         VOLUMX   XXXIV                                                      OCTOBER   15, 1957  -  GRAND  RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN                                                NUMTBER      2

    I                                                                                                                   ence is so great that it is sin to liken  Him to anyone or any-
               MEDITATION   `-11 thing. Isa. 40.
                                                                                                                           This truth is~never  fully  grasped. It staggers the imagina-
                                                                                                                        tion, and  it transcends the understanding. Man  makes  his
                HIGHNESS WITH LOWLINESS                                                                       .'        silly little "moon" and 1 heard their proud speech about this
                 "For                                                                                                   toy. But what `is this in comparison only  to the Universe  ?            '
                           thus  saith the high and lofty  One  that inhabiteth  etern-                                 And yet this Universe  with its staggering depths is nothing
                 ity,  whose  name is  Holy;  I  dweil in the high and  holy  place;
                 with him  also  that is of  a contrite and  humble  spirit, to revive                                  compared   to God. For it has its boundaries. But God is
                 t h e   s p i r i t   o f   the.,  hurpble,   a n d   t o   revive  t h e   h e a r t   o f   t h e    the infinite One. He has absoluteiy no bounds.
                 contrite  ones."   -  is.&  5j.15
                                                           .   . "                                                         Everywhere are .boundaries  : thought, reason, senses  ; but
         Many years ago 1 heard a man of God say, There `is a                                                           beyönd these is God.1 He is the High.and  Lofty One.
   differente  between the wicked and the wicked. Speaking the                                                             My text saith that He inhabiteth eternity.
   Holland language he said, `<Daar zijn goddelooze goddeloozen                                                            Never wil1 there be a man or angel who can undarstand
   en bekeerde goddeloozen." (He spoke on Ezekiel 33 :ll).                                                              this truth. The Bible speaks of  the light that  no. one  can
         The  chapter  from which 1  selected   the above text  illus-                                                  approach unto. That does not  merely   mean that we cannot
   trates this truth. In the context the Lord rebukes  the first                                                        come there, but we cannot even think clearly of this. It is
   kind: the wicked wicked. But in the last part He comforts                                                            beyond our puny  comprehension.   Al1 the words employed
   the repentant wicked. Of.them  He said : For the iniquity of                                                         for eternity  mean  time. We simply heap up endless ages
   his covetousness was 1 wroth, and smote him: 1 hid me, 2nd                                                           and ages, continued  forever and ever. We speak in negative
   was wrot%, 2nd he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.                                                         terms on!y, but we cannot say what eternity is in the positive
   1 have seen his ways, and wil1 heal him : 1 wil1 lead him also,                                                      sense. Just  think on a God, Triune, majestic, unspeakably
   and  restore comforts unto him and to his mourners." Isaiah                                                          rich who always was! When  we think on God who was, we                             .
    57:17,          1s.                                                                                                 tkivzk   irt  tevms  of  mdless  ages  b.efo+e  creahon!  The same is
         And in my text God holds out unspeakable comforts to. `truc of eternity that wil1 be. Even this last sentence smacks
   the repentant wicked: He  wil1  dweil with him ! In that                                                             of  time. He is the wholly Other.  Holy Scripture  speaks of                  <
   short sentence there is heaven.                                                                                      "the depths of God," and Elihu exclaims.:  "With  Hlm is a
                                                                                                                        terrible majesty !"
                                            *  *  *  *                                                                     Wel1 then, in that eternity where  the Godhead dwells we
                                                                                                                        can never  come. Our eternal dwellingplace  wil1 be  -2  crea-
         God dwells with the lowly !                                                                                    tion, and that creation is 2 radiating, reflexing image of God.
                                                                                                                        Such is  the new world that is coming, fast. But never  wil1
         In these words is' accentuated the fundamental  law of                                                         we dwell in the depths of that unapproachable, terrible,
   the Kingdom of heaven.                                                                                               eternal Light.
         ,Let US first look upon the High God who dwells with the                                                           0 God !  how terrible art Thou in  al1 Thy uncommunic-
l o w l y .                                                                                                             able virtues !
         .His name. is the High and ,Lofty One.                                                                             But there is another of His beautiful  names. He is
         God cannot be  contained  locally. That  is impossible                                                         called The Holy One !
    for He knows no bounds. Nothing  can comprehend Him,                                                                    Negatively;that means that He is forever separated from
    close Him in. He is greater than the  greatest,  The  differ-                                                       al1 that is dark, evil, wicked and corrupt.

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

      Positively, it  means that He is dedicated only, exclusively,    gentle. Instead of his stony heart he receives  a fleshen  heart,
eternally to that which is good and Pirtuous, and  that is             and. is very tractáble.
Himself. God is dedicated to God. That's Wis holiness.                     The moment the Holy Ghost sheds the light of the Word
      He is  Holy, that is. He seeks Himself in  al1 He thinks,        of God in  such a heart,  and  when they as a  consequente
says and does. He is  Holy, and that is that He loves                  see God's beauty and holiness, they begin to  mourn,  and you
Himself exclusively, eternally.                                        hear their cry in. the, night : 0 God ! be merciful to me, the
      He is  Holy, and that is that He is the Highest Good             sinner !
and looks upon Himself with good-pleasure.                                 And there God wil1 dwell.
      And al1 this from the Father  through the Son and in the            And, no wonder!
Holy Ghost.
                              * *  *  8                                    He prepared that place for Himself. There He feels con-
                                                                       vivial, there He feels sociable and cosy.
      Now then, according to the text, He dwelleth in two
places.                                                                    Such.  a- heart agrees with God. It has truth in the inward
                                                                       pa&.
      First, He dwelleth in the Holy Place.                                God seeks out those lonely ones and sa+s to them: Come,
      What,is dwelling ? He asks l!Iimself : Where  is the place       cry to Me your sadness unto Jehovah! Those people have a
of My rest?                                                            sorrow  that' is according to God.  Such a wailing has His
      There you have an inkling  of the basic idea of dwelling.        approval. He ,agrees  with such a heart.
rt is the place  where you  fee1 at  ,home,  where  you fee!               There the Triune God dwells and feels at home.
pleased,  where  you really  live. In that place it is "gezellig,"
companiable,  sociable, convivial, snug and cosy.                                                  * *  *  8
      Well, in the Triune, Divine, Majestic and wholly Other
sense, God dwells in the unapproachable light, in eternity,              And what is His purpose in  such dwelling,  such  in-
which is His own virtue.                                               dwelling ?
      1  can say nothing about that.                                       Here it is:
                                                                           He.desires  to revive the spirit of the humble.
      It is too great to be comprehended by US.
      Would we be brought there for one instant, we would die.             To revive: what is it?
      1 think that this is the meaning  of the text : NO one can           It is to enliven, to give life.
see God and live.                                                          What is life ?
      But there is another place where  God loves to dwell, and            Life is to continually stretch  out toward the Godhead,
that is His dwelling in a created place, a place which He has          if haply we may find Him. The Bible  often speaks of that
reserved for Wimself.                                                  tend,ency.  You find it in al1 those texts that speak of seeking
      It is with the  co.ntrite and  humble spirit of man.             God, supplication and prayer.
      What is man's spirit? A difficult question.                          In connection with al1 you have and have influence over,
      1 think it is that side of man's nature which elevates him       hand in hand with your wife and children, your job and
above the brute creation. It is the ï-esult of the inbieathing         name, your possessions and gifts, you stretch yourselves to-
of God's Breath at the moment of  HiS creation. And one                tiard the Godhead.                     .,l
of its results is that he is ,the image bearer of God. Hence,              Those people love to go to church.
it made.him bearer of some of the wonderful communicable
virtues of God: righteousness, knowiedge and holiness.                     When  you are bruised in spirit and contrite you do not
      It is the side of man that is adapted to the heavenly `and       have to be admonishecl  to cotie to church. Such people never
the spiritual  and Divine.                                             receive a committee  of two elders  who  come with the ques-
                                                                       tion: Why, brother and sister, do we see your pew empty
      And the c&trite spirit is a spirit that is broken,  crushed,     every  Sunday? Why are you a  `ioncer"?
unspeakably  sad and sorrowful as a  consequente  of his  fa11
from God.                                                                  They love the  holy day. They love the multitude  that
                                                                       keeps the holy day.
      Now the spirit of man as he is because of the fa11 from
God is proud and arrogant. But through regenerating grace                  They sing : `t Hijgend hert der jacht ontkomen, schreeuwt
and.God-induced  conversion, he becomes crushed, contrite and          niet sterker naar `t genot van de frissche waterstroomen, dan


I                                                 THE.  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                          27
     mijn ziel verlangt naar  ,God! (Ask a  Dutchman  to  trans-
     late it for you).                                           ;I 1          ./I               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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        And He also receives their heart.           !,T.,  .                 Published  by the  REFORMED   FREE   PUBLISHING  ASSOCUTION
        The heart is the ethica1 center of a  moral,  rational,             P. 0. Box  &Sl, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
     ethica1  nature.  It is the man himself. As the heart of a                                        Editor   -  REV.   HERMAN   HOEKSEMA
     man is so is he.                                                       Communications relative to  contents  should be addressed  to
                                                                                              Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin. St., S. E.,
        And that heart receives new life. The life from God. The                                            : Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
                                                                            AIl matters relative  to subscriptions  should be addressed to Mr.
     life of His eternal covenant.                                          G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
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         And, now comes the most important part.                            to continue without the  forma& of  a  renewal  order.
         How does God accomplish this al1 ?                                                            Subscription  price: $4.00 per year
                                                                            Entered as  Second  Class matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan
         Through Jesus Chris;.
         And He experienced  al1 this bruising, this contriteness,
     this forsakenness.                                                                                              C O N T E N T S
         NO, there's not one like the lowly Jesus, no, not one, no?      MEDITATION -
                                                                                      Highness with Lowliness  ________ .._. _.... . . _.____._  ___ .._ __. ..__ . . .25
     not one! -1 could sing that line al1 the night and al1 the day.                          Rev. G. Vos
     It is so true and therefore so beautiful.
                                                                         EDITORIXS  -
         Jesus was revived ; o yes, He was revived as no other.                       Daane's Negativism .                              _.           _. . . ...28
     For He was  dead. He died the eternal death for  al1 God's                               Rev. H.  Hoeksema
I own.                                                                   OOR  DOCTRINE-
         And in the garden of Joseph He received  the beginniing                      The Book of Revelation  .__ ___ ___  _.  ._ ___  _..  ..___   ___.._   ..30
     of the reviving of my text.       -                                                      Rev. H.  Hoeksema

         He had bowed, bent and  curved  His body and soul in the        THE  DAY  OF  SHADOWS   -
     death agony, and cried with a pityful voice to God in heaven :                   The Prophecy of Zechariah   _.___....  _                             _        
                                                                                                                                                                     .__  ._.  _...  ..___._..  __..  ..34
     Why, o My God, hast Thou  forsaken  Me?                                                  Rev. G. M. Ophoff
         Remember that in your deepest agony,                            FROM  HOLY WRIT -
                                                                                      Exposition of 1  Corinthians  12-14  _________,......__....................  37
         And say to yourselves : Why, o  my, soul, art thou dis:                              Rev. G.  Lubbers
     quieted within me ? God wil1 return. He did to Jesus.               IN  HIS  FEAR  -
         And He  wil1 as a  consequente,  based on Jesus agony                        Showing  the Coming Generations God's  Praises ( 3) .___..____....  39
     and revival, return to you.                                                              Rev.  T. A. Heys
I        And your final strain wil1 be : 1 wil1 yet praise Him, Who      CONTENDING  FOR  THE  FAITH  -
     is the health of my countenance and my God!                                      The Church and the S.acraments _........ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :.41
                                                                                              Rev. H.  Veldman
                                                                G.V.
                                                                         THE  VOICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS   -
                                                                                      The Canons of Dórdrecht.  ___  ____..   .._  ___.._. .  .._. . ..43
                                                                                              Rev. H. C.  Hoeksema
                         Eastern Ladies' League                          DECENCY  AND  ORDER -
         The Eastern  Ladies'  League.   wil1 hold its  fa11 meeting,                 Reply to the .Rev. MacKay ________..._..__.___....................................  45
     October 24, at  8 P. M. in our Hudsonville Protestant  Re-                          Rev. G.  Vanden Berg
     formed Church. Rev. R.  Veldman  wil1 speak on the topic,           ALLAROUNDUS-
     "Obedience in the home."                                                         Torch and Trumpet Undergoes Another Change ___..___. .___._.____  47
                                                                                      An Important Conference at Cutlerville .____...__......._....,...........  47
         Reserve this date and enjoy an evening of Christian fel-                     Testimony  Regarding  Our Own Prot. Ref. Schools ________________ 48
     lowship.                                                                                 Rev. M. Schipper                           .
                                Mrs. `H. Velthouse, Vice Secretary.


28                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEA-RER
                                                            -          -
                                                                            learned in the past . . . Either we carefully assay our situa-
                                                                            tion and begin to theologize afresh and  &ew,  &  we.  shall
                                                                            have no theological future at-all."
                                                                                    What is wrong with the present method of approach?
                     Daane's- Megativisrn                                           First, according to Daane, in the Christian Reformed
                                                                            Church, dogmatics or systematic theology has been divorced
      In a very  long article in the Reforwtcd Journal,  Dr. James          from what he calls Biblical Theology. It is evident from what
Daane  writes  `on the  state of theology in the church, By                 fellows that by Biblical Theology he refers especially to what
"the church" he, evidently judging by the  contents of the                  1 would cal1 exegesis of Scripture. For, presently, he writes :
article, refers chiefly to the Christian Reformed Church.                   "What  theology needs in our time and churches is a deliber-
And, in his opinion the state of theology in that church is                 ate and conscious return to a sustained and continuing  study
rather very poor.                                                           of the Sacred ScTiptures.  To come alive again it must return
      He first praises that church for its genera1 orthodoxy.               to the living Word, and then it  wil1 live again in the Church's
"The most apparent feature of the Christian Reformed                        mind and heart, and  in her  academie  halls and  pulpits . . .
Church's theology is its patent orthodoxy . . . It may be said              Only a fresh return to  the.  Scriptures  wil1 again  giye our
with confidence that the' sound of that gospel which is the                 churches a living theology and genuine theologians."  Person-
power of God unto salvation is heard in every  pulpit. Chris-               ally, 1 do not believe that this is true. It is not true, for
tian Reformed  pulpits do not offer men stones for bread."                  instance, of Berkhof's  Systematic  Theology. Although he does
Besides, this orthodoxy  imparts  substance to Christian  Re-               not deliberately apply himself  to exegesis, the work is,  never-
formed sermons, according  to Daane.                                        theless, based upon it. And if Daane wil1 give his attention
      However,  he cannot praise the  state of theology  in the             to the more than twenty books 1 have written he wil1 find
church. It is dead. "If to be truly healthy is "CO be truly alive,          that they al1 are based on what he calls Biblical Theolo&.
then the actual state of theology- in the Christian Refoimed                    Al1  this,  however,  appears to serve only as an  introduc-
Church cannot be of sound health. In the good sense of the                  tion to the  real purpose of this long article: a criticism of
word, her theology is orthodox and conservative.'  But living,              Hoeksema and Van Til. It is a very untrue and even foolish
vibrant, growing, expanding, existential, sensitive, and  re-               criticism. It is a criticism which causes  me to doubt that he
sponsive to the theological challenges  %nd needs of her  times ?           has ever made study of what 1 have written for the hardly
No."                                                                        ever quotes me. He merely  ascribes views to me which are
      Daane  also tries to  discover  the  causes for this  lack of         not mine. But this 1 hope to show  in a following article.
life and growth in the theology of the church. One of the                       In the heading of this article 1 mention  Daane's negativ-
causes  he mentions is the fact that the Christian `Reformed                ism.
Church is an imigrant church. It fears the liberalistic  in-                    Wbat 1 mean by this is that virtually throughout the en-
fluences of her surroundings and, therefore, largely lives                  tire article Daane offers nothing but negative criticism. He
from the  motive to hold. fast that which  she has.  "Indeed,               complains that the  state of  theologjr  in the Christian  Re-
the greatest damage and threat to  .genuine  orthodoxy" he                  formed Church is that it is dead. He emphasizes that a new
writes, "sterns from this fear. It is insistence on ecclesiastical          method is called for: We must have new perspectives and a
and theological insularity that  causes  our theology to stag-              new understanding of the truth of the bible. But in his entire
nate, atrophy, which in turn causes  our more lively theological            long article of fifteen pages he does not even begin to develop
minds,  many of  whom now  pursue  study in  American   and                 his own theology or even show his own theological approach.
European seminaries and universities, to read the more  libeyal             It  iS al1 pure negativism.
theological works with Lhe relish of hungry appetites, and to,                  1, therefore, suggest to Daane, that in the future he refrain
find our own theology by comparison quite warmed up and                     from  mere negative criticism and that he develop his own
cooked over." But there is, according to Daane, another and                 theology of which we are so badly in need.
móre important reason for this  lack of life in the theology                   To this 1  wil1 look forward. And  when it appears 1
of the Christian Reformed Church. ."The more basic reason"                  promise +hat. the Lord. willing, 1 wil1 write about it.
thus he writes, "for our failure to make theological advance                                                                           H.H.
has to do vith our theological method . . . It appears to me
that the theological problems we raised and the method we                                         A Good Meeting
employed to solve them, have served their purpose and run
their course, and have now reached the point beyond which                      1 am glad to write a few words about the last meeting of
no theological advance'will or can be made. Our theological                 the R.F.P.A., the Reformed Free Publishing Association
plight calls for a fresh reformúlation of our theological task              which publishes The Standard  Beare+  and other Protestant
and the creation and utilization of a new theological approach              Reformed literature. And the same tjme  I  wil1 give a
in the light of the present and with the aid of *hit we have                report of the speech 1 delivered at that meeting:


