   V      O    L           U    M    E         @Ix       MARCH 1, 1953  - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                     .NUMBER  1    1


                                                                                     They told us of that agony, that dread and sorrow of
                                                                                     t     h        e          ilord.
                                                                                          But even when the band of lovers was diminished,
                                                                                     and only three were. there, it was too much: the Lord
                                                                                     craved solitude,  Her will withdraw Himself and be
                                                                                    _ alone. Oh yes, He was alone in all Hi& suffering.
                     "And He was withdrawn from  &em about a                              The Holy Spirit tells. us of a distance such
               stpne's cast, and kneeled down and pr;ayed, saying,
               Father, if Thou be willing, remove  this cup from                     when ,rock is- thrown by strength of a mere man. And
               Me: nevertheless not My will,  bu$  Thine be done.                    there the :Saviour sank in shadows df the night, `neath
               And there  ,appeared an angel unto Him from heaven,
               1atrengthenia.g   .Him.                And being in an agony  "He     silent olives. Hark, be still. We  ,hear the  Saviour?s
               prayed more  earnestly:  rand His sweat was as it                     words, and see the tears that stream, tind thicken, fall,
               were great drops of blood  Sailing  down  ito the
               ground." -Luke  22:41-44.                                             are swallowed up by  gkound that is thrice holy.  If
                                                                                     Moses stoqcj on holy ground where God would spe&k
   It was not long b,efore  this hour of woe that Jesus                              of faithfulness and `love, what shall we say of this
walked and talked; He spoke and washed the feet of                                   green grove, this holy  place where  J&us suffered
His disciples. `Twas night, and Judas was not there:                                 cy-ied in agony of soul and spirit? What shall we say
a bargain must be kept, a bargain foul,`a handful of                                 oi  blood-clrop,s heavy, blood that is so precious that
silver must be earned. But, on that silver cleaves a
&a@, a stain so deep- that endless ages shall not                                    it bought and purchased `countless sinners and a.whole
                                                                                     new world? ,Oh. yes, we heard of blood-drops, and of
cleanse that spot in  -neth&most abyss of hell. The
flames rise high, the pain, the-suffering is so deep. and                            agonizing prayers and supplications, thrice repeated :
                                                                                     the Sqn is praying to His Father, so well belov'd. So
night is dark,, `tis called the outer darkness of a place                            hark, and be now `v&y still. We'll listen to our .&b-
especially created for all the `damned.                                              stitute.-  For He, though separated from His church
   `Twas night, and .Judas  was not there.
   And when the' little ban,d of. lovers of the. Son of the distance of a rock when thrown by man, is very
                                                                                     near to us in this dread hour. Why weeps the Lord,
God came near with Jesus to the garden of the olives,                                I ask, why does He shed this precious blood that
it seemed as though a special gust *of wrath struck
our Redeemer. A change came over Him who spoke                                       glistens, on .His forehead.? Why  ,does He groan and
                                                                                     pray and spend His soul in nameless grief? It is be-
so calm and sweet in upper chamber, where all would -cause He has 
eat and drink of lamb and wine. `Twas ended ; they                                                       you in His arms, His heart, His breast ;
                                                                                     He's-one with 
stood and sang a  hymn belov'd from age to age by                                                             you and all that are foreknown by lov-
                                                                                     ing Father of the sheep. `Twas not for iin and guilt
lovers of Jehovah.. They  went into the  .night and                                  that He did own that blood was pressed from Him.
soon they saw the b,rook,  the Cidron of Gethsemane.                                 It was the guilt of His known flock that Father found
                                               *  72 a  *                            and saw, and visited w?ch`stroke on stroke, till Jesus
                                                                                     lay in dust of death, eternal death.
   I spoke about a gust of wrath- that struck the                                         We see the tears of Gdd, the sweat of blood of ,God:
Saviour. The signs, the outward  signs are there: I                                  strange mystery of salvation.
hear- of agony of soul and stark amazement. The                                                                     a  il*  *
favored three were there; their story came to us who
live so far away from scenes describe3  in Hbly Writ.
                    . -                                                                   He knelt and  .prayed   and asked His  IGod and
        P'-


242                                        TirE            ST-AN,D-ARD     BE.ARER

Father if this dread cup of awful death and hell might              monster come and tike Me in his claws of death un-
pass.        _           "  ;  I.,.,...
                                1  2.:
                                  -,                                speakable, in horror of forsakenness from Thee, when
       He asked and pray&and  turned to His disciples.              soon I shall be stretch&d on the accursed tree, where
But they were weary, oh so weary and they slept, the                all may-see and. gaze upon the mystery of Thy adored
sleep of utter sadness and. amazement. Events had                   salvation, where devils led by Lucifer and mobs of
been .so strange, so unfqreseen, so unexpected.                     men shall mock and spit, shall laugh a&d. taunt, but
   MY&,  PeTeri  .James  &nd John had fallen asleep.                where-  the angels shall be silent. `Twill be the  hou,r
Whiie Jesus -prayed  and groaned in agonizing pain of- of all the forces of corruption and deceit. But I shall
hell. No, Jeshs, no, the church cannot keep pace with               then be silent, except to open doors of love to all My
Thee whq Thou a%-t;i;e+dilig such dark ways of awful                own, forced open by My prayers for murderers of
retiibution. .They sleep-when Jesus went to hell. `(One             `God. I shall ,be silent, Father, if it's Thy will I die
solitary hour you cannot watch `with Me? With Me this cursed death which I do fear and dreacl."
who am thy Friend, thy  Goi31, thy Redeemer? You                       Qh no, the Saviour's will is at the  v:ry start in
cannot watch with Me while devils rage about Me and                 harmony0  with His God.
the F&her is so far, so far away?"                                     But He's afraid; of this stark night of terror : re-
       And Jesus went His way to solitude anew, a soli-             action of His holy Soul against a state of' those that
tude that is so absolute, so strange to ways of m&n,                have deserved to die the death that is eternal.
that no one understands or grasps to tell his fellow.
To understand the poet you needs must know his land,                                                  *  *  *,  $3 .
his ways and life. But Jesus is the wholly Other, He's
God Supreme, bet  :God who suffers in the frame of
man. And, no, I cannot understand such tears, that                     And so, the distances are great in this. sweet gar-
blood, .these  agonizing prayers, in darkness of a night            den. IA stone's cast -hence? `0 no, but cotintless  miles
that shall be celebrated in the heavenly city, .when                away. I may not even speak of earthly measure, mark
this pure Lamb bf God shall stand. `mid angels and                  ol' span.            -
,&he ho& of men made perfect.                                         The distances are measured by my God: He knows
       He went His way, and prayed again the selfsame               the depths of this Vicarious suffering. The stone's
prayer: 0 Father, hear'! Is there an other way in                   cast grows into the lengths .of tin eternal way, a vin
which I could redeem Thy sheep from death and hell?                 doloflosa. *There lives no man  *ho ever measured
This way that is before Me is so dreadful; the mons-                death, the  disi-:..;;ces of death that are eternal,  ancl
ieer of this death that stands before Me I must swal-               least of all the solitary way to hell along which Jesus
low, and I'm afraid and dread the fires that glow and               trod. .                                             .:
do ,consume Me. Is there an other way, dear Father?                    He prayed alone, so far away from Peter, James
                                                    .+-       _.    and  Johti, so far away' from you and me, and from
                                                                    the church H& bought with His own blood.
                                                                       And He went farther still ; in this sweet garden
                                                                    we saw His kneeling form. Few hours f?om then He
       ,O, do not say that Jesus `did no.t want to be obed-                                           . .
                                                                    is in awful' darkness; ancl -we see no more.         From
ient to His Father! The very thought may perish                     very far away  we hear the groans, while drops of
with the thinking.        It was not possible that Jesus            blood fall heaviiy upon the place called ,Golgotha.
would rebel. It was- His very meat and drink to do
the will of Him who was His life.. And He c&Z ihow
us in the selfsame prayer. Oh, no, not on!y at the
end of this thrice dreadful cry, not  only when He would
negate His own desire and will, but at the very-start                  And yet, seen from another jocal point, He was
of crying to His God. Before one word is uttered of                 not far from you and mq. In that dread hour He held
these supplications, except the sweetest word of                    you il_z His arms and bears you safely Home.
Father, He bends His will, negates His own desires                     You're washed by by blood, y&.?re purified by all
and cries: "If Thou be willing!" It is the victory of               this woe, for He stood in your  place,  dear lovers of
purest love,  of wonderful obedieiqe, of, oneness .with             the Lord! He took you in His arms from all eternity.
the Father. Ii sets the tune bf a sweet. melody that                This garden  afid this blood,  pressed from His holy
grows and sings ;even while `tis sung in awful depths               forehead, is foreknown and loved. before. It is the
of fear and trembling.                                              thought of peace, of wondrous peace, that is' now
       "If  it  be  not Thy will, dear  Father, then let this       realized.     ,~          ;-,            _     _


                                              PHI        STA&kDLBB.*kEk                                                                                                                        $43
                                                                                                                                                                         !
       -.\To,  ,Jesus, no, there is no other  way: this is the      -
way that Thou must go. It's wisdom of the Father.                                           -THE STANDARD BEARER  '
Thou wert in counsels sweet, before the- earth was
born, and there we measured all that way, that via                                Semi-monthly, except monthly during  Julj and Artgust
dolorosa. `Twas then that all those drops of bloody                        Published  by_the  REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
                                                                                       Box 124, Station C, Grand Rapids 6, Michigan
sweat were counted, their preciousness established,                                                Editor  - REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA
their fruits were willed, and all the songs engendered                Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev. H.
by that blood were sung from everlasting, -within the                 Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S.E. Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
                                                                      All matters relative to  s~bscri$oqs should be addressed to Mr. J.
heart of ,God.                                                        Bouwman, 1350 Giddings Ave., S.E., Grand Rapids 6, Michigan.
                                                                      Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above address
                                                                      and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
                           ?2  *  A  a                                RENEWALS:             Unless a  definite request  foi discontinuance'is received,
                                                                      it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription to continue
                                                                      without the formality of a  renewal  order.

                                                                                                    Subscription price: $4.00 per year
       - But hark, what means that rustle and that shining                 Entered as Second Class matter dt Grand Rapids, ~kiichigan
light in yonder grove of olives? Lt is an angel ,of the                                                                   .-
heavenly' host.         The Father heard the prayers of  `-
Jesus, and strength of (God is sent, is come tiitli this
loved messenger of light of heaven. He hovers above
the  .prostrate  form of Jesus, and strengthening pow-                                                                          *-
ers lift the Saviour now. He wends His way to sleep-                                                               -
ing men, so weak, so weary. He speaks to them in ac-
cents low, in measured words that tell a wondrous
story : Sleep -on, My own, sleep on -and take your rest !
It is enough ; the hour is come when I shall be exalted            ,-l,~(l-o-L,-I,-,,-"-~,-~,-,,-"-,,-,,-~,-~,-~,-~,-,,-~,-,,-,-
                                                                                                                                              -

and lift from this so sorry earth. But God shall be                                                        C O N T E N T S
exalted in this My work, this labor to redeem; Sleep
on, and take your rest. And rest.they did and do, and              MEDITATION-
                                                                           The Agony of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Y.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . .  .241
 ever  will.~ The, work is done: my Saviour died and                               Rev. G. Vos                                                                                     *
rose again and went to heaven. And all the sheep,                  EDITORIALS-
bought by this blood, shall follow Him to halls of joy                     The  P>omise  According to the Confessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
in `God..                                                                  The New Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
                                                                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema

                                                                   OUR  DOCTRINE-
-                                                                          The Triple Knowledge                         . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     246
                           32     I?!`*      *     -                               Rev. H. Hoeksema

                                                                   THE' DAY OF  SHADOWS-
        And so the words of David ended. The echo of                       Mahanaim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                 248
                                                                                   Rev. G. M. Ophoff .
     those agonizing words grew still. The garden rests,
     will rest with all reborn creation. And men, with             IN  HIS   FEAR-
                                                                           I Will Sing . . u . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
 angels, sing, will sing till moons shall shine no. more.                          Rev. J. A. Heys
        The prayers of David ended ; they ended in a sob,          FROM   HOLY   WRIT -
     but 0, the songs that grew from this so throbbing                   ' Exposition of I Peter 1  :lO-12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..J.... 254
                                                                                   Rev. G. Lubbers
     heart of Jesus!                                                                                 :
                                                        6. vqs.    THE VOICE OF  OUR  FATHERS-                                                                                \
                                                                         T h e   C a n o n s   o f   D o r d r e c h t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
                                                                                   Rev.  H;  ,C. Hoeksema

                                                                   CONTENDING   FOR  THE  FAITH-
                                                                           I n t r o d u c t i o n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..*.........                258
                                                                               R e v .   H.  Veldman
                                                                                                                                              -I
                                                                   DECENCY  L&D  ORD&-
                                                                           Inttoduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
             The steps of those whom He approves                                   Rev. G.  Vanden Berg                               '
                Are ordered by the Lord ;                          ALL  A R O U N D   Us-
                                                                           Book Reviews .:.........................................
                                                                                                                                                                                                 2 6 2
             And though they fall, held by His hand;                       R e v .   M .   Schipper
                                                                                .::           j
             They yet shall be' restored.                          sclol,rsorsllel~~ll~i~~~l~~l~~~~`~~~~o~~~~~~~,~,,~,~~,,~,~,,~,~,,


