       VOLUME   XXX11                            NOITEMBER  1.5,  1955  - GRAND RAPIDS,  MICHIGAN                              NUMBER   4

                                                                                Important, because the enumerated actions of worship,
            `M E D I T A T I O N                                             praise, adoration, etc., are the one and only purpose of all
/                                                                      II    things, be they creation or recreation.
                                                                                If anything is plain from the `Word of God it is this :
                         T H A N K S G I V I N G                             God willed and determined all things unto one purpose, and
               "And the Lord smelled a sweet savour . . . .  ."              that purpose is that the whole of the Universe, grouped
                                                             Gen.  8:21a     round about Jesus Christ,  shotild  stand before- His blessed
               "                                                             face in a new heaven and in a new earth, and e;erlastingly        ,.
                . . . . an offering and a sacrifice to God for a  sweet-
               smelling savour."                             Eph. 5  :2b     tell Him how inexpressibly woncle?ful and glorious He is.
                                                                                And, incidentally, such action- of worship of God, etc.; is
       If, a few days hence, be wend our way to the house of                 heaven   for  man
God in order to celebrate Thanksgiving Day, we should be                        Knowing this, you will also know that Thanksgiving Day
certain that God smells a sweetsmelling savour !                             is an anticipation of the day when we shall finally see God's           a
       He did in the case of Jestis Christ, as recorded in Ephesi-           eternal purpose fulfilled. And you will take heed that all
ans 5 :2; and therefore He did also in the case of Noah when                 your action on that day be a sweetsmelling savour unto the
he offered burnt offerings. That is so, even though  chron-                  Lord.
ologically  Noah came first with his sacrifice. And Jesus
approximately 2300 years later. Jesus is ideally first. He is                                         * * *  +
both the firstborn of every creature, and the firstborn from.
the dead. That is so, even though, with regard to the first;                    Our worship of God a sweetsmelling savour.
many millions of men were born before He appeared.on  earth,                    But if we so conceive of Thanksgiving Day we realize
and even though, with regard to the second, others had been                  that every day ought to be Thanksgiving Day !
raised from the dead before He appeared in Joseph's garden.                     And so it is. For, as was said befbre: there is only that
       Jesus is always first.                                                one, glorious purpose of God: the Universe should stand
       Such was the goodpleasure .of the Lord God.                           everlastingly. befqre  Him, praising and singing and making
       He should and He will have the preeminence.                           heaven and earth musical forever.
       And so things will have to stand with regard to your and                  Our entire life ought to be Thanksgiving Day.
my celebration of Thanksgiving Day.                                              Our whole life ought to be  .a sweetsmelling savour to                   `I'
       Take heed that there be a sweetsmelling savour on that                God.     .
day.                                                                            And in order to tell one another this wonderful  truth,
       So that God may rejoice. He is very particular.                       it is not amiss to have a special day in the year, the last
                                 *  *  *  *                                  Thursday in November.
                                                                                 Attend to a text which we find. in the midst of-  the
       A sweetsmelling  savour !                                             statutes and laws for Israel: !`The fire shall ever be burning
       That is figurative language.                                          upon the Bltar ; it shall never go out." Lev. 6 :13.
       And the meaning is rather clear.                                          There always must be a sweetsmelling savour unto the
       It means that God looks  from heaven upon the worshiper               Lord.
and is pleased with his worship.                                                 Indeed, the world cannot exist without this Thanksgiv-
     Yes, the things that confront us on the day of  thanks-                 ing Day; now using the name of our national institution as
giving are the things that pertain to worship, praise, adora-                I explained it a while ago. I mean the  eternal  Thanksgiving
tion, giving of thanks and giving glory to God.                              Day. The fire of the adoration of the Godhead may never
       And that is of the utmost importance.                                 go out. It must send its sweetsmelling fragrance upward,

                                                                                                                                                            I

                                                                                                                                                                 .>  _-
                                                                                                                                                                 .

                                                                                                                                                                 ._-


       74                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER

      ever upward to God, so that He may  haply rejoice on His                 How. do you'feel about your adoration? On the Thanks-
      throne.                                                              giving Day, and on all the other days of the years of your
             We are to send the smoke of such incense in .the early        lives ?
      morning, at noon and when evening lengthens the shadows.                 And then we admit: it was only a small principle of the
      We are to send the smoke of the fire and of the sacrifices           n e w   o b e d i e n c e .
      upward in the watches of the night. Everywhere, always,                  Sometimes we pray God for forgiveness of our good
      under any and every circumstance are we to give thanks to            works.
      our God. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of              It always ought to -be a  perfect  sweetsmelling savour.
      God in Christ Jesus concerning yo.u. I Thess. 5 :18.                                                *  * * *
             And so we will go to the house of God and adore Him
      whether we are rich or poor, whether we have a plentiful                 For God is God.
      crop or famine, whether it is war or peace, whether we are             God cannot accept a faulty work. He  cdndemns  a faulty
      healthy or sick, whether we live or die. In everything we            work as well as a completely wicked work. God is never
      will give thanks to God.                                             satisfied with anything less than perfection. His own Divine
             At all times, from our birth to our death,, we will send      Life of infinite perfections postulates that.
      a sweetsmelling  .savour heavenward to our God and Saviour.              You may be assured of this: when God smiles at some-
             You ought, you must. write above your whole life: My          thing or someone, such a thing or person is perfect.
      Thanksgiving Day.                                                        And that brings me to the second text which I wrote
                                  *  +  *  *                               above this meditation : ". . . . an offering and a sacrifice to
                                                                           God for a sweetsmelling savour."
             Yes, but who is sufficient unto these things ?                    The priest there is Jesus.
             I wrote it above  this* meditation:  ". . . and the Lord          You see, there was no man left anymore.
     smelled a sweetsmelling  saGour  . .  ." I quoted there the in-           All of us, rather than answer to that one and only
      stance of Noah who took of the clean beasts and offered              purpose of God, have turned every one to his own way.
      burntoff erings upon the altar.                                      That last  clausk, my dear reader, is in one word horrible.
             So in, that instance it is plain that he succeeded to wor-    That is you and I and every son and daughter of -Adam and
      ship God.                                                            Eve.
             But in the next chapter I read the sad story of his               And "turning to his own way" means that we are a race
      drunkennes and shame.                                                of evil-doers. Worshiping devils and the things of the
             But the fire must be a perpetual institution. Moreover,       earth. Setting up the things that are mere creature, and
      the Lord is not satisfied with half work. Our adoration of           calling them God, prostrating ourselves before them and com-
      Him must be perfect, for He is perfect.                              mitting abominations.
             The question arises: How did Noah succeed in worship-             That is true of the elect and of the reprobate. That is
      ing God at all ? And why did he not succeed all the time ?           simply human, that's the human thing to do. And we do it
             Yes, I find it in me to sometimes worship Him. But it         wantonly, by nature.
      is very faulty at best. And I am persuaded that Noah in                  No, when God saw if there were a man, a worshiper, He'
      that one instance worshiped God only in principle, just as           found none at all. "They are all gone aside,  they are alto-
      you and I.                                                           gether become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not
             But most of the time I do not worship Him.                    one." Psalm 14 :3 ; and 53 :3.
             And when I do worship Him, such wonderful work is                 Just live as you came forth from your mother and
      disfigured by gross imperfection.                                    father, and you commit abomination.
             How could God smell a sweetsmelling savour  even on the           And you never do worship.                    .
      part,  of Noah ?                                                         But when there was no man left, God called Himself
             How could Jehovah be satisfied with that  pa.rtial  worship` a Man, the man Christ Jesus. He is the only perfect Man
      of Noah?                                                             there is. And He proved it.
             We, preachers, often rail at the world for their atrocious        He came, and suffered, and died. And rose again, and
      Thanksgiving on the Day that is set apart yearly, and has            is now seated at the right hand of God.
      become a day of eating and drinking. I have done it myself.              And throughout His life and death He worshiped.
             And it is true : it ought to be conde&ned.                        You see, God bad ordained Him from everlasting to be
             They think at best of the things of this earth, and thank     the Worshiper who would come in the stead of God's elect
      Him for all the money and possessions and peace, and a               people.
      thousand other things, all positive and of this earth only.              And there He stands in the fulness of time and there He
f            And, at their worst manifestation, they make of the day a     stands unto everlasting, with hands upraised to the heavens
      day of rioting and drunkenness.                                      (that is why His name is Juda, from  `yad, hand, raised in
             But how about ourselves ?                                     praise and adoration), adoring the Godhead in our stead. He


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                75

did so even in hell, standing under the burning rays of the
                                                3.
wrath of God.                                                                                Ti-lE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
   Yes, Jesus gave Himself an offering and a sacrifice unto                  Semi-monthly,   except   monthly   dwisg   Jwe,   July  md  August
God for a sweetsmelling  savour  . . . .                                        Published by the  REFORMS   FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
   He does that now and will do that everlastingly as the                     P.  0. Box 881, Madison  Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
perfect Man. The purpose of God of which I spoke earlier                                        Editor  -  F&v. HERMAN  HOEKSEMA
is fulfilled in Him.                                                          Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
    And He does that throz~ggh all His people.                                H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
   Through regeneration and conversion, through faith and                    All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to.Mr.
                                                                              G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E.,  Grand Rapids 7, Michxan.
sanctification.                                                              Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
    And so you see Noah standing before God and wor-                          address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
shiping.                                                                      RENEWALS  : Unless a `definite request for discontinuance is re-
   And so you see the multitude that keeps the holy day.                      ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                             to continue without the formality  of a renewal order.
    And when .we see our sin and guilt, we whisper Jesus'                                        Subscription price : $4.00 per year
name, and offer unto God our offering of a broken heart.
   Yes, sometimes we weep hot tears of repentance to God                       Entered   (IS  Second  Class   mutter   at  GraJid   Rapids,   Michigan
on our Thanksgiving Day. And He hears, for Jesus' sake.
                                                                   G.V.                                    C O N T E N T S
                                                                           MEDITATION  -
                                                                                 Thanksgiving           . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 3
                          Announcement                                                 Rev. G.  Vos
                                                                           EIIITORIALS  -
    The Men's Society of the First Protestant Reformed                           Based on  Untruths.......................................76
Church of Holland, Michigan, will sponsor a lecture at their                           R e v .   H .   H o e k s e m a
temporary meeting place (13th St. and Lincoln Ave.) On                     As  TO BOOKS-
December 2, 1955, the Rev. C. Hanko will speak on the                            The Heidelberg Catechism, Vol. IX.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
                                                                                       Rev. G. Vos
subject, "The Covenant Challenged and Defended." The
public is invited.                                                         OUR DOCTRINE  -
                                                                                 The Triple Knowledge (Part III-Of  Tshankfulness)  . . . .  .78
                        Yours in Christ,                                               Rev. H. Hoeksema
                              The Holland Men's Society                    TRE  D.4y  OF  SHADOWS-
                                          B. Windemuller, Secretary.             The Prophecy off Haggai.. . . . . ._. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
                                                                                       Rev. G. M. Ophoff
                                                                           FROM  HOLY  WRIT-
                                                                                 Exposition of I Gorinthians l-4 (4). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .SZ
                            IN MEMORIAM                                               Rev. G. Lubbers
                                                                           IN  HIS  FEAR-
   The consistory of the First  Protestan't Reformed Church of                   Speech that Manifests Fear (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84
Redlands, California, hereby wishes to express its sincere sym-                        Rev: J. A. Heys
pathy to our fellow office bearer, elder M. Gaastra, and his               CONTENDING FOR TEE FAITH  -
family in the recent death of his father-in-law,                                 The Church and the Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .S6
                                                                                       Rev. H.  Veldman
                      M R .   J .   R .   VANDER  W A L                                                                                                                    '
                                                                           THE VOICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS -
                                                                                 The Canons  af  Dordrecht (Second Head of  Do&m=) . . . .  .SS
   May the God of all wisdom give the comforting knowledge                             Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
that all His doings are for the, good of His Own, to all the               DECENCY  AND   ORDER-
grieving relatives. "He that goeth forth and weepeth, sowing                     The Election of Elders.. . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .90
precious seed . . . shall doubtless come again rejoicing, bearing                      Rev. G.  Vanden Berg
precious sheaves" sanctified by the Spirit.                                ALL  AiouNn Us  -
                                                                                                                                                                        . . . . . . . . . . . !P@
                          In name of the Consistory,                             Vacanti Churches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                                                                                 Van Weelden Recants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                                         Rev. H. H. Kuiper, President                 Rev. M.  Schipper
                                         Mr. T. Feenstra, acting clerk' CONTRIBUTIONS  -
                                                                                 Faith and  Repentance.....................................93
                                                                                       Rev. G.  Lnbbers
                                                                                 Report of Eastern Ladies League.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
                                                                                       Mrs. Peter Decker
    If God would limit iedemption so as to fit man's proud                       RepFtDo:Western Ladies League. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9.5
evaluation of self `and the neighbor, heaven's grand chorus
would dwindle to a solo and, for want of accompanists, even                      Brethren of the Prot. Ref. Churches : Beware ! . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96
                                                                                       H. A. Van  Putten                          .
that would have to be a cappella.                               H.H.K.