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                29

     In my opinion,  this was a  very good meeting, one of           been the ëase of Dr. Janssen. The latter  had been appointed
 the best we had for several years. The meeting was very wel1        professor at Calvin Seminary  in 1914, a year before 1 gradu-
 attended: 1 judge that there were about a hundred  men and          ated. That last year of my attendance at Calvin, the first year
 brethren present for  the, large catechism  room in the base-       of Dr. Janssen,  1 detected nothing wrong in his instruction. In
 ment of  the First Protestant Reformed Church in Grand              fact, 1 appreciated his scholarship. But before long rumors
 Rapids was nearly filled.  What  is of more importante  is that     began to spread around about his false teaching  and his
 there was a very good spirit, a spirit of brotherly love and        modernistic approach to Scripture. Students that  came to
 enthusiasm for the cause which the assoeiation represents.          preach for me in Holland, Fourteenth Street, and sometimes
 Al1 the business that was before the meeting was Conducted          stayed at my parsonage, told me about Scriptural criticism.
 in complete harmony. Not a discordant note was heard. It            1 could not believe this and  1 always  told those  students.
 certainly was encouraging to attend this meeting and 1 am           that they must not spread those rumors  aroùnd  but  rather
 sure that al1 the men that attended felt the same way about         get into personal contact with prof. Janssen and talk to him
 it.  I-  sincerely  hope that, in the future, we may have more      about the matter.  However,   the  rumors persisted. Not only
 meetings of the same calibre.                                       did the rumors spread more and more, but about the year
    After   recess  1 delivered my speech. The subject that          1919 the "four professors," Berkhof,  Heyns, Ten Hoor and
 was assigned to me by the board and on which 1 spoke was  :         Volbeda, became involved in the matter. They  composed   a
 "The Standard Bearer and Our Future? And  L  wil1 give a            protest against the instruction of their colleague, prof. Jans-
 brief review of this speech from an outline  1 have in my           sen and delivered it to the Synod of -the Christian Reformed
 possession.                                                         Church in 1920. The synod treated this protest with the
    1 was asked to speak to you tonight on the.subject : "The        result that it condemned the  action of the four professors and
 Standard Bearer and Om- Future." By~this subject 1 under-           justified,  apparently, the  instruction  of Dr. Janssen.  Ad-
 stand that  The  Stand&  Benrcr has  significante  for our          visedly 1 say that Dr. Janssen was apparently justified. The
 future and by our future 1 understand the future wellbeing          reason for this statement is that the decision of synod was
 of our `Protestant Reformed Churches and cause in the midst         not very streng: In fact, it was very weak for it was entirely
 of the world as wel1 as in the midst of other churches.             negative. The decision was namely that it had not appeared
    Now; the first part of my subject is not very  difficult. 1      that there was anything in the teaching of Dr. Janssen that
 can say a good  many things about our publication,  The             was worthy of condemnation. However this may be, fact is
 Standard  Bearer,  part of which is well-known  to al1 of you,      that the four professors lost their case and Dr. Janssen was
 part of which, especially the part which concerns the .origin       allowed to remain at the seminary.
 and beginning of our paper, is probably .known to some of              You ask, perhaps, how al1 this has anything to do with
 you but by no means  to all. And, of course, for the clevelop:      the history of our Protestant Reformed Churches and of l7ze
 ment of my subject it is necessary that 1 speak -of this. But       Standmd Bearer?  This  wil1 become  clear  presently. 1  be-
 the  second part of  my subject is a different question. It is      camé  personally  involved in the Jansen-case. In Feb. 1920
 much more difficult as  al1 of you  will` readily understand.       1 bade  farewell to my congregation  in Holland and came to
 Indeed,  1 am a  prophet  but not in `the sense that  1  can.       the Eastern Ave. Church in Grand Rapids of which also Dr.
 predict the future, except as it revealed in genera1 outlines       Janssen was a member. There were-  also several  seminary
 in Holy Writ. In the strict sense of the word, our future, the      students in my congregation. And in spite of the decision of
 future of our churches, is determined from before the founda-       the synod of 1920, several of them stil1 insisted that the in-
 tion of the world in the c&nsel of God, and that counsel is         struction of Dr. Janssen was modernistic. Then  1 decided
 hid,  1 cannot  read. it. Yet,  1  can and  wil1 say something      to investigate. 1 asked the students to deliver to me as many
 about it. In the first place, it is possible, for me to do so in    of the lectures which Dr. Janssen had delivered in class  and
 the light  of the past. The future stands in inseparable` rela-     which were mimeographed as they could lay hands on. This
 tion to the past. As the Dutch poem has -it : "In `t verleden       they did and before long 1 had a great pile of these notes.
 ligt het heden, in het nu wat worden zal." But, secondly,           The study of these notes opened my eyes and 1 discovered,
 we also have the sure promises of God for His people'in the         indeed, that there was something fundamentally wrong with
 world, and, therefore, also to them 1 must cal1 your attention.     the teaching revealed in them. At that time 1 was editor of
    The history of Th Stasdard BeareP is inseparably related         the rubric "Our Doctrine in  The Banner.  Under that rubric
to  the history of the Christian Reformed Church especially          1 published part of the notes of Dr. Janssen and the church
 to the period between the years 1915 to 1926. And, of course,       was aroused.
 it. is  also related to the early history`of the Protestant  Re-       Let me explain  that, in the meantime,  1 called on Dr.
 formed Churches.                                                    Janssen, but 1 could do nothing with him. When  he noticed
    It begins with the  history  of what is known as the             that 1 was opposed to his teaching he did not want to talk
 Janssen-case. In fact, it may be doubted if there ever would        to me about his instruction in the seminary. Instead of de-
 have been Protestant Reformed  Chuî-ches  if there had not                              (Continued  on page 33)


       30                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                    -s                                       _
_                                                                                   After  the genera1 significante  of the symbolism  presented
      Il < OU'R  DO'CTRI.Nk                                                  II by -`these four horses and their riders has been ascertained, it
                                                                                 cannot be dií&rlt to grasp the meaning of each one of them
                        THE  BOOK OF REVELATION                                  and to  discover  what they represent in the history of this
                                                                                 dispensation. The  victorieus  warrior on the white horse
                                  CHAPTER   13                                   evidentiy  stands for  bthe triumphant progress of the  cause
                             THE  FOUR  HORSEMEN                                of Christ's  kingdom  in this dispensation. As we have said
                                                                                before, we must not attempt  to personify and interpret the
                                Revelation 6 :l-8                                details of the picture. We must not maintain that the rider
             And in his,Lamentations  we hear the same prophet  com-            is in this case Christ: for then we would have to apply the
      plain : "Our skin was black like an oven because of the                   same method of each of the four riders, which is impossible.
      terrible famine." Lamentations  5  :lO. Black, then, is'color of          Horse and rider present just one idea  ; and together they
     scarcity and want, of drought and famine. The rest of the                  picture the victory of the cross in the world of sin. The world
      description of this horse is again in harmony with this idea              lies in darkness, is the dominion of the `prince of darkness,
      of the black color, although at the same time we should not               stands inimical over against the  kingdom  of Christ that is
      fail to notice that by it the idea of famine is somewhat modi-            to  come. And  therefore,  if that world is to be transformed
      fied and mitigated. The rider is  pictured  as one who  holds             into a kingdom  of God, it is not sufficient  that the evil-doers
      a balance and who does some careful weighing. And as he                   be destroyed, but spiritual victories must be won.  .The power
      weighs,  the voice is heard : "A measure of  wheat for a                  oi the new kingdom  must go forth into this inimical world,
      penny, and three measures of barley for a penny." A measure               and  make  subjects  for the  kingdom  of heaven.. For this
      of wheat, - about a pint and a half of our measure, - con-                purpose Christ  sends forth His Spirit and Word to re-
      stitutes the equivalent of one man's subsistence for one day.             generate  and cal1 and bring to a conscious faith, to cause men
     __ And the same is truc- of three measures of barley. If in con-           to fa11 down before the great Ring and worship Him instead
      nection with this we  also  bear,&mind  that a penny, or                  of the evil one. And it is this  combined   effort of the Spirit
      shilling, constituted jus't about  a day's wages of the common            and Word, and al1 that is connected with their werk, which                .
      laborer, we come to the conclusion that this third rider re-              is portrayed  under.  the  symbolism  of the white horse and
      presents scarcity and dearth, rather than downright famine.               its rider. That  victorieus  warrior, going forth conquering
      The relation between the wages of the common people and                   and to conquer, shoots his sharp arrows `into the hearts of
      the  tost of the necessities of life is  such that the  latter  de-       the  enemies,  and thus brings them into subjection to  the
      vour the former  every  day. But this is not all. The voice               Lord of lords and King of kings. Up to the present day this
      continues, and says : "The oil and the wine hurt  nat." Oil               rider has pursued in the  main a  very definite  ,course.  He
      and wine are  symbols of plenty and luxury, of merriment and              did not ride at `random  and roam in every  direction, al1 over
      feasting. These may not be hurt, but must continue to exist.              the earth ; but clearly he had his course prescribed and de-
      And hence; the complete portraiture of this third horse and               finitely mapped  out.  Starting from Jerusalem, he drove to
      its rider present a remarkable  contrast, -a contrast between             Antioch and -through the various cities of Asia Minor. From
     poverty and riches,  between a bare subsistence and luxurious              thence he crossed  over into Europe, first scòring his victories
      living.                                                                   in  Macedonia  and Greece, then boldly strikirig for the very
             The fourth and last horse is of a pale green,  such as is          heart of the mighty Roman Empire, in order from there on
      the color of death. Here we cannot be  left in doubt as to                to  -sweep  over the  mountains  and plains of Europe, and
      the meaning  of this fourth horseman. The horse represents                finally cross over into  the^  western hemisphere  when the
      the color of a corpse,  of death itself. And in harmony with              time  tias  ripe.- Surely, today he also rides in other parts of
      the color of the animal is the name of its rider, which is                the world, and the inhabitants of Asia and Africa must bow
      Death, while  Hades, the abode of  the  dead,  fellows  him,              before his power. But there is a distinct differente  between
      ready to receive  the victims killed by this terrible horseman.           his work in Europe and  America, and that among the  na-
      The definite commission  which this fourth horseman  receives
      is to  kil1 and destroy one fourth part of theeearth's  inhabi-           tions of the far east and  South. In the former countries his
      tants with the sword, with  pestilente,  with the wild beasts             victories were so pronounced that outwardly entire peoples
      of the earth, and with death in general.  If four is  generally'          have been christianized, while in the latter the result of his
      the number  representing the completeness of the world, one-              drive is noticeable only in the conversion of individuals. And       _
      fourth represents such a fraction as is in harmony with the               thus the  ultimate   result of the drive of the first warrior is
      present  existente  in the world throughout  this present  dis-.          that the tremendous contrast is called  into existente between
      pensation. The  symbolism  of the last horse and  jts  rjder
                  :>                                                            the so-called Christian world and the world of heathendom,
      malies- US think of death in al1 its various farms.                       Israel and the Gog andMagog.


                                                                                                                   ~.
                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    3i

     The second horse and its rider together are the symbol              the few  &e in wealth and splendor and royal ease, in distinc-
  of war. It is because of the drive of this horse on the earth          tion from the masses.  Very emphatically this  condition   ap-
  that the  slumbering  passions of men and nations: are aroused         pears  in Europe and in ether countries; but also in our own
  and called into action,  so that nation  rises  against  nation al1    country it is developing with alarming  rapidity.  A very smal1
  through history. We must not fail to no'tice that also in the          percentage of our population possesses and  controls more
  case of this second horse and its rider it is Christ that opens        than seventy-five per cent of al1 the wealth of the country;
  the seal, and He sends forth the horse and its rider. Also in          while the masses may divide the remaining twenty-five per
  this case the horse does not run  at`random,  but is  directed         cent of the nation's gold among themselves. Always the
  by its rider. It assures  US that  in'the deepest sense of the         black horse and its rider maintain this contrast in the social.
  word  also the wars of the world are sent forth and  con-              world, a contrast that in turn is the  cause  of  many events
  trolled by Jesus Christ, the Lamb that  holds the book with            in history. It is the cause of feasting and riotous living,  on.
  its seven seals, through the Spirit that goes fort11 into al1 the      the one hand  ; of the dissatisfaction, misery, protest, rebellion,
  earth.  Wel1  controlled the red horse goes forth. Is  it  neces-      revolution and bloodshed, on the other. But in  al1 these
  sary to  cal1 your  attention to its presence and impetuous            things the children of the kingdom  see the black horse and
  drive  al1 through the ages of history ?  Nation  rises  against       its rider, sent forth by the Lamb that  holds the book,  per-
  nation  in every  period of history. It is Rome against Grëece,        forming its  owti part for the bringing of the  kingdom  of
  the powerful hordes from the dark north against the de-                glory.
  clining Roman Empire, the various nations of Europe war-                   And finally, the fourth horse and its terrible rider presents
  ring among one another or against the New World.  Does it              the picture of death in al1 its various forms and  manifesta-
  need `special proof to show that wars have increased rather            tions. A horrible picture  indeed this horse calls before our
  than decreased in power and vehemence  as wel1 as in num-              imaginatiori.  A horse of a pale green, ghastly color, ridden
  ber as ti& went on and civilization developed, and that                by death in  person,  swinging with powerful fist his awful
  exactly because of the presence and drive of this red horse            sword, followed by hades, ready to swallow up the victims
  the ideal of universal peace in a sinful world is a mere dream?        that tiay fa11 in that path'&  tliis merciless monster. It is death
  Riding  upon the glowing passions of lust and greed, of                in al1 its forms as he enters your home to slay your dear ones
  power  and conquest, of hatred  and revenge  and jealousy, this        by death, as he steals through the streets of our cities in
  second horse and its rider go forth to slay individuals and            order  violently to kil1 by dagger and pistol, as he stalks  over - 1
  con@er  nations.  Fiercer and redder  tha6 ever, it is  driving-       the battlefield to reap his greatest harvest. Not merely  there-
  over the world today. But  remembering  that  also this horse          fore as you see his work on special occasions, but as he may
  is sent forth and controlled by the Lamb, we  may rest assured         be watched day by day in  al1 parts of the world he is
  that it must perform its  own.pai-t  for the bringing of  fhe          presented to  US in  om- text. For  it is especially mentioned
  kingdom  of God to its completion.
          ,                                                              that this horse, also kills by death. Surely, also by the sword,
     The third horseman  has the sphere of social life assigned          by  pestilente,  by the wild beasts-of the earth, and by  al1 kinds
to him, and  maintains  the tremendous contrast between                  of  accidents   this rider performs his awful work. By  homi-
  scarcity and plenty. Of this contrast, always existing, the            cide and  suicide,  in wars and revolutions, in  pestilente  and
  third rider is especially the symbol. It does not  pretend  to         epidemie,  by' storm and flood and fire, by the beasts of the
  say that the special famines are for that reison excluded;-            field, but also by. the infinitesimally smal1 wild `beast we are
  especially not as they  often follow in the wake of  war. In           wont to cal1 germs, this rider mows away millions and millions
  our own day  .the black  h.orse stalks about threateningly,            in a short period. But fqr the rest, he simply kills by death in
  especially  in warridden countries, where  a measure of wheat          al1 its regular app,earance.  For in  al1 he kills jgst one-fourth
  can be sold foi- a penny no more. But although this is true,           of the inhabitants of th,e earth, - just as many as in harmony
  we would be mistaken  if we would discern this third rider             with the history of the world and as wil1 maintain the equili-
  only in special periods of  war and famine. He is always               brium  amoig the peoples of the earth, according to the divine
  among US, and continually he does his werk.  The symbolism             plan. In short, the sum-total of al1 death-cases in the world,
  of the picture does not indicate  what may be called downright         according to regular  statistics,  is the effect of  the drive of
  famine, but  much rather a striking contrast. On the one hand,         this pale horse and its rider.
  it points to a living by the day ; on the other hand;to luxury            We  come then to the conclusion that these  horses and
  and abundance. This horse it is that  causes  al1 our  social          their riders symbolically  proilaim  that  al1 the different phases
  problems, because through its  werk the contrast is maintained         of human life in particular and of the nations of the earth in.
  between  rich and  poer, between plenty and scarcity, between          the broadest sense are under the absolute  control of Jesus
  wealth and  miserable  poverty.. Always the masses live  by.the        Christ, the Lamb that was  slain.  He it is that  controls  the
  day. Always their wages are sufficient  to provide  a bare sub-        progress of His kingdom  as symbolized in the white horse.
  sistence. Always  the oil and the wine remain urrtouched,  and         He it is that  holds the reins of history  when nations rise

