by thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will
 Thus the time of incense is associated with the prayers of the       be done in  earth,.  as it is in heaven." This forms the basis
people, and it is exactly at this time that the angel Gabriel,        for all our personal petitions, which can be summed UP in
in answer to the prayers of the whole- church of the old dis-                            (Continued  on page 480)


47s                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                    the Christian Reformed Churches is simply a matter of
             ALL  ARO-UND US,                                       EMPHASIS. The position is taken that both churches
                                                                    actually believe the very same truth, they uphold and defend
                                                                    the same doctrine, but with this exception: the Protestant
Interesting Quotations and Interesting  Change;F.                   Reformed Churches emphasize this truth much more than
                                                                    the Christian Reformed Churches. Therefore there is es-
       Recently a brother sent me a bundle of old "Church           sentially no difference. And the little fox does his work,
News" and "Concordias". in which appear writings of some            especially to the young and tender grapes, namely, the one
of the ministers who left us in the schism of 1953. These           church is as good and pure doctrinally as the other. Hence,
are the ministers who are responsible for the letter which          to leave or join the Protestant Reformed Churches or those
was sent to the synod. of the Christian Reformed Church of          of the Christian Reformed is nothing more than a matter of
1957, a copy of which appeared in the last issue of  TJze           choice and not principle. And, there is nothing to debate
Standard Bearer.  As those who read the letter well know,           about, nothing to get excited about, let by-gones be by-
those responsible for writing and sending it ask the Chris-         gones, let us forgive and forget.
tian Reformed Church to interpret the Three Points of 1924
which they confess they may have misinterpreted. They ex-               "However, there, is one thing we ought not forget: if
press the hope that a satisfactory interpretation will be given     this little fox `Emphasis' is a correct interpretation of 1924
them that will remove all their fears and open the way for          then its mother of 1924 becomes still more fierce and vile
unity with the Christian Reformed Church.                           and very mysterious. For then the fact remains that the
                                                                    Christian Reformed Churches expelled believers from their
       When I read the articles above referred to, I agreed with    midst who were not ashamed of the truth but emphasized it.
the brother who sent them to me that they make interesting          And that sounds rather bad in the face of what our Con-
reading in the light of the letter they sent to the Christian       fessions say in Article 29, namely, that it is the false church
Reformed synod. We offer our readers a few quotations               which persecutes those who live  holily  according to the Word
from these writings which clearly indicate interesting changes      of God. Therefore if the  only.`difference  is a matter of em-
in those who wrote them. It will become very apparent that          phasis how could the Christian Reformed Churches  expel1
at one time they understood very well what they now declare         us from their midst?'
they may have misinterpreted.
       We take our first quotation from an editorial which ap-          Cammenga goes on to write along the same line of
peared in                                                           thought about the two other little foxes `Trivial' and `Ob-
              Concordia.  of December 12, 1946, and written by
Rev. A. Cammenga. The editorial is entitled "Three Little           stinate.' And he concludes his editorial with the `following :
Foxes." He begins his article by telling his readers that               "Now we do not write these things with the purpose of
Solomon was aware of the little foxes that destroy the vine,        rethreshing old straw, but it seems as if during the last
and he points out that "in the vineyard of the Protestant           while these little foxes persistently show themselves in the
Reformed Churches seemingly insignificant little foxes have         vineyard of the church and each one ought to realize the
crept in, not exactly unawares, but at least rather unmolested.     seriousness of the matter. From the Christian Reformed
Compared with the so-called big bad fox of some years ago           side it ought to be realized that by resorting to the devastat-
they naturally seem rather harmless. However, we ought              ing power of these little foxes they certainly are not putting
to remember that the little foxes are related to the big one        their church in a better light, in fact, 1924 becomes even
and have the same nature and the same intent. We ought              more scandalous. From the Protestant Reformed side it
to remember also that these little foxes do not wait with their     ought to be realized that these little foxes are much more
mischievous work until they can attack the higher branches          dangerous than we realize, especially so for the younger ele-
of the vine, but from the very start they prey on the tender        ment of the church and for the cause of our mission en-
little grapes, and we ought to be on the alert and snare            deavors. These tactics are intended to belittle the entire
them early."                                                        issue and to make it appear that our whole cause is un-
       He continues, "The little foxes to which we have refer-      justifiable.
ence in this article are three in number, possibly we might             "With this in view we must seek to keep the issue of the
name them: Emphasis, Trivial and Obstinate.                         truth, which God has entrusted to us, alive. And our young
       "Emphasis is an offspring of old mother `Controversy' .people  ought to be drilled in the why and the wherefore of
who, back in 1924 was fierce and vicious, and we feared our Protestant Reformed Churches: And together we must
that she might uproot the whole vineyard. Boldly she came           be convinced and grow in the conviction that the issue of
out of hiding and attacked the truth of the .Word of God we         1924 and of today is a matter of the truth of the Word of
held dear . . . Emphasis is that rather new philosophy that         God, a matter of principle which we may not let slip neither
the only difference between the Protestant Reformed and             belittle,                              i