7            6                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                      new  classis. They thereby expressed themselves that they
            E  D.1  T 0 R  I  A-1 S                                   were outside of the communion of the Protestant Reformed
                                                                      Churches. How, then, can they possibly maintain that they
                                                                      appealed their case to synod ?
                    Based On Untruths                                     Fact is that they never did appeal. Fact is, too, that they
                                                                      could not appeal because of their organization of a separate
      Interesting also is point 14 of Lindsey's basis of appeal to    classis.
the Supreme Court. It reads as follows:                                   The truth of this matter is exactly as I stated it in my
      "The trial court erred in not finding and decreeing that        pamphlet- "True or False" which, in part, was also read by
the fact that defendants were not permitted to appeal from            the defendants in court. There I stated:
the decision of Classis of October 6, 1953 was illegal and of             "False. But the case is not yet finished and will not be
no force and -effect."                                                finished until the general synod has acted on the appeal the
      What is the truth concerning this matter?                       deposed officebearers are going to make."
      The May  classis, 1953 decided that De Wolf and the                 This I claim to be false and, at the same time state the
elders that supported him should apologize or be suspended            truth of the matter as follows:
and deposed from office. Thus they advised the consistory               "True. They have no appeal. And I do not think that
of the First Protestant Reformed Church.                              they seriously intend to appeal. What-  they, to my mind in-
      At its June 1 meeting this advice was adopted by the            tend to do, is to organize a new church formation. That they
consistory. De Wolf and his guilty elders were asked to               have no appeal is plain from the following :
apologize. They asked for time to consider the matter. This               "a. Article 53 of the Church Order demands that all
was done in the presence of the classical committee appointed         officebearers sign the Formula of Subscription.
for this matter.                                                          "b. That Formula of Subscription states that in case of
      At the meeting of June 22 it became clear that they re-         discipline all offlcebearers  shall have the right to appeal but
fused to apologize in accordance with the advice of classis           `until a decision is made upon such an appeal, we will acqui-
and the decision of the consistory of June 1.                         esce in the determination and- judgment already passed.'
     Hence, according to the same advice of  classis and the              "c. They did not submit and acquiesce. Hence, they can-
same decision of the consistory of June 1, they were already          not appeal. The matter is definitely settled."
suspended and deposed. And this decision was carried by                   Nevertheless, in court the defendants maintained empha-
the consistory in conjunction with that of the Fourth Church          tically that they did appeal to synod and that the classis re-
on June 23, 1953.                                                     jected their appeal.
      In October 1953 the classis set its seal of approval on this        But this is not true as is abundantly evident from the
action, refused to recognize the would-be delegates of the de-        court records.
posed consistory members and their suspended minister, and                That  Classis  East did not attempt to deny their right of
seated the delegates from the legal consistory.                       appeal to synod, but simply refused to treat their protest
      Now, in court they claimed that they appealed to synod          to  classis  is evident  .from a letter they received from the
and that their appeal was rejected.                                   stated clerk of classis which reads as follows :
      That is'absurd, for the following reasons :                         "Dear Erring Brethren :
      1. They had refused to submit to their suspension and de-           "This is to inform you that the protests filed by you with
position, but continued to act in their office. By their own          the Stated Clerk of Classis East, October 6, 1953, have been
action, therefore, they placed themselves outside of the com-         duly received for information in the January 6, 1954 session
munion of Protestant Reformed Churches. They could not                of  Classis  East.
be seated as delegates to  classis, nor could they appeal to              "We further wish to inform you that said protests are
classis against their `suspension and deposition, for the sim-        now out of order since you have been declared to be schis-
ple reason that they had not first submitted but took matters' matic and have severed your ties with Classis  East and thus
in their own hands.                                                   with the Denomination of the Protestant Reformed Churches.
      2. Still, although they could not appeal to  classis, they          "Therefore said protests are not treated by Classis  East.
could have notified classis  that they would appeal to synod.             "Praying that the Lord may give you grace to see and
Classis  surely has no power to reject an appeal to synod.            to confess the sin of your way, I remain
Only synod itself can have that power. Even if classis  would                                 Your brother in the Lord,
have refused to consider their appeal, they certainly could                                     George C. Lubbers, Stated Clerk."
have notified the stated clerk of synod of their appeal. And
synod would have decided whether or not their appeal was                  It is very evident from the above letter that the  classis
acceptable. This we did in 1924. But they never did. There            did not even attempt to deny them the right of appeal to
was no appeal of theirs at the synod of 1954.                         synod, but simply refused to treat certain protests of the
      3. Before that synod ever met they organized already a          schismatics.                      _


I-                                                 T H E   STANDAR D   B E A R E R                                                       77
         The same is, evidently, true in regard to certain alleged        that appeal was ruled out on the basis that they were no more
      appeals to synod of Kok c. s.                                       in the association of churches."
         Let me quote from the printed court record.                         Did you ever hear of such nonsense ? Did you ever hear of
         "I quote from pp. 3S4ff. :                                       a  classis having the power or even assuming the power to
         "THE COURT: While we are on that, I would have                   prevent anyone to appeal to synod  ? Did you ever hear of the.
      the Rev. De Wolf clear my mind. That is, it seems to be             nonsense that an appeal to synod must first be `accepted by
      your position that the action of classis  at this October meet-     classis and that only through classis it can go to synod ?
      ing in regard to Kok and two other-was there ?                         I never did.
         "A. Yes, Knott and Blankenspoor.                                    The rule for appeal-is, according to a note in the Church
         "THE COURT: Yes, took away from them their right                 Order by Article 31, as follows:
      to appeal to synod. I don't see how by any action that you             "Appeal from a decision by any ecclesiastical assembly
      can take away a man's right to appeal. If you appeal from           must be made before the first following meeting of the major
      their decision or you appeal from their action, how can you         ecclesiastical assembly appealed to and notice sent of this
      take away from them the right to appeal ?                           appeal to the clerk of the minor assembly. The interested
         A. May I explain that?                                           parties must be informed of every decision made."
         "TIIE COURT : That is just what I would like to know'.              This is clear, is it not?
         "A. All right. You see these men appeal this thing.                 De Wolf, c.  s: simply would have to inform the  classis
      They did appeal it, and it was decided in a later meeting.          that met in January that they would appeal to the synod of
         "THE COURT : Who did they appeal to ?                            1954, enclosing a copy of their appeal.
         "A. They appealed to this same  classis of October 6.               Classis  could never prevent them.
      They appealed the decision that was made by the classis in             Fact is, however, that they never did appeal;
      May and June in respect to the heretical statements. They              Their claim in court is simply an untruth.              H. H.
      appealed that decision to the classis of October. 6, the con-
      tinued meeting of October 6.
         "THE COURT : How could they do that? How could                                      AS TO  EOOKS  _
      you appeal from that ? I can't understand how you figure you        I/'           "
      can appeal from the action of a body right back to the same            The  Heidelberg  Catechisuut,  (An Exposition) Vol. IX,
      body. You can move to reconsider their former action. I             Love thy Neighbor  for God's Sake, by Rev. H. Hoeksema.
      can see how you can do that.                                        Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids,
         "A. Your Honor, you ask them to reconsider, and if               Mich. $2.50.
      they do not agree, if they do not change, if they feel that they       It is with great pleasure that I announce the 9th volume
      can't change their decision, then you can send their decision       of the series on the Heidelberger to you.
      on to the majority body, the synod. You do that all in one             I am also authorized' to tell you that the 10th and final
      appeal, so you see it goes back to  classis  again with the         volume is at present in the hands of the printers, and that
      request if they cannot agree with you on that, you ask them         it will come~off the press shortly.
      at this time that then they will send it on -the synod. Then           And with that 10th and final volume the Herculean task
      it is supposed to appear before the synod, and the synod is         to which the Rev. Hoeksema set himself shall have been
      supposed to judge the case.                                         completed.
          "Q. You say they lost their .appeal?,                              I said "Herculean," and the term is correct. Attend to
          "A. They lost the appeal because when they refused to           this : no one during the one hundred years existence of the
      submit and bind their conscience by a ruling made by this           Reformed churches on our shores has ever attempted to
      classis, they were declared to be outside of the association,       write a series such as this.
      and therefore they had no voice, .and the classis would not            Yes, it is the only commentary on our beloved  Heidel-
      accept the appeal and send it on to synod.                          berger in the English language.
          "THE COURT :  Classis  has to accept their appeal and              The present volume is a neat piece of work from the
      forward it to them ?                                                point of view of the printer's art. It is clothed in an attractive
          "A. That is correct.                                            jacket, has firm and `strong binding, a clear letter, strong
          "THE COURT: You can't go to the other body with                 paper, and is of comparatively light weight, which makes.
      their appeal  ?                                                     for easy handling while reading.
          "A. No, sir,. it goes through the classis to the synod.            As to its contents, it treats of the second table of the
          "THE COURT : Is there anything that says they tried             law, from the fifth commandment to the tenth, from the 39th
      to do that?        -                                                to the 44th Lord's day.
          "A. I am not sure, your Honor, whether they made the               I have, of course, read this volume also, just as I have
      attempt. I believe they did, but I know that the appeal they        read (and that many times) the earlier volumes in this
      made against the ruling of the classis of May and June, that                             (Contimed   on  fiage   91)


 7s                                           T H E   STAN"DARD   B E A R E R
II                                                                  life for  us:  and we ought to lay down our lives for the
               O U R   D O C T R I N E                         /I brethren. But whoso` hath this world's good, and seeth his
                                                                    brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion
                                                                    from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ? My little
                  THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                              children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue ; but
       A                                                            in deed and in truth." Actual love of the brethren, therefore,
            N  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  HEIDELBERG   CATECFIISM         is presupposed in this fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer.
                   PART  III  - OF THANKFULNESS                     As long as we have not done all in our power to fulfill the
                                                                    needs of those that are in want, we cannot possibly send this
                           LORD'S DAY 50.                           petition to the throne of grace.
                             Chapter One                                                     Chapter Two
                          Our Daily Bread                                         Healing on the Prayer'of Faith
       To ask for today is sufficient. And if, as the dusk            It may not be amiss in this connection to ask the question
of evening settles upon our earthly life of the day, we have        whether there is any basis in Scripture for the pretention of
neither bread in the house, nor the means wherewithal to            those that are called faith-healers, or for the belief that the
buy bread, even for another day, but the Lord did provide           prayer of faith will give. instant and sure recovery to those
us in the day that has come to a close, He heard our prayers        that are sick. The fourth petition, so we said, is concerned
and fulfilled His Word : "Give us this day our proper portion       with all our physical necessities in this present world and
of bread."                                                          in this present life. Now surely, those physical needs are
      We must not overlook that this petition, as well as the       different at different times and in different conditions.
other two petitions in this last section of the Lord's Prayer,      Sometimes we are in a state of physical health, in which we
stand in the plural. It does not say, "Give  ?qce this day  ~tiy    are active, perform our daily work, and return home hungry.
daily bread," but, "Give  US bread." This presupposes love          We need bread. At other times, however, the Lord puts
of the brethren. Without this love of the brethren we cannot        us down on our sick-bed, so that we have no appetite what-
possibly pray this fourth petition. It implies that when we         soever, and bread is nauseating to us. Now, the question
have sufficient bread for the day, and perhaps more, and we         arises whether this fourth petition, this prayer for all our
know that our brother has need, we shall impart to him              physical needs, also implies that when we are in a state of
some of the daily bread which our heavenly Father has given         sickness, we may pray the Lord that He sends us recovery,
us. Nor shall we have respect of persons. For that is not           and whether in this fourth petition we have the promise of
rooted in the love of Christ and in faith. The apostle James        the Lord that if we pray in faith, He will surely heal us.
writes : "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus           There always have been, and there still are, those who
Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if          make this claim. There are preachers that make this healing
there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, and           by faith an essential part of their gospel. And although they
goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor .man in vile          do not make this claim on the basis of the fourth petition of
raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay            then Lord's Prayer, they nevertheless appeal to Scripture
clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place ;         in general. It is an outstanding fact in Jesus' public ministry
and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my         that He not only preached the gospel of the kingdom of God,
footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are           but that He -also healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, gave
become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved                 healing to the deaf and sight to the blind, that He cast out
brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich           devils,, and even raised the dead. As we read in Matthew
in faith, and heirs. of the kingdom which he hath promised          8 :16, 17 : "When the even was come, they brought unto him
to them that love him ? But ye have despised the poor. Do           many that were possessed with devils : and he cast out the
not rich men oppress  you,  and draw you before the judg-           spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it-
ment seats ?' James 2:1-6. And as to imparting of our               .might be fulfilled which was spoken by ,Esaias  the prophet,
abundance to the poor and giving them a portion. of our             saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sickness."
daily bread, the same author writes: "What doth it profit,          And when the Lord sent out the twelve, He gave them the
my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not           commission : "Preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at
works ? can faith save him ? If a brother or sister *be naked,      hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast
and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them,          out devils :-freely ye have received, freely give." Matt. 10:
Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled ; notwithstanding          7, S. Moreover, when the Lord sent His apostles into the
ye give them not those things which are `needful to the             world after His resurrection and ascension into heaven, He
body; what doth it profit ?" James 2 : 14-16. And the apostle       evidently gave them the same power; and from the book of
John expresses the same thought in I John 3 :16-1s : "Here-         Acts we learn that they actually employed that power to
by perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his            heal the sick, and even to raise the dead,               H.H.