244                                 --THE          STANDARD                      BEARER            _

.:~m,-UI,H,H,H-,-,-,-,-~~,-~--~~--~-~~-,-,-~.*.                       Holy Spirit is surely prior to any-possible act of faith
 f  E  D-1  F:-J.]8  1-A  L  S                                   1    on our part, and, therefore, unconditional.
. . ..-.-~-c,n,io-~,-,,-,,~~-~,-,,-~-,,-,,-~-,,-~~,-,-,,-;,!~
 f                                                                         Our fathers, therefore, surely maintained that the
                                                                      unconditional piomise was -signified and sealed unto us
                                                                      and to our children in baptism.
      The Promise According to the Confessions                            But how could our fathers speak so positively? How
      We `must still' call attention to the thanksgiving              could ,they give thanks that God has forgiven us and
at the close of the Form for the Administration of                    owr children all our sins, that He has made us and our
Baptism. There we read the well-known words:                          children members of Christ through the Holy Spirit,
      "Almighty ,God and merciful Father, we thank and                and that He has adopted us and our children unto His
praise thee, that Thou ha& forgiven us, and our chil-                 children ?
dren, all our sins, through the blood of thy beloved                      Is this true, then, after all, of `all the children that
Son Jesus Christ, and, received us ttiough  thy Holy                  a r e   b a p t i z e d ?
Spirit as `members  pf  lthine only begotten  Eon, and  -                         :
                                                                          ,Or, is this, p,erhaps,:all  presumed, and based upon
adopted- us to be thy children, and sealed and con-                                                                                   v
                                                                      a presupposition?
firmed the same unto us by holy Baptism."                                 I well remember the case of a certain minister in
      This is strong language indeed! .                               Classis Pella, who had conscientious scruples to pray
      True, it does not literally mention the promise.                this thanksgiving of the Baptism Form in his con-
      But the rich contents of the promise is expressed               gregation.:  He appealed  tb  classis and revealed his
here in no -uncertain  terms: the  forgivenless of sins,              objections. This classis, however, did not explain the
reception into the ,f.ellowship of IChrist, so that we are            problem to him, but, nevertheless,' insisted  tha+, in
His members, adoption unto' children.                                 baptizing children in his congregation, he would have
      Moreover, all this is presented as an indubitable               to use the Form including the thanksgiving.
fact. It is all accomplished:  `God  has  f&given us all                  He tried ato get light on the subject from others,
our sins, He has received- us through His Holy Spir-                  even in Grand Rapids.
it as members of His only. begotteri  Son, He has adop-                  .I know that he  came to Prof. Heyns. And the
ted us 6 be His children. It is all finished.                         pro5essor  explained that he must understand the lan-
      `And of whom is this said here? 1~ _. it;. perhaps,             guage of this thanksgiving as merely an objective be-
for c&scious  believers, that fulfilled the- `!condition" quest, which (God,. on His part, ,granted  to all the chil-
of faith? IOr is the promise here necessarily presen-                 dren that are born under the dispensation of the cove-
ted as unconditional?                                                 nant, but th$t would be subjectively granted to them
      The latter is, evidently' the truth. For, in the first          and realized in and for them on condition of faith and--
place, this thanksgiving does not only' speak for those               obedience.       But the brother that  had the conscien-
that utter this thanksgiving, but also for their little               tious objections was not satisfied with this, He. poin-
children. 3God has forgiven little infants, that certain-             ted to the very positive language of that thanksgiv-
ly  canndt consciously perform the act of faith, that                 ing, and: insisted that, according to it, the children as
ai-e  wholly incapable of fulfilling any conditions, all              well as the adults were really partakers of all  .the
their sins; through His Holy Spirit He made them                      blessings of salvation in Christ...
members of His Son, before they knew anything about                       I know, too, that he approached Dr.  Van  :Lonk-
it. Ahd through the same Spirit He gave them the                      huyzen' with his problem. He believed in  presump-
adoption unto childpen  and heirs. Here we haire a- ttive regeneration; and explained to the brother that
gain the same language we met in the doctrinal part                   the thanksgiving does, indeed, refer to all the chil-
of the Baptism Form: "for as they aYe without their                   dren .that are porn under the dispensation of the cove-
knowledge partakers of the condemnation in Adam;                      nant, but that we must simpiy presume or presup-
so are they again received unto grace in Christ." pose that they all have the blessings of the covenant.
Hence, in the thanksgiving the promise is surely pre-                 Whether this is really the case will not become ap-
sented as unconditional.                                              parent until the children grow up and reveal them-
      But a second reason pvhy this thanksgiving, .evi-               selves as real and spiritual children of the covenant.
dently, means to present the promise as unconditi.o;al,               But again, the objecting brother pointed to the, very
is that it mentjons  the gift of the Holy Spirit as the               positive language of the Baptism Form, and remarked
Author of auk having become members of Jesus Christ.                  that this language could never be interpreted as pre-
And the ingrafting into Christ as His members by the                  sumptions or presuppositions.
`,

               a


                                         T H E   STBNDA.&D  B E A R E R                                                     245

    Evidently, the brotheir was right-as far as the lan-               od may.make  a decision immediately. My chief rea-
 guage of the thanksgiving is concerned.                   _.~         son' for. this his that, by the time Synod meets, the del-
    But what th&?                                                      egates, at least the majority of them, are or should
                                                                       be .acquainted with the new version of the Bible and
    What did .our fathers mean?             -                     _    be able to judge of the character of the new transla-
    There is only one possible explanation. The Bap-                   tion.  It. can, of course, easily be purchased. Every
 tism Form has in view the believing Church and h,er                   one of the delegates can read it-for himself. Nor is
 spiritual seed. xt is thtit believing Church that con-                it necessary to read it through from cover to cover
 f,esses,  prays, pledges, and gives thanks. And that                  in order to be able to judge of its contents. Many
 believing Church includes her spiritual seed, the. chil-              papers have been written about it. A pamphlet has
 dren of the promise. To that `Church and her spiri-                   even been published by Carl McIntire,  president of the
 tual seed  ar,e all the promises of God. And only in                  International Council of  Chir-istian Churches, under
 that light can we understand that, in the thanksgiv-                  the title: "The New  Bible-Why Christians should
 ing it  can say: "Almighty IGod and merciful Father,                  not accept  3." In this pamphlet all the salient er-
 we thank Thee that Thou hast forgiven us, and our                     rors  of the new version are expo.sed  and discussed.
 children all our sins, through the blood of thy beloved               Anyone, therefdre, may be able to judge for himself.
 Son Jesus #Christ."                                                   It surely will not require a whole year of study to de-
    In other words, our fathers believed and main-                     termine whether or not the new translation should
 tained that the prom@& is unconditional and for the                   be recbmmended  to our people. I dare say' that it will
 elect only. -H.:H.                                                    be almost a foregone conclusion that the result of such
                                                                       `an- investigation will be negative.        .
                                                                          But for the same reason, I am also of the opinion
                                                                       that this is hardly a synodical matter. It Ynight be if
                       -:-:-A                                          the overture advised the official adoption of this new
                                                                       version for use in our churches. But why should Byn-
                                                                       od advise our people what to read or not to read, even
                       The  New Bible                                  a new version of the Bible? ,Our people can read for
                                                                       themselves and are able to judge for themselves also
    In the A,genda of Classis West there occurs among                  of the nfe;w  Bible. They can read the literature that
 other items, such as two protests against the `D,eclara-              iR published about it just as well as the delegates to
 tion of l?rinciples, two protests against sending del-                .Lynod.  And if they are not sufficiently interested to
 egates (as visitors) to the Reformed Ecumenical Syn-                  read, it certainly will not help them that Synod pass
 od, an overture concerning &e new translation of the                  a decision ,on the matter and have it printed in0 the
 Bible as follows :      .                                             ,Acts of Synod, for -those same-people surely will not
    "The consistory  of Sioux Center comes to you with' r,@ad those Acts.
 the request that Classis West overture Syriod t'o. ap-                   Hence, it seems to me that, if people need more
 point a committee to study the newly published Re-                    light on the matter, let them read whatever is pub-
vised Standard Versioa of the Bible, which committee                   lished in papers or pamphlets, and for the rest pastors,
 is to report to the Synod of 1954, in order that Syn-                 ,elders, or leaders in our societies discuss the matter.
 od may  advise our membership in regard(s) to the                        This will be far m&e effective than any decision
 new version." . .                                                     .of .Syn.od *hat is printed in the Acts.
    I do not know, at the tilhe of this writing, whether                  And it also will look much better, for it will recog-
 or not Classis West will adopt this overture and send                 nize the office of believers, according to the Word of
 it through $0 Synod.                                                  God in I John 2.:20 : "But  ye have an unction from
    As I see it, it can never do any, harm. It offers                  the Holy One, and ye know all things."-H.H.
 Synod something positive to think and deliberate a-                              '
bout.                                             . . .                                    -E-Z:
   But, in the first place, I would suggest that, in case
 Synod receives and adopts this overture, it does not
 appoint a -committee to study the matter and report                            The law that the Lord has ordained
 to the Synod'of 1954, but give in the-hands of .one of                            Is perfect, the soul to restore ;.`
 the committees for preadvice to report to the present                          His .truth  makes the simple most wise,
 Synod that meets, D.V. in June, in order that the Syn-                            The truth that is sure evermore,


                                                              ~       .-
     246'                                          T H E   ST&NDtAXD   - - B E A R E R

                                                                                     For these visible gods they %ere willing to offeY their
.~l.-`
            ,-clr~,-a-~lr,,-~,-~,-,~-,,-~,-~,-,,-,,-~~-,,-`
                                                               ,-`
                                                                    ,~`
                                                                      ,-,-~*:.
     iOUR  D O C T R I N E   % gold for, when Aaron told ihem to "break off the gol-
                                                                                  I den earrings, which are in the ears 07 you+ wives, of
                                                                                     your sons, and of your daughters. and bring them to
                                                                                     me," they willingly complied with his request. And
               T H E   T R I P L E   K N O W L E D G E                               after they had so done, Aaron "fashioned it with a
       IAN  EXPOSITION  OF  T&E  HOEIDELEERG  CATECHISM                              graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf." Then
,                      P                                                             the people said: "These be thy gods, 0 Israel, which
                            ART III  -  OF  THANKFULNESS                    "        br,ought thee up -out of the land of Egypt." This god,
                                                                                     which was supposed to be a representation of the liv-
                  .               LORD'S DAY 35                                      ing God, they worshipped. For it Aaron made an al-
                                2. Image Worship                                     tar, and proclaimed : "Tomorrow is a feast unto the
                                                                                                               .
        The first co'mmandment  emphasized the truth that Lord." Unt`o  it they offered burnt offerings and peace
     God is God alone, and that there is no God beside Him.                          offerings and "sat down to eat and to drink, and rose
        The second commandment presupposes the princi-                               up to play."
ple that God is a Spirit, invisible, and infinitely glo-                                .Such is image worship.
r i o u s .                                                                             It is the making of a lie about the invisible God,
                                                                                     and tiorshipping that lie.
Hence, while the first commandment  `deals with                                                                     The image worshipper wan-
                                                                                     tonly deprives' God of His glory.
ithe question!  who atid what <God is, the second rather
gives an ans,wer,  .in negative form, to the quest`ion how                              For the living <God is the Creator, but an image is
(God is.                                                                             always the  Pepresenftation of a creature. IGod is  -a
                                                                                     Spirit and essentially invisible, but an image is al-
        The liegative pr prohibitive form of this command-                           ways the representation of a creature.
ment is: "Thou shalt not make unto thyself any gra-                                                       -                     IGod is a Spir-
                                                                                     it and essentially invisible, but- an image is always
ven image, nor the likeness of anything that is in                                   material and visible.. God is the eternal One, but an
heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the tiater                              image is the representation of a creature which drags
under the earth. -Thou shalt not bow down thyself                                    God into the lim.its of time. God is immense, omni-
to them, nor- serve them."                                                           present, immanent and transcendent, but the image
" `Now, what does one do who presumes to make an                                     wor.shipper  deprives  God of His greatness. ,God is
image or representation of the invisible, incomprehen-                               infinite in all His glorious virtues, but the image wor-
sible, infinitely glorious God? He looks about himself
`_  4.~.                                                                             sh@per declares `of a dumb image, which has neither
in the visible universe. From that visible creation                                  knowledge nor understanding, which can neither hear
$hae exists in tim,e and space, that, therefore, is strict-                          nor speak, that iit is a true representation of the Gocl
ly finite, limited; he derives his idea. He looks at the                             of  glo,ry.  God is independent  .and exists of and by
heavens above, at sun, moon, and stars ; at the things                               Himself; He is Jehovah, the eternal I AM, with whom
in the earth beneath : man, beast, and creeping things ;                             there is no change or shadow of turning; but the im-
or at the creatures that are "under the earth," below                                age worshipper represents Him as a changeable crea-
the surface. of the earth, in the waters : the fish of the                           ture, dependent'on the one that made it, and that can
Sea, and all sorts of:sea-monsters.  ,Of them he makes                               be carried about according to the fancy of him that
an image,  of silver or gold, of wood or `stone. And                                 formed it. Image worship, therefore, .is the heinous
he declares that the image he made is a very true rep-                               sin-of dragging down the giorious ,Creator  of heaven
resentation of God, that God is like unto the .image                                 and earth to the level of the creature, and of depriving
be made.                                               - I                           the Lord `of glory of all His adorable virtues.
        This was the sin Israel committed at Horeb, a sin                               Nor must we imagine that this sin is committed on-
which they neve? overcame, the consequenctis  of which ly by pagans, and that it is inconceivable in the civ-
pursued them all through the desert and_ throughout                                  ilized, Christian world. Fact is that this sin is deep-
their whole history, until, finally, they were l-ejected                             ly ingrained in our sinful nature. By nature, we are
as a nation, and the kingdom of God was taken away                                   all image worshippers. We are always `inclined to lie
from them. They wanted to see their "gods". that                                     about God, and to depl"ive Him of his glorious attri-
brought them up out of the- land of Egypt and that butes. No, indeed, we do not carve or chisel a repre-
w.ould go before them. For thus they spoke to Aaron :                                sentation of ,God in wood or stone, ib gold or .silver,
"Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as                                  as do the heathen. But we do make images  of Him in
for this Moses, the man that b>ought us'up out of the                                our mind, in our false conceptions of him. Many are
land of Egypt, we' wot not what is become. of him." the images of the living God fdr-med by modern the-