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                479

   "The year 1924 was the beginning of a reformative period            Reformed Church. in regard to these Three Points we are
and we must do our utmost to effectively repel the little              assured the Rev.  Da&of  cannot in honesty before God make.       ,
mischievous foxes within the vineyard lest the reformation             Nor do we expect that he will.
of 1924 suffer deformation in the present and coming genera-              "What a sad situation. Now in the days of his retire-
tions."                                                                ment. Sad though it remains true that he brought it upon
   The reader'can  draw his own conclusions from the above             himself by leading his church away from the Protestant Re-
quotation as compared with the letter Rev. Cammenga was                formed Churches where they doctrinally belonged, and
instrumental in bringing to the synod of the Christian Re-             finally leading his church back into the Christian Reformed
formed Church. My conclusion is that the letter is a big               Churches where he and his church did. not doctrinally be-
lie, and Cammenga gives plenty of evidence in the above                l o n g !
quotation that he needs no .interpretation  of' the Three Points.         "How tragic. for himself all this is ! How pitiable ! But
He understood them well with all their implications when               also how natural -in the Christian Reformed denomination
he wrote that editorial.                                               it is demanded that one be Christian Reformed  !"
   But read what Rev. P. De Boer' wrote in the July 22,                   When I read the above I could not help but repeat the
1948 issue of Concordia. The title of his article was "Before          words of De Boer, only now with respect to him. Indeed,
`Three Points' Again." Writes he, "The following item ap-              how tragic for De Boer, and those with him, all that has
peared in a recent issue of The Bamel* (June 25)) under the            transpired between him and us, and now between him and
caption `Synod At a Glance.' We quote,                               * the Christian Reformed- Church. How pitiable! But also
   `Eighteen protesting members of the Grace Church in                 how natural ! When you subscribe to the two statements of
Kalamazoo, including Rev. H. Danhof, must meet three re-               De Wolf, you are ready also to be Christian Reformed in the
quirements for the continued recognition of their member-              Christian Reformed denomination.
ship, one of these being an expression of adherence to the                But again, cannot the reader.see  that also De Boer needs
doctrinal position of the Christian Reformed Church.'                  no further interpretation of the Three Points as he claims he
   "A few observations on our part at this time, though at             needs in the letter sent to the synod of the Christian Re-
present we know nothing more of the matter than the above              formed Church for which he is also responsible 1 It's as plain
item states.                                                           as the sun in the heavens that he fully understands the
   "1. Again the Rev. Danhof is before `three points,' only            Three Points and all <their  implications. He was so sure that
this time they are at once three requirements. In 1924 it              the late Rev. Danhof would not adhere to the doctrinal posi-
was three `points, but it was Classis  West of 1925 that made          tion of the Christian Reformed Church in regard to these
them three requirements. Now the Synod requires at once.               Three Points. How sure is he of himself ?' I am not so sure
                                                                       anymore that he would not subscribe to them.
   "2. In  `1925  Classis  West deposed him from office as
minister, which official standing in the churches of the Chris-           There are other quotations of the Revs. Kok and Gritters
tian Reformed denomination was not restored even after                 which I would like to give our readers, but there is not
Danhof's congregation a few years ago really bowed to the              enough space in this issue. Perhaps we will do this the nest
hierarchical yoke they once rejected in `25. Now he must               time, D.V.
meet `three requirements' even to maintain his membership                 I have been told that those who are responsible for the
as a common member. He and eighteen other protesting                   letter sent to the synod of the Christian Reformed Church
members. What a sad `commentary on a sad history grow-                 do not mean to lead their following back to those churches,
ing out of his refusal to remain in the Protestant Reformed            but their purpose' is to arouse the better element in the
Churches, in whose midst he doctrinally belonged and of                Christian Reformed Church to consider uniting with them.
which he was historically a part and in whose midst he might           This I can hardly believe. And surely by no stretch of the
have played a positive role had he so wil1e.d.                         imagination can one draw this conclusion from the letter
    "3. No, I do not know whether the doctrinal issue now              they sent. Rather, I conclude that that letter was an earnest.
involved as one of the points has anything to do with `The             attempt on their part to camouflage their past history and to
Three Points.' We only know what we read, and that is                  entice the Christian Reformed Church to recognize them
that one of these three requirements  ,for the continued re-           for what they are, namely, Christian Reformed in doctrine
cognition of the membership of Rev. Danhof and the other               and in heart.
protesting members is `an expression of adherence to the                  I could not blame the Christian Reformed Church, how-
doctrinal position of the Christian Reformed Church.' And              ever, if they would demand evidence of sincere repentance
certainly since `24 the doctrinal position of the Christian Re-        for the things they have said and written as they appear in
formed Church means also The Three Points, An expres-                  the quotations -from their writings out of the past.
sion of adherence to the doctrinal position of the Christian                                                                    M.S.