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    79

Il.                                                                         Haggai to ask the `priests and seeing that he uses their in-
            THE DAY OF SHADOWS                                              struction as a foundation for his message proper. To teach
                                                                            and interpret the law was the duty of the priests (Deut.
                                                                            xvii, S-II  ; xxxiii, 10  ; Mal. ii, 7).
                   The Prophecy of Haggai                   '                   12. Holy flesh-the flesh of an animal brought to the
       Past Calamities Accounted for; New Blessings Assured,                altar for sacrificial purposes 2nd slain. Skirt of his garnzcnt-
Chap. II :lO-19 :                                                           A corner of the otiter garment could be turned in or out to
       10. In the four and twentieth (day) of the ninth (month),            form a convenient place for carrying articles of various kinds.
in the second year of Dal-ius, came the tiord of the Lord by                And  zvitlz his skirt toatch bread . . . shall it be holy--The
`Haggai the prophet, mying,                                                 particular Mosaic law here involved is stated at Lev. vi. 27,
       11. TI%US s&h the Lord of Hosts : Ask now the pl-iests  for          28. It stipulates that the flesh of an animal sacrifice renders
in.strztc tion, saying,                                                     holy anything there at the sanctuary with which it may comk
       12.  Behold, one 1lea.r holy flesh in  the skirt of his gay<-        in contact, The things mentioned are any garment upon
wzsvtt, a.nd with his skirt do toatch buea~d, or potta,ge, or wine,         which the blood of the sacrifice may have been sprinkled and
01' oil, or any food, shall be holy? And the priests ansztiered             the earthen vessel or brazen pot in which the flesh was sod-
a.nd said, No.                                                              den.
       13. Then said Haggai, If (one that is) u.nclean though a                 The question that Haggai in connection with this precept.
.(dea,d) person touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And                propounds to the pkiests is this: Does the flesh of an animal
the priest answered and sa,id, It shall be zhnclean.                        sacrifice as carried in the skirt of a garment also render holy
       14. Then answered Haggai and said, So this people, and               any article of food that the wearer of the garment may touch
so this nation before me, saitla the Lord, and so every work                with its skirt?
of their havads, avtd that which tkey offer tlaere; it is amclean,            The people of Israel offering sacrifices are like the man
       15. And now, I pray, tabrn yo,ur heal-ts from this day and           carrying the holy flesh. The food-bread, wine,  pottage-
atpward.  From before a stone was laid  ,upon a stone  ,in  the             represent the soil of the ground as cultivated by the people
temple of the Loyd:                                                         and all the fruit thereof. So the idea of the question is
       16.  IV1len tlaose  (days) were, (it  was so  tlaat)  one  had       whether the holiness of the animal sacrifice is transmitted not
been going to a heap of twenty (meamyes),  and there weye                   alone to a man's garment but to his fields and the fruit there-
(batt)  tevt; one has been going to the winepress fog to dmw                of as well. The priests' answer is, "no."
fifty  (pa.ils) out of the  press,  (but) there  zweye (but) twenty                 13. The second question put to the priests implicates sev-
       17. I laave smitten you witla blight and -with mildew and            eral laws the unifying idea of which is, that to come in con-
with hail in all the work of your hands, yet ye (tzLrned]  not              tact with a human corpse is to be defiled by it (see Num. v.
to  me, saitla  the Lord.                                                   2 ; xi, 6, 7, 10  ; Lev. xxi, II  ; Num. vi. 6). To the question
       1s.  T.tcyn now  yoatr  hearts  from  tlais  day upward,  ~YO`J~L    whether anyone defiled through a corpse renders any food
the  foz~ and twentieth  day of  the  ninth  (Ytzonth),  [even)             unholy, if he touch it, the reply of the priests is, "It shall be
frovn the day that the temple of the Lord was founded, turn                 unclean."
your heart.                                                                         14. The prophet applies the priestly instruction to the
       19. Is tlae seed yet in tl'ze barn? Yea, a.s yet the vine, and       case of the people. So this pco@e, and so this nation.-Here
tke fig tree and the pomegranate tree, a.nd the olive tree bath             the reference is to spiritual and not to ceremonial, outward
not brothglzt  fob; (but) from this day I will bless.                       defilement. As one who has come in contact with a dead
                                                                            person is ceremonially unclean, so the people of Israel are
       10. In the fourth and twentieth day of the ninth month-              spiritually unclean through their transgressions. Their par-
just three months after the commencement of the building                    ticular great sin at this time is, that with their surplus wealth
of the temple. The ninth month is called Chisleu  (Zech.                    they built costly houses for themselves, while neglecting to
vii, I) and answers to the latter part of November and first                build the Lord's temple. Before rise-in  the estimation of the
part of December. Came  the word  of  tlae  Lord by Haggai                  Lord, in His sight. So every work of their hands and all tha$
tlae prophet.  The third divine communication so far  g&n                   which  they  offer there-Being themselves unclean, all the            '
and to be followed by one more. The occasion of the proph-                  works of their hands were of necessity unclean, and all that
ecy, since nothing is said concerning it, must be inferred                  they touched, their sacrifices there in the place of worship,
from the content of this Word.                                              their fields and all the fruit thereof. This being so, the curse
       11.  Ask  the  priests  concerning  the  Zaw  - literally  law       of the law was in their fields. It was on their  basket  and
without the article--ask law- and therefore vtzeaning instruc-              store and the fruit of their land and their kine and the flocks
tion. The priests are requested not merely to cite the law but              of their sheep (see chap. I, 6-12). It could not well be other-
to draw inferences from it. In this activity  the Lord in this              wise, seeing that all was unclean through their transgressions.
instance guides them, so that their deductions are His in-                  And they niust not complain because their sacrifices by blood
fallible Word. This is so, seeing that the Lord commands                    did not beget for them the blessings of the law upon their


      8          0                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

      fields. For the holiness of such sacrifices &as not transmitted        juice flowed, after the gripes were pressed out. -Press-Here
      to food. Thus the priests had instructed. Besides, their sac-          the vessel that was used to draw up the wine from the lower
      rificing as their work was unclean through their sins. It was          vat. Some regard the word as an explanatory gloss: Fifty . . .
      an abomination in the sight of God. God could, therefore,              but twenty-A quantity of grapes estimated--to yield fifty
      not bless them on the ground of their sacrificing.                     measures, gave, when pressed out, but ten.
           Not that a pure and undefiled animal  xacrifice, -had there           17. This verse presents the cause of`the shortage of crops.
      been one partaking of such a character, would have merited             And I smote you - The Lord did so by smiting their fields
      with God. This canndt  be so. For the animal sacrifices were           with blasting, mildew and hail. All the labor of yo,~v hands-
      but shadows, the body of which was Christ. But herein                  Everything they had raised in the soil of the ground with
      exactly lay their significance for the true believers . They           great toil.  Yet ye  turvted  not  to  meTRefusing  to see the
      served the true Israel as an instrument with which, through            hand of God in their calamities, they did not seek after God
     " their act of sacrificing, they expressed their faith in God as        but persisted in their willing ignorance of His claim upon
      the God of their salvation through Christ in His Spirit. As            them.
      standing with their sacrifices in this faith, they received of             It is worthy of note that in i, 10, 11 the cause of their
      God for Christ's sake, by whom all the requirements of the law         calamities is said to be drought. Here they are blasting, mil-
      were to be fulfilled, the blessings of the law also in their fields    dew and hail. It shows that there were several different
      as tokens of God's favor upon them. But when His people                causes that brought about barrenness and shortage of crops.
      were carnal and unbelieving, the Lord caused them to expe-                 18. Turn yo`ur heart, I pray, ~YOWL this day ztpward-The
      rience the curses of the law to lead them to repentence  that          same exhortation is contained in verse 1. That it is here
      He might be feared. For as well as do we, they lived solely            repeated shows that our prophet now returns to what he
      by the mercies of Christ.                                              there had started to say but had not completed, namely that
           15. The prophet now will show this post-exilic Israel             from "this day" on the Lord will reward their obedience.
      that the cause of all their troubles, past and present, is their       Here, too, therefore  the adverb "upward" points to the future
      neglectfulness of the temple of the Lord. And now,  I pray             and not to the past (as some have it).
      YOU, consider  ~YOWL  this day and  ,+ward-not  "backward"                 In the next clause of this verse (18) "this day" is said
      as the R. V. has it. The meaning is: Taking this day as your           to be the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, which
      point of procedure, look forward, consider the days that lie           in turn is called  the day that the  temple of  the Lord was
      ahead. The reason that they are exhorted to direct their gaze          fo,lhnded.  So this last clause reads in the original text, and
      into the future is given in verse 19, "From this day I will            not; "The day that the fouvcdation of the temple of the Lord
      bless." Soon they shall again be in the possessioti  of the signs      was  hid.  This is a misinterpretation. It cannot be the idea
      of His favor toward them-rain in season and abundant                   of the original text. For the foundation of the temple was
      crops. But before breaking the joyful news he once more                laid some sixteen years before, shortly after the arrival of the
      points to past calamities in order to bring out clearly the            remnant in Jerusalem (see Ezra iii). The clause therefore
     contrast between their past calamities and the prosperity that          must be taken to mean, "The day that a commencement was
      the near future has in store for them now that they have               made of the erection of the superstructure of the temple." It
      repented and are zealous in building God's house.                      is the same day that a "stone was laid upon a stone in the
           And so our prophet continues (in ve;se 15)) "`From be-            temple of the Lord"  (15b). It is the same work described
     fore a stone was laid'ztpon  a stone in the temple of the Lord          in two different ways.
     -Before they began to build the Lord's temple. When tizosz                 I, 14, 15 state that "they came and did the work on the
      days  &erg-Through  all that time. It was a time of sixteen            house of the Lord in the four and twentieth day of the s&k
     years duration. It had ended but recently. It was only three            month," which would be three months earlier. But the two
     months ago that building operations had been resumed. The               passages are not contradictory. It must have taken all of
     foundation of the temple had been laid (Ezra iii,  4)) but              three months to do the preliminary work such as hauling the
     during all those succeeding years the work was at a stand-              building material.
     still. Nothing was further done. And for this there was no                 TWVZ  yozJr  kea?,t-Repeated  at the end of this verse for
'    excuse valid before God. The real trouble was that there qyas           emphasis. The,phrase to be supplied is, "from this day up-
     little heart for the work.                                              ward." Turning their heart from this day, which is evil, let
           16. How had they fared through all those years of sinful          them now by all means look upward to God, their ever
     apathy regarding God's house ? This is described in the rest            present helper, and put their confidence in His promise of
     of verse 16 and in verse 17. The description is similar to              relief that Haggai is now about to publish unto them. That
     that contained in Chap. i, 6, 9-11; disappointment and dis-             this is the underlying idea of the exhortation is clear from
     aster on every hand.  Heap  of twenty- That is, a heap of               the succeeding verse.
     sheaves that appeared as if it contained twenty measures,                  19. To enliven their awareness of the terribleness of their
     when threshed was found to contain but ten, only half of                plight, to bring it close to their feelings, the prophet, now
     what was estimated. Winez&  - The receptacle in which the               that he is about to proclaim to them God's promise of relief,


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   81

reminds them that the distresses before described, are still        capital of. God's kingdom and-the  earthly temple his house.
with them, in other words, that "this day" is evil still. .He-      Here in this earthly temple alone of all places the glories of
first asks them whether the seed is yet in the barn. "Seed,"        the triune Jehovah were revealed in the face of Christ as re-
as is clear from the context, is to be taken not in then s&se of    flected by the typical things of the law-the sacrifices and
corn for planting, but of corn already raised and ready for         the officiating priest. Here alone God's altars burned and
harvesting. This is plain  froin the succeeding affirmative         the priests blessed. Here alone the saints stood before God's
statement, "as yet the vine,, and the fig tree, and the pome-       face. Here alone tlley  saw Him and could hear themselves
granate, and the olive tree hath not brought forth." It shows       blest of Him. Here the saints shouted with joy. The temple
how God's people must be imagined to have answered the              was the bound that drew together the faithful far and near,
prophet's question. They said, "No, Lord, the seed is not           such of them as were scattered among the nations as well
yet in the barn. There has been little or no harvesting. -The       as those that dwelt' in the community itself. And so the tem-
fig tree and the olive tree, etc., have not yet brought forth.      ple was as yet indiipensible.  It had therefore to be built.
This day, the time, is still evil. Thou knowest Lord, Lord            Observation on the blessings and  cursings of the law.
shew us mercy." And now the Lord through the prophet as             When the people of Israel as a nation served God, they were
His organ instantaneously replies,"  From this day I will           blessed of the law and then earthly prosperity and physical
b l e s s . "                                                       well-being was their portion. When Israel forsook God, they
   Now that they h&e repented and returned to Him and               were cursed of the law, and then the nation was overwhelmed
are zealous as builders of His house, His blessing will again       and made to experience all manner of physical calamities. So
be in their fields and upon all the w&k of their hands. AS          the blessings and cursings of the law worked themselves out
visible signs of His favor toward them His penitent people,         in that day in the existence of the people of Israel. For it
whom He foreknew  in Christ, harvests `will again be plentiful      was the dispensation of shadows. Both the earthly prosperity
and the olive tree and the fig tree will again bring forth          and the physical, earthly calamities were typical. The former
abundantly. In a word, He will now cause .t,hem  to experi-         foreshadowed the true blessedness  pf the church in glory,
ence the blemings of the. law, and this in agreement with His       and the latter the nameless sufferings and misery of the
Word spoken centuries earlier through Moses His organ,"             damned in hell. This earthly prosperity was a token of. God's
And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently         favor toward the elect. It was a blessing only for them. For
unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his        the reprobated in Israel it was a curse and also meant as a
commandments, which I command thee this day that . . . all          curse.
these blessings shall come upon thee . . . Blessed shalt. thou        This earthly calamity-was a revelation of God's anger, of
be in the-city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed     the anger of His love with regard to the elect and of the
shalt thou be in the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of the        anger of His hatred with regard to the reprobated. For the
ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the' increase of thy kine,     Israel according to reprobation it was punishment; for the
and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shalt thou be in thy           elect it was not punishment .but chastisement and here the
basket and in thy store" (etc., Deut. xxviii. I-5).                 purpose was to lead to repentance and to drive into the arms
   "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto        of Christ. And therefore, though they suffered all these
the voice of the Lord thy God . . . that all these curses shall     typical workings of the curses of thk law, when in times of
come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in          national  apostacy  and decay God would lay His strokes
the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shaI1       upon the nation, the law, God, did not curse them, their
be thy basket and thy store . . ." (etc., Deut. xxiii. 15-17).      persons. For they were hidden in Christ by virture of their
  When this post-exilic Israel as God's believing people con-       being chosen in Him before the foundations  if the world.
nect their past calamities with their indifference and the                                                                  G. M. 0.
promised relief with their zeal as builders of God's house,
they will not doubt that.their past calamities was a visitation                      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
of God in condemnation of their indifference and that their            It is with thanksgiving that we are-able  ~0 announce the 45th
relief is His gracious gift to them in recognition of their         wedding anniversary of our folks on  tl?e 24th day of November,
zeal, .his work in them..                                                           MR. and MRS. J. P. MIEDEMA
   That the prophet, better said, the Lord Himself, was so             P's.  36:10,  "0 continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know
insistent that His temple be built can be explained. The            thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart."
Word had not yet become flesh. Christ had not yet suf-                                Mr. and  Mrs. Cornelius Mohr, Allendale
fered and died, as the resurrected Christ, entered once into                          Mr. and Mrs. Albert Miedema, Muskegon
the- holy place, having obtained eternal redemption  for us.                          Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit Sytsma, Grand Rapids
The saints had not yet come unto the city of the living God,                          Mr. and Mrs. Robert Miedema, Grand Rapids
the heavenly Jerusalem. For  tlL& Jerusalem was not yet                               Mr. Kenneth Miedema, Grand Rapids
(Heb. xii. 22). What  hit meant is that the earthly Canaan                            Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Gritter,  Standale
                                                                                      Mr. Harold Miedema, Grand Rapids
was still the heaven of the church, the earthly Jerusalem the                         13 grandchildren, 1 great granddaughter