                                          TIE%  STANDABD  BEAR%R                                                         247

  ology and. philosophy. Whenever. we form a concep-               of &he second commandment. Works ,of true art are
  ~tion of `God that is not according to His own revelation        not forbidden in- the second commandment. Of cours&
  in the Holy Scriptures, we lie about God and make an             even in this respect we must clearly discekn  between
  image of Him. When we conceive of God as a Being                 t&? true and the false; and not at random characterizk
  .that is so filled with love that he condones sin; we de-        every work of art as a beautiful product of "con+mon
  ny His righteousness and make  `an image of Him.                 grace."- So-called "lovers of art" are apt to walk a-
  When we imagine of God that is so merciful that He               round in old A,thens and admire the beautiful remains
  cannot possibly cast the sinner into eternal desolation          of sculpture produced by. the old Greeks. They reveal,
  as punishment for his sin, we deprive Him of the gl'o-           according to some,. the marvel of God's "common
  ry, of His. immutable justice, and form an image of              grace." But the apostle Paul viewed these.same works
   Him in our mind. When, in our pr@yers,  -we attempt             of art with a different ,eye, and "his spirit was stirred
   to appr,oach God without seeking forgiveness in the             within him, when he saw the city wholly given to idol-
  blood of Christ Jesus our Lord, we are worshipping               atry." ,The same judgm;?nt I would pass on much ,of
   an image just as really `as the Israelites at Horeb wo.r-       modern art, such as e.g. cubistic painting. Neverthe-
  shipped the golden calf. When we conceive of God as              less, the second commandment certainly does not fo2-
   a sort of a Santa Claus, that exists to bestow all kinds        bid to make  repres$ntations  of creatures, or of anyi
   of good thihgs upon us, to fight our wars and give `us          thing at all in creatures. -hen, in our homes, we have
   our victories; as a God that must solve the problems            paintings or photographs we are not violating  l;he
  we create in our sinful world, as One to whom we cry             secqnd  commandment. What- is forbidden is to make
  when we are in trouble,. but for the rest f.org+ Him,            any image in order to re~presefit God. -This is also the
   Whom we .do not care to glorify and in Whose way we             teaching of the Heidelberg Catechism is:question and
  do not care to walk, we simply worship an image of               answer 97: "Are images then not at all to be made?
   our ,own making. Wheri we deny the Scriptural truth             God neither Ean, nor may  beg represented by any
   of election and reprobation; deny that He is merci'ful          means: btit as to creatures; though they may be rep-
  to whom He will be merciful and' whom He will He                 resented, yet God forbids to make, -or to have any re-
  hardens  ; when we  .represent IGod as, in saving the            semblance of them, either to worship them-or  to serve
   sinner, being dependent on the will of man, so that the         *Sod by them."                          .
   latter must open. the door of his heart before (God can                                                  -.
                                                                      In his commentary on tXe Heidelberg Catechism,
   enter ; or when we conceive of Him ,as being gracious,          Ursinus himself, in expounding this. c$estion and an-
   in the preaching of the gospel, to all that hear, head          swes,  writes :                      -  -  -.
   f,or head, and soul for soul, we deny His .absolute sov-
   ereignty, and fashion an image of. God just as really               "We mu.st n6w proceed to the questidn itself, in re-
   as the pagans carve one in wood                                 gapd to which we may rem$ark,  that this commandment
                                        OS chisel one in stone.
   If we entertain the dualistic notion Ahat `God is the           does not absolutely forbid iis `to .make, or to have irnl
   Lord of all good but not of evil; that He sends us              ages, likenessess  alid statutes, because the art of paint-
  health, but not sickness, prosperity but not adversity,          ing,  sculpttire,  casting and embroidery, is reckoned
 : peace but not war, plenty of work but not times of              among the gifts of Gad which are good and profitable
   depress&, life but not death ; we deny ihat God is the          to human life, alld God himself had certain images
   Lord `of all the ear.th,  and we worship our own lie.           placed iii the tabernacle; (Ex. 31:3.; 35 :30) and Sol-
                                                                   omon had upon his throne images of lions, and .had
      Thus we could continue. But leit this be sufficient          figures of palm-trees and cherubims carved upon the
   to convince us that the sin of image worship dwells             walls. of the temple by the dommand of God.         (I  Ki,.
 in our own sinful flesh, and that, according to the in-           6:23,29 ; 10 : 19,20) . The reason for this is plain and
  clination of. our evil nature, we are always inclined            easy to perceive, inasmuch as writing and painting
   to worship our own lie and to deny the God that has             are profitable for reviving a recollection of something
   revealed Himself in His Word in Christ Jesus our                done, for ornament and fdr `the ,enj,oyment of life. `The
   L o r d .                                                       law does not, the&fore, forbid the use of images, but
      The second commandment puts its finger on a very             their  ,abuse, which takes place when images or pic-
   sore spot in our sinful nature when it warns us : "Thou         tures are made either for the purpose of representing
   shalt not msake unto thyseF any graven image . . . ."           or w&shipping  God,.`or  creatures. Hence all images
     No, indeed, this does not mean that we may not                and likenesses are not simply and w,liolly forbidden,
make  atiy representations of the creature as such. It             but only such as ar,e unlawful, among .which-  we may
   certainly  does  not imply that  .the  second  cpmmand-         include, first, all images or likenesses of God, which
   ment forbids all work of art, such as sculpture or              are made for the purpose of representing or worship-
   painting or photography. This is iiot th6 implication           ping God. That these are posit'ively forbidd&in the


 248                                    rBE  -S'I'AN\tDART:  BEARER

 commandment may be argued, 1. From the design of               shield, a r`ock,  a strong tower, a lion, an eagle, a con-
 this commandment which is the preservition .of the             suming  fire, a fountain of living water. Yea,. so close
 worship of IGod in its purity. 2. From the nature of           is this similarity, and so intimate this affinity, that, in
 God. God is iricorporelal and infini'te ; it is impossible,    the fulness of time, God-assumed human flesh, the In-
 theyefore,  that he should be expressed or represented         finite unites Himself with the finite, the Eternal with
 by an image which is` corporeal and finite, without' de-       the temporal. For  `<the Word was made flesh and
 tracting from his divine majesty, according as it -is          dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as
 said: `Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of           of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and
 his hand ; and meted out heaven with a span,' etc. `To         t r u t h . "   J o h n   1:14.
 whom then will ye liken <God,  or what likeness  will ye          Does, then, the Word of God not induce us by these
compare unto him?' `To whom will ye liken me, or                anthropomorphi&% to make a creature image of <God?
 shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.' `Who changes
 the glory of the inc&ruptible `God into an image made             Not at all.
 like unto corruptible man, and to  ~birds, and  four-             To be sure, all ,these Scriptural passages .ascribe
 footed -beasts, and creeping things-.' -.( Isa. 40 : 12,18,    to God human virtues and passions and members of
 25; Rom. 1:23). 3. From the command of God. "rake              a human body. But there is `an essential difference be-
 ye, therefore, good heed unto yourselves, (for ye saw          tween a material image or even a concept of the mind
 no manner (of similitude on the day that the Lord spake        and a picture in human language. An image, carved
 unto you in Horeb out. of the midst of- the fire,). lest       in wood or chiseled in stone, simply stands there with
 ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image,            all its limitations.' It can leave only one impression,
 the similitude of any figure, the -likeness of male or         that  of-a limited being. It is material, limited by, space
 female ; the likeness of any bea& that is," etc. (Deut.        and time. But this is not the case with tGe figure of
 4:15,16,) 4. From the cause of this prohibition, which         speech in the Bible that is called anthropomorphism.
 iti that these images do not only profit noithing, btrt        NCI one can possibly receive the impression from this
 also injure men greatly, being the odcasion and cause          figure that God is physical and finite. For the whole
 of idolatry `and punishment. In short, God ought' not          of Scripture clearly reveals that God is a Spirit, that
 to be represented by any graven image, because he does         He is the E,ternal IOne, infinite in ;a11 His glorious per-
 not will it, nor can it be done, nor would it profit any-      fections. When Scripture speaks of God's eye, no one
 thing if it were done."                                        thinks of a physical organ of sight, but all know that
    The obj&ion has often been raised that Scripture            it refers to #God's absolute omniscience, and to the fact
 itself, nevertheless, induces us $0 make an image of           that nothing is hid from the -eyes of Him with Whom
 (God, or at least, to form a- hGrn+ and creaturely con-        we have to `do. When the Bible speaks of. God's arm
                                                                or right hand, all understand that this is a figure -i;f
 ception of Him, by the frequent  .occurrence  of  the          speech, that it does not refer to a physical organ, lim-
 figure that is known as  anthvopomoTphism.  ,Often             ited in power, bui to `God's omnipotence, according He
 indeed, creaturely, and especially human characteris-' does whatsoever He pleases. In other words, Scrip-
-tics and virtues are ascribed to God. God ascribes             ture reveals [God to us, .or rather God is able so to
 to Himself a face, the psalmist expects to behold God's        reveal Himself to us in creatnrely forms and creature-
 f,ace  in righteousness. It is the angel of  God's face' ly language, that we may know Him, that we may,
 that saved His people. Frequ,ently,  the Bible speaks          indeed, understand His speech, while at the same time,
 of, the eyes of the Lord, and even of His eyelids. Scrip-      we do not confuse Him with the creature, but know
 ture makes mention of the apple of His eye, of His             that He is infiniitely greater than the creaturely form
 ears, mouth, lips, nose, neck, arm, right hand, His fin-       in which He is pleased to reveal Himself. While we
 ger, heart, bow&l& bosom, foot. He is said to rejoice,         understand `and know His revelatilon, we know, at the
 $0 be afflicted, to grieve,30  fear. the wrath of the en-      same time, that in Himself He is the incomprehensible
 etiy, to love and to hate, to be merciful and to be `an-       One. This is the wonder of God's revelation of which
 gry, to be jealous &nd to repent, `to forget and to a-         we will treat, the Lord willing, in the next chapter.
 venge Himself.  ,He sits and stands, He works and                 With the formation of a material image, or even
 rests, He comes down and looks down, He comes and              with a false and limited conception of God this has
 goes, He walks and mee%s men, He passes by an'd for-           nothing in cqmmon.
-sakes, He writes and seal,s, He heals and binds up the
 wounds of the broken hearted, He laughs and mocks,               -Also Ursinus in -his well-known commentary refer-
 He speaks, hears, inclines His ear and sees, He kills          red to above, mentions this objedtion. Writes he:
 land makes alive. He is described as a mall of war, a             "The' Holy  Scrip&i;  attribute  to  (God the dif-
 king, a lawgiver, a builder and artificec, a sun and a         ferent members of. the -human bddy, and thus declare