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

against nations. He it is that fixes price lists and Gages, and        needs no proof. And therefore 1 say that in ou& discussion of
maintains the social contrast between poverty and  riches.  He         the  questi& raised we must start from the firm faith  ihat
it is, finally, that sends death into al1 the world in order to        al1 things in this dispensation must be conducive to the  bring-
mow down his victims, the proper persons  at the proper time.          ing of that glorious kingdom,  either directly or indirectly, in
To Him is given al1 power in heaven and on earth, and He               a positive or in  a negative manner. If you  ask me, "Why
executes  the wil1 of Him that sitteth upon the throne.                that white horse?' 1 answer: to bring the kingdom.   - If the
      Even so, however,  we cannot be satisfied and we may not         question is asked, "Why must there be war ?' 1 saj without
stop at  this stage of our investigation.  Wé do not  merely           hesitation:  for the sake of the  kingdom  of God. If you  in-
want to know that these horses  are.miking their drive Over            quire, "Why is this tremendous social contrast between lux-
the earth ; nor are we satisfied to know what each of -them            ury and poverty necessary in the- world ?" 1 say again : this
separately signifies. But we must fir'st of al1 learn to under-        is necessary to lead to that  one goal, the completed  kingdom
stand the reason for their presence, and place ourselves  be-          of glory. If you should ask, "Why  does that terrible rider
fore the question: why is it necessary that  al1 these four            on the last horse massacre one-fourth of men?" 1 would offer
horses  perform their peculiar task, exert their peculiar  in-         the same genèral soiution: it is al1 for the completioti  of the
fluence  upon the various phases of humän life  ? Why is               kingdom  of God. That this is the genera1 purpose of al1 these
it that the white horse is not sent forth alone? Why is it that        four horses  is also evident from the fact that the purpose of
he  makes  his drive over the earth accompanied by the red .the entire Boek of Revelation is to picture the Christ coming
and the black and the pale horses?  Al1 the more this ques-            to His glorious  kingdom. And therefore, this being  estab-
tion is urged upon                                                     lished, we have real!y but one questiofi  to answer, namely :
                       US in view of the fact that it is from the
boek  of the seven seals, symbolic  of the living decree  of God       how do the  forces symbolized by the. four  horsemen   .work
Almighty,  that  these  horses  issue forth to do their work,          together for the good of the kingdom  of God and its  com-
that they are liberated for their drive by our Lord Jesus              pletion  ? And to find the correct answer to this question we
Christ, and that they are under the evident  control of the            must, first of all, recall a few facts concerning this kingdom
Spirit. Proceeding from the faith that there is  wisdom in             of God, and  clear away some rubbish which nowadays is
al1 the  decrees  of the Almighty and that the Lord doeth              thrown on the market of spiritual realities.
nothing without  a sound reason, we take  courage  to  in-                 First of all, then, it wil1 be necessary clearly to grasp'the
vestigate whether we  may perhaps  discover  the  wisdom of            truth that originally God created the world His kingdom.  1
the  Lord our God and His glorious design in  al1 these. things.       take the world now in an all-comprehensive sense of the
Besides,  the're is  also a practica1 reason for this  qtiestion.      word, including  al1 creation, the spiritual world not excepted.
Especially in the times in which we are privileged to live, -          It includes the world of simple matter with al1 its elements
times  so pregnant with meaning,  - there are  al1 sorts of            and powers, hidden or  already  revealed, - the wood and the
theories in  the air that  mean to explain the tremendous events       stone, the silver and the gold,  al1 inanimate creation.  1%
in history, especially in the history of today. Interpretations        embraces  thk seas and the oceans, the rivers and the  lakes,  the
are offered also of the conflicts  in the world of our present         running streams and quiet waters, with  al1 they contain,  with
time which are far from scriptural and  often thoroughly               al1 their laws and ordinances and powers. Thus it was
humanistic. And it requires nat  merely  a  string faith  im-          originally, and thus we stil1 conceive of the world as created
plicitly, but also a clear  vision of the truth as revealed to US      by the Almighty, even though it is at present  undei the  curse.
in the Word of God, in order to stand  ímmove%bly  and to              When  the sea roars, you ought to listen by faith to a sound in
resist the strong currents of humanistic philosophy that tend          the kingdom  of God. And when the brook murmurs over $s
to sweep US  &f our feet. Hence, we must clearly  sec` and             cobbled bed, you may again listen to a sound in that same
understand why there is not only a  victorieus  progress of            kingdom.  To that kingdom  belongs the atmosphere that en-
the  kingdom  of Christ in the world, but why there is  also           velops our globe, the air with  al1 its wonderful powers.
war and social trouble and revolution and bloodshed  ancl              When  the storm rages, you may know that a part of the king-
death. Why are  al1 these calamities necessary  ?' These are           dom og God is disturbed.  When  by steam-power you are
questions that' naturally arise in  times  like ours, and that         moved from one place t? another at the speed of many miles
demand an answer.                                                      per hour, or when by pushing  a smal1 button you suddenly
      In order, then, to arrive at  +  saiisfactory  answer to this    create  light  in your living-room, or  when you are  carried
question, we must proceed  from the truth which is to faith            aloft thousands of feet in the air  upon the. wings of your
self-evident and therefore rieeds no further proof or elucida-         airplane, you remember by faith that you are employing but
tion, that  al1 the events of history occur in order to bring          powers in that  kingdom  which God originally created.  To
the  kingdom  of God. There is but one reality, and that is            that  kingdom  belong the beasts of the forest and the cattle
the  kingdom  of heaven. There is  bi.rt  one possible terminal for    of your meadows, the creeping things and  flying  birds, woods
al1 history, and that is the completed  kingdom  of Christ. This       and fields, trees and flowers. Al1 things, in a word, belong


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                          33
                                                                                                                        -

to that kingdom  of God. To that same kingdom,  finally belong           is  kiñi. But even as king he remains servant. He is not,
God's rational creatures, man and angel, and these with al!              he  may  n& be, he  c&  nevëi  be king in the absolute  sense
their' talents and powers, with their  entireLlbeing.  Men's             of the word;  hut  alwayi  he is king under God. With  rela-
body and his soul, his intellect and will,  al1 that he possesses,       tion to the world, man is ruler: for. God gave him dqminion
has `originally been given him as a subject of the kingdom  of           over every  creature.  But withrespect to God; man is servant :
God. In one word, as we speak  of the kingdom  of God in                 for to obey from free aid willing love was his great calling.
this connection, we refer to  al1 creation in its widest  con-           Hence,  when  We  s@eak  of the world as a  kingdom  of  God,
ceivable sense, with earth and sky, animate and inanimatc                we refer to  al1 creation  as it  finds its climax in man,  who
creation, matter, plant, animal, and man, as  wel1 as the angels         rules over al1 things according  to-_the  wil1 of the Almighty,
in heaven, with  al1 the hidden and revealed powers  which the           and cbnsecrates  himself and al1 things to glory of his Maker.
almighty Creator has stored from the beginning in this                       In the third  p[ace, we must remember that sin and the
mighty product of His  omniphtent  will.                                 devil could never essentially change  this God-ordained order
                                                                         of creation. What we mean is that Satan could never change
   Secotidly,  we  r$st understand what is implied in the                the works of God in such a way that creation was a kingdom
assertion that  God_ Almighty created that entire world a                no more. NO more than Satan could change man  inpo  an-
kingdom.  Of course, the main  idea in this connection is that           other being,  n& more could he so change the order  pf the
there is a king, who issues his laws and ordinances and de-              wor1.d that  it  tias no more a  kingdom.  The world  rv,pained
mands obedience. Hence, in  regard  to the  kingdom  of the              a kingdo&,  whatever the devil might do. Neither, - and this
world it should be remembered  above al1 that God is King                must  -be  remembered  as well,  - could the devil  create  an-
Supreme, that He is King in the absolute sense of the word.              other  kirïgdom, next to the  kingdom  of God. Satan  also is
It is this which  makes of the world a  kingdom  of God.  Al1            a  mere  creature   ; and  however  powerful a  creature  he  may
the world must óbey His wil1 and His ordinances. The stars               be, the  fact remains that he is  nothing but a  creature,  and
run their, courses as He has ordained. The earth follows ïts             that  creature   can never  crcate.  Al1 the creature,   al1  the  devil
path according to HiS will. The trees grow in harmony with               too,  can do is to accept, creation as God made it. But what
His  law. The  blowers  blossom  according to the  ordinances            he náturally might do and what he was allowed to do and
of the Almighty King.  Steam and electricity are bound by                what he actually did do was to subject that entire kingdom
His  law.  Al1 is subject  fo His will.  Al1  things  must  obey         of the. world to himself. Adam was king of the world,. and
Him. And in it  al1 the-name of the King supreme is  glori-              ruled over al1 things.                                            H.H.
fied. .#or if you a>k, "What  may be the common purpose of                                           ED.ITORIA.LS  .
al1 that exists ?"-$e answer is, of course, that al1 the world                                 (Continued   from page  29)
reveals and  mu'st reveal the glory of its Creator.  \But  there         fending   himself  he began to  attack   `me on  ,the question of
is a  bifference.   Jyst as  `&  &y  kingdom,  so  also in the  king-    common grace.  He sat in church and whenever 1 said some-
dom of the wórld  äs G$i created it there is order and grada-            thing about- the matter of sovereign and common grace he
tion. In a  kingdqm   th&e  are not simply the  king  and the            took notes~ and these notes he used to' attack me openly in
common peopje  &at ~`&ust  obey. But between them there are              The  Bu.wncr. This, therefore, belongs to the  begirming  of
various  offici&s  -that represent the  wil1 of the king in  al1         our history.
the  kingdom.  Thus it is  also in the  kingdom  of God. There               However; as far as the case itself  iS concerned, 1  can
is order and  gradation.  It would be interesting to study               be brief. In 1921 the curatorium of the theological school ap-
this order in detail; but this would 1ead.u~ too far from our            pointed a  committee  to study  the Janssen-case and report.
main  ptirpose. Suffice  it simply to remind you of the fact as          This  co-mittee,  of which the Rev. H.  Danhof and myself
such that  there~  &t&lly  is order and gradation  also in the           were members, could not agree. They split and delivered a
world as a  kingdom  of God. There is the order of lifeless              majority and  minority-  report. The majority report was
matter, the prdér of plant life, the animal world, and finally,          composed by the part of the committee of which Danhof and
the order of God's rational creatures, .men and angels. And              1 were members. Both these reports appeared at the synod
of al1 these man .is created as the highest creatuie,  destined          of 1922. The result was that the majority report was adopted
to rule over  al1 things in the name of God. For true it is              and Dr. Janssen was deposed. At that time it was reported
that, according to Psalm 8, man was made a little lower                  to me by reliable sources that the Janssen men in the church,
than the angels; but if we would see man in the reality of               of which there were several, had a meeting and swore that
his power and  glory,  you must consider him  as~ he is in               the Rev. H. Danhof and 1 should be tast  out of the church
Christ Jesus his Lord. Being related to both the  material               on the basis of om- conception regarding common grace.
and the spiritual world, he is naturally  destined  to rule al1              This, too, therefore, belongs to  the beginning of our
things,  to  haue dominion, to bring to light the hidden powers          history.
.of creation, and  ,fhus lead  al1 that  kingdom  on to the full             The rest must wait  til1 nest time,  the Lord willing.
realization, of its  highest  purpose, the  glory- of God. Man                                                                             H.H.