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

     II                                                                    who worked schism and mutiny in our midst also presup-
                 FROM HOLY  WRii                                      II poses that they are not "natural man," who have only an eye
                                                                           for the psychological, but that they are, at bottom, "spirit-
                                                                           ual man," yet, who are in their walk and conduct in God's
                    Exposition of  I Corinthians  1-4                      church fleshly. (sarkikois)
                                                                              Paul asks of every one who works schism and cries: I
                                      4.                                   am of Paul, I of Apollos : Is Clwist divided?
            We ended our last article with a promise that we would            In order that it may become'crystal clear what a divided
                                                                           Christ would be let me call your sanctified attention to the
     trace out the masterful skill with which Paul goes to. battle         following :
     with the sword of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, when               1. It should be noticed that in the Greek language the
     he would combat the evil of schism and- party strife in the           verb "Divided" is not the same as "rend" (schizoo) but it
     church of the living God.                                             means to be divided into parts. The idea is that then Christ
            The attentive reader will, no doubt, be looking forward        would be  distributed  to the church so that not the whole
.    to this tracing out of Paul's great apology and polemic against       church would possess the whole Christ, but each could claim
     this cancerous evil in Christ's body,                                 a part. Then the unifying power and work of Christ in the
            This we now proceed to do.                                     church would be gone.
            At first glance at the verses 13-17 I thought that ,I could       2. It should also be noted that the tense employed in the
     call attention to all that Paul says here in these verses. How-       Greek is the perfect passive tense. Christ would then undergo
     ever, upon closer observation, and riper reflection I notice          such a division. Those who work schism would then affect
     that my space will be taken up if I only write on verse 13a,          Christ so as to divide Him. And then Christ would be in
     where we read, "(Is Christ divided ?,I                                this divided state up to the present moment. Whether in the
            This question is asked by Paul against the background          decree of God or while laboring on earth, or now in heaven,
     of the terrific sin of party-strife over the "personalites" of        he would be in a completed state of division. 0, horrible
     Paul, Apollos, Cephas and even Christ. This difference over           thought! Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and for-
     and striving about the persons of Paul, Apollos, is rooted in         ever in such a completed state of division arc to the present
     animosities, in not minding and willing and judging the same          moment!
     thing. And that sorry spectacle is seen amongst them who                 Such is the question of Paul.
     are very really saints in Christ, they are Christians, that is,          We do well to analyse its implications just a bit more.
     members of Christ, living members by faith, and thus par-               The question is not whether Christ makes a division
     takers of.His a,nointing  !                                           amongst men ; whether there is not a fundamental "schism"
           `i Only to such does this question of Paul have any relev-      between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
     ancy !                                                                Such, indeed, there is. Such is the "schism" of which the
            Only to such can and must this question have pedago-           Gospel of John repeatedly speaks.
     gical, corrective, reproving value only in these can this                In John 7 143 we read according to literal translation of
     question be such a heart-searching one, that we go out and            the Greek text: "Wherefore there became a s&ism amongst
     weep bitterly with Peter if we have been engaged in a con-            the people  beca.use  of  H,iwz."  This was the schism of the
     duct which is not  fitting to  Ch&tians.   Here the Davids            evaluation of faith and unbelief. Some said that Christ was
     sing, "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse             to be born out of Bethlehem and others said that. even
     me from my sin ; for I acknowledge my transgressions : and            though he was from Galilee, yet, he is truly' the  prophet
     my sin is ever before me." Ps. 51 :2, 3.                              which was to come. Here is the "schism" between those
            Paul's question, therefore, presupposes that the congre-       who receive him and those who don't. Such is the sword
     gation at Corinth has the anointing of the Holy one and               which Christ brings upon earth, being set for a fall and
     knows all things that pertain to godliness in this world.             rising again `of many in Israel, Luke 2  :34. Likewise John
            It is an appeal to the new man in them ; to the fact that      9:16,  lo:19 speak of the "schism" amongst the people  be-
     this church has the mind of Christ (den zin van Christus).            cause of Jesus.
     Just as a little child in its right mind, ere it can read, must          In the above passages there is the schism between those
     learn to properly associate such objects as the mother and            who are of Christ, given to Him of the Father and those
     the baby, the kitten and the ball, the little girl and the doll       who are not of Christ, as this historically becomes manifest
     etc., in its reading book, and thereby proves that it can             in faith and unbelief.
     put natural things with natural, thus also Paul presupposes              But that is. a far cry from sinful "schism" in the church
     in this question that the Corinthians, at bottom, can see the         of God.
     things which belong with Christ and those that differ. The               This latter is just as rediculous  and sinful as it would be
     simple, the babes see!                                                to divide Christ! If the latter is permissible and possible
            Much of what I hope to write to the address of those           then the party-strife has the sanction of the Most High. But,


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  53

if not, woe be to him who offends the little ones of Christ,        Him eternally over all creatures.", (Since  -He governs us by
walking after the flesh.                                            His Word and Spirit).
    What would a divided Christ be? How must we con-                   Now it seems to me that to keep the unity of the body
ceive of such a divided Christ so that its horribleness may         of Christ is really living according to the unity of Christ as
keep us sober or bring us to our senses 1                           expressed in this being anointed with Christ and partakers
    To form a conception of a divided Christ we must bear           of these threefold benefits. He who does not do that breaks
the following in mind in regard to  Christ.                         the  inner  ha~~~tzony  of Christ in His anointing as Head and
    1. The name Christ means anointed. He is the Anointed           as this anointing is ours as the body, living members !
of God. He is such as the Son of God in our human nature.              Such is the inner harmony of the law of the Spirit of life
He is the one who is. forordained of God the Father and             in Christ Jesus.
anointed with the Holy Ghost to be Prophet, Priest and                 Now it will also become evident what the thrust is of
King. That he is Christ, therefore, includes two elements,          Paul's question to the. Corinthians : is  Chist divided  ?
namely, that He is anointed and that He is qualified unto              Is it so that the gift of prophecy can be played out over-
certain tasks and duties assigned to Him by God.                    against that of the presentin,m of ourselves in our life a living
    2. Further, it should be noticed that this Christ is an-        sacrifice of thankfulness to God? Or, again, can we play out
ointed unto a theefold office. As the Heidelberg Catechism          the clear word of prophecy overagainst fighting against sin
puts it in Question and Answer 31:                                  and the devil with a good and free conscience. When this
    a. He is ordained and anointed "to be our chief Prophet         inner spiritual cancer gnaws at the vital of God's people, at
and Teacher, who has fully revealed to us the secret Council        the spiritual life of the church then the inner harmony is
and will of God."                                                   broken, and unless repented of in heartfelt sorrow, will surely
    b. "and to be our only High Priest, who by the one              break forth into factions, party-strife, evil and sinful schism,
sacrifice of His body has redeemed us, and makes continual          giving untold heartache to those in Zion who will to say with
intercession with the Father for us."                               Paul: for me to live is Christ, in the harmony of His three-
    C. "and also to be our eternal King, who governs us by          fold office and anointing, and to die is gain!
His Word and Spirit, and who defends and preserves us in               Often we are not too conscious of this sin of breaking
the enjoyment of that salvation which he had purchased for          the harmony of our life in Christ anointing!
us."                                                                   It is good to be called to spiritual sobriety.
    Now it seems to me that a divided Christ who is one, one           One cannot help but think of the brethren who so sin-
can claim a part of the office with neglecting the rest. This       fully wrought "schism" within our ecclesiastical life. I can-
is done practically when we, as clzristians,  play out the one      not help but ask when I see their life : is Christ divided ?
office of Christ against the other, or certain aspects of the          Does one in good conscience speak of the right of his
offices themselves against themselves.                              conscience, of the office of his priesthood where this does
        Is Christ divided means then: is there a  conflict  be-     not harmonize with the office of the prophet, the proclaiming
tween the prophetical, the priestly and the kingly in Christ's      and believing of the full counsel of God concerning our re-
office ?                                                            demption? In the Spirit of Christ such that it pits the priest
    When there is schism in the church, party-strife over           in us against the prophet.? Does the Spirit of Christ so anoint
preachers then the unity of the service of God, as this flows       us that in one Court we can  sware  that the Kingship of
from the unity of the Unction of the Holy One, is lacking.          Christ is not in Classical decisions, while in another Court we
This means a conflict between the parts which are in Christ         can swear before God's face that it does. Is Christ divided?
most harmoniously! The harmony in our life is rent. It              And if this were an isolated event, when one in a moment
is the harmony of the three parts of our one oficd to serve         of weakness became an "opportunist," one could understand
God.                                                                it. But it is symptomatic I
    What are these parts in our life as they flow from the             Is Christ divided in His offices in the believers ?
harmony in Christ's anointing as Head of the church upon               Paul didn't answer this question.
us as the living members? They are as given in the Heidel-             They who can put spiritual things with spiritual,. in the
berg Catechism as follows :                                         required sensitiveness of the saints, will give the correct an-
    1. "Because I am a member of Christ by faith, and thus          swer. And the rest will be treated with the rod of God!
am  parta.ker of  His anointing.                                                                                                  G.L.
    2. So that,
    a. "I may confess His Name" (The secret counsel and                                   Men's  League
will of God concerning our redemption).                                The Men's League meeting will be held in our Hudson-
    b. "Present myself a living sacrifice. of  thankfu1nes.s  to    ville Protestant Reformed Church on Thursday, Nov. 17, at
Him." (Since Christ has redeemed us by His blood).                  8 p. m. The Rev. H. C. Hoeksema will be our speaker. Men,
    c. "That with a free and good conscience I may fight            show your interest by being present.
against sin and Satan in this life, and afterwards reign with                                               Jac. Oomkes, Secretary.

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

                                                                   mentions the word in order to condemn its use! For it defi-
                 I N   HiS  F E A R                                nitely is acknowledging another god besides Jehovah. In
                                                                   answer  to the words of the Only True God Who says "Thou
                                                                   shalt have no other gods besides me" such speech about
              Speech  Thut Manifests Fear                          "luck" (and often even "Lady Luck") declares "But we do
                                                                   recognize that undefinable thing called `luck' which causes
                                (3)                                things to occur and which we -have to .pamper and worship
    "Bad luck !"                                                   in order to escape woes and obtain joys."
    "Good Luck  !"                                                     You who read these lines and utter this speech concern-
    "A lucky break !"                                              ing fate and luck bear in mind that it is no innocent little
    "Maybe next time my luck will be better  !"                    thing to speak in that manner. It is insulting the Living God !
    "But just as fate would  -have it, I suffered more tough       An artist who has spent many hours of painstaking effort
luck !"                                                            to produce his masterpieces would feel highly insulted and
    ~`You  were lucky, though."                                    be very righteously indignant to hear an art critic attribute
    Speech, all of this is speech which manifests a lack of the    his beautiful piece of work to some art student who here-
fear of the Lord. 0, it manifests fear  alright. But it mani-      tofore had produced nothing but crude pieces that reflected
fests fear of the idol "luck." Such speech manifests no fear       immature judgment. And He Who is  Gbd  ? The Omni-
of the Lord. One walking in His fear never gives expression        potent One ? The Almighty One  ? The Sovereign One ?
to the phrases and sentences above.                                Does He take it lightly and in the spirit of jest that men
                                                                   attribute what He has done to luck and fate ? Does He ever
    How often have not these expressions fallen off your lips      take anything Inca spirit of levity ? Nay, He is and has every
of late  ? How many times have you used the one or the             right to be a jealous God! And when you attribute HIS
other today ?                                                      wdrks to "lady luck" He is furious in His jealousy!  You-
    It is not a rare thing to hear those who claim to fear         take His name in vain and He is furious in His jealousy  ;
Him and advocate a walk in His fear let that word "luck"           but you name the creature as the cause and author of the
fall off their lips with the greatest of ease and use it with      works of the Creator and He is just as furious in His right-
great frequency.                                                   eous jealousy! He does not simply want to be God and
    But it is atheistic and therefore far from the fear of the     want  you to recognize Him as God. He IS God!
Lord.  It$rules  God and His providence entirely out  of. the         And fear before Him  ; reverence, awe and respect be-
picture. It attributes circumstances and events to some im-        fore Him as God manifests itself in speech that praises Him.
personal,  dif$cult-to-define  thing that is given the credit      Speech about luck and fate attribute His praises to the
or the blame  ; and it rules out all rime and reason, all          creature rather than to the Creator!
planning and decreeing to explain, things which God has               Because we  are. not spiritually minded we do not say,
performed.                                                         "God willed it thus." That is the language of the fear of
    These expressions go hand in hand with the superstition        the Lord! Instead of saying:` "I had so much bad luck
of the natural heart and mind. As Paul writes of the natural       yesterday," the language of His fear says: "It pleased God
man in'Romans  1: 25. "Who changed the truth of God into           to send many distresses and griefs yesterday." 0, it is not
a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than          easy to speak that way! But it is the speech that manifests
the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." In acts of             His fear. It reveals a man to be consciously before the face
superstition man attributes the works of God to the creature.      of the Majesty on high. It gives Him His rightful place
He puts his confidence in a thing he happened to be                in all that which transpires in our fleeting life. It shows
wearing, a thing he happened to be touching, a cre-                reverence before Him as the God of providence. It mani-
ature of this sort or that sort that was somewhere in              fests a firm faith in Him as a sovereign God Who does as it
the vicinity when the Creator wrought a work that either           pleases Him.
.pleased  him or brought him pain. He associates that pleas-          Instead of claiming to have been lucky today the language
ure or pain with the creature and serves and worships it           of His fear points to this sovereign God and declares that
rather than the Creator. He will not dare disassociate him-        it pleased Him to make my lot a pleasant one .today.  How
self from that creature; or else he will flee as far as he can     atheistic man is by nature! How hard it is to form these
from that creature: It all depends on whether he was near          words by our lips and how quickly that word "luck" slides
it when he enjoyed pleasure or tihen he suffered pain. The         off and reveals that God is not in all our thoughts !
Creator Who actually sent the pain thru a creature or re-             Or we go to visit someone who has suffered some tragic
alized the situation in which the pleasure was experienced         blow by the hand of this sovereign and all-wise God. And
is discounted and forgotten.                                       before we realize it we have said to him that it is too bad
   No different is it with all this "luck" business. It does       that this had to happen to him. Too bad ? Dare we criticize
not belong on the lips of the child of God except when he          the works of God and call them bad ? Can a man. stand in