                                         _  .THE  S T A N D A R 'D   B . E A R E R                                                  249 -
  his nature and properties. Therefore iit is also la+- .B ,-(1-11-1)-1)-~,-,,-~,-~,-~,-"-~,-,~-,,-"--"-~-~.~~
  ful to represent God by images." Such-is  the objec-
  tion. .                                                             1 THE DAY .OF SHADOWS 1
                                                                      o~1~6-o-1,-(,-~,~~,-~,-~-,-,,-~,-~,-~,-,,-,,-,-,-`-,~,~il.~
       And this Qbjection  he answers as follows :
       "There is a difference between these figurative ex-                                               Ma  hanaim
  pressions used in reference to <God,. and images ; be-                                  -
  cause in the former case there is always som&hing                          Having heard what Ahithophel and Hushai had to
  connected with those expressions which guards  us a- say in the way of advising how to proceed against
  gainst being led astryay, into idolatry, noi .is the wOr-           David, who had fled the city, Absalom and the elders
  ship of God ordinarily. tied to those figurative expres-            had exclaimed as  by\ one  Goice that  the  adjice of
  sions. Buit  it is  di-@erent  in regard to images, for             Hushai was better than the counsel of Ahithophel. But
  here there is no subh safeguard, and it is easy for men             might not Absalom, after calm reflection, revert  I+
  to give adoration and worship to them. "God himself,                the counsel of Ahithophel? Only God knew, and He
  -therefore, used those metaphors of himself figurative-             was silent.               It was as activated by the fear that
  ly, thtit he might help our infirmity,. and- permits us,            Ahithophel's counsel , might still be followed that
  in speakingeof  him, to use the same forms of expres-               Hushai hurried to instruct the high priests in waiting
  sion ; but he has never represented .himself by images              to tell David that by all means he must remove across
  and pictures; neither does he desire us to use the& for             the JoFdan that same night, lest he be overwhelmed
  the purpose of representing him, but,has, on the other              by Ahithophel's superior forces. He must also be told
  hand solemnly forbidden them."                                      just what Ahithophel advised and what he, Hushai, I
                                                                      counselled in order -that he might see for himself how
      Yet, these anthropomorphisms are not to be r,egar-              urgent  i`t was that he bestir himself' without. a
-- ded as mere empty figures without `any basis. in fact.
  On the contrary, they are based on the, truth tha$ ~$1              moment's delay.
  things are made and sustained by the Word of God,                          Then said Hush& to Zadok and Abiathar and the
  and so made that they are reflection,s of the nature and priests, So ard so hath Ahithophel counselled Absalom
  glorious virtues of the Most High.  (God is not only                and the  elc.!e& of  Israel;and  so  and so  co~unselliecl I,
  transcen.dent,  but also immanent in the world. He is               eve% I. ..And now, sencl spee,cMy ancl tell David saying,
  very near us. In Him we live and move and have our                  Not  sh&lt  thou lodge this  .night in the, plains of the
  being. The whole creaition is a creaturely reflection               wibclerness, but thou shalt pnss over by all means, lest
  of His adorable virtues.                                            t: c .k+ng be consumed akd all the people that are wi,th
                                                             H.H.     him.  (15,16)  .+
                                                                            The sacred writer states indeed (17-:14) that "the
                                                                      Lord had commanded (that is, ordained) to defeat.the
                                                                      good counsel of Ahithophel.`! But this  w.as to be-
                                                                      come clear, and hence it became clear to our miter,
                   --                                                only from the'course of .subsequent  events. At the mo-
                                                                      ment there was no revelation to that effect. This ex-
                                                                      plains Hushai's great concern for the safety of David.
                                                                      He was ignorant at the time of the Lord's purpose.
                                                                            It might be asked why David, when the report of
                            IN  MEiMORIAM                             the revolt first reached him, did not inquire of the
    The Board of Adams Street  Pr0testan.t  Resormed  ,Christian      Lord, as had always been his custom in the past. A
  School, Grand' Rapids; Michigan, hereby  exprelsses its heart-      few examples : When he had received tidings that thi
  felt sympathy with our brother board member Cornelius  gonkei,      Philistines wene fighting against Keilah and had
  in the loss of his f.ather,                                         robbed the threshingfloors, "he inquired of the Lord,
                           MR. D. JONKER                              saying, Shall I go and- smite the- Philistines?" And
    &ay our God  abun,dantly  comfort the  berejaved by His Word      God immediately returned answer : "Go and smite the
  and Spirit and powerfully istrengthen  them in. the hope of .the         *The translation that appears in these articles is of the un-
 saitita                                                              dersigned. Hi:s aim LY a renderin,g  that literally reproduces the
                                                                      Hebrew .t&xt even. as to its word order, except when this would
                                 Protestant RefoFed                   be doing too much violence to the English idiom. The readings
                                 Christian School Board ,             .of the versions such as &here  be-King James and the American
                                                                      Revised- will be added as  inclo;sk?d  in brackets, but only in  all
                                     Mr. H.  Meulenberg,   Pres.      such cases in which the departure from these readings is more
                                    Mr. J. Heys, Sec'y.               o     r         less   ,&dical.


    250,.                                         .T-HE  S T A N D A R D :   .BEARE;R-
                                         -_---
   Philistines and save Keilah." I Sam. 23  :l, 2.  Dur-               word of the Lord that had come to him some years
   pg.this same time'and in response to a second inquiry,              previous (II Sam. 7  :12). According to this  word,
  Be received .a revelation to the effect that he was to               David would die a natural heath and not a vioient one
  go down to Keilah in that the Lord  would ,deliver the               by the hand of a usurper and when his days were full,
   Philistines into his hand. (4). Yet a. third time he                thus in a good old age. And having' slept with hi&
   earnestly `prayed : "Lord  G&l of Israel, thy servant               fathers, he would be succeeded in the throne by a seed
  hath  certain.ly heard that Saul seeketh  tb come to
             \:^.  :  I  :-                                            hhose throne the Lord would establish forever, That
   ~~eil%h, to clestroy  the city for my sake. Will the- rneh          seed was not,  ceitainly, the godless Absalom. Such
   of  I@lah deliver me  up  into his hand? Will Saul
   r `.<.                                                              then was the promise to David. And as resting in
   &nr$z,down as thy servant hath heard? 0 Lord God                    that promise,.he left,the  Holy city and ascended mount
  of Is?ae!; I beseech thee, tell thy servant." The! Lord              Olivet and worshipped there. He didn't have to en-
  answered : "lZe will come down." His final request                   quire whether it was the Lord's will that he should
  w&z  " "
                    W111 the men of Keilah .deliver me up?" The        flee Jerusalem. For it was too evident that it was
  L&d.  @epli&d `also to this entreaty of His servant:                 His will.
   "They  $11 deliver thee  up."  When Saul had died  in.                 It was now the t&II of the two highpriests-Zadok
  battle, it was by the direction of ,Go&  that David went- and Abiathar-to act and act speedily. But their prob-
   up-to  Hebroti. "And it came  ,to pass after  this,  -that          lem was how to get Hushai's message for David to
  Da&i inquire,d of the Lord, saying, tShal1 I go up `into             Enregel, that is; to a well by this name near the out-
  any bf the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto                   skirts of the holy city, where Jonathan and IAhimaaz,
  him, IGO `up. And David said, Whither `shall I go up?                the two sons of the highpriests, were waiting to relay
 '  And  h-6  s&id unto  Hebron." (II Sam. 2 :l, 2).                   to David any or all information regarding the progress
   vcih'y  did- David not inquire of the Lord in this                  of the insurrection that was to come to them from the
  &i$s? He -could have. He could have said to the                      highpriest. ,Jbna$han  and Ahimaaz, it will be recalled
  LQrd : "Will the inhabitants of Jerusalem deliver me                 tvere among the priests who had joined David in his
  up  into,  Absalom'
                               s hand? Shall I flee the city?" IOr,    flight. On .their return, they had been stationed at
  later : "Has Ahithophel'S counsel been truly defeated?               this well, as they could not have left the city again,
  ,Shall I cross the Jordan or abide this night here in                had they  re:entered  it, `without arousing suspicion.
  the plains of the wilderness?" Bui  `110, he forbore.                For Absalom's-spies were everywhere. And for this  ~
  The pri&ts came to him there in the, plains of. the wil-             same reason, the two highpriests could not go out to
  derness. But. instead of asking t.hem to inquire for him the well. Absa'zm would be informed. And he would
  of the Lord, he besought them to return to Jerusalem                 be certain to conclude that their purpose was to con-
  and take back the ark of the covenant that they had                  tact David. So they sent' a. woman, their own trusted
  brought with them.                                                   maidservant.    That it was thdught that her going
   Da&d's conduct  can, be explained.  Fir&,  he knew                  would attract little or no attention. might have been
  the Lord's will well enough. Had not Nathan said:                    due to her having `burdened herself with a bundle of
  "The sword shall not depart from thy house"? `That                   soiled clothes. Every one who saw her would  con-
  sword was now striking at him as w-ie.lded by his own                Clude that her reason for leaving the city was that she
  sbti. It was God's will. So He had determined. For                   had a wash to do at the well. For as its name signifies
  David had  sinngd  grieviously,   .and was but reaping               (Enrogel : well of treading) it was at this well that
  what he had soviin. Should he then lliw be making                    the women of the city did their washings. In those
  inquiries ? That would be like asking the  [Lord  to                 ancient times this task was  perfo'rmed  by treading
  save him  from that sword and restore him to the                     with the feet and not by rubbing with the hands.
  throne. But what right had he, vile sinner that he was,                 But the purpose of the subterfuge was only barely
  to life -and the throne? He felt .it; and' felt it. deeply.          achieved. The woman did reach the well, where she
  80 `he$;kept silence. He humbled himself. He wept communicated her  mesage to the waiting priests.
- and had his head covered and went barefoot. And                      But the three of them were observed by one of. Absa-
  $c+ his companions in the flight he said : "Let the Lord             lom's spies. To the mind of the spy t&e presence of
  d&w&h me what seemeth good in .his eyes." That was                   the two priests at this well in conversation with &he
  better than crying for- his throne in that hour. Hum-                maid-servant of the highpriest could have but one ex-
  @l:g himself under the mighty hand of God, He would                  planation. The three of them were co-operating in
  &g&l exalt him in due tiri?e.
    - . .                                                              the business-of keeping David informed regarding the
       "Besides, though the sword of which Nathan had                  state of affairs in Jerusalem: He (quickly reported
  spoken `was now suspended over his own head,. he                     his discovery to`Absa'h%ri. `And he was but a na-ar,
  knew `that hi could not perish by it' because of, the                a lad, a teen-age youth. What this helps to establish.


                                                   rH;E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               *' 251.
                                           _-_-                                                            -~-
  is that the Absalom revolt  was to a large extent a                     tered at the moment was that David was still~encampecl
. youth. movement;                                                        in he -plains of the `desert.
      Well aware' that they had  be&n spied upon and                       .j It was night.     And David and his people were
  feeling certain that Absalom would send his servants                    weary. For they had been on the way perhaps sin&
  in pursuit of them, the two priests quickly went away early dawn. Besides, t.he company included women and
  in quest for- a place to hide.- A' man in Bahurim, evi-                 children. Yet, the priests were right. The Jordan
  dently friendly to David, allowed them to conceal must be crossed that very night. David was agreed.
  themselves in a dry well in his yard. When they had So the trek across the rjver began. It lasted all night.                                  .
  gone down into' it,' the man's wife obliginily replaced                 But when the day dawned, the whole company had
  the cover, over which she then spread some ,ground                      passed over to a'man.
  corn, so that rio one could tell that the man had a well                   Alzld it came to pass after the@ we??e gone, that they _
  t h e r e   i n   h i s   c o u r t .                                   came up from the well, and wient anid told David ccincl
      And Jonathan and Ah*imaaz a$ere standing by En-                     said Co him, ASse and pass hastely ove,r the waters:
  ?*ogel. And the mai&servant,l [G `we&`h,] , came ~a~~cl told for thus  counsellecl   a.gainst you  Ahithophel.
  them, that t!hey might 90 and tell David. [And they                        And arose Da&d a& all the people.that were with
  went and told Davidz], for not migh.t theij be seen to -him, dtid they passed ov,er'the Jordan : by the morning
  come irnto the city. Neveri&eless  a lad scw them and                   lig,ht (&hat is, wh% it was morn&g) there lacked not
  told Absalom. Aad went the both of them awny with                       one of them that was not gone over Jordan. 21, 22.
  haste, and came to 8he house of ia maw in Z&ha&m, and
  there was t!o h&a in ii& court a well, dnrd $,ey- went                     Ha&g crossed the .Jordan with his people, `David
                                                    .'
  down there.                                             _  .:.~ ..-     pushed on to  Mahanaim, the former capital-city of
                                                                          Ishbosheth `(11:8), a fortified pi&e and suitable for
      And the woman took and spread the cdverirng olvier gathering an army.
  the surface of the well,  ,and  sprea,d   there&   grbutid
  corn; a& not was the thing known. 17-19.                                   In the meantime, Absalom had r#sed his army.
      Soon thereafter the servants of  Absalom  made                      No numbers are given, so that we $6 not know its
  their appearance. It was the woman who took it upon                     size. But it could nqt have been the nufib+ess host
  herself to handle them. Evi,dently  she had prepared                    that he had imagined. But this seen& not TV have dis-
  herself for this mom&t. `For in reply to their ques- .couraged  him. Crossing the Jprdan .witk'his troops,
  tion: "Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?". she says                       he pitched in the land--of  Gilead, and thereby carried
  instantaneously and with spirit, it n&y  `be imagined:                  the war to David. .                -IL
  "They have passed bver the brook of the water," prob-                     . But his army still had to be organized. To this
  ably a small creek iin the vicinity. But didn't she have task he now addressed himself. Amasa was made  _
  them with her there in the pit? The woman can be                        captain of the host instead of .Joab. He was a cousin
  forgiven that lie. As misdirected by the woman, the                     to Joab and a .nephew to David.
  servants may have sought for a long time. Despair-                         Then David  came  to  Mahanaik.  Anid Absalom
  ing of finding the fugitives, they returned to Jerusa- passed over Jordan, he and all the men of Is;:fel with
  lem.                                                                    him. 24                  " .               . . ,.- ;
      And .came the servants of Abklom wnto the woinan'                      Amd Amass did Absalosm make captain of the- host
  3; the h&us,e. Ancl they said, Where are Ahkmaaz &.d i.nst.ead of Joab: and Amasa was the son of a man,
  Jon&than? And said to  th~em the  woti&n.,  Thaey havie                 and his nam,e was Ithra an Israelite, that went in to
  pakecl over the brook of water.. Atid they sought bwt Abigail the [daugh.ter of Nahash.,.sister to ueruiah Jo-
  could not find (them) . Amd they  &wrnsd  to Jerusa- abts mother. 25
  lem,." 20.
      When the servants had again passed through the                         So Israel and Absalom pitched. in the land of Gil-
  vicinity on their way home and were out of sight, the                   end. 26.                                         -r
  two priests left their hiding-place, went to David, and                    Verl 25 raises questions to which  rio conclusive
  delivered their message. "Arise and *,pass hastely over                 answers can be given. Who  was  I$&L~ At I Chron.
  .the waters : for thus. counselled against you' Ahitho- 2  :i7 he is called Jether the .Ishmti,elite."                          Doubtless
  phel." But they didn't report what Hushai had ad-                       he was an Ishmaelite, a &ranger;  for to designate that
  vised. That could wait. `To their minds all that mat-                   he was an Israelite would be superfluous.
  - IMiaid-servant  with the definite  a$icle  the; not: a wench-            Was Abigail-his lawful wife? If not, Amasa was
  English King James  Versiqn.                                            an illegitimate son of Abigail.,  ,.  I    .
    4t is  .obvious  that this  rendekg  is in conflict with  the
  skatement  of verse  1x8:  "And went -both of  the?  a>vay  in h&e."       Is Nahash.  $he name of  a;  ,:mati?  Atid must the