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

ll                                                                             preceding  chapter)   . That  pit is  al1 the sufferings of this
           THE DAY OF SHADOW,S                                            lí present time. That pit is the sorrows of persecution of the
                                                                               church  by the  <world, the world-powers. But there is the
           The Prophecy of Zechariah                                           promise.  The Lord  wil1  give showers of  rain.  The  promise
                                                                               was centrally fulfilled when God raised up the whole church
              The  Qzbickening  of  Jztdah  a?td Israel                        together with Christ and made her sit together  in heavenly
                                                                               places  in Christ and in Him blessed her with  al1 spiritual
                            Chapter  10 :3-7                                   blessings in the heavenly. This is  h&e the Gospel. For the
      3.  Agaìnst  thc shepherds  my  angm  bmas,  ,and  the  he-              earthly Canaan typified the new earth and the tempora1
goats  wil1 I  pzu&shz;   for  Jelaovah  of  hosts  vipits his flock, tke      blessing of that Canaan the spiritual blessings of Christ's
heuse  of  Jatda,h,   a,nd  makes  tlaem  his goodly horse in'  war.           heavenly  kingdom. And the exalted Christ gathers by His
4.  From.   him  tlze  corner-stone,   from  IZ~WL  the  nail,  from'  hiep    Spirit and His Word His wandering sheep for  whom He
the  wq-bow,   from  kivu  wil1  cvery oppressor  cohe  fortlz  to-            laid down  His life, gathers them from  every  nation. For
qether. 5. And  tkey  shall be  like  migkty  ~WEX of  va.lor   tread-         al1 we like sheep have gone astray; andcwe turned every  one
ing down into  th.e  mìre of the  streets  i,n  the battle; and they           to his own way, but the Lord laid on Him the iniquities of
fight,   for  Jehovah is  with  the?s, and the  &ers on  horses-               US  al1 (Isa. 53  6).  .But  when the Lord had made his soul
are part to  slzame.   6. And I  wil1  stren,gthen  the  home  of              an  &?ering for sin, he saw and sees His seed, His sheep
Jwda.h,   ahd   the  home   of  Joseph  wil1 I  save> and  wil1  make          given Him of the  Father  .before  the foundations of the
them  dwe:ll,  beca.u?se I  pity  thepq and  they shall be  #a.s  Gif  I       earth. His chosen  people. And these He gathers. And when
.ka.d  not  tast  them  off,  for  I  am  Jehovah  their God and  wil1         the last sheep wil1 have been brought into the fold, the whole
hea.r  tlzem 7. And  Ephrah  slzall be  .like  a  mighty  m.an  of             flock as gathered  wil1 appear with Him in glory at His
valer, and  tlzcir  heavt  shall  rejoice. as  with   wipìe,  aind their       appearing in the last day. Then wil1 the promise have been
lzea:rt  shall rejoice in Jehovnh.                                             fully  fulfilled. But this is not  overlooking the initial  fulfil-
                                                                               ment of the promise in the period extending from the achieve-
      Our  prophet  is stil1 addressing the people of Israel, de-              ments by the Maccabees to the advent of Christ. These
finitely the penitent  among them, removed of the Lord into                    achievements  were followed  by a large increase in the
the  kingdoms  of the nations  when  the measure  of iniquity                  population of the territory formerly occupied  b$ the tribe
had. been filled up. In  the lands of these  kingdoms.  they                   of Judah - an increase in population limited not only to tic
wandered like a flock without a shepherd. Oppressed and                        tribe of Judah but including m&y believing Jews from the
afflicted by the heathen,  they were always on the move seek-                  Israel of the ten tribes in the dispersion. The Lord gathered
ing rest for the sole of their, foot but  finding  instead only                them. He gave it in their hearts  t6  tast their lot with that
trembling of heart and sorrow of mind tiherever  they went.                    of their brethrèn in the tribe of Judah and return to the  home-
So Moses had foretold. And who was able to save them out                       land and to Jerusalem, the city of their God. Many of God's
of. the hand of enemies so mighty ? Certainly no shepherd-                     people did not return. It must not be said  -that this was
king:among  men (vs. 2). The Lord alone was able to bring                      always owing to the  fact that they were carnal. These
salvation. Their only hope is He. For to His power to save                     foreign countries were the land of their nativety. Here they
there is no limit. It is to Him therefore that our  prophet                    had been born and reared. Here they had struck root. Also
again tells these oppressed ones, these prisoners in the pit,                  for this Israel, the believing Jews, Jerusalem as rebuilt was
these prisoner of hope (see on verses  11-12 of the preceding                  the center of  unity. It was with their faces turned toward
chapter)  to look, when he says, "Ask rain of the Lord, for he                 Jerusalem that they prayed. To Jerusalem  they made  pilgrim-
creates  light&ngs," the precursors of rain, `(and He wil1 give                ages to eat there with their brethren the  passover  and to
them showers of rain." They must no't put their confidence                     contribute to the supports of the temple  services.
in the diviners and  theic idols, which are vanity, but as                        Let US now pass on to verse 3 (see above)  . Against the
expecting  al1 their  salvation  from the Lord alone,  ask  rain               shepherds and the he-goats the  Lord's anger burns. Are
of Him. Rain stands here as representativë of  al1 the                         these shepherds, as some say, the diviners, the false prophets,
tempora1 blessings that was the  portion  of- the people of                    of verse 2? If so, the ílow of thought in this passage (verses
Israel  when as residents of the land of Canaan behore their                   1-3) is this : The people of Israel were willingly cleceived by
dispersion they  would  repent  of their apostasies and again                  the diviners (false shepherd's prophets) , in  piunishment
sérve the Lord. What is therefore here beïng promised                          whereof they were  scattered among the nations in the lands
these penitent and hopefull ones in dispersion;  the prisoners                 of which they are being oppressed, the reason being that there
in the pif in restoration to the iand of Canaan by the Lord,                   is to them no true shepherd, prophet  of God to speak to them
th-e Shepherd of Israel.  But here àgain our  prophet  deals                   God's word but only diviners (false shepherds,  prophets),
in types and symbols. As  was  said, that pit is death,                        speaking lies. Against these (lying) shepherds the  Lord's
physical,  spiritual and eternal death (see on verse 11 of .the                anger burns.                               *


                                               T H E   S T . A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 35

     But this does not make too good sense. Besides it is                given  I%m of the  Father and that know His  voice seeing
 not true that  al1 that  the people of Israel in the dispersion         that  He laid down for them  His life. Though it was  also
 had  to listen to is the lies of false prophets, diviners. The          represented by the Israel of the ten tribes, it is here identi-
 word of God spoken by the true shepherds, prophets of God,              fied with the house of  Judah,  the reason being that the
 penetrated  also to them. They too had the scriptures.  HOW             corner-dons  and the nail  of which the succeeding verse  makes
 otherwise account for  such  phenomena  as the visit of the             mention is from this house. The he-goats and their evil
 magi ? The shepherds of verse 3 are the heathen  rulers and             shepherds the Lord  wil1 punish in the way of His visiting
 the he-goats are their godless  subjects.  The reasoning of             His flock- a visiting to consist in His  making  them  I!Iis
 our  prophet  at this  place is therefore this,  namely,  that,  be-    goodly horse, literally a horse of splendor, in  war. The
 cause  in their unwillingness to repent,  they believed the lies        indirect reference is to the kind of horse described in the  boek
 of the diviners, and therefore  fel1 under the dominion of              of Job  (39:19ff).  It is a horse that is strong of which
 heathen  rulers, styled shepherds, and are now being  op-               we there  read. Its  neck  is clothed with thunder. It cannot
 pressed by these  rulers because there is to them no shepherd-          be made afraid.  The glory of is nostrals is terrible. It paws
 king to bring deliverance.  But their salvation is drawing              in the  valley,  and rejoices in its strength,  goes on to meet
 near, seeing that the Lords anger burns against the heathen             the armed men, mocks at fear, is not affrighted, turns not
 rulers (shepherds and the he-goats) . Let them therefore                back from the sword. The  quiver  rattles against it, the
 expect al1 their salvation from. the Lord alone. Let them not           glittering spear and the shield. It swallows the ground with
 make the fata1 mistake  of putting .their trust in the diviners,        fierceness and rage, says among the  trumpets,  Ha, Ha,
 as did their fathers. Let  them  consider  6hat happened to             smells the battle far off, and the thunder  of the captains, and
 their fathers on account of, this their folly. They were                the shouting. Imaged here is the spiritual  splendor  of the
 scattered among the nations.                                            saints of God in the  holy  warfare;-  the splendor of His
     This makes sense and `is therefore doubtless the thought            workmanship created in Christ Jesus. Though in this life they
 of these verses.  On the other hand the diviners must not be            are chained to the body of this death and on this account do
 excluded, seeing that these heathen  rulers are certainly  re-          not what they  woulcl and  hate what they do, though they
 prensentative of the total of enemies of the church of al1 the          do not serve God with that  zeal that they are bound and
 ageS : - the world of reprobated men and their godless rulers           have daily to strive with the weaknesses of their faith and
 and the prince thereof, the  devil together with his  entu-e            the evil lusts of their flesh, yet fundamentally  and potentially
 hosts of evil spirits. Included  certainíy  is sin, death,  hel1        they are strong spiritually, fearless like that horse, of  un-
 and the grave and therefore also surely the sinful flesh of the         daunted  courage  as warriors of  Christ, eager to fight the
 believers, the body of this death. The Lord's anger burns               good fight. They turn not back from the  sword. And they
 against them one and .al-1. He shall visit them to inflict upon         are the Lords horse of splendor. They belong to Him and
 them punishment that  wil1 surely spel1 their destruction.              to Christ. For He  makes them. And what  the rider is
 Why the rulers in the world are called shepherds is  ex-                the  battle-horse   upon which he is mounted  - its directing
 plained by the fact that, though they do not want it so, they           intelligente,  the Lord is to His flock. He  rules and directs
 are the servants of God  vested  of. Him  wit11   authority`  to        it in al1 its holy warfare by His Word not as imposed upon
 execute wrath upon al1  such that do evil and to protect the            His people but as put in their mind and  written in their heart.
 good given of God in their care (Rom. 13ff). And the good               Under the impulse of His love shed abroad in their hearts
- of the earth are His people. The fear of God is in their               and as constrained by a living faith they fight His warfare.
 hearts and they are the only people  who truly.  horror the             And by His counsel are they led. And He  makes them His
 king. Thus if  any people are entitled to  the protection of            horse Zn zvar. It is this holy warfare that by His mercy they
 -rulerS, it is  God's people. Yet, the Israel of our prophet's          `war that brings to manifestation what they are fundamentally
 day got no protection from the shepherds,  heathen  rulers.             and potentially. As exercised by this warfare, by its attend-
 Instead they were always making  war against the people of              ing tribulations and sorrows and trial, the hidden man of
 Israel, leading them away  captive,   enslaving.them,  and giving       the heart, the strength and endurance of this man, shine
 orders that they be persecuted and killed,  .joining the  he-           forth, so that his good works  can be seen, wherefore "we
 goats in afflicting them. And therefore the  Lords anger                glory also in tribulations," and James exhorts to count it al1
 ,burned  against  these shepherds. For Israel was God's people.         joy  when "ye  fa11 into divers temptatïons."
 And they that touch His people, touch the apple of His eye.                4. The corner-stone and the naill of this verse are Christ
     How, in what way the Lord  wil1 inflict  upon the  shep-            in relation  -to God's spiritual house. Coming to Him, a
 herds and the he-goats punishments is revealed inthe succeed-           stone living, the coming ones as lively  stones are built up a
 ing statements.  ~,T&ovnh  of  hosts  z&ts  H,i.s  flock, the  home     spiritual house, so that, should He be removed, this entire
 of Judah. The church is a -flock  in relation of Jehovah, that          structure  as a spiritual entity would  collapse  and return .
 is, a congregationof the same kind of people spiritually with           to something worse than nothingness. For  al1 the blessings
 Him as its shepherd, aot a flock of  .he-goats  but of sheep            of His cross are included in him,  so  that apart from Him


       36                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                       :

       this  structure   can háve no spiritual  existente.  And that  of             flict is now  solely  spiritual, as has been explained. And
       this house He is the nail, is expressive of the same idea. By                 therefore these warriors of the Lord are no  longer  in need
       His Spirit and grace  al1 the parts of this house are held                    of exceptional physical prowess. That the Lord is with His
       together and kept `intact. It is  thus a house the  existente                 people does  nö?  mean that the victory is the fruit of the
       of which wholly depends on but one, the corner-stone                         cooperation between the Lord and His people, and that He
       and on but one nail, and this stone and nail.Christ.  Surely,                 can therefore help them only as long as they are willing to
       also in this point of view there is no other house, made with                be helped of Him. How can this be, if Judah and Ephraim
     hands, like it. The pronoun  lz& in  the statement and  ~YOTPL                 in this warfare are-bow  and arrow in His hand and Zion the
     him  tlze corner-stone . . . may denote Judah, seeing, as was                  sword. He so helps them that  al1 that  can be said of the
     just  remarked,   xthat Christ was in his loins. But judging                   victory that it is His alone, and so, too the warfare. The
       from the immediate context, it is better to take this hivb as                warriors fight indeed,  but only because it is He that works
       looking back not .to the expression hoatse of .T,u.da,h  of verse            both to wil1 and to do. And as to the enemies, He puts His
       3 but to the  1zi.r of the statement  "makes  them  ?V~S goodly              terror in, their hearts by laying on their hearts  al1 the
       horse," and thus to take the pronoun  l&z as denoting the                    report of His mighty deeds, so that their hearts melt and
       triune Jehovah, The Father  and creator of Christ as to His                  there remains no more  courage in them (Joshua 2  :Zff  9.
       human nature,  and everlastingly the fountain of the life that               Because He so helps them the riders and the horses  are put
       Christ merited for His people and that therefore is in Him                   to shame.
       and that He urges  into the members of His body. The War-                        6. Though the  message  of  this and the following verse
       bow is not a litteral bow. According  to  9:13 the church,                   is also for the hòuse of Judah, it concerns more particularly
       the flock of God, is the bow in His hand. .And so, too, the                  the house of Joseph, that is, the Israel of the ten tribes. This
       oppressor  of which this verse  makes   mention.  Indicated is               can be explained. Apparently these tribes had reasons for
       not the enemy as the oppressor of the Lord's flock, but this                 concluding that the Lord had permanently  tast them off
       flock as the oppressor of its enemies.  Al1  come forth from                 and utterly  forsaken them. For they had made themselves
       Jehovah together - the corner-stonè, the nail, the war-bow                   particularly ill deserving by al1 their abominations. First to
       and the oppressor. Al1 are equally His very own Workman-                     be mentioned is their  cutting themselves loose from the house
       ship. Only Christ is first and then His people.                              of David by which doing they had repudiated, disowned not
             5.  2nd   tlzey  hall be  like   migkty   riten of  valow  treading    merely  this house but the Christ of God who was in its loins
       down in  the  mire of  tlze  streets in  thea battle.  In the  final         and  who was so plainly  foreshadowed by David and Solomon.
       instance this is  again  the  promise of the complete  -and                  In crying at the time of the,rupture,  "What portion have we
       overwhelming victory of the church over al1 her enemies -                    in David," and, "Now see to thine own house, David," they
      a victory that was centrally achieved by Christ  when through                 were really saying: What portion have we in Christ! None
       His suffering and death on the cross He blotted  out al1 the                 whatsoever, and, As to your house, 0 David, as far as we
      sins of His people and delivered them from the power of the                   are concerned it- may perish and with it the Christ: By that
      devil. Then was the judgment of the  -world.  Then was sin                    doing of their they turned their backs on Jerusalem and
      condemned in the flesh. Then was the prince of this world                     Israel's God  who dwelt there in His  holy temple. And in
      judged, so that,  when Christ  cried  with a loud  voice,  "It is             afteryears, instead of repentin g they only added to their sin
      finished," it was fìnished  indeed. But the  promise  as we                   by  al1  etheir abominations.
      here have it receives  statement in terms of a physical victory                   To be considered in the second place is that it was around,
      achievéd in a literal war waged with swords and spears of                     two hunderd and fifty years ago that the Lord had plucked
      iron. And therefore the reference may be in the first instance                them up from the soil of Canaan and removed them into the
      to the war of independance achieved by the Maccabees. If                      kingdoms  of the nations. In the meantime the Lord had
      so that -war like the wars of Joshua was typical of the good                  turned the captivity of Judah, but no such mercy` had been
      fight of faith as now wagèd by the church, the flock of God,                  shown the Israel of the ten tribes. At the  time of the utter-
      of this present age. Here the sole offensive weapon employed                  ante of these prophecies, they were stil1 scattered among the
      is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God (see on                   nations.  .The, territory in Canaan  where  they had formerly
      Chapter 9 :lO). Of Jephthah the Gileadite it is said that he                  dwelt was accupied by strangers, so that their very place in
      was a mighty man öf valour (Judges 11 :l ) . .Being a warrior                 God's country knew them no more. It was gone.
      literally, he must have been exceptionally strong physically.                     But the Lord stil1 had His elect  in these tribes, the Israel
      Being  included  in the cloud of witnesses (Heb. 11  :lff) ,  he              according  ,to the  election  of grace, the penitent in these tribes,
      was  also strong spiritually. And His spiritual strength was                  who were anxiously inquiring, Has the Lord  tast off His
      his faith in Jehovah. That the members of God's flock  wil1                   people ? It is to reassure these penitent ones particularly in
      be like such mighty men of valour  means that they  wil1 be                   these- dispersed tribes, pouring out their hearts to the Lord
      men of spiritual strength. The promise  is not that they wil1                 in  truc-contrition,  that He repeats His promises previously
      also be men of exceptional  physical  strength. For  the.  con-                                     (Continued  on page 40)




L


                                            :  ./
                                           .<.  J             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       37