                                            T H E   STANDAK'IXSNEAKER                                                             8.5

the fear of the Lord? can a man stand consciously before           For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall liv& and
Him in His majesty and tell Him to His face that He has            do this or that," James 4:13-15.                                    .s.
done something bad? He has made a mistake? Is that re-                 There you have Scripture itself telling us  what_  fhi
verence and respect? Is that standing in awe before Him?           language of His fear is : "ye ought to say, If the Lord will,
Is that the language of faith ?                                    we shall live and do this or that." No "luck" there! Scrip-
   Nay here is the language of His fear: ". . . by His hand,       tures knows no such thing except as an evil.
he upholds and governs heaven, earth and all creatures; so            And again we must beware. There are those whose
that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren        every speech is concluded with a "the Lord willing." For
years, meat and drink, health  and sickness, riches and pover-     them it is a habit and nothing more. God is not in all their
ty, yea, and all  things  come  not by chance; but by His          thoughts when they utter it. And to utter it thoughtlessly is
fatherly  @jzd." Italics ours, and have quoted from the            as evil as to fail to speak it. But that there is more room
Heidelberg Catechism, the answer to question twenty seven.         in all of our lives to utter this beautiful, God-glorifying
That worships the Creator rather than the creature. That           speech is self evident.
praises God and ascribes all things to Him. It is the speech          All too quickly we utter phrases  iYhich end with the
of one who stands in the fear of awe and reverence before          creature rather than with the Creator when we look to the
Him. It displays a genuine love to Him.                            future as well as when we look back at an event that has
   And shall we pray to our "Father Who art in heaven"             just occurred. We say "weather permitting." We announce
that His name be hallowed and that HE "give us this day            our plans `conditions permitting." How much more lofty
our daily bread" and "lead us not into temptation but deliver      and  God-cons'tiious  that Scriptural phrase: "The Lord wil-
us from evil" and then ascribe the bread we get to "luck"?         ling."
Are we then sincere in o&- prayer that His name be hallowed           It is rather amusing to a child of God also to  hear a
and that we be delivered from evil ? How inconsistent is our       radio announcer declare that "Due to conditions beyond our
life! How seldom we utter speech that manifests His fear!          control we are not able to bring you the program sched-
                                                                   uled for this time." And are some conditions in the hands
   Let us speak that language of the Heidelberg Catechism          of man ? A wire has become loose ; a tube has without warn-
just quoted ; and let us not be ashamed to do so before the        ing burned out; a tape recording that usually arrived in the
world. Let us continue with the same Heidelberg Catechism          morning's mail failed to make its appearances. Conditions
and declare  ". . . in all things that may hereafter befall us,    beyond man's control! And he will soon try to bring them
we place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father, that       under control. A mere speck of dust that is utterly  de-
nothing shall separate us from His love; since all. creatures      pendant upon God will now go and find that loose connec-
are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so           tion and fix it? He can do that? He can replace that tube
much as  tnove." In His hands they are and not subject to          and trace that recording ? If the Lord wills he shall. But
some whim or fancy of "luck" and "fate."                           his life is "even a vapour that appeareth for a little time
   Indeed, "in all things that may hereafter befall us, we         and then vanisheth away." His life may be burned out too
place our firm trust in our faithful God and Father." But          and vanish as a vapour.before  he ever reaches that burned-
let us speak that way also. Man always looks to the future ;       out tube.
and as a rational creature -he cannot help but look forward           But who thinks of those things ?
to the future. In fact, what an awful thing if the regenerated        He who walks in  His fear does. He, by the grace of
child of God could not look forward to the future glory            God, knows God and stands in reverence and awe before
promised him? Yea, as rational, thinking, forward-looking          Him. And he shows his respect for God in his speech. He
people we are saved atid sanctified. And for us it is wonder- .utters speech that manifest His fear.
ful to be able to look forward. The bed-ridden, believing            Do you?
saint who. has more than filled the allotted "four score years"                                                              J.A.H.
by reason of strength and now is full of woe and life becomes
a, burden surely with joy looks forward to what shall befall
him. And God graciously and wonderfully gives him to look                                     IN MEMORIAM
to the future, the future that knows no end and whose joys            We hereby wish to express our sympathy to Mrs.  Gee.  C.
never cease.                                                       Lubbers in the loss of her mother
   But James warns us of a looking into the future which                               MRS. GERTIE SCHUT
reveals its sinfulness by the speech that accompanies it. "Go      Is.  40:31,  "But they that wait for the Lord, shall renew their
to now," he says, "ye that say, today or tomorrow we will          strength."
go into such a city and continue there a year and buy and                             The Consistory and combined  Societies~of the
sell and get gain : whereas ye know not what shall be on                                Creston Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                                                 P.  Vanden   Engel, Vice President
the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour,                                          Joe King, Secretary
that appeareth for a little time, and then vanished away.


86                                         T H E   STANDAR D   B E A R E R

                                                                                      TI-IE LATIN PATRIARCH
           Contending For The Faith                                    These advantages of the patriarch of Rome over the
                                                                   patriarch of Constantinople are at the same time the leading
            The Church and the Sacraments                          causes of the rise of the papacy, which we must now more
                                                                   closely pursue.
      VIEWS DURING THE  SECOND  PERIOD  (300-750  A.D.)                The papacy is undeniably the result of a long process of
                                                                   history. Centuries were employed in building it, and cen-
                THE DOCTRINE OF THE  CHURCH                        turies have already been engaged upon its partial destruc-
                                                                   tion. Lust of honor and of power, and even open fraud,
                THE PAPACY  (by Philip  Schaff) .                  have contributed to its development; for-human nature lies
                                                                   hidden under episcopal robes, with its steadfast inclination
                          (Continued)                              to abuse the power entrusted to it; and the greater the
      Again, the very `remoteness of Rome from the  imperial       power, the stronger is the temptation, and the worse the
 court was favorable to the development of a hierarchy in-         abuse. But behind and above these human impulses lay the
 dependent of all political influence and intrigue; whi!e the      needs of the church and the plans of Providence, and these
bishop of Constantinople had to purchase the political ad-         are the proper basis  for.explaining the rise, as well as the
vantages of the residence at the cost of ecclesiastical free-      subsequently decay, of the papal dominion over the countries
 dom. The tradition of the donatio Constantini (a reported         and nations of Europe.
gift of Emperor Constantine in which he is .reputed to have            That Providence which moves the helm of the history
made vast land concessions, among other things, to the pope        of world and church according to an eternal plan, not only
at Rome- H.V.), though a  fabrication  (italics is of the          prepares in silence and in a secrecy unknown even to them-
undersigned) of the eighth century,  has thus much truth:          selves the suitable persons for a given work, but also lays
that the transfer of the imperial residence to the East broke      in the depths of the past the foundations of mighty institu-
the way for the temporal power and the political independ-         tions, that they may appear thoroughly furnished as soon as
ence of the papacy.                                                the time may demand them. Thus the origin and gradual
      Further, amidst the great trinitarian and christological     growth of the Latin patriarchate at Rome looked forward to
controversies of the Nicene atid post-Nicene age, the popes        the middle age,  and formed part of the necessary external
maintained the powerful prestige of almost undeviating             outfit of the church for her disciplinary mission among the
ecumenial orthodoxy and doctrinal stability ; while the see        heathen barbarians. The vigorous hordes who destroyed
of Constantinople, with its Grecian spirit of theological          the West-Roman empire  were to be themselves built upon
restlessness and disputation, was sullied with the Arian, the      the ruins  of the old civilization, to Christianity and freedom,
Nestorian, the Monophysite, and other heresies, and was in         till, having come of age, they should need the legal school-
general, even in matters of faith, dependent on the changing       master no longer, and should cast away his cords from them,
hunlors  of the court. Hence even contending parties in the        The Catholic hierarchy, with its pyramid-like culmination
East were accustomed to seek counsel and protedtion from           in the papacy, served among the  Romanic  and Germanic
the Roman chair, and often times gave that see the coveted         peoples, until the time of the Reformation, a purpose similar
opportunity to put the weight of its decision into the scale.      to that of the Jewish theocracy and the old Roman empire
This occasional practice then formed a welcome basis for a         respectively in the inward and outward preparation for
theory of jurisdiction. The  Rowa Iocuta est  assumed the          Christianity. The full exhibition of this pedagogic purpose
character of a supreme and final judgment. Rome learned            belongs to the history of the middle age  ; but the founda-
much and forgot nothing. She knew how to turn every cir-           tion for it we find already being laid in the period before us.
cumstance, with consummate administrative tact, to her own            The Roman bishop claims, that the four dignities of
advantage.                                                         bishop, metropolitan, patriarch, and pope or primate of the
      Finally, though the Greek church, down to the  fpurth        whole church, are united in himself. The first three offices
ecumenical council, was unquestionably the main theatre of         must be granted him in all historical justice  ; the last is
church history and the chief seat of theological learning, yet,    denied him by the Greek church, and by the Evangelical,
according to the universal. law of history, "Westward the          and by all ron-Catholic sects.
star of empire takes its way," the Latin church, and con-             His bishopric is the city of Rome, with its cathedral
sequently the Roman patriarchate, already had the future           church of St. John  Lateran,  which bears over its main en-
to' itself. While the Eastern patriarchates were facilitating      trance the inscription:  O?+&ztuM   urbis et  orbis  ecclesiarwvt
`by internal quarrels and disorder the conquests of the false      mater et cap&; thus remarkably outranking e&n the church
prophet, Rome was boldly and victoriously striking west-           of St. Peter-as if Peter after all were not the first and high-
ward, and winning the barbarian tribes of Europe to the re-        est apostle; and had to yield at last to the superiority of John,
ligion of the cross.                                               the representative of the ideal church of the future.  Tradi-


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               57

tion says that the emperor Constantine erected this basilica         themselves closely to a common centre, and to secure the
by the side of the old Lateran  palace, which had come down          powerful,protection  of a central authority. This centre they
from heathen times, and gave the palace to Pope Sylvester;           could not but find in the primitive apostolic church of the
and it remained the residence of the popes and the place of          metropolis of the world. The Roman bishops were consulted
assembly for their councils (the  Lateran  councils) till after      in almost all important questions of doctrine or of discipline.
the exile of Avignon, when they took up their abode in the           After the end of the fourth century they issued to the
Vatican beside the ancient church of St. Peter.                      Western bishops in reply, pastoral epistles and decretal let-
    As metropolitan or archbishop, the bishop of Rome had            ters, in which they decided the question at first in the tone
immediate jurisdiction over the seven suffragan bishops, af-         of paternal counsel, then in. the tone of apostolic authority,
terward called cardinal bishops, of the vicinity : Ostia, Portus,    making that which had hitherto been left to free opinion, a
Silva candida,  Sabina, Praeneste, Tusculum, and Albanum.            fixed statute. The first extant decretal is the Epistola of
    As patriarch, he rightfully stood on equal footing with          Pope Siricius to the Spanish bishop Himerius, A.D. 385,
the four patriarchs of the East, but had a much larger dis-          which contains, characteristically, a legal enforcement of
trict and the primacy of honor. The name is here of no ac-           priestly celibacy, thus of an evidently unapostolic institution;       '
count, since the fact stands fast. The Roman bishops called          but in this Siricius appeals to "generalia decreta," which his
themselves not patriarchs, but popes, that they might rise           predecessor Liberius had already issued. In like manner the
the sooner above their colleagues ; for the one name denotes         Roman bishops repeatedly caused the assembling of general
oligarchical power, the other monarchical. But in the Eastern        or patriarchal councils of the West, like the synod of Arles
church and among modern Catholic historians, the designation         in 314. After the sixth and seventh centuries they also con-
is also quite currently applied to Rome.                             -ferred  the  palium on the archbishops of  Salona, Ravenna,
    The Roman patriarchal circuit primarily embraced the             Messina, Syracuse, Palermo, Arles,  Autun,  Sevilla,  Nico-
ten suburban provinces, as they were called, which were un-          polis (in Epirus), Canterbury, and other metropolitans, in
der the political jurisdiction of the `Roman deputy, the             token of their superior jurisdiction.
Vicarius  Urbis; including the greater part of Central Italy,
all Upper Italy, and the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and             CONFLICTS AND CONQUEST OF THE LATIN PATRIARCHATE
Corsica. In its wider sense, however, it extended gradually              But this patriarchal power was not from the beginning
over the entire west of the Roman empire, thus covering              and to a uniform extent acknowledged in the entire West.
.Italy, Gaul, Spain, Illyria, southeastern Britannia, and north-     Not until the latter part of the sixth century did it reach
western Africa.                                                      the height we have above described. It was not a divine
    The bishop of Rome was from the beginning the only               institution, unchangeably fixed from the beginning for all
Latin Patriarch, in the official sense of the word. He stood         times, like a Biblical article of faith ; but, the result of a long
thus alone, in the first place, for the ecclesiastical reason,       process of history, a human ecclesiastical institution under
that Rome was the only sedes apostolica in the West, while           providential direction. In proof of which we have the fol-
in the Greek church three partriachates and several other            lowing incontestable facts :
episcopal sees, such as Ephesus, Thessalonica, and Corinth,              In the first place, even in Italy, several metropolitans
shared the honor of apostolic foundation. Then again, he             maintained, down to the close of our period, their own
stood politically alone, since Rome was the Metropolis of the        supreme headship, independent of Roman and all other juris-
West, while in the East there were three capitals of the              diction. The archbishops of Milan, who traced their church
empire, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch. Hence,              to the apostle Barnabas, came into no contact with the pope
Augustine, writing from the religious point of view, once            till the latter part of the sixth century, and were ordained
calls Pope Innocent I the "ruler of the Western church  ;"            without him or his pallium. Gregory I, in 593, during the
and the emperor Justinian, on the ground of political dis-            ravages of the Longobards, was the first who endeavored to
tribution, in his 109th Novelle, where' he speaks of the ec-          exercise patriarchal right there: he reinstated an  excom-
clesiastical division of the whole world, mentions only five          municated presbyter, who had appealed to him. The metro-
known patriarchates, and therefore only one patriarchate of           politans of Aquileia, who derived their church from the
the West. The decrees of the ecumenical councils, also,               evangelist Mark, and whose city was elevated by Constantine
know no other Western patriarchate than the Roman, and                the Great to be the capital of Venetia and Istria, vied with
this was the sole medium through which the Eastern church             Milan, and even with Rome, calling themselves "patriarchs,"
corresponded with the Western. In the great theological               and refusing submission to the papal jurisdiction even under
controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries the Roman             Gregory the Great. The bishop of Ravenna likewise, after
bishop appears uniformly as -the representative and the or-           408, when the emperor Honorius selected that city for his
gan of all Latin Christendom.                                         residence, became a powerful metropolitan, with jurisdiction
    It was, moreover, the highest interest of all orthodox            over fourteen bishoprics. Nevertheless, he received the pal-
churches in the West, amidst the political confusion and in           lium from Gregory the Great, and examples occur of ordina-
conflict with the Arian Goths, Vandals, and Suevi, to bind            tion by the Roman bishop.                                    H.V.