252                                                 JJHE  STANDARD  B E A R E R

 word "sister" be taken in apposition with Abigail?
 If so, then Jesse, David's father, was twice married.
And then Nahash was David's step-f ather and- Abigail                         I-  -1  N   H I S '  FE-A R
and Zeruiah his step-sisters.
             !According to another view, Nahash was a surname
of Jesse.
             There are still other possibilities that need not be               The gifts and talents which the Almighty has giv-
mentioned.                                     .                              en are numerous and varied. `To one He gives the
                                                         G. M.  ,Ophoff      ability whereby that one. is able by' a deft blow of the
                                                                             hammer apphed to his chisel- to carve out an amazing
                                                                             likeness of ,another creature. Again we find one gif-
                               -:::-                                         ted with the critical eye and well controlled hand
                                                                             wherewith to guide a brush dipped in the proper color
                                                                             and hue to portray upon the canvas a likeness of, man
                   `Gracious Lord, remember ,-David,                         or of landscape. `Then, again, we see the blur of swift-
                      How he made Thy house his care,  -                   . ly moving fingers gliding over an ivory sea which flows
                   How he vowed to seek no plleasure                         .between  the ebony cliffs while beautiful melodic tones
                      Till Thy house he should prepare.                      and rich harmonies come from pipe or string. ,Or we
                  . Lord, remember his devotion ;                            m.ay marvel at the glorious and lyric sounds which
                     Restless in his courts he trod                          flow forth from the opening and closing mouth of one
                   Till he found a habitation                                gifted with that much-to-be-desired power to express
                     Fit for Israel's mighty God.                            by word, rather than by form, line, color, shape, sug-
                                                                             gestion or imitation, what resides in the soul. Truly,
                   Far away IGod's ark was resting;                          the Almighty has filled creation with glory and beauty
                     It is with His people now;                  '           and given to man, the highest- of His earthly creatures,
                   We will go into His temple,                               many wonderful and glorious talents wherewith man
                     At His footstool we will bow.                           might praise and magnify Him. For that purpose
                   With the ark Thy might revealing,.                        al,one  they were given, and man has his calling with
                     Enter, Lord,  into Thy rest;                            these to glorify his Creator. This truth resided in the
                   Let Thy priests be clothed with justice,                  soul  of the psalmist and came to  ,expression  by `
                                                                                                                                him
                     Let Thy joyful saints be blest.                         when he said in Psalm X04:33, "I will sing unto the
                                                                             Lord as long as I live ; I will sing praise to my ,God
                   Let the king -behold ,Thy favor                           while I have my being."
                     For Thy servant David's. sake,                              But have you ever paused to refiect upon the fact
                   Unto whom a sacred promise,                               that all of these abilities and powers which men call
                    -Sure and faithful, Thou didst make.                     the "fine arts" there is only one of which Scripture
                   If His children keep. Thy covenant                        states that it will enter into the new creation? That
                     And Thy testimony own,                                  blessed realm shall be filled with music both instru-
             _     Then, as Thou, 0 Lord, hast promised                      mental and vocal, but chiefly vocal music shall glorify
                     They shall sit on David's throne.                       that realm of perfection. All in that realm shall be ac-
                                                                             complished musicians. All shall be gifted with voices
                                                                             that shall immeasurably overshadow anything heard
                               -.-..-:::-                                    here below, whether it be from the voice of man or
                                                                             from the sweetest warbling of the nightingales of our
                          .                                                  feathered friends. ,Scripture  says nothing about such
                     Established in the highest heavens                      creative harts as painting and sculpture entering the
                        The Lord has set His throne,                         new creation. Surely it says nothing of dramatics.
                     And over all His kingdom rules,                         How' shall we before the face of Him Who is Truth
                        F o r   H e   i s   ,God  a l o n e .                even dare to behave untrue to our natures which He
                                                                             gave us? But Scripture does `speak-repeatedly of the
       `.            Ye angels that excel in strength,                       music of heaven and of the new creation. The angels
                        Bless ye .the Lord, your God.;                       are presented as singing. constantly before the face
                     `Ordained to hear and do His will,                      of the Thrice Holy God. When the Lamb receives the
._'                     Proclaim His praise abroad.                          book with the seven seals, we read that the four and


                                                `
                                                  .
                                              THE  S T A N D A R D   B%AR%R                                                                  253

  twenty elders (representing the whole Old~ and New                       music any more than we in the above lines condemned
  Testament Church). fall down before the Lamb and                         painting, sculpturing, etching, carving or the making
  sing a new song. The one hundred forty  -and four                        of poetry. But our purpose in these articles is to hold
  thousand upon Mt. Zion in Rev. 14 likewise sing a new before your eyes the fact that at the top of all the
  song before the throne. In Revelation 15 those who                       talents God gives to His people is that ability by word
  have gotten the. victory over the Beast sing the song                    and song to praise Him.
  of Moses and of the Lamb.                                                  As far; then, as instrumental music is concerned
      To be sure, instrumental music,,whatever  form or the Scriptures show clearly that when it is rendered
  shape it shall assume we know .not, neither .need we                     by the believing child of God and ,done to His glory,
  consider that now, shall also  `enter into the New                       it is not only permissible, but it is also pleasing in His
  Jerusalem, for each of these fourLand twenty elders                      sight and in His holy ears. We hear the Church of
  have their harps of gold to accompany themselves in                      IGod exhorted to praise God in Psalm 150 even with
  their singing. And the one hundred forty and four                        the clanging and high sounding cymbals. In Psalm
  thousand are accompanied by "harpers harping upon 33.:2,  3 we read, `<Praise the Lord with harp, sing unto
  their harps." It ought, however, to be plain that such                   Him with the psaltery and  ,an instrument of ten
  instrumental music occupies and ought to occupy a                        strings. Sing unto Him a new song; play skillfully
  secondary place. They accompany. They serve the with a loud noise." When Samuel sent Saul home
  singing, while singing is the chiefest work of praise -after anointing him as king over Israel, he told him
  to God.                                                                  that he would meet a company'of prophets with psal-
      This is in perfect harmony with both God's work                      tery (a wind instrument), harp, lyre, tabret  and pipe.
  in creation and in recreating His people in Christ                       David was a cunning player upon the harp. Even
  Jesus. Made to be IGod's friend-servant, man's loftiest though these instruments have their inception in the
  praise is the praise he speaks and sings;. In- fact he                   inventions of godless Jubal, the Scriptures certainly
  was the loftiest of God's creatures here below. ,exactly                 make it plain that ,God's people may make use of these
  because aGod made him to b.e a rational, moral crea-                     things to the glory of His name.
  ture one that could know (God and could love Him.                            That does not mean at all that we may play any
 T.hus created he was able; willing and active in coming                   style of music, nor by any means does it put the stamp
  to IGod and by word of mouth `and song from the heart                    of approval upon all kinds of music to be played in
to tell God that He is great and good and glorious.                        the divine services as an offertory. It does not mean
  Being conscious of all his works he could praise God.' that we may play'anything we please in the prelude
  Not only does he exist to the praise of God, but he                      and postlude to our divine servioes.                No more than
  exists to praise `God. There is a vast difference. All                   every piece of vocal music is suitable for use in our
 ", things exist, are made and continue to exist for the                   divine services is every piece of music composed by
  praise of God. The psalmist declares that the heavens                    believer or unbeliever proper for prelude, offertory or
  declare. the glory of  ,God and that the firmament postlude. We do not even hesitate to state that not
  showeth His handiwork. All things. point to God and                      every arrangement of an hymn or Psalter tune is  _
  decliare  in that way that He is God.  But-man was                       suitable for these occasions even though they might
  made to perform the deed of praising ,God. And he be permissible-at a program, or at home.
  was saved by the blood of Christ also for that very                          In the house of God before the services and during
  purpose. The Apostle Peter says in I Peter 2:9, "Ye                      the services the music ought to be slowly and softly
  are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy                     played. God's people come from various environments
 .nation, a peculiar people; that- ye should show forth ~to the house of prayer and meditation. $As we gather                                        i
 the praises of Him Who hath called you- out of dark-                      there we are gathered at Jesus' feet to be taught by
  ness into His marvellous light." And though man                          Him. Anything that would by its lilting rhythm, its
  during his earthly sojourn may, surely, practice those                   b  * t
                                                                            01s erous character or its levity would tend to destroy
  other fine arts of painting, sculpturing, etching, carv-                 tine solemnity and reverence of the occasion ought to
  ing  and  WritiW   Of  POetrY,  Yet  these   Will  all  be  left  on     be  kept   off  tile  music   rack  0-f  piano   or  organ.    Indeed,
 this side of the grave and will perish with this pre-                     there may well be the joy of salvation surging thru
  sent world.                                                              the. souls of ,God's people as -they congregate and es-
      We had planned to limit ourselves in this present                    pecially as they hearken to the word of (God preached.
  and the following article merely to the gift of vocal                    At times the auditorium may ring with resounding
  music, but we do wish, befor we go on, to make a                         praise to God. And the organist may often desire to
 few practical remarks about instrumental music in, have at his disposal double the volume of which his
 -our lives. We are not at all condemning instrumental                     organ is capable to cope with this -joyful burst of


                                                                          _ .