                                                                                            word of prophecy is taken from them. That such is the mean-
                  FROM  HOLY  WRIT
                                                                       .I                   ing of Paul with "the tongues" is abundantly clear  from the
                                                                                       ll following :
                                                                                                1.  Such was the clear  and  lucid teaching of Paul in  this
                   Expositioq of 1 Corinthians 12-14                                        passage as appears from a careful study of Isaiah 28:11,  12.
                                                                                            In that passage tongues is wholly that of "strangers,"   who
                                            x11                                             did not'and could not speak words of comfort to Israel. And
                             (1 Corinthians 14 :22-25)                                      this speech of "strangers"  is certainly a divine judgment  upon
                                                                                            these who have turned their backs to the Word of God! They
         Those, who read our last essay, wil1 have .noticed that we                         are "this people" in whose midst God no longer  makès His
     called attention to a very peculiar and significant passage from                       abode by His Word and Spirit.
     Isaiah  28:llt 12.  It became evident in that essay, that the                              2. It is for this reason that Paul, evidently, employs the
     situation in the church at Corinth was very precarious;  the                           "article" in Greek with tongues. (ai gloossai). The writer
     very  gifts in the  .church,  designed positively to be for the                        herewith indicates  that he is referring to the cla& of tongues
     edification of the congregation, now became through the                                as mentioned in Isaiah 28, and as so morbidly sought  after by
     snare of the devil, an obstacle in the way of the free course of                       the Corinthians.
     the Word of God, as clearly spoken in the prophetic word!                                  3. From the strong contrast `between "believers" and
         Smal1  wonder that Paul uses the sword of the Spirit to                            "unbelievers" in the text. Then, too, this is evident from the
     combat this very real evil in this church of .God, called saints                       absolute contrast between "tongues" and "prophecy" in the
     in Christ. And the word quoted is employed-as  a "warning"                             entire sequence.
     and as a "divine threat" by Paul. Paul wil1 not tempt God in
     the church ; rather he rightly divides the Word as' a workman                              From this viewpoint "tongues are really nothing. They
                                                                                            have no positive  value  for, the church. It is a good thing
~    that needeth not to be ashamed!
         For to separate the speaking with "tongues" from the                               that they "shall cease."
     "Prophecy"  is to  be, tantamount to those from  whom the                                  Having  established his point from the  "law  " Paul  can
     Word of God is taken, and  to  whom God  spe,aks by the                                now proceed  to state that "the tongues" are intended  by God
     mouth of "strangers."  Such `strangers of the promise,  of the                         for.a sign to unbelievers. They are a  `rsign"  that the Word
     hope of Israel surely, cannot speak words through which                                is taken from them and given to others. It is just as with the
     the  Holy  ,Spirit gives rest for the weary. They have stam-                           sign of Jonah. Always an adulterous and disobedient people
     mering  lips !                                                                         receive a "sign." But then :it is too late. Then it is taken
        Hence,. let the Corinthians be warned,  `if. not forewarned !                       from them. Then the wild. branches are cut  out; God has
         Thus we wrote in our former essay.                                                 made a finished work upon earth. If God did not spare the
         However, al1 has not be yet noted what the apostle writes                          "natura1 branches," let these inplanted "wild branches? be-
     to the Corinthians concerning this matter of "tongues" versus                          ware! God is not mocked.  Rather let them  heed%his   wam-\
     "prophecy."                                                                            ing, take note of this "lessen of history" as indicated in the
         Let                                                                                "law" and live.  Then God is truly in their midst. If He is
                 US, therefore, notice the following from the pen of the
     Apostle : "So that  (the)  tongues  are  mto  a sign  not to                           not with them, their house wil1 be left desolate.
     believers,   but to  mbelievers;  now  prophecy is  not for  unbe-                         From this  principle  position Paul  can now demonstrate
     lievers but for  be%zevel-s.   Wherefore;   if  the  whole  congrega-                  the object folly and wickedness of striving after "tongues !"
     tion   come  together  in  o.ne  place, and  al1 speak  with  tongues,                     Paul does this by presenting a hypothetical case.
     and  there  come  in.  onc  zrnlea.med   OY unbelieving,  hall not  he                     He  cites  the case  where  the entire congregation should
     say  tlzat ye  a:re  umd?   However,   if  al1  propiiecy,  and anyone                 be gathered in public worship. The worship begins. And
     heing  an unbeliever  OY  unleo.rned,   he  slzall be  cofmicted of  all,              suddenly the entire congregation begins to speak;with tongues
     tlze  secrets   of  lais  hea,rt  slza.11  be  Irtanifested,   and  tlzus  fa.lling    - without any interpretation. A stranger is in the audience.
     upsn  luis face,  he  wil1  worship God, confessing  `Truly God is                     He does not know the Scriptures, he does not know Christ
     in you,r midst.' "                                                                     as  hi,s Savior. Grant that he is an  elect,   who is not yet
         Concerning this passage from the pen of Paul we notice                             eficacious  called by God through the  Holy Spirit in the
     the following :                                                                        preaching.  Wil1 such an one be brought to a saving knowl-
         First of al1 we notice,  that "the tongues" as striven after                       edge of Christ, be convicted of his sins, the  secrets of his
     by the Corinthians is not at  al1 "tongues" as designed  by  God                       heart layed  bare by the sharp two-edged sword  ? On the
     for the confirmation of the Word spoken clearly-in  under-                             contrary;  Such an ignorant one or unbeliever (not yet  be-
     standable language. It refers simply to the  "phenomena,"                              lieving)  wil1 surely have to draw the conclusion, that. he is
     whether bonafide .or not.  For the "tongues" as spoken of                              in an insane asylum rather  than in the congregation of God,
     here are simply a "sign intended for- unbelievers," since the                          where  His Word is preached ; he  wil1 not be  under  the


        .3S                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

        nurture of Christ in the church, as He  constitutes her  the               Let them hear théWord  of prophecy, the great promise
        "mother"  of believers !                                               of the Gospel, together with the command  of faith and  re-
                But take the case where  al1 speak the Word of prophecy.       p e n t a n c e .
        Yes, in a manner,  where  al1 do not speak at once, but each
. .                                                                                Firstly, they shall then be convicted of  every  one,  who
        in his own turn.  How  very different the situation  wil1 be.          thus  preaches the word. It makes  not differente   who speaks
        Here we wil1 have the -Word  of God which is profitable for            the Word. The Spirit will, through this preaching, convict of
        instruction, for correction, reproof in righteousness, that the        sin, righteousness and judgment.
        man of God be thoroughly furnished to  every  God work.                    Secondly, the secrets of the heart wil1 be manifested. That
        :Here  the  heathen   wil1 be brought to kneel at the throne of        which lives in the heart  wil1  come to the light. Sin  wil1 be
        God. And only  here!'  '                                               confessed.  `And, in the church, this  wil1 be done. A living
                Do we not sing, "Since God is in the midst of her,  un-        member, ingrafted by true faith,  wil1 stand in the church
        moved.  her walls shall stand . . . ?                                  making  humble confession.
               At the critical points in the history of God's people it was       Thirdly, it will, be said in that church: 1 shall nat judge
        .and is always the crucial  question : Is God in the midst of a        you. There is one that  wil1 judge  you, namely, the Word
        .pèople  of not: It is the question of the land of Immanuel!           which 1 have spoken.
        Such it was in the days of the Old Testament dispensation                 And in that way, and in, that way only (outoos) wil1 they
        and such it is also now in the New Testament era. And such             fa11 upon their face and worship God. Thus wil1 sinners cry
        is shall surely be in the New Jerusalem.,                              to God from  out of the depths. They  will"beg  the :Lord for
          We do  well, therefore, to take careful  notice- of the              ,His.   mercy,  His pardon of forgiving love. Here the  real
        quotation here in verse 3.5 from Isaiah 45 :14.where  we read,         church, the  mother of believers,  wil1  gather her children.
        "Thus saith the Lord, the commerce of Egypt and of Ethi-               And until  such a  time has  comé  when  al1 the children are
        opia . . . and  the great people of Sheba's industry  wil1 be          gathered, the word of prophecy wil1 not be abolished. It is
        thine ; they wil1 follow .thee,  and wil1 be led in chains, and        the  means of  grace in the church through which the  Holy
        wil1 bow.down  to thee and  wil1 come inploringly to thee, since       Spirit works grace in the hearts of His elect.
        God is with thee, besides which there is no God."                         And, the centra1 glory of the church wil1 be confessed by
               Here in this 45th Chapter of Isaiah we have a beautiful,        such as come and they wil1 say : Truly God is in your midst.
        promisory description of the complete future dominion of               He dwells in your midst in His Son and through the Holy
        Israel  over her foes in the Christ which is to come. Nothing          Spirit. His  efficaclous  work through this same Spirit in the
        willbe to.o great and impossible for God. He is the LORD !             preaching is evidenced in  our hearts. Christ is,  indeed,  the
        Al1  wil1  come to worship in Israel. It is the description of         Head of the church. He gathers, defends and preserves you
        the coming in of the Gentiles.  Al1 nations shall be blessed           from the beginning of the world to the end in the unity'  of
        in -Abraham and in his Seed. For when  the Mighty God, the             faith. Of this church we would be a living member.
        Everlasting  Father, the Prince of peace is  come, then shall             What a testimony !
       Israel be  great.' That is her glory which shall never  depart,          ' And that is the testimony which can only be in prophecy
        It is the glory of God, who dwells between the Cherubim, in            for believers. They seek no signs. The Word is  sufficient
        the church. The glory of God in the saints. Into the church,           and clear. Here nö complaint of precept  upon precept,  com-
       2s the  mother of  al1 believers, the Gentiles  wil1  come. And         mandment   upon commandment but a thankful  walking   ac-
        they wil1 say : God is in your midst ; and no one else.                cording to God's law:.
               A similar passage we have in Daniel  2 :47 from the mouth          And such the Corinthians must .be.
        of Nebuchadnezzar. Theré the king acknowledges that the                   Such  also we must be as Protestant Ref.ormed  churches.
        God  Óf heaven is with  Daniel  to interpret the future. And           And we must be such al1 along  the line, so that in our preach-
        in Zechariah- we have the beautiful description of the future          ing and life it is evident to those without: Truly, God is in
        glory of the church from the mouth of- the LORD of hosts,              yoùr midst.
        saying, "At that  time shall ten men from  every land take                     "-
        held of the coat of a man`of Judah and say : We would go                                                                            G.L.
        with thee, because we have heard that God is with  you."
               How shall they believe except they hear Him ? And how
        shall they hear  unless  by  the.  clear  word. of the gospel in             THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT OF GOD
        pyophecy ?                                                                           To Thee, 0 God, we  render  thanks,
               Go to then ye,  Corinthians!  Understand like men these                         To Thee give thanks sincere,
        words from the Old Testament Scriptures.                                             !Because  Thy wondrous works declare      -
        < ., . Let. these  "heathen"   foretold by the Scriptures hear the                   That Thou are every  near.
Word.1 .                        .._     ..:                                                                                          Psalm 75 :l


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                39

ll                I N   H I S   F E A R                           /I praisec of God, His strength and His wonderful works,
                                                                       rejoices in the glory of God. His soul is set on fïre by these
                                                                       revelations of t.he- God of his salvation. The glory of God is
                                                                       his delight. And he wants to see it also in his children and in
             Showing the Coming Generations                            the Church's children. He wants to see his child and al1 the
                          God's Praises                                covenant children consciously and willingly live to the praise
                                                                       of God's glory. For God's sake first of all. For  ..the glory
                                   3.                                  of God he desires this. And in the love of  bis, children as
        We love God.                                                   God's children he seeks that goal in shewing the praises of
        That is the reason why we give our children a covenant         God to the coming generations.
training.                                                                 We must show the coming generations God's praises.
        Therefore our purpose in showing them God's praises is            Of themselves they do not have it. They are not born
that they might set their hope in God  ; and not forget the            with it. By  nature they  wil1 flee far from it. The praises of
works of God, but keep His commandments.                               men !- The mighty works of men ! The world and that which
        He who loves God keeps His commandments.                       it contains ! These are the things they want to see, to know,
        And he  who loves God desires  also to sée his children        to investigate and  procure for themselves. They show that
keep God's commándments.                                               also in many of their practices and by their speech. Demand
       .He who loves God hopes in Him. And,he  also desires to         of them that the léarn the Ten Commandments by heart.
see his children hope in God. He  who does not have  .this             Give them the ten plagues to commit to memory.  IV  3e-
desire  does not love God. And he does not love his children,          comes a hard, uninterestmg  burden they reluctantly set them-
either.                                                                selves to do. Loud are their  cries  and complaints that it is
        The psalmist  who had said,  "We   wil1 not hide  them         toe liard'and expecting too much of them. Out the door they
from their children, shewing to the generations to come the            rush, if you give in to their display of what the flesh craves,
praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful               and. through the open window you hear them conversing
works that He hath done," writes  a little later that which we         with their friends and quote the far more intricate and com-
wrote above, "That they might set their hope in God ; and              plicated list `of baseball players with their batting averages.
not forget .the works of God, but keep His commandments."              The twelve apostles they cannot name. A whole team with
He continues in the nest verse, verse 8, "And might not be             its batting averages  they have at their finger tips.
as their fathers, a stubborn and  rebellious  generation  ;  a            Surely we ought not give in too quickly - if at al1 - to
generation that set nat, their heart aright, and whose spirit          a child's  complaint  that we are showing them too  much of
was  nat steadfast with God."                                          God's praises, His strength and His wonderful works for
        The remainder of this psalm, sixty four more verses, are       him to grasp and retain. There is a limit, of course. And
devoted to bring out that fact: their fathers were a stubborn          al1 children are not equally qualified mentally to retain and
and rebellious generation  ; a generation that set not their           absorb facts. But before `we concede that it is too much for
heart .aright,  and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.           our children,*let  US first do a li&e investigation and see how
Though God performed  many   - wonderful works  amongst'               much of the  facts and figures of the worldly things they catch
them, they revealed a stubborn, rebellious  nature.                    on-the-run and  held. It does, of course, make a  differente
        He tells of the children of Ephraim who "being armed,          whether we .are ourselves more interested in their spiritual
`and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle." He              growth and knowledge  `or in their physical, ear-thly  growth
reminds his readers of the sins of.Israel  in the wilderness,          and knowledge. It does make a differente  whether we are
"Provoking the Most High in the wilderness. And they                   or are not as the psalmist whose purpose is expressed by the
tempted God in their hearts . . . Yea they spake against God ;         words, "That they might set their hope in God, and not forget
they said, Can God .furnish a table in the wilderness ?' And           the works of God, and keep His commandments." That  dedi-
the wickedness of their cry for flesh he relates. Nor does he          cated purpose  wil1  nat quickly yield to a consideration of
forget to record the awful sins whieh their high  places a.nd          material, physical ,things as being more important or more
graven images displayed. In  al1 this it is  plain  that the           valuable.
"fathers" of, which he speaks did nat hope in God and were                Parents  can quickly and easily  demand. more  time for
a stubborn and rebellious generation. H e   who  hopes  i n            practice on that musical instrument than on committing the
God's promises does not refuse to fight the good fight of faith:       truth of God's word to memory.  After  al1 it  tost a  nice
He does npt question God's ability and faithfulness to supply          piece of money  each week to pray the teacher for those  music
His people with  al1 that which they  need to attain to these          lessons ! `But can these parents honestlybefore God say, "We
promises. They do not  -stubbornly  rebel against  Him when            wil1 not hide them from our children showing  them the
He displays  the mighty works that shew forth  His praises.            praises,, the strength and the wonderful works of God ?" After
      . One  who has himself seen,  spiritually,  and by faith, the    ah, it is God  Whom  we must satisfy with  our excuses. And