SS                                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.PER
                                                   -
                                                                               of divine justice and mercy as revealed in the death of
11 The Voice of  Qur Fathers                                                II Christ and the redemption of men by that death.
                                                                                   The general thrust of the article is quite clear without
                                                                               any further elaboration  ; we may, however, make a few
                  The Canons of Dordrecht                                      observations concerning the various elements of this para-
                                  PARTTWO                                      graph.
                                                                                   In the first place, we may notice that the article simply
                    EXFOSITI~N   OF THE CANONS                                 assumes the inability of men to make satisfaction, without
                    SECOND  HEAD OF DOCTRINE                                   at this point producing any reasons for this assumption. We
                    OF  D                                                      may explain this undoubtedly from the fact that the Arminian
                             I V I N E  P R E D E S T I N A T I O N            did not directly challenge this inability to make satisfaction,
Of the Death `of Christ, a.nd the Redemption of Men Thereby                    but denied the necessity of satisfaction as such. At the same
                                                                               time, it is not amiss to remind ourselves of the various reasons
               Article 2. Since therefore we are unable to make that
               satisfaction in our own persons, or to deliver ourselves        why we could not possibly make satisfaction. They are as
               from the wrath of God, he hath been pleased in his              follows: 1) We constantly owe our all to God, and there-
      .   .    infinite mercy  to give his only begotten Son, for our          fore would never be able to pay any back debt to Him, once
               surety, who was made sin, and became a curse for                we have fallen behind in our obligation to love Him. On the
               us and in our, stead, that he might make satisfaction           contrary, however, we daily increase our guilt. 2) We are
               to divine justice' on  o'ur behalf.                             dead in trespasses and sin, and therefore, cannot, will not,
        The above translation, though in general correct, is a bit             and cannot will to love God and in the love of Him bring a
wordy and not as accurate as desirable. We would prefer                        sacrifice pleasing to Him. But this is exactly the nature
the following- translation, which conforms. more closely to                    of satisfaction. It is an act of loving obedience whereby one
the original Latin and agrees with the Dutch rendering:                        is willing to be a sacrifice for sin upon the altar of -divine
"Since indeed we ourselves are not able to make satisfac-                      justice. 3 j  We could never bear the infinite wrath of God
tion, and to deiiver ourselves from the wrath of God, God                      and live. But satisfaction requires exactly this, because the
out of boundless mercy gave his only begotten Son a Surety                     justice of God requires that sin which is committed against
for us, who, in order that he might make satisfaction in our                   His infinite majesty should be punished, not only with
behalf, was made sin and a curse on the cross in our behalf,                   temporal, but with eternal punishment. With regard to that
or in our stead." A comparison with the accepted translation                   eternal punishment we would never be able to say, as Christ
of our "Psalter" will reveal the variations; but we call at-                   did: "It is finished."
tention chiefly to  the fact that in the original there is no                      In the second place, we may observe that the fathers do
reference to God's good pleasure, `as the accepted version                     not at all deny the supreme mercy of God, no more than they
would seem to indicate by the words, "he hath been pleas-                      would deny the supreme justice of God. They clearly teach
ed . . ." We call attention to this not only in the interest of                here that the giving of His only begotten Son is the revela-
accuracy, but also because the viewpoint of this article is                    tion of God's boundless mercy. That mercy here appears
strictly historical, and not the viewpoint of God's counsel,                   boundless, or immeasurable, especially against the background
or good pleasure. That this last is true is plain from the                     of our inability. God Himself did what we were totally un-
opening clause, "Since indeed we ourselves are not able. to                    able to do: He provided- the satisfaction of His own justice.
make satisfaction, and to deliver ourselves from the wrath                     And boundless His mercy appears here too, because He did
of God . . ." That is the historical and immediate reason why                  this though we were not in the least worthy that He should
God sent His Son to be our Surety, not the reason of His                       do anything at all in our behalf. But we may note further
counsel  and good pleasure. And therefore- this historical                     in this connection that the fathers clearly teach the proper
viewpoint must be maintained throughout the article.                           relation of God's mercy and the gift of His only begotten
        Having established the basic unity of divine justice and               Son to be our Surety, even as -they have before. Cf. Canons
mercy, and thereupon the necessity of satisfaction of divine                   I, A. 2. That relation is not that God is merciful because
justice as the only way to escape both the temporal .and the                   Christ Jesus died for us, but that Christ Jesus, His Son
eternal visitation of the divine wrath, the fathers now estab-                 in the flesh, died for us because God is merciful. The gift
lish in Article 2 : 1) Our own inability to make satisfaction                  of His only begotten Son is the revelation of God's mercy,
and to free ourselves from the wrath of God. 2) God's                          therefore.
boundless mercy, revealed in the sending of His only begot-                       In the third place, we may note that the article teaches
ten Son as our Surety. 3) The truth that as our Surety He                      that the only begotten Son of God was able to make and
atoned vicariously, that is, made satisfaction in our place, as                actually did make satisfaction for our sins, and thus is our
our substitute, by being made sin and a curse for us on the                    "Surety." Even the very idea of a "surety" already implies
cross. Hence, we may say that the purpose of this second                       the notion of substitution. The Latin term here is  sponsor,
article is to demonstrate and to maintain the perfect harmony                  which means "surety, bail, guarantee." If one goes "bail"


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              89
-    -
for another, then he assumes responsibillity  for the other to     Son of God  in the  flesh (real man), He could suffer that
the extent of his own life. Thus God's only begotten Son           punishment in His human nature which He could not pos-
was given by Him as our Surety, that is, not God's surety          sibly have suffered in His divine nature, and could take our
to us, but the surety for us before the bar of God's justice.      place. 3) Being as the Son of God wholly without sin and
God, the only Judge of heaven and earth, also provided the         without guilt of His own, He could be perfectly obedient
Surety for  LIR  before the bar of His own justice. That           and offer Himself in the love of God for the sins of His
Surety was His only begotten Son in the flesh, so that God         people. 4)  Bein,u ordained from eternity the Head of His
Himself became our Surety. As our Surety, the only be-             people, HE could represent them before the bar of God's
gotten Son stood before the bar of divine justice in our           justice, assume their guilt, and die vicariously.
place, became our substitute, to answer for our crimes, for           Such, then, is the Reformed view of the death of Christ.
which we could not answer, and to assume all the responsi-         In it the  bcundless  mercy of God is indeed revealed. The
bility for those crimes, `even to the extent of His own life.      charge that the God of the Reformed faith is a terrible tyrant
Hence, He indeed was given in  oats beka,Jf. However, even         and an unmerciful despot could not be farther from the
the Arminian would admit that Christ was given in our be-          truth. In fact. in the real sense of the word that charge must
half, for our advantage. This must be more narrowly de-            be brought against those who maintain the governmental
fined: He was given  in  ozw stead,  to take our place, to be      theory of the atonement. For in that view there is neither
our substitute. Atonement is vicwio~z~s satisfaction. Such is      mercy nor justice in any real sense. But the very fact that
the character of the "death of Christ, and the redemption of       the revelation of God's mercy. takes place in the way of
men thereby." In the expression that Christ "was made sin          strictest divine justice, and not at the expense of justice,
and curse on the cross in our behalf, or in our stead" we          establishes that mercy as sure and unchangeable. Because
have a reference to two passages of Scripture which plainly        the justice of God with respect  to' our sins is completely
prove this doctrine of vicarious atonement, namely, II Cor.        satisfied once and for all, it can never be that the mercy
5  21 and Galations 3  :13. In the former passage we read:         of God fails to reach us and that the Almighty after all
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin ;          holds our sins against us. "0 the blessedness of the man
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."            unto whom Jehovah doth not impute iniquity  !" He has
And this stands in connection with the idea of reconciliaton       tasted the mercy of the Lord indeed !
in the immediate context: "To wit, that God was in Christ,                                                               H.C.H.
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their tres-
passes unto them; and hat11  committed unto us the word of
reconciliation." vs. 19. And the text in Galatians reads as
follows : "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every                      SUNRISE IN MY SOUL
one that hangeth on a tree." These are but two of many
passages of Holy Writ which speak of the idea of vicarious                   In doubt and darkness long I wandered,
atonement,  - -the doctrine which the Arminian could not                     My will beyond control,
maintain because he would not speak of limited atonement.                    `Till Jesus came and brought the glory
And to be sure, the expression that Christ was made sin for                   Of the sunrise in my soul!
us must not be understood in an ethical way. Ethically
Christ was perfectly righteous and holy; and it was impos-                   The clouds were rifted in a moment;
sible for Him to sin and to fall from righteousness. But
judicially He stood at the head of His sinful people. He                     I saw them backward roll.
was responsible for them. And in that position God treated                   And oh, the beauty of the morning!
Him as if He were the sinner of sinners, loaded all the guilt                 It was sunrise in my soul!
of our sins upon Him, so that He  "was made a curse for
us," and caused Him to bear our punishment. Thus He was                       He satisfied my longing spirit;
indeed our Surety, taking our place in God's justice, and                     He sweetly made me whole.
doing that which we could not, would not, and could not will                 And all the day my heart is singing:
to do.                                                                        `Tis sunrise in my soul!
     Also in this connection the Cn.aons  do not enter into the
reasons why God's only begotten Son in the flesh was able                     When earthly toil and care are ended,
to make the satisfaction which we were unable to make. We
are all acquainted with those reasons as they are stated or                   And I have reached the goal,
implied in our Heidelberg Catechism : 1) Being the Son of                     I know that morning will forever
God, He was able to bear the punishment of sin and endure                     Be sunrise in my soul.
it to the very end. He could bear it and live. 2) Being the                                                 Anon.


90                                          .THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

II                                                                   false named religion; here proud, there superstitious, every-
             DECENCY and ORDER                                  il where vain " And again: "Upon how grievous iniquities
                                                                     consumed I myself, pursuing a sacrilegious curiosity, that
                                                                     having forsaken Thee, it might bring me to the treacherous
                   The Election of Elders                            abyss, and the beguiling service of devils, to whom I sacri-
                      Article 22 Continued +                         ficed by evil actions, and in all these things thou didst
                                                                     scourge me !" Yet, in spite of all this, Augustine, after his
      There are still many other requirements for the office         conversion, became a noted church father who occupied the
 of elder. Before discussing these we will digress a moment          high office well. We would not declare him disqualified on
 to comment upon a question which arose in connection with           the basis of this miserable past. Nor does this imply justifica-
 our former writing. The queston  is : "Is it proper to consider     tion of the things he did. Augustine, too, condemns them
 one a candidate for the office who has been guilty of some          and humbly thanks God for forgiveness and deliverance from
 public, gross sin for which he has repented and made con-           them.
 fession ?" The elder must be blameless and have a good                  It might, perhaps, be objected that Augustine did these
 report of them that are without. Now it cannot be denied            things in his ignorant, unconverted state and that the matter
 that the committal of such sins, even though they are con-          is different with one who knowingly and wilfully commits
 fessed, leaves a mark upon the guilty one in the eyes of the        gross sin. .T.t is readily acknowledged that the two are not
 community that is oft times never erased. If it is an offense       synonomous  but, nevertheless, also in the case of the latter,
 that is punishable by the civil authorities, a public record        a moment of weakness cannot forever disqualify for the
 of such misconduct is even kept. Sin is always a blemish,           service of God and His church if only sincere repentance is
 an indelible stain. When one becomes perpetrator of public          evident and forgiveness of the sin committed obtained. It
 wrong it is impossible to escape its stigma. From this view-        may be added that the really penitent sinner is better quali-
 point it could not be said that such a person is of good            fied to serve God than the self-righteous Pharisee.
 repute and, therefore, eligible for the office.                         But let us now. return to the qualifications of elders.
      On the other hand, however, in the church of Jesus
 Christ, sin confessed is sin forgiven. And sin forgiven is sin                     c .   Peda.gogicnl   Reqzh-ements
 obliterated and may, therefore, no more be used against the             An elder must be "apt to teach." In Titus 1 :9 this requi-
 person who has fallen and by the grace of God been restored.        site is more specifically defined. "Holding fast the faithful
 It is ethically wrong to hold charges against a person for          word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound
 which confession has been made and forgiveness obtained. -doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers."
 From this viewpoint it would appear that the position that          This means that the elder must not only have the ability to
 declares such a person forever ineligible for the office is un-     instruct others but he must certainly be well-founded in the
 tenable. We think now of the apostle Peter who denied the           truth and particularly  in the doctrine of the church he serves.
 Lord with vehement cursing. Surely a great and terrible sin         He must know how to handle the doctrine in instructing the
 this was. Yet, after the resurrection, the Lord restored him        catechumens, in building up the faith of the church and in
 to his office.                                                      refuting heretics.  `Only then will he also be able to fulfill
      Hence, mv personal conclusion and answer to the above          the duty of the office described in the following excerpts from
 question would be as follows: (1) Where there are other             the Form of Ordination: "It is also the duty particularly to'
 capable and well qualified men in the congregation, these           have regard unto the doctrine and conversation of the min-
 should be given first consideration; (2) Where such a per-          isters of the Word, to the end that all things may be directed
 son as mentioned in the above question is considered, a suf-        to the edification of the Church  ; and that no strange doctrine
 ficient period of time must have elapsed so that it may be          be taught, according to that which we read, Acts 20, where
 shown beyond question that the confession of the sin is             the apostle exhorteth to watch diligently against the wolves,
 sincere and valid  ; (3) Where this is the case and such a          which might come into the sheepfold of Christ; for the per-
 person possesses the other necessary qualifications, showing        formance of which the elders are in duty bound diligently to
 himself blameless in his present walk and life, he could not        search the Word of God, and continually be meditating on
 be refused. An evil that occurred in the remote past, and           the mysteries of faith."
that was properly remedied according to Scripture, could                It is certainly a bad sign when common members of the
not be used for the present basis of disqualification.               church, for no legitimate reason, absent themselves from the
      To  further sustain this position, we cite the example of      study of the Word of God in the societies organized for this
 St. Augustine. In his "Confessions" he writes concerning            purpose but it is a matter of-more serious concern still when
himself as follows : "For this space of nine years then (from        elders neglect these opportunities and privileges to be more
my nineteenth year to my eight and twentieth.) we lived              firmly founded in the truth and to use their gifts for the
seduced and seducing, deceived and deceiving, in diverse lusts  ;    profit of others. In the societies they have an excellent oppor-
 openly, by sciences which they call liberal ; secretly, with a      tunity to use their abilities of teaching for the instruction of