                       I



          254
\                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   ~BEARER
          praise to God. Those thrilling experiences are often
          the greatest inspiration the organist has for his work.
          But, nevertheless, this does not at all.detract  from the       1i  F R O M   H O L Y   ,W
          fact that as the congregation assembles or as the con-
          gregation renders its offering it behooves the holiness
          and solemnity of the occasion that the music itself be                     Exposition of  I  Peter  MO-12
          of such a nature and that it be played -slowly and                                         (1)
          softly so that the congregation is not led into earthly
          meditation and excitement but instead is prepared                  In the next two ,articles we wish to give our atten-
          psychologically to listen to the Word of God.                   tion to an exposition' of the verses lo-12 of this first
                 In the home there is more freedom with our in- Chapter of I Peter..,
          strumental and vocal music, but there is no license                The passage reads in full as follows: "Concerning
          to all kinds of either of these. About these things             which salvution the prophets sought ~cl searched c&S-
          we will write in our next installment. We will then             gently, whq  prophesiecl of the grace, that, (shoulcl
          strive to complete oulr. thought, for the title- above in       come) unto you searching what time or wEat. manner
     full is, "I will sing unto the Lord." Is that so with                of time the Spirit of Christ which,  was in them  clic&
          you? You sing.  1 You" play. But do you sing and point aunto, when it testifield beforehand the suJCSerimg.s
          play to the Lord? *Or is it to men that you play? ' It          of Christ, ad th.e glory that shoulcl follow them. To
          will make quite ,a difference in what you choose to             whom it was revealed, that not undo themselves, but
          play and also in what YOLK would rather not sing or unto you they  clicl minister  %hese things, which now
          play. Think so? Be with  us next issue then.                    hmve  ~been  renounced unto  y,ou `through them that
                                                         John IA. Heys    preached the Gospel u&o you by the Holy Spirit se&
                                                                          forth from heaven; which things angels desire to look
                                                                          into."
                                                                             We ought to remember that Peter is constantly yet
                                                                          speaking in this first section of his letter to the chur-
                            ----B                                         ches addressed, of the great salvation that is ours
                                                                          through the resurrection of Jesus Christ- from the
                                                                   :      dead. Into this salvation we have been brought and
                                                                          caused to share through the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit
                  From the depths do I invoke Thee,                       of Sanctification. For we have indeed been born ,again
                    Lord, to me incline Thy ear;                          unto a lively hope in `Christ's resurrection. Old things
                  To my voice be Thou attentive,                          have passed away, and.all things have become new.
                    Wnd my supplication hear.                              _ We are saved  ,in hope. We do not yet see this
                                                                          final salvation. Christ Jesus, the glorified Lord, we do
     _            Lord, if Thou shouldst mark transgressions              not see, and have never seen. Yet, we love Him. We
                    In Thy presence who shall stand?-              -      rejoice in..Him with an immense and unspeakable joy,
                 -But with Thee there is forgiveness,                     which is full of glory and which shall be fully mani-
                    That Thy name may fear command.                       fested in the elect `and redeemed saints in the day
                                                                          when Christ shall be revealed.
            - For ,Jehovah I am waiting,                                     Such is our status quo!                    ._
                    And my hope is in His Word,                              T.hus it is written in the statute books of the Lord
                  In His Word of promise given;                           of lords and the King of kings. And thus we -have
                    Yea,* my soul-waits for the Lord.                     noticed this salvation to be the great theme of' .Peter.
                                                                             Peter would bind upon  ,our hearts the magnitude
            For the, Lord my soul is waiting                  _           of this salvation, and its certainty. It is not merely
                    ,,$!Iore than watchers in the night,                  something of recent date j a passing- fancy, something
                  More than they for morning watching,                    that will die as soon as its proponents go the way of
                    Watching for the morning light.                       all flesh. It is .not a message of man ,at all. It never
                                                                          arises in man's heart. This. salvation belongs to the
                  Hope in ,God ye waiting people ;                        things that were never narrated to kings. It is that
                    Mercies great with Him abound;                        which eye hath not seenand~ ear hat11 not heard. They
           With the Lord a full redemption  -                 `-  ..      are the things that God in His inscrutible  wisdom has
                    From the guilt of sin is- found..                     thought, out and planned as the Architect and Builder-


                                           T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

     of our salvation.  I-t is wholly of God. And thus it         would then become as a refutation of those who would
     tias ever believed. in the days of yore.                     nof believe in Jesus, against those who played out
       --Notice,  that `Peter asserts that this salvation was     Moses ov& against Chr-ist ! Jesus means to say, in ef-
     the great  tF,eme  of! all the Prophets. Writes Peter:       fect, the: whole subject of all Moses' books ,(Gene_sis
     "Concerning  which salvation (the) prophets sought           to Deuteronomy) is the Christ. Moses did. not write
     and searched diligently . .  ." None less than "pro-         on this alid that; he was not simply a law-giver, say-
     phets", who stand in the -presence of God, and speak         ing, the man that'doeth the same shall live thereby-
     His word, have busied themselves with this theme.            Mbses wrote `the Gospel. The law was added to be a
     They did it emphatically in their capacity as "pro-          Pedagogue to Me, the Son of God in the flesh. Moses
     phets". The emphasis in the text does ndt fall on            wrote on one subject! He.wrote  on the Gospel of God
     their being a class of men in dis'tinction from others,      in  Me,  the `Christ. He wrote  (peri) concerning Me.
     but on the &t that they are prophets, who are en-            I am the great subject of Moses' writings.
*    gaged in speaking that which is "pointed out to them"           .And, again, in Luke 24 :25-27 we `read the accou&
     by th& Holy Spirit. To say "prophe&' is to say "thus         of Jesus' reproof and instruction of the two travelers
     saith the Lord".                                             -to  Emmaus. These men could not reconcile the  ac-
         Peter gives us a remarkable insight into the deepest     c0unt.s and reports of the women and certain others
     yearnings of prophets.                                       that Jesus was risen from the dead, with the necessity
                                                                  of Christ's dying. And  ihe reason for this? `They
         We notice, fir@ of all, the remarkable statement         were slow to believe all that which had been spoken
     of Peter that the subject (bet onderwerp)  the- all-in-      by the prophets concerning (peri) Christ. For Jesus,
     clusive and centrd  theme of the Apostle is Salvation.       we are told by Luke, beginniiig from Moses and all the
     `And then not salvation in general, but salvation as to      prophets interpreted unto them in all the scriptures the
     its ultimate and fin% manifestation. We repeat: ac-          things concerning  lperi) Himself.  _ This entire  Old'
     cording to Peter  that was the subject of all the in-        Testament Scripture was Christ's Self-portrait.
     quiry ,and seeking-of the prophets. When we say that
     a man wl%tes a book on a certain subject we say he              What is the title of Moses' writings: it is concern-
     wrote on the subject.  T1u~s  it is here. All  the pro-      ing Christ's person and work of salvation. (Again,
     phets were engaged in speaking, &aching,  writing on         what  ds the title, the *real subject of every prophet:
     this subject. That was the only subject that, engaged        it is concerning Christ, and the final manifestation of
     their attention. And then it engaged their attention         the salvation `in Him-in the day when He shall be re-
     not -&nply as a theoretical' subject,. but it occupied       vealed as the Lord of glory. It is  `(peri) concerning
     their whole souls as a thiobbing  question of salvation      this salyation that prophets `are engaged.            .
     and glory ; their eyes searched the prophetic skies.            Let every one, then; give heed, when Peter speaks
     And always the longing is concerning the final salva-' of this same subject. It-is surely worthwhile. It was
     tion,                                                        a matter of passionate and unabated searching ofi the
         To emphasize this thdught Peter writes in the ori-       part of Prophets. Their central theme it is. ,One has
     ginal :Greek  (peri hees sooieerias)  "concerning which      never really preached the subject of the prpphets, who
     salvatidn". The prepoSition peri (concerning) is em-         has not preached the final salvation they speak of.
     ployed in the Greek both of the Classics and of Patris-      All the details df the Prophecies fit into this scheme;
     tic litmatilre to .denote the writings on a certain sub-     all things are subsumed to. it, and are means to bring
     ject. If they would write on the subject of the three        this  message to our attention. The prophecies are
     persons and the one essence of God they wrote the title :    truly  eschatologic&l.
     peri etc.    Thus also Peter writes of the prophets;         .  Such is the implication of Peter's "concerning
     They too had a great subject.                                which salvation . j. . ."
         And no one less than Jesus Himself calls attention, H,owever, Peter tells  us  more about the activities
     be it then indirectly, to this great subject which- is       of prophets.         Writes he : : "sought  and  clilige?ztlg
     indicated by the pr!position peri (concerning),.             searched." Literally .-we read in the original Greek
         In John 5  :46 we read the following from Jesus          "concerning which salvation the prophets sought out
     mouth : "for that one wrote concerning  (peri) me".          and  s.earched  out . .  `."
     As is evident from the context, Jesus does not mean             Two things they did.
     to  say, that Moses besides writing in the  fir&t five          They sought out concerning salvation. There is a
     books of the Bible (the pentateuch) on many other
                               /                                  distinction between the notion "sought out" and
     subjects and personages, also'wrote concerning Jesus!        "searched  out!`. This is already evident in the order
     That is not the thrust of this passage. How weak it          in which they are given in the text. "Sought out" is
                                                                           0
                                                                                  .

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

       given before "searched out". It is really  first;  one                                                   L
                                                                          gulo-l~-ll-,i-ll-~,-"
                                                                                              -~~-~,-,,-,~-~,-~,-,,-~,-~,-~,-,-,,--~~.
     must first  se&$  out: before one can  search out. The
       former indic+s the motive of finding; $h& `prophets                1      The Voice .of Our Fathers
                                                                          e                                                        1
       desired to find this salvation as the pearl of great *:.,-1,-o-(1-o-,,-`,-~,-~,-~,-~-~,-~,-,,-,,-,,-`,-~,-~,-~,-"-~*~
       price. They would lay hold on it. But when they once
       find it, they are not simply satisfied with its posses-                         The Canons of Dordrecht
       sion. They also desire to know its content, its various                                      C H A P T E R   I
       aspects, they must know all that.it stands for.              ."                             SWIFT DECLINE.
              That this is the proper distinction between the                  The third of the Three Forms of Unity commonly
       terms "seek out" and "search out" is also evident from             adopted by Reformed churches of Dutch extraction is
       the fact, Wat Peter in the next clause repeats the                 usually known as the Canons of Dordrecht, or the Five
      "`searching" but. not the "seeking". Yes, they still seek Articles Aga4n.d the Remonstiants. The full original
       salvation, but in order to attain it they must be busy             title of this symbol reads as follows:  ",Judgment of
       searching it out.                                                  the National Synod of the RFformed  Churches of the
              Two points are searche! out. They are both con-             united Netherlands: held in Dordrecht in the  year
       cerned with the proper aGod-appointed time of the suf-             1618 and 1619. Which was assisted by many emcel-
       fering of Christ. They would  .knoiv what the time                 lent theologians of the Reformed Churches of Great-
       (season) is. And, again, shall this be known, then                 Britain, the Electolral Palatinate, Hessia, Switzerland,
       they must understand the characteristic features of                Wetteraw, Geneva, Bremen and  Emden:  `Over the
       the time. What the state of the world will be, what                well-known five heads of doctrine, concerning which
       Israel's place will be in that world, how- it will be in           difference ,appeared  in the Reformed Churches of said.
       every sense the  "fulness of time", a time of the re-              United Netherlands. Expressed  on May 6, 1619."-
      `stitution of all things, they must know. Of this they                   Whether, therefore, you judge from the shorter,
       spake. And they spoke of this because they searched                more commonly used- names of this confession, or
       it out diligently.,                                                from the complete title as given above, it is clear that,
          We have a_good  `case in point -in Daniel. We read              as is usually the case with the official standards of a
       of h.im in Daniel 9 :l-2 : "In the first year of Darius church, there is a history involved in the for,mulation
      the son of Ahasuerus, of the see_d of the Medes, who                and adoption of our Canons. And here too, as again
      was made king over the realg, in the first year of his              has frequently been the experience of the church in
      reign I, Danie!, understood.by the books the number                 the past, the- history is one of a very severe, lengthy,
      of the' years whereof the word of Jehovah  cam.e to                 oft-times dark, life-and-death struggle for the "faith
      Jeremiah the Prophet, for the accomplishing of the                  of the. gospel"; To understand the Canons properly it
      desolation of Jerusalem, even seventy years."                       is necessary briefly to review the history of that
                                                                          struggle which gripped the Reformed ,Churches of the
          Here we see Daniel seeking out and searchillg  out              Netherlands in the years preceding the famous
      concerning the redemption of Jerusalem. `How he dili-               National Synod of Dordrecht.
      gently prayed with his face toward Jerusalem is well                     We are wont to call the heresy condemned in the
      known to us. He is interested in the return of the                  Canons after the name of that learned but undeniably
      captives to Jerusalem. He searches out the prophet&                 crafty and deceitful Hollander; Jacob Harmsen, or, as
      w.ord.      He stands, as it were, on the  &oulders of              his better known Latinized name has it,  Jacobus
      Jeremiah. But his prophetic `interest is really not in              Arminius.     The Remonstrants are  Arminians,  land
      the historical rebuilding of earthly Jerusalem. He their error, is known as Arminiknism.  Howaever, we
      looks beyond this city to the eternal and holy city,                do  well to understand that Arminius was not the
      the heavenly Jerusalem. But, his interest will be in originator of the Arminian heresy, on t&e one hand,
      the time an,d manner of the times in which this shall               but that he was led by and learned from others. And
     be acconiplished, in order that Israel and all the pea-              on- the other hand, it was not even  lArminius  per-
      ple of God may. read the "times".
_                                                                         sonally who was condemned by the National [Synod:
                              (to be continued)                           for by the time our fathers served the antidote to the
                                                                          pbison of  .Arminism  in  1618-19,. the man who gave
                                                        Geo. Lubbers
                                                         *.
                                                   -                      his name to the errqrs of the Remonstrants had long
                                                                          since passed from this earth into the realm of the
                                                                          dead. And yet,  ai we  &a!1 see, it is not without
                              -:-:A                                       reason historically  that  .the errors  ,rejected  in our
                                                               0          Canons are popularly known -as A.rminianism.