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

 we better be sure that our reason for not  being-  firm and         a bus as  much as two hours a day to go to and get home
 demanding of them is His reason for this same stand. We             from school. He needs -a little time then when he gets home
 better be sure that it is His opinion and not simply our            to "let off a-@le  steam." He does need some time for play,
 invention.                                                          for he is only- a child. Man has developed in craftiness and
       Unless these children know His praises,  ,His strength and    deceit. The seed sown in Paradise has brought forth a greatly
 His wonderful works, hope in His is impossible. Likewise is         developed tree that brings forth an increasingly  delicieus
 keeping His commandments impossible without the knowl-              fruit for the flesh. Wickedness is garbed with beautiful words
 edge of  Him that He gives  US in His word.  How  can  ene          and phrases. False doctrines are presented to look so much
 hope in a god of whom he has no .knowledge  ? How can one           like  the truth. Your child comes in contact with a far wider
 serve a god whom he does not know ? How can he know hia             world than the little Hebrew shepherd boy on his father's
 wil1 and commandments  ?  Knowing is essential  to hope.            land. Radio, television,  books, magazines, automobiles and
 Knowing  is essential to obedience. One never  hopes  ac-           the like not only make it able for him to reach out farther and
 cidentally. One never  obeys and serves God accidentally.           farther away- from home; it enables the world in  al1 its
 One cannot serve God in  ignorante.  You  may do a man a            wickedness  to approach him and seek to entice and snare him
 good turn unintentionally. In  fact you may even do him a           in the wickedness and false doctrines of the age.
 good turn when your intention was to do him harm. Wicked                We wil1 not hide these praises of God from our children.
 Haman intended to have Mordecai humiliated and put  to                  We wil1 not deliberately stand in the way and keep them
 death  ; but his very plan served  YMordecai's  honorable pro-      from being instructed in these. God forbid that we do that!
 cession on the king's horse before the eyes of al1 men. That
 can never happen with God. Only that wliich procedes  from              But  wil1 we put forth efforts to show or to have shown
 a believing heart can please Him. The author of the epistle         to them. these things ?
 to the Hebrews states unequivocally, "Without faith it is               Wickedness increases. The antichristian  forces are  leaving
 impossible to please  Him,"  Hebrews 11  :6. Unless a man           no stone unturned! Satan works  an.d his servants are not
 deliberately sets out to serve and obey God, unless he per-         idle a moment. Wickedness comes closer  and closer to your
 farms a work willingly in  the,  tonsciousness  that it is the      child.
 will.of God, he does not obey Him. And to walk in His com-              If you love God and your child for God's sake, you wil1
 mandments, then, we surely  m&st know God. Only as we               show him God's praises. You  wil1 want to see him set his
 know God  can we know His commandments.                             hope in God and have him keep God's commandments.
       To be sure, far more is necessary than  the  mere heacl
 knowledge of God, of His promises and of His  command-                  If you have seen God's praises, you wil1 want the coming
 ments. These stubborn, rebellious fathers of  whom the              generations to praise Him. And  you  wil1 do  al1 in your
 psalmist speaks had al1 that knowledge. Wonderful works             power to instruct them in that work or have them instructed
 He performed before their very eyes. And if al1 that happens        in it. Then in His fear you  wil1 commit them to His  care
 is that we get into the earthly minds of the coming genera-         and grace.
 tions these truths concerning God's strength, His wonderful                                                                   J.A.H.
 works and His praises, these children wil1 stil1 be a stubborn
 and rebellious generation. God must make them hear it in                              THE D&Y  OF SHADOlWS
 their hearts. He must renew them by His Spirit and make                                 (Continued  from page 36)
 them know Him spiritually. But'it pleases Him to use US to          given. Surely  &o the house of Joseph  wil1 He save, and
 get that truth into their minds ; and it pleases Him to use that    wil1 again bring them to place them, because He pities them.
 which we have drilled into their earthly, ,fleshly  minds and to    And they shall be as if He had never tast them off. For He
 speak that same word in their hearts. Our work is worthless         is Jehovah their God, and  wil1  hear. fhem. And Ephraim,
 without His work. Only as He performs in them the wonder-           too (the Israel of the ten  &-ibes  according to the election  of
 ful work of grace whereby He causes thern  to know Him in           grace)  shall become like a mighty man of valour. And also
 His wonderful  -works  wil1 they set their hope in Him and          their heart shall rejoice as with wine, and their sons shall see
 keep His commandments. But it pleases Him to use US; and            and rejoice. Their heart  shali rejoice in Jehovah.
 He  commands   US to shew His praises unto these children               Weg  have already  taken notìce of the initial fulfilment of
 that they may praise Him by the work of His grace.                  these promises (see on verse 1) . But as these penitent Jews
       If in the days of the psalmist it was important and urgent    of our prophet's day represented the church of al1 ages, it is
that the coming generations were shown God's praises, how            in thé latter that we must end also with these promises. And
 much more urgent and important it is now.- `Life is so much         beautiful promises they  indeed are.  1, cannot enlarge  upon
 more complex. The  time of the  child is filled to  such  a         them here. Space forbids.                                      ._
 greater extent  tö-day with  ether  things. He has  to  ride on                                                              G.M.0.`..


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  41

                                                                       officials of the papa1 government  - H.V.), which adheres to
11          Contekiing For The  Faith  11 the theocratie ,theory, without the ability of carryingit into
                                                                       practice.  The papa1 Syllabus of 1864 denies that "the Roman
                                                                       pontiffs have exceeded the limits of their power and asserts
             The Church and the Sacraments                             the superiority of the Church over  State in litigated  ques-
                                                                       tions  of  jurisdiction." The politica-exclesiastical encyclicals
      VIEWS  DURING   THE  THIRD  PFXIOD   (750-1517   A . D . ) of Leo  X111, on Nov. 1,  1885 and on June 20, 1888,  re-
                  THE  SUPREMACY   OF  THE   POPE                      asserted substantially, though moderately ancl cautiously, the
           GREGORY   VII  AND  THE  PAPACY   (continued).              Gregorian theory of Church and State.
                                                                             Ranke, in his last years, wrote of  Gregory: "His  hier-
       Gregory  was, in his own  time, and has been since, the         archical system rests  upon the endeavor to make the clergical
subject both of the highest praise and of the severest  censure.       order the basis of all. human  existente.  This makes intelligible
Modern historians agree in giving him credit for the honesty           its two characteristic and fundamental  principles,  the  com-
and courage of his convictions, and concede the purity and             mand of celibacy and the prohibition of lay investiture. By
loftiness of his motives and aims. He is the  typical   re-            the first it was intended to build up out of the lower clergy a
presentative of papa1 absolutism in the Middle Ages in con-            body isolated from  al1 the personal and family relationships'of
flict with imperia1 absolutism. He  combined  personal  in-            human society. By`the second  it was intended to insure the
tegrity, consummate statesmanship, and monastic contempt               higher  clergy against  al1 interference from the  civil  power.
of the world. He lived and moved in the idea of the Old                The great hierarch thought out  well' the platform on which
Testament theocracy, and had no conception of the free spirit          he  placed himself. He met a  demand of the age to see in
of the gospel. He was a man of blood and iron, an austere              the priest, as  it were, a being belonging to a higher  order..
monk,  inaccessible  to feelings of tenderness, when ading in          Al1 that he says betrays dignity, force, and logica1 connec-
his official capacity as the head of the Roman hierarchy ; yet         tion . .  : His activity, which left nothing untouched, was of
he showed singular liberality in his treatment of Berengar, and        a  very humän sort,  while  at the same  time  it embraced
protested against the use of torture. His piety was absorbed           religious ideals. The hierarchical  principle  constituted-his
in devotion to the hierarchy, to St. Peter, and to the Virgin          real  life."                      ._
Mary. He was  unscrupulous  in the choice of means for his                  Gregorovius,  who  carried   oir a sustained comparison  be-
end, and approved of civil war for the triumph of the Roman            tween Gregory and Napoleon, praised Gregory's genius and
Church.  .-                                                            mora1 vigor. He says : "Gregory  was the heir of the ancient
       The lofty principles  he -espoused  he was willing  to stake    aims of the papacy. But his unexampled genius as ruler and
                                                                                                                     /..
his life upon.  NO pope has ever used the term "righteousness?         statesman is his own, .and no one either ancient Rome or in
more frequently than he used it. NO pope has ever employed             modern  times  has ever reached to his revolutionary daring . . .
the figure of warfare to describe the conflict he was engaged          His dying words reveal the fundamental basis of his char-
in more frequently than he employed it. NO man was ever                acter, which was great and manly. To this grand spirit, a
more convinced `of the soundness of his cause. He found his            character  almost without and equal, belongs -a place among
authority in the Scriptures and freely used them to convince           the rulers of the earth, men who have moved the world by a
others, quoting certain passages again and again, such as 1            violent yet salutary influence. The religious element,  how-
Sam. 15 23, which is found quoted in.his writings nineteen             ever, raised him to a far  higher  sphere than that to which
times  (this text reads as follows : "For rebellion is as the sin      secular   monarchs  belong. Beside  Gregory, Napoleon sinks
of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.           to an  utter poverty of  ideas.`: Of Canossa this author had
Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath  also         said : "The weaponless victory of the monk Gregory hàs more
rejected thee from  being, king." -H.V.). He found in                  claim on the admiration of the world than al1 the victories
Matt. 16 :18 ("And 1 say also unto thee, That thou art Peter,          of an Alexander, a Caesar, and Napoleon." Other church
and upon this rock 1 wil1 build my church ; and the gates  of          historians,  however,  especially German historians, are in-
hel1 shall not prevail against it."-H.V.) the certain  war--           clined to magnify the courage and manly vigor of Henry,
rant for the papa1 supremacy and excepted no persons  from             and to minimize the integrity and mora1 uprightness of
the  jurisdiction  of Peter's successors. As, an advocate of           Gregory.
papa1 absolutism and as a mora1 reformer he has  left an               -     Let  US hope that  Gregory felt in his heart some of that
abiding impress  upon the thought .and the  practice of Roman          Christian love and meekness whose commendatïon  closes  one
Christendom. Even  when we are farthest from  sharing  his             of his letters to Germann, archbishop -of Metz, the most
views, we may admire the man of fearless courage and mora1             drastic expression of papa1 absolutism he ever made. He
conviction.                                                            wrote : "If  the virtue of love be neglected, no matter  what
       His spirit stil1 moves m the curia (the'collective body of      goed any one may do, he wil1 .wholly lack. the fruit of salva-


42                                           T H E   STANDARD~   B E A R E R

tion. To do these things in humility and to love God  -and            literature. The  chief fruit of this  seclusion  is the work  en-
our neighbor as we ought, this presupposes  the mercy -of him         titled  Thee  Con.tempt   of~  the  World  OY  ths  Misery  of the
who said, `Learn of me' for 1 am meek and lowly of heart.'            Modal  iEsta&.   It might  wel1 have been followed, as the
Whosoever humbly fellows  him'shall pass from the kingdom             author says in the  .prologue,  by a  second  treatise on the
of submission which passes away, to the  kingdom  of true             dignity of  man's estate. To this  time belongs  also a work
liber@.  which abides forever."                                       on the.sacrifice.  of the mass. After-his  elevation to the papa1
            : L . .                                                   throne, Innocent  composed  an Exposition of the Seven
      INNQCENT AND THE  PAPACY:A.D.  1198-1216  ,.                    Penitential  Psalms. While pope he preached  often both in
                                                                      Rome and on .his journeys. His sermons abound in mystical
Iwoce$$   Trainhg  ad  Election.                                      and allegorical figures. On his letters more than five hundred
      The brilliant pontificate of Innocent 111, 1198-1216, lasted    are preserved.
as long às  the combined and uneventful reigns of his  .five             The  Conteutzpt  of thc World is an ascetic plaint over the
-predecessors  : Lucius 111, 1181-1185 ; Urban 111, 1185-1187 ;       .sinfulness  and woes of this present life. It proceeds upon the
,Gregory  VIII less than two months, 1187; Clement  111,              basis of Augustine's theory of total depravity.. The misery
' 1187-1191; Collestin 111, 1191-1198. It marks the golden            `of man is described from the helplessness of infancy  to the
age of the mediaeval papacy and one of the most important             decrepitude of age and the sufferings of the future estate.
eras in the history of .the Catholic Church. NO other mortal          Pessimistic passages are quoted from Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes,
bas before or since wielded  such extensive power. As the             and Job, and  also from  Horace,  Ovid, and Juvenal. Three
spiritual sovereign of Latin  Christendom, he had no rival.           master passions are constantly tormenting  man, - avarice,
At the same time he was the acknowledged arbiter of the               lust, and ambition, - to which are added the innumerable
politica1 destinies of Europe from Constantinople to Scotland.        ailments of the body and troubles of the soul: The author
He successfully carried into execution the highest theory of          deplores the fate of masters and servants, of the married and
the papa1 theocracy and anticipated the Vatican  dogmas of            the unmarried, of the good and the bad, the,rich  and the póor.
papa1 absolutism  and infallibity. To the papa1 title-"vicar of       "Ít  is just and natura1 that the wicked should suffer; but
Chris& " `Innocent added for the first time the title "vicar of       are the righteous one  whit better off? Here below is their
God." He set aside the decisions of bishops and provincial            prison, not their home or their  final destiny. As soon as a
councils, and lifted up and tast down kings. He summoned              man rises  to a station of dignity, cares  and -trouble increase,
and guided one of the most important of the councils of the           fasting is abridged, night  watches  are prolonged, nature's
Western Church, the Fourth  Lateran,  1215, whose acts                constitution is undermined, sleep' and appetite flee, the vigor
established the Inquisition and fixed transubstantiation as a         of the body give way to weakness, and a. sorrowful end is
dogma. He set on -foot the Fourth Crusade,  and died making           the close of a sorrowful life."  In the case of the impenitent,
preparation for another. -On the other hand he set Christian          eternal damnation perpetuates the woes of  time. With a
against Christian, and by undertaking to extirpate religious          description of these woes the work  closes,  reminding the
dissent by force drenched parts of Europe in Christian blood.         reader of the solen& cadences of the D,ies Irae of Thomas of
      Lothario, Innocent's baptismal name, was born about             Celano and Dante's  Infer+z,o.
1160 at Anagni, a favorite' summer resort of the popes. He               Called forth from retirement to the chief  office in Chrïs-
was the son of Count Trasmondo of the house of the Conti de           tendom, Innocent had an opportunity to show his contempt
Segni, and of the ruling  families`of the Latium. Like Hilde-         of the world by ruling it with a strong and iron hand. The
brand; Innocent may have combined Germanic with Italian               careers  of the best of the popes of the Middle Ages, as wel1
blood. Upon the basis of such family names among the Conti            as of ecclesiastics like  Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas of
as  Lothaire- and Richard, Gregoróvius  finds  evidente  of           Canterbury, reveal. the intimate connection between the
Lombard origin. This ruling family furnished nine popes, of           hierarchical and ascetic  tendenties.  Innocent likewise  dis-
whom Innocent X111 was the last. He studied theology and              played  these two  tendenties.  In his treatise on the mass he
canon  law at Paris and Bologna, and became proficient in             anticipated the haughty assumption of the papacy, based on
scholastic learning. Through the influence of three uncles,           the rock-foundation, of Peters'  primacy,  which as pope he
who were cardinals, he was rapidly promoted, and in 1190,             afterwards displayed.
at the age of twenty-nine, was appointed cardinal-deacon by              Òn  the.  very day of  ,Coelestin's  burial, the college of
one of them, Pope Clement 111. Though the youngest mem-               cardinals unanimously chose Lothario pope. Like Gregory  1,
ber of the curia,  he was at once assigned a place of responsi-       Gregory VII, Alexander 111, and other  popes, he made a
bility.                                                               show of yielding reluctantly to the  election.  He was ordained
      During the pontificate of Coelestin 111, a member  of the       priest, and the next day, February 22, he was consecratecl            _
house òf  he Orsini which was unfriendly to the Conti,                bishop ancl formally ascended the  throne in St. Peter's.        "
-Lothario  withdrew into retirement and devoted himself to                                                                         H.V.