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

other members. Let them not neglect this solemn duty lest            "striker." A striker is a passionate person who is inclined to
they disqualify themselves. As Ellicott states, "Apt to teach        come to blows at once over the least thing. He is one of hot
means not only able to teach but ready to teach and skilled          temperament, the very opposite of being gentle and meek.
in teaching." An elder must be diligent to utilize every op-         In our day the term is used most generally to designate those
portunity to build up the church in the faith and the true           who use force and violence to strike at their lawful employer
knowledge of God.                                                    who refuses to grant them whatever they may. demand. It is
    Likewise able teachers are not novices in the faith. A           difficult to understand how persons affiliated with worldly
novice is one who is recently converted to the faith. Such           and unprincipled labor organizations and, therefore, co-re-
should not be installed in the office of elder. He has need          sponsible for all their evil deeds, are permitted to occupy the
first of a period of seasoning and growth in the faith before        elder's seat in many Reformed circles today. Scripture says
he is able to instruct and build up others. Many churches            that the elder must be "no striker !"
have an ordinance that stipulates the requirement that a               Finally, it must be understood what is meant by the state-
person must have been a member of the church (denomina-              ment that an elder must have "good report of them that are
tionally) for a certain period of time and a member of the           without." This is difficult because it appears unlikely that
local church for a lesser period of time before he can be con-       those who are without should give a good testimony of the
sidered for the office. This is proper. One may be a person          man of God. Christ, Himself, tells us that "they will speak
of excellent ability but this never precludes the necessity of       all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake." How
allowing sufficient time for such a person to become well-           then can one who is faithful to God expect a good report of
founded in the doctrines of the faith. Moreover, the text also       them that are without? Isn't it inevitable that the report of
warns that the novice, hastily ushered into the office of the        evil speakers will be evil ?
elder, is very really confronted with the danger of being               Calvin solves this difficulty when he writes : "this ap-
lifted up with pride and thus falling into the condemnation          pears to be very difficult, that a religious man should have,
of the devil himself. Calvin aptly states. with regard to this :     as witnesses of his integrity, infidels themselves, who are
"There being many men of distinguished ability and learning          furiously mad to tell lies against me. But the apostle means,
who at that time were brought to the' faith, Paul forbids that       that, so far as relates to external behaviour, even unbelievers
 such persons shall be admitted to the office of a bishop, as        themselves shall be constrained to acknowledge him to be a
soon as they have made, profession of Christianity. And he           good man ; for, although they groundlessly slander all of the
shows how great would be the danger ; for it. is evident that        children  -of God; yet they cannot pronounce him to be a
they are commonly vain, and full of ostentation, and in con-         wicked man, who leads a good and inoffensive life amongst
sequence of this, haughtiness and ambition will drive them           them."
headlong. What Paul says, we experience  ; for `novices'                                      e. Conclusion
have not only impetuous fervour and bold daring, but are                We have emphasized all of these requirements to point
 also puffed up with foolish confidence, as if they could fly        out the exalted character of the office which Christ has in-
beyond the clouds. Consequently, it is not without reason            stituted in His Church. That there are none who of them-
that they are excluded from the honour of a bishopric, till,         selves meet such requirements may be readily admitted.
 in process of time, their proud temper shall be subdued."           Our sufficiency is alone of God. It is alone by His grace
                 d. Requirements of  C&duct                          that men are equipped and qualified to serve. By the same
   In the passages of Scripture we have- under consideration         grace they stand and labor in their office. Indeed, then, it
 there are several things mentioned which might be classified        is a blessed and thankworthy privilege to be' considered
 under this general heading. The texts state that an elder           worthy to serve Him in the office.of elder. All praise be to
 must be of "good behaviour, sober, not given to wine, no            Him.. !
 striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, lover of good things, etc."                                                   G.  Vanden Berg
 It is not necessary to comment on each of these separately
 as their meaning is rather self-evident. In a word, an office                               AS TO BOOKS
 bearer in the church must be a man of good deportment. It
 might not be superfluous, however, to point out that many                               (Coxhhed  from page 77)
 of the qualifications listed here are inter-related. For exam-      series. It is, however, impossible to give you a comprehensive
 ple when one is given. to too much wine, which means exces-         report on its contents within the narrow scope of this public
 sive use and even intoxication, it follows that such a person       announcement. Buy the book and read it, and it will strike
 will not be sober-minded and, further, he will invariably           you again how our brother Hoeksema has received `the
 be led to such vices as "striker, contention, covetousness          priceless gift to write plainly regarding the deepest and most
 and avarice." This is unavoidable. Sin works like a chain           profound truths of Holy Scripture. This book is not only
 reaction. The elder must not be one who is caught in that           for ministers. It is very readable, as are the other 8 volumes.
 chain.                                                              And there should not be a Protestant Reformed home with-
    It is also interesting to note the meaning of the term           out this wonderful series on the Heidelberger.             G.V.

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

                                                                     place all the life and activity of the church comes to a stand-
II             ALL  AROUJVD US                                       still. Churches should be so trained that they can and will
I'                                                                   conduct their church life just as well when they have no
                                                                     minister as when they have one. For this reason I believe
"l~ucant"  C?w-ches?                                                 it is wrong that the minister must be the president of every.
      The Rev. Harold Petroelje, in the "Reformed Journal"           society and a member of every committee as some seem to
of October, 1955, answers the question: What are "Vacant?' think he should be. I realize, `of course, that in smaller con-
Churches ? He does not answer the question so much as to             gregations a minister may want to be busy, and generally,
condemn the expression. Correctly, I think, he calls attention       unless he is lazy, he will aspire to leadership in all the church
to the fact that the expression is really a misnomer as it is        activities. But a minister who does all the work that  ,can
used by the majority.                                                be delegated to others, simply leaves a crippled congregation
      Strictly speaking, so he tells us, a `"vacant" church is       when he transfers to another.. I am told that in the Re-
like a vacant lot or a vacant house. It means that a certain         formed Churches of the Netherlands ministers generally do
building that had been used for church services has been             not even attend society meetings except on invitation to
abandoned. It is no longer in use. And as it stands there it         speak. There is something good in this. A minister, in a
is not only a picture of forlornness, but also may be in the         Men's Society, for instance, that always waits for the min-
process of deterioration. That is what the term `Vacant"             ister to explain the passage under consideration, may be
church literally means. But that is not what most people             detrimental to the development of that society. He may be
mean when they speak of "vacant" churches. Nor is that               the cause also that those members who would like to offer
what the Year Book means when it speaks of such churches.            their explanation may remain silent. This is still more true
They mean that these are churches without a pastor: They             in the ladies' or young people's societies. There often the
mean that the parsonage is empty and that they are waiting           minister preaches a little sermon, the members patiently
for a minister to move into it. And because those who use            waiting until he finishes and it is time to adjourn. Instead
this expression do not mean what they say, the Reverend              of training the members to become leaders, the presence of
insists that they should cease using the term. In reality a          the minister often discourages this. Surely, if there is a
church without a minister, all things being what they ought          doctrinal dispute, or it is a question of exegesis, should
to be, is not vacant. All things continue on schedule as             necessity require it, the minister could be asked for his advice.
though the church had a regular pastor of-its own. The serv-         The Holy Spirit has made all to be prophets and with this
ices are conducted each Sunday by a lay-elder or a visiting          unction of the Holy One let the members, each in his own
minister or student; catechism and Sunday School are con-            place, function and bring to manifestation the life of the
ducted regularly  ; the societies meet at their regular time         body of Christ. Indeed, the church that is really church is
and place  ; the sick are visited and Christian discipline is        never vacant.
exercised, etc. In a word, the life of the church is not
brought to a stand-still because no pastor for this church is
available, but all things continue decently and in order.            Van  Weelden Recants.
True, writes Rev. Petroelje, this church may be able to con-            Most of our readers by this time have heard that the
duct her affairs a little more smoothly and efficiently if she       former pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Sioux
had a minister of her own, but he can also conceive of a             Center, Iowa, has departed to the Christian Reformed
situation where a church could better get along without a            Churches. Not only so, but he has evidently taken the
pastor if he is of a troublesome kind. Such a church breathes        greater portion of his church along with him. First the Rev.
a sigh of relief when such a pastor takes his leave. At any          Van Weelden broke with the P. R. Churches when he be-
rate, a church without a pastor is never "vacant," and we            came schismatic with his schismatic  Classis.  But it didn't
should no longer say that she is.                                    take long after his departure from us that he also left his
      I was thinking when I read his article -that Rev. Petroelje    schismatic brethren, with whom he evidently saw no future,
certainly touched on an important truth. Certainly the office        to worm his way back into the Christian Reformed Churches
of the ministry is not to be minimized, nor is it to be so de-       from which he must have separated with his parents when
preciated that the minister becomes some kind of an effi-            still a youngster.
ciency man the church hires to make it prosperous, or a                 I said at the beginning of this article: Van Weelden
door mat upon whom the people can wipe off their feet and            Recants. Strictly speaking, this is incorrect. My dictionary
when it becomes decrepit can lightly throw it on the ash             tells me that "recant" means to withdraw formally one's be-
heap. I fear sometimes that churches look on the office of           lief in something previously believed or maintained ; to dis-
the ministry and on the minister just that way. This is an           avow an opinion or belief previously held. But this can
evil thing.                                                          hardly be applied to Van Weelden. I am convinced that
      On the other hand, I believe it is definitely wrong to         while he was with our churches he never had Protestant
expect so much of a minister that when he moves to another           Reformed convictions. If he did, he could never leave them.


                           *
         .     *                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 93 .

  Ergo, when Van Weelden goes to the Christian Reformed              time it had to be cautious and wise. The exact decision
  Churches he does not withdraw his belief in something pre-         taken by Classis  on this matter was reported in The Banner
  viously believed.                                                  of October 7, 1955. In the disposition of this matter Classis
    However it is not so simple to leave one church and enter        is greatly indebted to the wise counselling  of the synodical
  another, especially if the other is the least bit careful whom     examiners of its sister Classes." So far the report.
  they receive. The Christian Reformed Church also demanded              So Van Weelden "gave a good account of himself." That
  of Van Weelden that he disavow all relationship to the P. R.       is probably more than could be said about him so long as he
  Churches, and declare that he has erred  grieviously in his        was a member of our churches. That he had a weakness "in
  former condemnation of the doctrines of the Christian Re-          philosophical background," -must mean that Van Weelden
  formed Churches. Here I think the  Chr. Ref. Churches              did not learn much philosophy .when  he was with us. Well, '
  could afford to be a bit more lenient than they were. They         what is that anyway ? That is something I didn't learn in the
  never heard Van Weelden say anything bad about their               P. R. seminary either, and I'm happy I didn't, if the philoso-
  churches or their doctrine. No one ever did publicly. Fact is      phy is the Christian Reformed type. My conviction is that
  he has been hobnobbing with ministers of that church for           it'were better if all their ministers were a little weak in phil-
  some time. And while he was still with us I do not recall          osophical background. Then maybe they would be able to
  ever hearing anything publicly said by him that seriously          understand Scripture a little better, and the Confessions with-
  condemned the doctrine of the Christian Reformed Churches.         out philosophical interpretations.
     Yet it is difficult for some to understand how Van Weel-          What will become of Van Weelden now? That is a ques-
  den ever came to our seminary and later promised faithfully        tion which the Synod of the Chr. Ref. Churches will have
  to preach Protestant Reformed doctrine, and then so easily         to answer. It may be when that assembly has to consider
  could disavow it. The only explanation it seems to me is           this question, it will not answer as favorably for Van Weel-
  that he never at heart believed our doctrine. Van Weelden's        den as Classis  Sioux Center did.
  sin is therefore that he either lied to us, or he is lying now         What about the congregation of  .Sioux Center Van
  to the Chr. Ref. Churches. No doubt the former is the case.        Weelden abandoned to the Christian Reformed Churches ?
     The Banner and De Wachter have given notice to the              All execpt one family in this church left our churches in the
  Chr. Ref. Churches of his acceptance by them. In the most          recent schism. If they could support the schismatic action
  recent issue of The Banner (-November 4, 1955) appears             of `Classis West" and the doctrine that action supported, it
  a report of  Classis  Sioux Center relative to his case. The       is not difficult to understand how Van Weelden had little
  Stated Clerk of that Classis  reports as follows:                  trouble to convince these people to return to the Christian
    "The most important task of the  Classis  was the consid-        Reformed Churches. Will the Christian Reformed Churches
  eration of the request of Rev. J.-Van Weelden, a former            also make them disavow all the evil things they. have said
  Protestant Reformed minister of Sioux Center, to be exam-          concerning these churches since they left them ? Pity on
 ined and admitted to the ministry of our Church under Art-          those poor souls, for they will have to take a lot back. Espe-
 icle 9 of the Church Order. After due consideration of the          cially two or three whom I have known personally. The
  application,  Classis  declared that this was legally before       easiest way, of course, is to say that.they never were Prot.
  Classis,  and that therefore it ought to be considered. A ques-    Reformed.
 tion was raised as to the nature and character of the exami-                                                           M.  Schipper
 ,nation to be conducted. The statement of the synodical
 examiners that it would not necessarily have to be considered
 final was received by the. Classis  as its own.' That evening                        C6NTRiBUTlONS                                 II
 Rev. Van Weelden delivered a message on Matthew 5  ~44, 45.                                                                        `I
 The  Classis' was impressed with his handling of this sig-            There is something in the lessons of history which we
 nificant text. On the following day he submitted to the             should not leave unnoticed to the readers of our Standard
 examination required according to Article 9 of the Church           Bearer. History often repeats itself on certain points. Espe-
  Order. The examination was thorough and complete. The              cially on the point where the liberty of the believers in Christ
 brother gave a good account of himself, having ready an-            is at stake.
 swers for his examiners for the most part. However, a weak-            The leaven of Phariseeism always wills to creep in.
 ness in philosophical background was quite apparent.                   Jesus did not say for. nought : beware of the leaven of
    "This part of the business took up most of the time of the       Phariseeism !
 Classis.  It was felt that whatever decision would be taken,           Dr. Herman Bavinck gives a very  succint and accurate
 it would be an important one. Something like this doesn't           description of this evil in the churches of the Reformation,
 happen very often in our Church. It was felt that the deci-         speaking of the history of Dogma, when he discusses the
sion must be free from any ill-advised action because of its         subject:  Fu~itk  and  repentance.  (Geioof en Bekeering)
 importance. It had to be charitable and Christian, giving the           In these days where men like Rev. Hubert De Wolf
 brother all the consideration he deserved. But at the  same~        stress the activity of faith as a "prerequisite" and as a "con-