                                         T     H      E              STANDARD  BEARER                                      25T

     The Reformation in the Netherlands, which co-                   @as at stake; and from this point of view the struggle
  incided with the liberation of the Lowlands from the               between  Reftionstrants and  Contra-Remons'trants is
  Spanish dominion, bore a distinctly .Calvinistic &ar-              of fundamental importanc&  But the very life of the                :
  acter. This does not' me&n that all the Netherlands R&formed  Churches hung- in the balance in the years
  was Reformed, however: `The Lutheran Reformation                   preceding the famous synod. iShortly before the synod
 .had its adherents also in the Netherlands, though few              gathered, there were at least a hundred ministers in          _
  in number; and there were as well small numbers of the Reformed Churches who, having themselves fallen
  other sects, such as the followers of Menno Simons.                victim to the  Alrminian wiles, were victimizing the
  Besides, there were n-&y so-called "crypt0-Catholics" -sheep of God's flock and deceiving the simple. Num-
  alld- Libertines, men who wielded influence in high                erous eases -there were,-due to the fact that the
  placed in the Dutch government. Nevertheless, the                  Remonstrants enjoyed the protection and favor of the
  Reformed ,Churches occupied the cent,er  of the ecclesi-           government,-in which whole congregations were de-
  astical stream in the Netherlands. And, while one                  nied official standing before the state, were. dispos-
  could hardly call them the State Church,`nevertheless              sessed of their property, and were forbidden to gather
  they existed with the blessing of the government, were             in meetings for public worship under penalty of fines,
  financially supported by the government, and were imprisonment, or banishment. Thus was the gold of
  also~ partly under the c"ontrol  of the political authori-         the Reformation quickly bedimmed in the land of our
  ties as far as their church polity was concerned. It forefathers. Or thus it seemed at least. For all that
  was this latter relationship that gave rise to much of             glitters is not gold. And  IGod's purpose was to re-
  the trouble in which the churches were inyolved  dur-              fine the real gold,  ,and cause it to shine with still
  ing the period ,before  16X3.,. For the Arminians found brighter luster.
  much support and protection from the `government,                     It `is not our purpose to give a detailed account of
  while for a time the faithful officebearers and member- fihe  d&elopment of Arminianism in the Reformed
  ship of the Reformed Churches were actually perse- <Churches of the Netherlands. Whole volumes have
  cuted by the state and local authorities. Nevertheless,            been written on that  subjectl,  and besides, this is
  t&e Reformed Churches, as we said, represented the                 not the place for such an account. We merely mean
  cause of the Reformation in the Netherlands, and were              to focus the attention on the highlights.
  decidedly Calvinistic, both as to doctrine and as to
  church. polity. And long before the adoption of the                   And then it stands to reason, paradoxical as it may
  Canons, the Heidelberg' Catechism and the Conf essio               sound, that Arminius was not the first Arminiah. For,
  Belgica had been recognized by them as their offici.al             in the first  pllace, the errors which  plagued~. the
  standards.                                                         Reformed ,Churches in those. years undoubtedly may.
                                                                     be traced back to Rome. There can be no question
     It w+as not long, however, before the old bogey of ,about  the fact that the Reformation* movement was
  Semi-Pelag%nism  made its  appearence  once more,                  not entirely pure .in the Netherlands. Just what the
  now in the v&y churches whose existence h,ad largely               occasion and motivation of such impurity was we need
  been occasioned by ,a d&ire for the sincere milk df                not discuss here, except that a study of the history
the Word instead of the  d,iabolical poison of  the free             indicates that the admixture of national patriotism
  will of man. In fact, it  5s amazing how soon after                and religious zeal appears in many ways to have
the  be&ning of  *lie. Reformation the churches fell                 worked to the disadvantage as well as the advantage
  away from the pure tiruth of th@ gospel to which they              of the Calvinistic movement in  the. Lowlands. This
  had- sworn allegiance when the tie with Rome had                   latter fact, it seems to me, partly occasioned the ap-
  been cut. Think  ,of it:  iS was only  `a century after            pearance, at. a very early date, of leaders in  the
 wartin Luther had nailed his theses on the door of                  Reformed Churches who had never made a cl&an doc-
  the church at Wittenberg, and not even a hundred                   trinal break with Rome and who soon, flying-under
  years since the undaunted  Genevan Reformer had                    the Reformed flag, manifested in their preaching and
  flaunted Rome's power, whep  th& Arminian errors' writi?g that they -were not at all rid of the poison of
  appeared ntit only sporadically, her,e .and there, upon            Semi-Pelagianism. Some of these men were ex-priests
  the -scene of Dutch SCalvitiism, but threatened seriously          or erstwhile monks who had, due to circumstances,
  to split both state and church wide open, and necessi-             been rather  readily  received into  the  tranks of the
  tated a National Synod, which should with bold strokes             Reformed clergy.      Especially men like Johannes
  cut down the devils of heresy which assailed the Ill;nastasius Veluanus and Hubert Duifhuis were influ-
  precious heritage of the truth from their very ranks!              ential in preparing the way for. the Remonstrance.
  .For remember, it was no minor  a@air that necessitated -                 -
  the Synod of  .-Dordrecht.  Certainly,  then truth. itself           1 Dr. L. H.  Wagena&s  outstanding work "Van  Strijd  en
                                                                     Overwinning."


2 5 8                                      THE  &ANDAR.D  BEARER

 But to  Coornhert (1522-1590) belong the  liighest               .~,,-I-(IIIIIII-O-,,-~,-,,-,,-~,-~,-`
                                                                                                          ,-~,-~,-,,-~,-,,-~,-~,-~:-,~
 honors on this  .score.            He. very sharply opposed
  Calvin's presentation of the doctrine of predestination,        I-z Cm&ending  For The Faith 1
 and,' in fact, at that early date was proposing only a           .,*1-11-1111,-(1-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-,,-~,~-,,-,,-`,-~,-~,-,,-,,-~,-,,-~,,~.
 very-broad confessional basis, like the Apostles' Creed,
 upon which the churches might untie and avoid a mul-                                        Introduction
 titude of denominational divisions. It was a study of            Introducing  this  mbric.
  Cqornhert's  views which later on became the occasion
 for Arminius' defection  from the Reformed line.                     It was in .the summer of 1947 that .the undersigned
 Other outstanding_ men aniong the forerunners. of                was asked to fill the rubric "Our Doctrine" in our
 Arminius were Caspar Coolhaas,  HerbeTts,  Wiggerts,             Stnnclad  Bearer. Our readers will  .undoJ'btedly  re-
Sybrandi, and Adolph Venator. .                             .     call the circumstances which occasioned this request:
                                                                  the sLIdden and wholly unexpected incapacitation of
         Nevertheless, to  Jacobus  -Arminius belongs the         our editor, the Rev. H. Hoeksema. How thankful we
  questionable honor of having united these erring ele-           were and should be that the Lord has restored him
 ments and having formed them into a party in the                 so that he again might resume his labors am&g us
 churches which soon became powerful. And of his                  to a large extent! Little did the undersjgned  suspect
 person ,and works we must say a bit more.                        that he would still be contrib&ing  to this rubric as of
    -Arminius was boin in 1560. at Oudewater. Early               this. moment. I can `honestly say that this work has
  in life he was left fatherless,  but'won  ,the favor of         given me a gr,eat  amount of p1easur.e and satisfaction.
 two `Refbrmed  ministers, Taffin and Petrus ,Bertius,            Of  pleasur'e because I have. always considered it a
 who sponsored his education at the then small                    privilege to contribute articles to the periodical
  Academy bf Leiden. At the age of twenty-one.he had              through which we may give public utterance to our
  finished his studies at Leiden, and now he was sent,            unique calling, as Protestant Reformed Churches, not
  under the sponsorship of a merchants' guild at                  only in the midst of the world, but also amongst the
  Amsterdam, to study at the  Uliiversity of Geneva.              many churches of our  .present day and age, among
  There he came under the influence of Beza, Ctilvin's            whom our only safety lies in an uncompromising
  successor, and heard that theologian's explanation of           uniqueness lest we be swallowed up and be no more.
 &he Epistle to the Romans, as well as his views on               This calling, to emit a clear and no uncertain sound,
  election and reprobation.           History shows, however,     also over against the many deviations` froni the truth
  that he never absorbed the teachings of Beza. It was            which characterize our present day, is also the calling
  r,!so at <Teneva that the young Arminius became the             of the StanclcFlrd BeweT. We, therefore, fail to under-
 `bosom-friJnd  of Wtenbogaert, whom we shall meet                stand how anyone, who professes to be Protestant Re-
  later  in our account of `the Remonstrance. After a' formed, can withdraw his or her support of this pe-
  brief visit to Italy, where if anything  Arminiu? in-           riodical. This writing for our  Staticlard  Bewer  has
  clination to a very broad concept of Christianity was           also &ven me a great amount of satisfaction. This
  strengthened, he returned to Geneva for a time, but             is not due to a feeling of satitifaction because of the
  soon made his way back to  ,Amsterdam,  where he                articles I have contributed, but because of the bene-
  passed his classicalQexamination and was admitted to            fits w.hich I have re"ceivecl  in the performance of th'is
 the ministry by unanimous vote.                                  work.
                                               H. C. Hoeksema'        Asired  to fill this new rubric, "The History of Dog-
                                                                  ma", I gladly comply-with the request. Not, I assure
                                                                  you, without considerable trepidation. I do not claim
                                                                  familiarity with the field of the history of dogma.
                             -I-                                  However, it is a very attractive field. The Lord will-
           -  P                                                   ing, I will do the best I  can,.  &d trust that these
                                                                  contributions may serve the interests of ouF Protes-
                                                                  tant Reformed Churches.
                   Blest be the Lo@, my rock, my might,           Its fascinating feature.
              My constant helper in the fight,                                                                       -.
                   _ My  sh$eld, my righteousness,                     The history of dogma will fascinate us if doctrine
                                                                  fascinates us. Doctrine and the history of doctrine
                   My strong-high tower, my &vior true,.          are, of course, inseparably- related. ,Our interest in
                   Wlio doth my enemies subdue,.                  doctrine will be determined by our interest in doc-
                   My shelter in distress.'                       trine itself. .It lies i-n t.he nature of the ~case that our


                                           T H E          ST`ANDARD..   BE,ARER                                            259     -

     love for the truth determines our interest in its his-          parents and according to the doctrine as taught "in
     torical development.                                            this local Christian church." Secondly, the slogan:
         To this we may add-and, incidentally, this should           "No creed but Christ," simply ignores the'blood of the
     fill us with true and genuine concern-that our modern           saints, the struggle of the ages, the bloody efforts by
     age, as far as the church-world is concerned; cannot            the Church of God to defend the truths of the sacred
     be labeled as a truth-loving and seeking age. Neither-          Word as embodied in our creeds and confessions. The
     need, we travel far from home to discern those sigris           Church of God has been led by the Spirit of Christ
     which ought to alarm and distress us. If it be true             Jesus to see and grasp the fundamentals of the Word'
     that our modern lukewarmness towar'cl  the truth is             of ,God, and we are enabled to study the Word exact-
     often attributed to the spirit of our age, this may             ly in the light of these sacrifices of the saints -of God
     never serve' as an excuse to condone and tolerate a             in ages past. Hence, the slogan : "Nd creed but ,Chr.ist"
     general attitude of indifference to doctrinal fundament-        is ncjt nearly as innocent as it sounds. We do well to
     als which is undeniably characteristic of the time and          be on our guard against it. History verifies that- a.
     age in whicti we live. On the Contrary, it should be            church that loves the truth loves its confessions and
     for us an added incentive to watch and pray and be              its creeds. Such a truth-loving Church does not ig-
     spiritually sober ill the midst of a church-world which         nore the history of the>development  -of doctrine.     "
     is rapidly apostatizing. And we must never cater to                This leads us to another' observation. Anyone ac-
     a desire to be less doctrinal and more practical (in-           quainted with the history of doctrine will readily-ac-
     ddentally, although we can distinguish between "doc-            quiesce with the .undersigned  when he makes the re-
     trinal" and "practical" we must never separate them).           mark that an outstanding feature of this history has
         Unbelievable as it may sound, there are churches            been and is that of struggle. The Church of God has
     and peoples who are openly disdainful of the history            been compelled to fight every inch and step og the way.
     of doctrine.    The struggle of the Church of God               Never was it permitted to relax its vigilance.  `I$e
     throughout the ages holds very little interest for them.        enemy of .the truth was continually on the alert to
     It was especially not too many years ago that this at-          undermine the fundamentals of Scripture. The  D.ir
     titude was proudly manifested and a ,banner was de-             vine record itself is full of such notices. In the Old
-    fiantly hurled aloft- which read : "No creed but Chr&t."        Dispensation the Israel of <God  was continually har-
     The Scriptures alone were their guide and .tliey spoke          assed by these enemies from within who demanded
     very disdainfully- of creeds and confess&s as the               that a word be preached which would be.more accep-
     woi-ks and productions of men. They  refused   to-be-           tablet  to the flesh. A passage such as Is.  30:10, 11
     cQme involved in any discussion or controversy about            strikingly illustrates this truth. The Old Testament
     the truth which would revolve about these creeds or             is replete with the efforts of carnal Israel to silence
     confessions. We may add the  observatioiz that theiru           the testimony of the. Lord and to shut the mouths ~of
     `Scriptural" discussions of fundamental truths were             th% prophets who proclaimed unto them the word of
     hardly worthy of the name and l!ot.,characterized  by Jehovah. The Church's greatest danger, also then,
     thoroughness and profundity. `Their appeals to Holy .did not threaten from without but.from  within. This
     Writ consisted largely, almost exclusively, of mass  quo-       struggle of the church for the preservation of true and
     t.ations and unsupported by sound interpretation of the         sound doctrine becomes more acute and intense with
     <quoted passages or by` the honest attempt to `inter-           the coming of the New Dispensation. In Matt. 16 :12
     pret  Scripture'with  Scripture. And, they openly re-           the Lord warns His disciples against the doctrine of
     vealed their disdain of creeds or confessions. This,            the pharisees and sadducees,  and we quote: "Then un-
     we  should understand, does not reveal a great desire           derstood they how that He bade them not beware of
     to understand &he truth. ,Of course, we do not wish             the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Phar-
     to leave the impression that Scripture is not our only          isees and of the ;Sadd_ucees." Well-known to us is the
     criterion of what .is true or false. The Word of God            word of the Saviour in Mark 13 :22: "For false Christs
     is. the sole standard of the truth, the only infallible         `and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs
     rule of faith atid life. But, in the first place, it is sim-    and wonders,  to seduce, if it were possible, even the
     ply a fact that we are not instructed in the truths of          elect." In Ephesians 4  :14 the apostle warns the
     Holy Writ directly from the holy Scriptures. .?Ve will          ,Church of God to be on the alert against every wind
     `say more of this, the Lord willing,. in .due time. Each        of doctrine, and ascribes these deviations from' the
     member of the- body df Christ is instructed in the truth        truth to the sleight bf men and cunning craftiness,
     of God's Word by the Church, and the Church in-                 and `I quote :' "That $e henceforth be no more children
     structs us through the confessions. In fact, our ear-           tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind
     liest instruction was given us in our  .homes  by our           of doctrine, by the sleight of men., and cunning crafti-