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      43

                                                                              the truth presented .here implies that when one has received
        The b'oiae of 0,ur Fathers                                    -íl this grace, he does not stand amazed that there are these who
                                                                              have not  received   it,  .but he stands amazed  fust of ah  and
                                                                              continually that God has given him this grace. His thought
               The Canons of Dordrecht                                        must  stu-ely be: how is it possible. that God bas shown His
                             PART  TWO                                        favor to a sinner such as I,?
                 ESPOSITION   OF  THE  CANONS                                    5 ) And finally, let US notice that this thanks is exactly ex-.
         THIRD  AND   FOURTH   -EADS   OF  DOCTRINE                           pressed in the acknowledgement of God's sovereignty, the
 OF  THE  CORRUPTION   OF  MAN,   HIS  CONVERSION   TO.  GOD,                 acknowledgement that God is God alone. The  recipient  of
                 AND   THE  MANNER  THEREOF                                   this grace owes and gives eternal thanks to the  only God.
                     Article 15  (continued)                                  This is the thought of the original. It is  also true that he
                                                                              gives thanks to God alone, not to any other, least of al1 him-
   In the second place, this article, on the basis of  the                    self. But this is only true because by this grace He has
foregoing truth, presents the marks of distinction between                    learned to know the Author of this grace as the only God,
those who have this grace and those who do not possess it.                    Who therefore is alone worthy of thanksgiving.
Positively,  the fathers  state:  "Whoever  receives that grace
owes and gives eternal thanks to the only God." Concerning                       In distinction from those who, having  received  this grace,
this statement, we make the following remarks :                               are  thankful, the article speaks of those  who have not  re-
   1.11 There is, in the first place, the plain implication that,             ceived this grace, or rather, who do not receive  it. The idea
contrary to- the  Arminian  accusation, the truth of undeserved               here is undoubtedly to speak of the reprobate,.from  the point
grace' does not lead-to pride and self-exaltation on the part                 of view of their historica1 position and manifestation: they
of the elect `in relation to God, but rather to real humility.                do not  receive  the grace of God. There are at  any given
What  can be the only conclusion on the part of one  who                      time in the church also elect who have not yet received  grace,
receives that grace which God  owes- to no one? Only  this,                   who are not yet converted. But here the subject is those -irho
that he has exactly  received   ztndcserved  grace, and that he               do not  receive  grace at all. They  also  may be known' by
therefore owes eternal thanks to God.                                         certain marks. And the article distinguishes them in a two-
   2) In the second place,  notice that the article speaks of                 fold manner. In the first place, there are those  who are
"thanks.,' In other words,  while the article certainly  em-                  altogether unconcerned about spiritual things, and who de-
phasizes the idea of our obligation, our indebtedness, to God,                light themselves in their own things.  They(fee1   no need of
it does by no means present the idea of remuneration. We do                   the grace-of  God, they have no interest in the grace of God,
not and we cannot repay God. We owe Him eternal tlmnks.                       they show no  evidente of the grace of God. They are alto-
And thanksgiving is not repayment, but the humble  acknowl-                   gether indifferent spiritually. They are carnal, profane. The
edgement of God's undeserved favor toward  US,  .in the deep                  things   earthly, satisfy them, and of the things heavenly they
consciousness exactly that we  can never repay  Him.                          have no conception.  They  are like Esau.  And the  very  fact
   3) Thirdly, it is also important that the fathers here sta&                that they are such is plain proof fhat they have not received
not only that the recipient  of this grace o&es eternal thanks,               the grace of God not only, but also that they do not care for
but  also that he actually gives eternal thanks. And mark                     it. In the second place;  however,  there is another group,
well, they do not  merely  say that he  ou@t to  give eternal                 fundamentally like them, - for they  also receive no grace, -
thanks, but that he actually  @hes eternal thanks. This, there-               hut in them this lack of grace is manifest in a different way.
fore, is a sure mark of the  recipient  of  God's grace. He                   They are "careless, and vainly boast that  .they have that
leads a life of. thankfulness in word and deed, showing forth                 which they do not have." These careless people are not
the virtues of Him Who bas-.called  him out of darkness into                  manifest as  ,indiffërent  souls, but as those  who are falsely
His  -marvelous light. He does that now in  beginnjng   ; and                 secure. They claim in word and `in deed to have sthat which
he  shall do that perfectly in the life to come eternally. This               they do not have. They claim to have the grace of God, but
at  once implies, of course, that  where   such thankfulness is               they do not have it. They claim to have an interest in spirit-
missing, there cannot be the assurance and consciousness of'                  ual things;-but they do not really have it; They claim to have.
being a recipient  of- God's grace. Incidentally, we may notice               an interest in spiritual things, but they do nat really  have it.
that this was no new doctrine at the time of the Synod of                     They claim  to have a placé in the kingdom  of heaven, but
Dordrecht. For this is exactly the relationship between the                   they do not have it. They claim the name Christian,  hut it
knowledge of our deliverance and the expression of our                        is not really  theirs. They claim upon false grounds that they
gratitude as it is presented in the Heidelberg Catechist.                     possess God's grace. They deceive themselves and others.
   4 )   Fourthly,   w e   may  also  remark  t h a t   th.is  i s   quite    They probably lead a life of outwardly  good works and out-
determinative of our attitude toward the question whether                     ward righteousness, and make those works and that right-
others are or are nat.  recipients  of this grace. For certainly              eousness the  gr&nd'of their boasting. To this  class   belong-

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

  the hypocrites,  who even succeed to make others believe that `they are not children of God at ah. What must we judge and
  they have what they do not really possess. From this point                  speak of them ? Must we hunt and peck for thé least bit of
  of `view it may be said of them, as the official English version            evidente upon which we can take held,  whether in fact or in
  lias it, that they go on "in no apprehension of danger." Only               imagination,  in order- to condemn them? Or must we put a
  we `must remember  that .it is never true that men go to hel1               questionmark behind them in our minds and in our speech,
  with an imaginary heaven.  But they have no  spi&tal   ap-                  and say, "After  ah, we don't know for sure who is and who
  prehension of danger. They have no grace, and their  very                   is not a child of God ?" Not at al1 ; we must, as long as there
  lack of grace is evidenced in their vain boasting that they                 is no  plain reason to question it, judge and  speak  the best.
  have,it_ ;For we must`remember  that the fruit of God's grace               of them.  .But the opposite  may  also be true. There may be
is  first of  al1 inward, spiritual,  nat this vain boasting.  And            those of whom we are ready to say,  `as soon, for example,
  while  with relation to God grace causes a man to be eternally              as they stumble and fall into  sin; and  probably  do so  re-
  thankful, with  regard  to himself that grace does not  cause -peatedly  even, that they cannot possibly be children of God,
  him to boast vainly, eniptily, but causes him to be watchful                though actually they are. And  also with respect to them
  and to pray : "Search   -me, 0 God, and know my heart : try                 we must be careful to judge and to speak  the best. We  should '
  me, and know my thoughts : And see if there be any wicked                   not be hasty to condemn one another as not being Christians.
  way in me,  and lead me in the way everlasting." Hence,                     And if only we think, when we are inclined to express such
  with respect to both these groups in distinction from those                 condemnation, how terrible it is to say of one that he is not
  who,`receive God's grace, the implication surely is that it                 a  child of God  when God calls him  yis  child, we  wil1 be
  never  happens  that one earnestly seeks the  kingdom  of heaven            deterred.
  and fails to fìnd it.                                                           This is an important rule for the life of the church, and,
        Further, the fathers speak in this article concerning the             is to be observed alike by officebearers  and members. It must
  proper attitude toward one's fellow believers. We must re-                  be observed by the Consistory  when members make  con-
  mémber  that the idea here is not to say  that   al1 Reformed               fession of their faith. And it must likewise be observed by
  people always  practice'  this  principle.  Instead, the fathers            them when they engage  in admonition and discipline. How
  here defend the Reformed truth. The Arminians  claimed                      despairing of any positive fruit must be the admonition and
  that the Reformed  truth of sovereign and free grace led                    discipline of a member by the Consistory when a pyiopi that
  inevitably to a very  bad, practice of trying to distinguish in             Consistory judges the member to be no  child of God. But
  the church al1 members into elect and reprobate, - something                it is necessary as wel1 that this same rule be observed by the
  which in  practicë would probably  result finally in  every                 members of the church in their mutual relationships. There
  member  questioning  whether   every  other member is the                   must be no  .spiritual assayers in the church,  who measure
  recipient  of the grace of God and is  elect. And the fathers               and weigh the spiritual worth and sincerity of their fellow-
  reject this as being un-Reformed and not according to the                   believers in haughty conceit and who try to exalt themselves
  example of the  apostles.  In  fact, they maintain that  the                as the  acme of  al1 spirituality by  pushing  others down in
  attitude and approach of the members of the church toward                   the mud of disgrace and disrepute. Such leads to party-ism
  others  who profess -their faith  and lead regular Christian                and strife in the congregation.
  lives should be the very  opposite: we must speak the best                     For the fathers emphasize in this connection  that  the
  of them. What does it mean: that we must judge and speak                    secret  recesses of the heart are unkown to  US. They cannot
  the best of them  ? This, that we must judge (this judging                  possibly be found out by US. They are known only to God,
  refers to the inner determination  .and consideration of the                and, by the light of His Spirit and Word, by  each one for
  mind) and speak (this is the manifestation of that inward                   himself. And that is enough. If the balances of judgment
  judgment) of al1 that confess Christ in word `and deed as                   are  ih'~God's* hand,  theii they are in safe hands. He  wil1
  though they really are Christians. This is the judgment of                  surely realize His  purbose   ;  and-  no one can defeat it. And
  love. And this is  also  ,the only possible working  principle              therefore the church  may safely  operate   also according to
  for the communal  life of the members of the church on earth.               the rule here laid down.
                                                                                 In. conclusion, the  article speaks of one more  class of
        Implied,  of course, is the fact that the church on earth is          people, namely, those who are not yet called. These are, first
  nat pure  ancl that `we are not able always to discern its                  of ah, members of the church, who are under the preaching
  impurity. We cannot discern with finality whether one is                    of the gospel, who are outwardly called. They are, secondly,
  elect cir reprobate, .whether he possesses the grace of God or              to be distinguished from those who are indifferent and those
  does not possess it. There may be those who might appear                    who are carnally secure. They are not yet inwardly called.
  to US to possess the grace of God, hut do not possess it. They              They themselves, therefore, are not yet certain that they are
  may profess the name of Christ, and, as far as we  can discern,             children of God. They do not profess their faith. They are
  they show amendment- of life. And we would say that they                    "seeking   SOL&." What must be our attitude toward  them?
  are children of God. But it  may  certainly  be possible  that                                  (co&nwd  on &ge 46)


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     4.5

                                                                          his criticism here rather  than interrupt a series on Article 31
             -DECENCY and ORDER                                       ll later. In this evaluation it is not my intention to comment
I!                                                                    `1 upon  every  statement or point the Reverend  raises  hut  wil1
                 Reply to the Rev. MacKay                                 in the interest of the subject itself confine myself to a few
      Before.  we enter a discussion of the significant  3lst            main issues.
Article of our Church-order, 1 am going.to'commënt  on the                   For sake of clarity then, 1 want to say first  that our
recent writings of Rev. Malcolm MacKay that appeared in                  area of differences is not, in my opimon, as great as MacKay
TJae  Contendeu and in which he  reílects  upon a series of              presents it: On  many things regarding this subject we are
Articles 1 wrote in The Standa.yd  Bearer several months ago             basically agreed. In fact the area of agreement is wider than
Under  the caption, "The Church and  State."                             that of disagreement as wil1 be evident if we just briefly state
      First of all, I want to thank Rev. MacKay for his criticism,       the various possible views of the relation of church and state.
elucidation and enlightening articles. Even though 1 do not                  First, there is the view of Roman Catholicism according
agree with everything he  writes,  1  can  ,enjoy reading his            to which, briefly, the state is subject to the church. The pope
articles even as 1 have enjoyed reading The Contender of the             not only holds the highest ecclesiastical office in the church
last five years.  When  he criticizes, the spirit in which he but is  also tempora1  ruler of the  state.  We need  write no
voices  his criticism is such that it lends itself to further dis-       more than that we both agree that this view is false.
cussion of the issues involved and in that atmosphere a                      Secondly, there is the view advocated  by the Arminians
discussion can be profitable toward mutual understanding  of             which is ,really  the reverse of the preceeding and holds  that
one another's views as  wel1 as arriving at the truth of the             the church is subject to  the  state.  MacKay has made  clear
matter.                                                                  that he repudiates this view also but 1 must warn that the
      Secondly, 1 want to remove any personal offence to the             logical.  ancl practica1 sequcnce of the position he does take
Rev. MacKay if  I, as he expresses it, "put him in a  dis-               may very wel1 lead to this. We'11 say more about this a bit
advantageous light before the readers of  T3ze  Stmda.rd                 later but let it  suffice to say now that we are agreed that
BeaTer   at the beginning of his comments  upon our articles             this position of state domination of the church is  also  con-
by referring to  US as a `former Presbyterian minister in Nova           trary to Scripture which emphatically affirms that Christ is
Scotia.' " He feels that with this statement 1 created the               the head of the church which He  rules,  not through  civil
impression  in the minds of our readers that he is no  longer            authorities,  but through the offices which He has instituted.
Presbyterian but something else and he wants Tlze Standard                   Thirdly, there is the Deistic and Baptistic view of separa-
Bearel*  readers  to. know that although he has left the min-            tion (absolute, complete separation) between church and
istry of the Presbyterian Church in Canada because of the                state which view also underlies the First Amendment to the
control  modernism  had gained over it, he is, nevertheless,             Constitution of the U.S.A. According to this view, the
and continues to be a faithful Presbyterian minister, i.e.,              State limits its functions to civic matters and the Church to
faithful to the true cause of Presbyterianism. The, organiza-            those of God and religion.  Every religion, true or false, is
tion known as the Presbyterian Church of Canada (and                     giveq equal right and protection under the law of the land.
also U.S.A.) which MacKay left ten years ago departed                    The  State  may not interfere in respect to the religious'  be-
radically from the historie position of true Presbyterianism             liefs and practices of any group but freedom of religion shall
and to this departure MacKay takes exception, leaves  the                be exercised. The State is a-theistic, without God and leaves
organization and continues to staunchly defend and maintain              al1 matters of religion to the individual conscience; those that
the traditions of  Knox and the Presbyterian fathers. His                see fit  may belong to the church of their choice and  thoso
position of course we'can understand for our experience bas              that so desire may also affiliate with no church at ah. Previous
been  quite similar. In 1924 the Christian Reformed  Church~. writings make plain that both MacKay and 1 agree that thic
of.  America  departed radically from the historie Reformed `view is als0 is wrong.
position and  tast faithful office bearers  out of her fellowship.           In the fourth  place, there is the view expressed in the
Overagainst this departure, we, in the `ministry  of the Prot-           footnote of Article 36 of the Netherlands Confession, adopted
estant Reformed Churches, have continued  to maintain and                by the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church in 1910 and,
defend  `the  historie position of the Reformed fathers even             since it has undergone no change since, is today the official
though, like MacKay, we have "no recognition or standing"                view of our Protestant Reformed Churches. This view  the
in the eyes of men.                                                      Rev. MacKay evaluates with this statement :
      In the third place, with respect to the area of our differ-            `<. . . .the 1910 Statement is right insofar as it calls for
ences on the matter of church and  state,  1 have  read  care-           the state to acknowledge and serve God, but it is.false and
fully  MacKay's  articles and reread my own series on  the               inconsistent in so far as it demands the separation of church
subject. 1 had intended to reserve  al1 comment until MacKay             and state."
was finished but, since he bas only one more article to write               His- criticism of this position is that  it is a  mixture  of
on the, Subject, 1 felt it was better to place  this evaluation of       true and false, a contradictory  statement, inconsistent. with