91                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                   .
--_  __                                                                                                                           - -
dition"  it is well to listen to the evaluation of Dr. H. Bavinck    School was positively prepared in the order of salvation
of the English and Scottish practicists.         ,'                  (Ordo Salutis), which was followed by nearly all the Eight-
 Writes the late Dr. H. Bavinck on page 93, Volume IV                eenth Century theologians. Leaving the principles of the Ref-
as follows :                                                         ormation they joined forces with the Socinians and the Ar-
      "Under the influence of the English and Scottish  prac-        minians  and taught that faith, whether it be considered as
ticists a continued line of men arose, who complained about          assensus  or as confidence  (fiducia) in a measure, cannot
the bad state of affairs in the church, the corruption of            justify, but that it was the fountain of virtue as it included
morals, and announced the judgment of God, which they                the new obedience."
recognized in all kinds of woes and of wars, and who ex-                A little excerpt from Dr.  1-I. Bavinck. Against a "little
pected salvation and deliverance in a reformation of the heart       leaven" !
and life. They reminded the rulers of the land and the min-              He that readeth let him take note!
isters in the church to perform their duty, and urged all to                                                                   G. L.
serious and pains-taking self-examination. Uprightness in
walk, membership in the church, birth from believing par-                         Report of Eastern Ladies League
ents, baptism, confession, Lord's, Supper are not sufficient.            The Ladies' League meeting was held October 20, 1955,
      "He who has no more reaches just short of the truth. . .       at Hudsbnville Protestant Reformed Church. The meeting
      "Others took stronger issue with what they called  "letter-    was opened by singing Psalter number 290 and Psalm 116,
knowledge" and uttered the sigh: 0 Lord deliver us from              after which our president, Mrs. F. Harbin, opened with
the letter which murders thousands, and place the stamp of           prayer and read Malachi I and II. A word of welcome was
Thy Spirit upon it. These labored for a practical, a senti-          extended to all the ladies present. A ladies' trio from Hope
mental-experiential life and Christendom.                            Church sang for us, and the president then introduced the
      `"But even those who did not fall into this extreme no         speaker, Rev. H. Hoeksema, who spoke on "Confession and
longer placed regeneration before baptism in practical life ;        Promise" as based on the second and third questions of the
they had very little confidence in the so-called Evangelical         Baptism form.
repentance and insisted on a brokenness of heart, conviction             1. Confession :
of sin and the feeling of misery as the conditions for obtain-           Everytime a baby is baptized the entire church, as well
ing part in' Christ and His -benefits and placed justification       .as the parents, make a promise. Ever since the Baptism .form
and regeneration after faith !" (Italicize, G. L.)                   was composed in the 16th century it has always been a sub-
      It's the old, old story of error, isn't it, dear readers.      ject of severe controversy. The phrase, "doctrine taught
One has but to turn to Rev. De Wolf's articles in the "Re-           here in this Christian church" was left out of the early forms;
formed Guardian" to see this same error of the English               but in 1615 and 1619 the Synod of Dordrecht maintained
practicists, and the "Oud Gereformeerden" in Netherlands             this clause exactly as it is in our present form. Scripture is
and here. It is an old and persistent error, but it is not Re-       not doctrine but the Church elicits the doctrine from Scrip-
formed ! This last observation rings a bell in me. I'm re-           ture, and the  .Church through its leaders systematizes this
minded of the remark of Rev. A. Cammenga, when I asked               doctrine. All elements are expressed in the Baptism form for
him in the presence of Rev. C. Hanko whether he regarded             it confesses total depravity, and, in the second part, it so
the church on earth as "potential candidates for heaven and          beautifully expresses, "God the Father establishes an eternal
hell"? He then said : "Wat denk je dat ik oud gereformeerd           covenant of grace with us"no condition, no invitation. .No
ben ?"                                                               one is included except the elect. The Holy Ghost assures us
      Just a little syllogism:                                       that He will dwell in us. Our part, in the covenant of God is
      1. The practicists (oud gereformeerden) place justifi-         not collateral with God's part but it is always simply the  fruit.
cation and regeneration after faith. Faith is the condition of       of the work of God. The Baptism form looks to the spirit-
salvation with these  neonomists.                                    ual seed only--always.
      2. One has but to see the great attempt on the part of          2. Promise`is the answer to the third question. The age
the Reformed Guardian to defend "faith" as being "before"            of discretion starts at birth. Our children must be instructed
salvation, to see in which direction they are moving in their        positively according to Protestant Reformed doctrine in the
defense of "conversion is prerequisite to enter the kingdom,"        home, in Catechism, Sunday School, and Christian School.
Rev. A. Cammenga included.                                           We are very grateful for our Protestant Reformed Schools,
      3. Ergo: Let'every reader draw the conclusion. Also            but we must not be satisfied with what we are doing  ; we
Rev. De Wolf and Rev. A. Cammenga.                                   must strive for our own schools also in higher education,
      If these erstwhile. Protestant Reformed preachers do not       knowing that our .work shall not be vain in the Lord.
wish to fall underthe verdict of the late Dr. Bavnck let them           After this instructive talk opportunity was given to ask
repent. What is this verdict?                                        questions relative to the speech. While singing a Psalter
      "In this way (of these practicists) the peculiar tendency      number, a collection was taken for our Adams Street and
and teaching  (richting) of the Rationalistic and Moralistic         Hope Protestant Reformed' Schools. The ladies' trio sang


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              95

another selection, and Rev.  Hoeksema closed with prayer.                With grateful hearts to our merciful God for a spiritually
Our evening ended with refreshments served by the ladies             filled afternoon of Christian fellowship we returned to our
from Hudsonville Church and the Priscilla Society of First           respective homes.
Church.                                                                                              Mrs. T. Jansma, Reporter
   We thank God for the precious truths He has revealed
to us and pray for grace to be faithful that-all things may be                  Plainly speaking but not the truth
done to the glory of His Holy Name.
                                 Mrs. Peter Decker, Reporter         Dear Editor :
                                                                        In the Editorials of the "Reformed Guardian," Oct. 10,
   Report of the Western Ladies Aid League                           under the topic: "Plainly Speaking" . . . Edward Knott's
  The fall meeting of the Western Ladies Aid League of               soul was moved as he was listening to some of the passages
Protestant Reformed Churches which was held at  Doon,                of Mendelssohn's oratorio, Elijah, and particularly when he
Iowa on October 12 was opened by singing our theme song,             heard a portion of Isaiah: "Be not'afraid, for I am thy God,
Psalter No.  295, and Psalter No. 313. Then our president,           I will strengthen thee." And as Knott was struck by these
Mrs. H. Veldman opened with prayer, read Romans 12 :l-1,6            words the matter of his churches came to his mind ; and no.
and extended a word of welcome.                                      wonder.
  The minutes of our spring league meeting and the delegate             Knott is positive that his churches have a right of exist-
board -meeting were read and approved as read after which            ence, although some in their midst are not so enthusiastic
the financial report was given by the treasurer.                     about it.. There is a shrugging of the shoulders, a refusal to
   Our speaker for the afternoon was Rev. H. Veldman who             go along, a failure to face the future, whatever it may be in
spoke on the topic "Personal Dedication and Consecration"            the way of obedience to our heavenly Father, confidently and
based on Rom. 12 :l-2. He first explained the difference be-         resolutely.
tween dedication and consecration. Our task of consecrating             However, that should not surprise you, Knott. Your future
does not mean to consecrate ourselves to the betterment of           is not only dark, but there is no future at all for your
our world, of society, and of humanity itself. We must not           churches, for the simple reason that they do not exist.
consecrate ourselves to ourselves, our husbands, our chil-           And don't make your members believe that you have that
dren, and our homes but to God and to God alone Who re-              right, and that your so called churches are the living con-
vealed Himself in Scripture in order that He alone may be            tinuation of the Protestant Reformed Churches, as you put
praised and glorified. The task of consecrating cannot be            it. Knott continues his oracle : "We took a position in 1924."
performed of ourselves but only by the mercies of God Who            And now Knott reveals- himself as one who does not belong         .
gave us a renewed mind.                                              by Us anymore. Listen: "That position does not belong to
   It is our calling as Protestant Reformed ladies and               one man alone, or the group that follows him." Did that
mothers to : 1. consecrate ourselves by knowing the truth-           man ever reveal himself as such, Knott? When you were
therefore, the Protestant Reformed truth, 2. consecrate our-         a student, Knott, you esteemed that man very highly, it
selves by discussing these things with our husbands and in-          seems. And you know that that man, who was your Professor
structing our children in these things  ; 3. consecrate ourselves    then, never put himself upon the foreground, but was meek,
in the sphere of education.                                          and still is, by the grace of God. But that teacher you
        Our self consecration is possible only by the mercies of     seemed to love then, you hate now. And with hatred in
God. Be ye not conformed to this world ; but be ye trans-            you soul toward your former Professor-who never did you
formed by the renewing of your mind. Rom. 12  :2a.  Pro-             any wrong, but always sought the best for his students,
,ceed not in ourselves but proceed in prayer. May His grace          and still does, and instructed you all in the Protestant Re-
lead us in all we do unto His glory and praise.                      formed truth, and carried you all upon the wings of prayer
   After Rev. Veldman's edifying speech a musical number             before the God of Sabaoth - don't you remember that any-
                                                                                               .
was given by the Hull ladies.                                        more ?
        Then Rev. Heys conducted our Question Hour. He very              You say, as long as the Lord gives  us  breath we will
capably answered the questions handed in by each society.            maintain that truth. You have not the truth but propagate
After each question the audience was given opportunity to            the lie. A conditional God is an idol and that preaching is
ask questions.                                                       idol-worship.
        The  Edgerton  ladies then favored us with a musical num-        Never say again, Knott, we have a right of existence.
ber.                                                                 Classis and Synod denied you that right; and the Grand
        We sang some Psalter Numbers while the offering was          Rapids Court looked through your scheme. What you call
received for Children's Retreat. Mrs. J. Heys, our vice              your churches, they are out, and hopelessly entangled in
president, closed. with prayer.                                      your own confusion which you created yourself, and the
   A delicious lunch was served by the Doon ladies at the            Protestant Reformed truth, which you as preachers of the
conclusion of the meeting.                                           gospel have preached amongst us, you never loved.


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96.         :                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .

        It is the height of folly, Knott, to speak of a Mission pro-    philosophy and wishes to join hands, and let bygones be
gram. As you know, the Church does Mission work.                        bygones. But; before we; as Protestant Reformed Churches
        .And to re-establish the Theological School ? What bold-        entertain such notions, we better see a good doctor and have
ness of speech ! Who in the -world will be the teachers  ?              our heads esamined. Naturally, we care not what Kok and
Unless Kok can teach church polity and maybe Houwerzyl                  the  schismatics NOW think. Kok's "Conscience" has
doctrine. Vermeer is out; collector he is.                              weighed HIS PLIGHT, and HIS  KINGDOM  (or "Sover-
        And then to say: forward in faith, in the confidence that       eignty in own domain")  1 and it is NOW found wanting.
the Lord gives us a place. I suppose that is the faith before           So, Kok's career often changes. 1924:  I'There is NO Com-
YOLZ are in the kingdom of God. Remember, the Lord did                  mon-Grace  !" 1948 : "God's promise is for all" (Liberated).
not give you a place.  He. will not strengthen you as you               I advise Kok's  ~"Conscience"  to GO TO HIS FRIENDS,
think He will, for He is the God. of truth and He hates the             THE LIBERATED, because Kok and his  i`Conscience,f'
lie.                                                                    and the Protestant Reformed Churches are two direct  op-
        Let me inform you, Knott, that our future looks bright.         posities and are, by no means, alike. And Kok's present
Praise the Lord! We have two Professors whom we love,                   contention is the final proof of that. HE KNOWS NOTH-
and our missionary may see fruit upon his labors.                       ING OF OUR DOCTRINES NOR CHURCH ORDER.
                                                            S.D.V.      Would we KNOWINGLY take another chance TO
                                                                        WRECK THE REMAINING REMNANTS of our
                                                                        churches, just to give Kok et alii a job ? God Forbid ! -LET
 Brethren  bf the Prot. Ref. Churches: Beware!                          LJS BEWARE OF  KOK'S  HONEY-COATED COR-
Dear Editor : .                                                         RUPTIONS, lest our  &id be worse than it ever has been
                                                                        before.
        Again we might say, "And what you don't hear !" First
we, as churches, were sold down the stream to the Liberated                 Yours in Christ FOR THE TRUTH.
churches, by Kok, and De Jonge. Then the "Hate Hoeksema-                                                         , H. A. Van  Putten
Ophof'" campaign was subtly carried on in the dark. Fol-
lowing that, was that iniquitous "Cross-Bill," and the testi-
mony in the Law-Suit in Civil Court. These corruptions are                         Under an Eastern sky . .
legion !                                                                           Amid a rabble cry . . . .                 :
        And what SOUND do we hear today? THIS : "We                                A Man went forth to die, . . . :-
(namely  Kok et alii) believe the same as you (the Prot.                                  For me!                           -.
Ref. Churches, H.V.P.) do; there'is not much difference  !"
Factually, then, my breath stops  deadcold for want of the                         Torn-crowned His blessed head . .
proper words, lest I should sin by writing the wrong thing,                        Blood-stained His every tread . . .
which I loathe to do. -Thus,  instead of expressing something                      Crossladen on He sped,            `.:
angrily, I will try to accept Kok's assertions at face value for                          For me!
what they are worth, in the light of FACTS as we have ex-
perienced these, since 1948. Taking it as a premises, which                        Pierced thru His hands and feet . . .
Kok now classifies as: "Believing the same as we do .  : .                         Three hours o'er Him did beat,
there isn't much difference  ;" and thus joining the two as                        ~Fierce rays of  noontide  heat,
ONE PREMISE, then it is safe to make these deductions:                                    For me!
        If  Kok (and those with him) have ever signed their                        Thus wert Thou made all mine . :. .
own death warrant, then they have done so NOW! For,                                Lord, make me wholly Think . . . .
they show that they NEVER HAVE BEEN PROT-                                          Give grace and strength divine,
ESTANT REFORMED, and  aft'er `all that has been said                                      To me!
and done,  Kok, etc., FRANKLY TELL US : "We under-                                                                     Anon.
stand NOTHING of the Protestant Reformed Doctrines,
nor Church Order." From all that  Kok, et alii, have re-
vealed to us in the recent past, it is plain that: THEY BE-                "The nomistic pietism erred in the other direction, and
LONG WITH THE LIBERATED, OR WITH THE                                    transferred the  essense  of faith to the well-being of faith,
CHR.. REF. CHURCHES, but NOT with  us ! LET US                          which besides by special revelation, is only attainable in the
BEWARE of this honeycombed philosophy of Kok and                        way of self-scrutination, and a long and fearful way of self-
others who are now casting their white robes of innocence               examination. Instead of leading spiritual life in this way to
over the dirty page of the history of our recent breach, of             a higher level, it more and more robbed this life of all cer-
WHICH THEY ARE THE CAUSE.  NOW   1i0k  tries                            tainty and of all spontaneity."
to change  &he Leopard spots of iniquity -with his  softsoap                                    Herman  ,Bavinck, Geref.  Dogmatiek