                                                            _--.-----
,480                                       - T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

II                                                                      denomination except ours, plainly listed. The Grand Rapids
                   &OTWRH3UT.bl§`~                            /I phone book for example has almost three. solid pages of
                                                                        church listings.
                                                                              Yes, we wondered about the roadside sign. "We Wel-
Dear Editor: .                                                          come  You" -  Do we  ?
        While taking a short trip in the Western part of Michi-                                                                        Ken Ezinga
gan a few weeks ago, we noticed an attractive roadside sign
near the highway on the outskirts of a small village where                    To the Editor  of The Standard  Bea.rerer   : Rev. H.  Hoek-
one of our churches is located. Printed on the sign, for all            sema.
who drove by to see, was the following message, "The Bap-
tist  - Reformed  - Christian Reformed  - Congregational                       Dear brother: Will you be so kind as to please place the
churches of  - Welcome You."                                       :    following in  I'lze  Standard  Beajfer?
      Thoughtfully, we continued on our way.  "We  Welcome                          L E T   U S   H A V E   T H I N G S   S T R A I G H T
You" said the sign. We wondered, as we drove along, why                  .. In regard to a letter written to you by brother B.  Meel-
the name Protestant Reformed was not listed on the sign.                ker, `which was published by you in  The Standard  Bea.rer
Of course all our members know that we maintain a Prot-                 of July 1, I wish to make the following remarks :
estant Reformed church in that village. Perhaps that was +
the reason our name was not added to the list. Still, we                     1. Although it is true that Mr. B. Meelker did not have
mused, members  .of the other denominations listed certainly            a'case,.with  the Consistory, it is not true when B.  Meelker..
knew that they also maintained a church in that village.                wrote to you "that in my letter to you I did not mention a
                                                                        case. I asked a question." When brother Meelker asked that
        Perhaps our church was not contacted when the idea of           question. he had a concrete case in mind . . . and that of his
#the  sign was conceived. That was possible, although surely                                     ,. ., .-
                                                                        o      w    n         Consiststory;.   '
when members of our church heard of the sign they would
naturally take steps to add our "Welcome" also. It was                        2. I do not believe that Mr.  B.' Meelker highly values
apparent that the message was plainly meant for the stranger            your opinion, as he writes. He writes he had hoped you
who might be passing through and who could then, if  h-e so             would give proof from Scripture or the Church Order,
desired, get in contact with one of the churches listed. It             which according to Mr. B. Meelker, you did not produce.
is possible that the sign could be the means of interesting                   3. I would like to have Mr. B. Meelker answer your
someone in the Truth which we so proudly uphold.                        question in  The  Standard  Bearer  of April 1,  since,it  is not
        Could it be, we thought, that the addition of our name          his own case, namely, How does he, Mr. Meelker, know so
to this sign would mean that we were compromising the                   much about this private case  ? Brother Meelker has not
Truth with the other denominations whose preaching we                   answered that  .question and I hereby challenge him to do so.
hold to be a departure from the Truth? No, we thought,                                                                               Thys Feenstra
this could not be the reason either. For how could the name
of  o_ur church on a sign be a compromise  ?                                                     THE ALTAR OF INCENSE
        Then, we are ashamed to admit,  we. thought perhaps our                                       (Continued  from page  477)
church does not wish to welcome strangers and passersby.                the prayer : "Give us this day our daily bread  ; and forgive
Maybe we do not want anyone to know that we have a                      US  our debts, as we forgive our debtors  ; and lead  .us not
church in that small village -and that we maintain services             into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
and society life there. Thinking a bit further, we remem-                     Fourth,' these prayers are also heard. For the prayer
bered that as far as we knew, none of our churches have                 `of a righteous man availeth much, as is evident from all
ever attempted to let anyone, not even their own members,               the signs of Christ's coming, as `well as all the blessings of
know where they are located.                                            grace experienced by the believers.
        We remembered, from our days in the service of our                    Finally, types and shadows have disappeared, but they
country, that the young men of our denomination had a diffi-            still express in, symbol the realities that we experience by
cult time, when they happened to be near one of our churches,           the Spirit in our hearts.  owe also add our voice to the cry
in finding exactly where it was located. We remembered                  of David, "Let my prayer" be set forth before thee as in-
being told that the church directories so prominently dis-              cense ; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacri-
played in most of the Army camps and  US0  centers, did not             fice:" We do so in the confidence that God's "is the king-
list our churches. We remembered that even today one can                dom, and the power, and the glory forever."
pick up the telephone directory and find practically every                                                                              C .   Ha&o.