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

  the truth and brought  about as a compromise  solutionon the            Confession, the state must consistently carry these duties out
   part of the church to "bring itself  into. line  with-  tha            to the extend of punishing al1 who do not abide by the doc-
  popular American `doctrine of separation of church and                  trines and  practices  of that church which by the  state is
state."        The Reformed position- is compromised with that of         recognized as the church that keeps the Word of God pure
  the Deist, Baptists and framers of the U.S. Constitution.               and entire.
   With this criticism of MacKay we do not agree but  wil1                    (Parenthetically we wish to note her,e that it is the duty
  come back to comment  upon it later.                                    of  every citizen to be in subjection to the  state as long as
           Finally, there is the view that Rev. MacKay  advocates,        the state functions within. its Divinely appointed authòrity.
   which is expressed in the original 36th Article of the                 To fail to do so is to rebel and sin against God who ordained
   Netherlands Confession, the original 28th Article of our               the powers that be.  Now, if  tbe duties attributed to the
   Church Order and the 23rd Chapter of the original  West-               .state under this position are truly stated, it must follow that
  minster Confessiqn. To quote from the Westminster  Con-                 the citizens  of the state are bound to be in sub jection irregard-
  fession,  Ar&le*3,  Chapter  23, this view states :                     less of which church the  state recognizes as true.  After   al1
         "The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the ad-          the prerogative to deterruine which church is true is the
  ministration of the Word and  sacraments, or the power of               States, not the individuals. NO doubt as long as the  State
  the  keys of the  kingdom   af heaven  ; yet  he hath authority,        recognizes  Presbyterianism as the true religion as was done
  and it is his  duty, to  etake order, that  unity and peace be          in  Scotland,  MacKay is satisfied with this view but  would
  preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure             he also accept the natura1  consequences of his position if the
  and entire, that al1 blasphemies and heresies be suppressed,            State in power recognizes the Roman Catholic Church? He
  al1 corruptions and abuses-in worship and discipline  pre-              may object that that is not the truc church and the true reli-
  vented or reformed, and  al1 the ordinances of God duly                 gion but what .right does he as an individual have to make
  settled,  administered  and observed. For the better effecting          such a claim overagainst the State,  God's appointed minister
  whereof, he hath power to cal1 synods, to be present at them,           to make this, determination ?)
  and to  provide  that  whatsoever  is transacted in, them be                Hence, 1 claim that this view leads to State domination
  according to the mind of God."                                          of  al1 religioa, of the church, and disagree with this  ex-
         The  clear  language `of this  article plainly implies, as 1     pression of the duties of the  State.  This  leads to the crux
  see it, that the State is duty bound "to establish and maintain.        of MacKay's  criticism of my previous series on this subject.
  a  State Church, advancing  and supporting the same as the              His contention is that 1  oppose the original Westminster
  only true Church, and to oppose, to persecute  and to destroy           Confession which he claims, respecting this matter "is  square-
  by means  of the sword al1 the other churches as being false            ly founded upon Holy Scripture and likewise holds forth the
  religions." (Footnote of 191.0).  The point now is not, "What           true teaching on church  and  state." This charge is. serious
  church will the state recognize ?' but  rather  the  fact  tha+t  if    for it implies that 1 am miiitating against the Scriptures and
  she is to exècute the duties outlined above she must recognize          promulgating false doctrine in respect to this matter.
one church and say of her, "there the Word of God  is kept                   Concerning this we  wil1 have more to say, D.V.,  next
  pure and entire," and anyone  who does not abide by the                 time.  when we wil1 show the reasons why we do not agree
  doctrines and practices  of said church must be the object of           with MacKay's  position.                                 G.V.D.B.  -
  civil punishment. If this is not the case, it is-ridiculous to.
  so  define  the duties of the  state.  When  MacKay  writes                            THE  VOIC,E OP  OUk  FATHERS
  the following, we agree: "The state, as wel1 as the individual                              (Continued from page 44)
  person,  must FUT INTO PRACTICE its profession to                       We are to -pray  to God for them, a prayer which, of course,
  acknowledge  God as its God. Otherwise it become a hollow               must  needs always have the qualification, "Thy  wil1 be  done."
  and hypocritical mockery.  NO man can respect either himself " Such prayer is  an expression : 1) Of trust and  confidence
  or bis- neighbours if he or they say that they believe in God           that God in due time calls al1 His own. 2) An acknowledge-
  and in His Son Jesus Christ, and then stop with that, making            ment of His sovereign  grace.  Therefore the fathers  em-
  no  attempt  to put their profession of Him  into  .practice.  In       phasize that we are  to pray to God,  "who calls the things
  the same way, the state cannot stop short with a mere derbal            which are not as if they are." He alone is able to accomplish
  and  legal acknowledgement of God as its God, and  j  con-              the work of His  grace in them. They cannot do it. He
  sider  that its  duty toward God is done. In other words, it            owes them no grace. And`no man can supply that grace or
  cannot adopt a  law or amendment to the effect that it  ac-             refuse to  supply it. It is  God's sovereign work. And there-
  .knowledges  God as its God and then ignore it by  making               fore, with respect to those who are nat yet called we are to
  no  real  effort to put it into  practice.  If it did, the  state       pray to Him. And never are we to be haughty over against
  would be guilty of the same kind of sin as an individual:  who          them. For we have' not made ourselves to differ. What we
  acts in this mama&." It follow then that if the duties of the           have we have  received  of Him. What we are we  owe to
  state are correctly stated in Chapter 23 of the Westminster             sovereign grace ,alone.                                    H.C.H.

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

                                                                              also representatives of the group that departed from  US  in
            A L L   A R O U N D   US,  ,*:' II the recent split. We recognized men from as far as MUS-
                                                                              kegon;  Holland  ancl Kalamazoo from  each of the  above-
                                                                              named churches. The program `was entitled : Pine Rest Psy-
 Torch  und  Trunispet   Undergoes   Anotker  Chnge.                          -chiatric  Conference for Pastors.
    The  above'named   periodical  has  changed  its  appearance                  The purpose of the meeting as expressed by the hospita1
 again. This is the third time, if 1 am not mistaken, in seven                pastor, Rev. R. Heynen, who was chairman of the meeting,
 years of its  existente that this religious magazine appears                 as  wel1 as by Dr. G.  ,A. Van Noord, superintendent of the
 under a different cover. Nat only has it altered its outward                 institution, was to bring the pastor into  closer  touch with
 appearance but  changes  have also been planned as to  con-                  .the institution and its work, and more particularly, to help
 tents. The  managing editor, Rev. H. J. Kuiper, former                       him meet some of the problems that arise in his.  pastoral
 editor  -of  The  Ban,ner,  tells of the plan in  bis. rubric titled         work  when .he has to advise those in his congregation who
 Timely  Topics in the September, 1957 issue.                                 are mentally ill or despressed.
    We are pleased with the new appearance. It is both at-                        To realize this purpose members of the staff delivered
 tractive  and easy to  read.  Also interesting is the proposed               papers, four in number, dealing with as many aspects of the
 plan as  to  contents.                                                       problems involved. The  subjects,  treated were the following :
    We are informed  that there has been complaint "that                      "Where  Pastor and Psychiatrist Meet!'  by Dr. J. D,. Plekker,
Tor&  avzd  Trwzpet  was too solid, too exclusively  academie,                staff Psychiatrist at Pine Rest.' "Recognizing the Psychotic"
 and not sufficiently slanted to practica1 problems and  current              by Dr. M. J. Beukema, also staff Psychiatrist. "The Pastor's
 issues in. Church and Kingdom." The attempt  is now being                    Role. in  Mental  Illness"  by Rev. William L. Hiemstra,  also
 made "to offer material  that has a more popular appeal:"                    hospita1 pastor. "The  Pastor's   Mental  Health"  by Dr.  Gel-
    According to plan Rev. L. Greenway wil1 write a series,                   mer A. Van, Noord, superintendent of Pine Rest.  Op-
 of Meditatións of a devotional  nature on the epistle to tha                 portunity was given after the rendition of each paper for the
Ephesians.  Under the heading Timely Topics Rev. H. J.                        ministers  ZO ask questions. Some of the discussions that
 Kuiper  wil1 offer his views on practica1 problems and cur-                  followed were  very interesting and  instructive.  We  cannot
 rent issues in the field of religion. Rev.  Edward,  Heerema                 begin to repeat some of the remarks made either in the
 wil1 answer questions of the readers; and a page has been                    papers or in  the  discussions  that  @llowedZ Nor is that  our,
 set aside for contributions of leading women in the church,                  purpose in this report. As you may gath.er  from the program
 and another page wil1 serve as a sort of public pulse which,                 listed above, al1 that was said at the conference was meant
                                                                         .
 wil1  receive contributions of the readers. Most interestmg                  only for those  who attended.
 of al1 is a proposed series of outlines prepared by Dr. William                  Our only purpose in reporfing this conference is to. em-
 Hendriksen who wil1 deal particularly with the S@ns of ths                   phasize the growing need of a clearer understanding of the
 T~IW.S   and the  Second  Cow&Jg  of  Chist.  Some of the'  old-             mental  patient by the pastor and the  importante  that he
 rubrics have been retained.                                                  avail himself of  al1 the  information obtainable to meet the
    The  editörial. staff believes that their magazine wil1  ap-              need of advising  those who are afflicted with this illness.
 peal to a wider range of readers and increase the subscription                   We were told that 175 ministers had signified their  in-
 list sufficiently to make the paper self supporting.                         tention to accept the invitation to attend the conference.
    We have been a reader of this periodical  from the'  be-                  However, when the meeting began it was estimated that ap-
 g$ïning   ,:of  .its  existente,  and though we  `did not  always.           ,proximately  190 were in attendance. It showed plainly that
 agree with its  contents we nevertheless have found the                      the majority of ministers in this area felt the need of in-           .
 material  generally interesting reading, sometimes  very,  in-               formation and advice  in their treatment of parishoners who.
 structive:  ,Personally  we are looking forward to the  fulfill-             have this particular need. And though it became. plain to US
 ment of the proposed plan. And frankly, 1 would be pleksec&                  that a psychiatrist is not a pastor, and a pastor is not  a,
 to know how they can publish such a neat looking paped for                   psychiatrist, it  also  becarne plain that both  the.  christian
only $2.00 per year subscription price.                                       psychiatrist.and  the christian  pastor can benefit  from a chris-
                                                         :           1  .,
                                                              .,'             tian discussion of their mutual problems. By this we  do
 An  Iwportcrni  Conferertce at  Castlervill~.                                nat`  mean to say that we approved 100 percent of  al1 that
    Ministers from several Reformed denominations in                          was said..at the conference by way of advice  or as to the ap-
 Western Michigan were invited to attend a conference under                   proach to  al1 the problems of  mental  illness and its  treat-
 the direction of the staff of the Christian Psychopathie  Hos-               ment.  If. we  may interject one note of criticism, it seemed
 pital at Cutlerville, Michigan, on Thursday, October  3rd,                   to ,us, and we felt also to others, ethat the fact of sin and the
 in the chapel of that institution.                                           depravity of human nature are to a large extent ruled out, in
    `The  denominations  represented were Reformed  Church                    the present method of treatment of the mentally ill. .I do nat
 of America, Christian Reformed, Protestant Reformed, and                     wish to. broadenout  on this criticism  because it may fa11 away


                                                                                                                   .
or be satisfactorily answered if and  when- another conference        believe you: wil1 be saved;"`  and, "Your conversion is a pre-
is held.                                                              requisite to entering into the Kingdom." 1 prefer this heresy-
  _ We would -judge by the response at this. conference that- to.  the sound Prot. Ref'd doctrine that the promises of God
the staff at Pine Rest  wil1 be  encoüraged  to  arrange `other       are particulàr and unconditional, and that conversion is never
conferences. We hope they  will.                                      a prerequisite  to entrance into the Kingdqm of God, but can
    We were wel1 cared for throughout the day, not only with          onlyi&&e  ,place in the Kingdom.
stimulating  addresses and  discu&ions,  bÚt  also  our  -physical    ::.  ,Zf` 1 beheve  that  the Three Points of 1924  can possibly
needs were wel1 provided for  by a `marvelous  luncheon  and          be interpÍ%$èd  in a true Reformed way and if the leaders of
!wo toffee  breaks... Our sincere thanks to- the medical staff        the  Christian-  Reformed Church  wil1 do this, 1 am ready
and nurses for .this-liberal  reception and treatment.                to become a. membër of that church, and advise al1 our people
                                                                      to do the same.
Test&oszy  R&prding   Ow Own Prot. Ref. Schools.                         -3.  `I believe it is wrong for our people to send their
    Süch is the title of a paper given to me for perusal by a- chilch-en to a Prot.  Ref'cl   christian  school because the doc-
brother  who was a former  parishoner,  of the Rev. John              trine and world and life view taught in these schools  is-
Blankespoor. The  latter  wrote the 3 pages single-spaced             much too narrow..
mimeographed document and distributed it to his congrega-                4. 1 believe that  it is  detrimental  to the welfare of our
tion only a short time befòre  the recent split.                      children to separate them from the influences  of .the Chris-
    The paper is too long to quote in the space 1 have left,-but      tian Reformed teachers and pup&.  Rather,  because 1 believe
in it he plainly reveals the following :                              in ecume.nicity,  1 believe we should come as close to them as
    1. That he is in no neecl of further light as to the, mean-       possible and even unite with them as churches and schools.
ing and intention of the Three Points of Common Grace as                  5.  Í  have taken my own  children  out of the Prot. Ref'd
expressed by the synod of the Christian Reformed Church in            christian  schools and advise  al1 my people  to do the  same
x924.                                                                 because 1 no longer  believe they are the best.
    2. That he considers these Three Points heresy, and that          6. If 1 have offended good people by exhorting and
it'is the  duty of Prot. Ref'd parents to  oppose this heresy         admonishing them to send their children to the Prot. Ref'd
according to the vows made at the time of the baptism of              schools when they were of the mind to keep on sending  them
their children.             `.                                        to Christian Reformed schools, 1 apologize and confess now
    3. That  he' considers it a great.  danger  and a threat to` that 1 am  very'  sorry. 1 believe that.  they  `were right  all.
the  very  existente of the Prot. Ref'd churches  when our            along, while 1 was  seriously.  in error,
children  attend the  christian  schools which are under the             If the people  who follow Rev. Blankespoor and those
dominion of the Christian Reformed people.                            ministers  who are with him cannot see that something is
    4." That he  wil1 Eot allow  hischildren  to be under the         radically  wrong when a man can change so completely, then
instruction and influence of teachers  who are other than  Pr.ot.     1 confess that 1 see no hope for them.
Ref'd both as  to doctrine  and world and life view.                     We can only conclude that either they never had any use,
                                                                      for our own Prot. Ref'd schools and al1 that they stand for,
    5. That he does not consider the present Prot.  Ref'd             or that they are totally blind and ignorant of what is taking
schools to have "arrived," but that they are better than the. place under the leadership of their ministers.
Christian,  Reformed  Schools, and our children must have the            We  also conclude that one  who  can change so  radically
very -best.                                                           on  such an important position of  principle  must not have
    6. That  the  differente  between the Prot. Ref'd churches        had much principle  to begin with.
and other Reformed churches is  sufficient  to warrant our               Must we not also conclude that here is a case of the blind
separate  existente,  and therefore, the same applies  also to        leading the blind ? ..I do not hesitate to say so. 1 am at a loss
the schools.                                                          to- come to any other conclusion.
   The above is, 1 believe,  a fair restatement of .his position         On the other hand, 1. believe .I can understand why they
prior to 1953  on the matter of  9ur Prot. Ref'd  christian           are going  In the direction of the Christian Reformed  Church
education. Generally speaking, 1 would say it was a beautiful         They have nothing as things stand now. In the split they lost
testimony, one which could very easily bé republished and             the Prot.  -Ref'd  Seminary  and the Prot. Ref'd Christian
disseminated among our own people.             .-                     Schools, the  two vita1  institutions  that have the power to
   But now mark how empty this testimony becomes when                 perpetuate the church of the future. Smal1  as these institu-
you consider the Rev. J. Blankespoor in the year 1957. Here           tions are, and difficult as it may be to maintain them, we who
is his testimony today :                                              are Protestant Reformed should remember that the day we
'  -  l-; Ï subscribe to the two statements of the Rev.  H. De        lose them we  also have lost the right of  existente..
Wolf which are : "God promises every  one of you that if you                                                                    M . S .

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