260                                 ,THE  STANDARDS   B E A R E R

ness, whereby they lie in wait to, deceive." In Acts         Lord has also privileged us with a name and place
20 :28-30 we hear. the same apostle utter these: solemn      among the ranks- of those who, throughout the ages,
words in his farewell address to the elders of Ephesus,      have engaged in. the struggle for the preservation of
and we quote: "Take heed therefore unto yourseld&            the Word of ,God, which, being fought uncompromising-
and to all the flock, over the which the Holy `Ghost`liath' ly throughout the ages, is sure of victory because of
made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which         Him Who leads His Church into all truth, and will be
He hath purchased with His own blood. For I know with her even unto the end of the world.
' this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves"en-                                              H. Veldmtin
ter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your
own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things,                             -:---   ~-_
to draw away disciples after them." Alld in II John
.lO, 11 the apostle, John, delivers this uncompromising
admonition, and again we quote: "If there come any           j
unto y&i, and bring not this doctrine,  receive him not      I2       DECENCjr'-and   O R D E R   1
into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he
th& biddeth him Godspeed  is partaker of his evil            Intro&&on.
deeds."-it is well to bear in mind that the apostle
identifies in these words the bringing of another doc-             The branch of study that is denbted'by the above
trine with an ,evil deed.                                    caption is one that is extremely wide in scope. Th-e
                                                             average reader undoubtedly thinks of Church Polity
       Indeed, the history of doctrine throughout the New    in terms of the eighty&ix articles of our own accepted
DispenFation  has vindicated these warnings of Christ Church Order. The scope, however, of this subject is
and His apostles. Unrelentingly the enemy has hurled         far broader than this. Properly speaking it would
his force;against  the bulwarkB of the truth. And the        comprehend a study of all t&e various  Ecclesiastical
(Church of t;he living `God has been compelleG  to main-     Polities that have been and are now found in the
tain a sharp and constant vigilance. It has been forced      church world. To mention a few of the most out-
to maintain its watchmen upon the walls of Zion day          standing ones . we may cite the following:               The
and night. The world knows no compromise  !in its            Monarchial  System found in  the  Rotian  ;Catholic
savage opposition to the truths of the Word of the           Church, the Aristocratic System found i,n the Eastern
Lord and the Church must ever be on the aler,t that          Church, the Episcopal System of the Church of
the sound of its trumpet is continuously clear- and          England, the Congregational and Presbyterian Sys-
certain. That trumpet must not emit a vague, indef-          tems. The study of these different systems then ip-
inite sound. The sound of that trumpet must not be           eludes even more than defining the principles  and-
of such a. nature that it can be welcomed by friend ldetails of government prevailing within the several
and enemy alike.. It niust be such that it attracts otily    church bodies mentioned for to each of these move-
those who love the truth of God's Word as it once has        nients there. is an intricate history that must also be
been delivered to the saints and to the church of the        taken into account.
living God. The sound of that trumpet must not con-                In this rubric it will not be our intention to delve
fuse but strengthen and enlighten. And this receives         into all these systems of polity. We shall confine our-
all the more emphasis. if we continually bear in mind        selves to the system of government w.hich is found in
that the enemy is ever lying in wait to deceive and to       our own Prot. Ref. Churches and from time to time
lead the people of the Lord astray. Hence, it lies in        bring but certain characteristic features of others by
the very nature of the case that the history of doctrine way of contrast.           V&rious  considerations motivate
should be of the greatest import&e and interest to           this choice of procedure.  First  of  all, our approach
us. The word of -the Lord in Rev. 3 :ll is surely ap- must always be positive, and whereas we are of the
plicable @lay, and we quote : "Behold, I come quickly :      firm conviction that our own system is sanctioned by
hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy         the Word of -God, `it follows that the principles em-
crown." And we do well, in our fighting of the good bodied in that system alone can be further developed
fight of faith, ever to retain in view the struggle of       from  The Word.  The truth is always positive and
those who have appeared -in this arena before us. It         seeking it must be our main objective also in the field
will sharpen us in our ability to discern the lie from       of Church Polity.
the trutll. It will quicken our aipreciation  of the tre-          Secondly, the majority of- our readers, we trust,
mendous efforts put forth by the heople  of God in their     are primarily interested in that system. Under it
defence and maintaining of .the fundamentals of Holy         they are governed  as members of  -<the Protestant
Writ. It will gladden our hearts to know that the            Reformed Churches. Just as the..citizens  of any given


                                                !CHfi:~.SP~Nlt3~~B~  :B%ARER .                                                         261
                                                                                                             ._.             ._
 country are more concerned about matters pertaining termined by -our conception. of. the subject before us.
. to their own government than they are about things                         Some seem .to think (at least practically) that the
 that concern some foreign nation, we believe, members `Church  `Order is  _ merely  a- compilation of rules
 of the church ought to be and rightly are pr-imarily                        governing the procedure of Consistory; Clas,sical and
 interested in' the Polity `of the Denomination with                         Synodical- meetings and that, therefore,. only the office
 which they are affiliated. That, `of course, does not                       bearers.-of 
                                                                                  .,  _,... ;-the. church need to have knowledge of it,
 preclude interest in other systems. They may be,.pro-                       ju.st as ..a competent lawyer must know theI.rules.  of
 fitably studied, much the same as the people of one                         procedure in the civil courts.  TZhis idea  isnot...only
 country inquire into the mode of civil government in                        erroneous but from it emits the detestable stench of
 another land. But that interest `in secondary .while                        Romanism which is .obnoxious  to .every child of, the
 that in one's own system is primary. We suppose that Reformation.                             Others regard, Church Polity  ..as..  a
 our readers also possess that primary interest for                          science to be studied only in the Seminary, but. thi.s
 citizens  di.sinterested  in their, own government make                     conception is also fallacious.                            `_
 poor citizens, and church members who are indifferent                         : If either of the above were true there..would-be:no
 to Ecclesiastical Polity make `poor `members. It'is no                      purpose in the under,signed  assigning himself to,.the
 more than part of our solemn duty to be interested !                        task of writing.. The limited few'that would then ,be
     ThGdly, by confining ourselvesZ  to a discussion of                     concerned withthis  subject. could:mostLpr.ofit,ably  con:
 our own polity, we can also limit our discussion to the                     suit the sources that are now available.- and there
 eighty-six articles of our own D. K. ,O. in which the                       would be no point in writing more. We could  :stop
 basic principles' of our polity are denned. If there are here; .$owever,  that is not the. case. +Our conviction
 some of our readers who do not ha&in their'Go%e  the                        is that the IChurch  (Order  is taken from and founded            _
 little "green book", we strongly urge you td"purchase                       uponthe. principles. of the iWord of God -and,:& sudi
 one from the Synodical Stated Clerk, `This little book                      it is&he expression of the will df Christ,. the K&g .ancl              .
 contains in addition to the Church Order much other                         Beam -of the Church, concerning. 8he regulrat@a  of 3he
 valuable information, including Synodical  deei&&                           oonduct  ofi,.all  who  belong  to  .the  `chur&..  It is true
 pertaining to different articles.' Every Protestant                         that the Church Order tis not Scripture in the. sense
 Reformed family should have one. It is this little                          that the latter is infallibly, inspired and can .never be
 book that will serve as our  t.exC in our  ,future
                                                      (?`A                   changed whereas the former is composed by men and
 discussions.                                                 ..a            may under varying circumstances be .altered;  but that
                                                                             does not take ,away the fact that the principles of the
 T h e   s t a r t i n g   point. .                                          one are -elicited from the other. If this. were.not  the
     It is `rather important that we, -from the very out-                    case the Church Order would. have -no significance
 set of our discussion, make clear what our specific                         w h a t s o e v e r .                                   :  7'
 objective in perusing this field shall be. We,  m$st                           The. point, however, that we. are primarily in-
have a goal and purpose. This, goal must be clearly                          terested .in here is that whereas the principles, of .our
 and constantly before our minds and from the `very                          `Church  -Order express the will of Christ, they, are
 beginning we must make sure that we are on the right                        binding upon the consciences of all who belong to His
 road or we will never reach the desired destination.                        church. The believer promises before God and His
 Starting point and purpose are closeiy.  related. The                       church that he will submit himself to the rule of the
latter determines the former. That' is true' in all                          church. He binds himself. to these rules  pf church                         1
things. Only when one has a purpose is he prepared                           government. He promises that by the grace of God he
to determine his starting point and then, too, one that                      will regulate all his life according to these rules. That
has no purpose is also without a' starting point.                            must not be regarded lightly.for  it is a very serious
     This principle is worthy of illustration.. If. a man,                   matter. It means .certainly  that our Church ,Order is
for example, purposes to become a doctor he does not                         the rule for our daily conduct and by it. we are to be
begin by studying book-keeping or farming, but his                           governed not only in relation, to, the office-bearers in
point of departure is in the field of medicine. .C&? to                      the church but also in relation to our .brothers  and
use another illustration, if a man,,desires to ,establish                    sisters of the household of- faith. - Our Church Order
a hardware business,`he  does not beginby ordering a                         then is certainly no abstractionbut,  on the, contrary,
supply of dry-goods. So, too,. in  deter,m@ng   ,our                         is a matter of greatest practical  cpncern to every
starting point we must face the question:. "W+t end                          member `of the church.
do we have in mind in `writing on,the varigussphases                            From this we are now ,ready to express our purpose
of Church Polity?`:  .,           ,.-  ~-  ,.,~;  `"..  i &:".:        :.
                                                              "      -"z-' and to find our proper starting point :with a view to
 ,_ Our answer to this ,.question. -,will: .in.. turn be de:                 that aim. Before..we.wrote  that our mainpbjective in


the field of Church Polity is to seek the Truth. ,6 To
this we may now add that it is not truth as the object
of scientific dogmatics. that we seek but rather it is
the truth in its practical application to our life' as
saints. We must know the rules of Christian conduct.
These rules we must study in all their intricate impli-
cations which are as- complex as life itself.- We -must                                   It is not. the purpose. of this department to give'
know "how we ought to behave ourselves in the house                                   a review of books recently published'. We can leave
of God, which is the church of the living God, the                                    this safely in the hands of the editor of the Standard
pillar and. ground of the truth."- (I Tim. 2 :15). In                                 Bearer. `But since the books~  reviews we-refer to are
the church the Lord has commanded that "all things                                    those relative to an Exposition of the Heidelberg Cat-
be- done decently and in order." ,Calvin remarks on                                   echism, written by his own hand, we.feel  we know him
this passage that "it is a rule by which we  -must                                    well enough to say he would not blow his own horn.
regulate everything that has to do with external                                      So we take this opportunity to call-,attention  to what
piety." NC. Hodge writes.: "The apostle here not only                                 others are saying about Rev. H. Hoeksema's most re-
condemns any church acting independently of other                                     cent publications.
churches, but also any member of a particular ,church
acting from his own impulses: without regard to                                          The editor of Blue Banner Faith and Life, the Rev.
others. The church as a whole, and in every separate                                  J. $G. Vos, writes the following regarding Baptized In-
congregation, should be a harmonious, well organized                                  to Christ in Vol. 7, No. 2, page 105 of his periodical:
body." A. T. Robertson -makes this remark:. "That                                     "The present volumn is the sixth in a series on the
issurely a good -rule for all matters of chu%ch life and                              Heidelberg Catechism by a well-known minister and
worship." In conclusion, therefore, we may express                                    theological leader of the Protestant Reformed Church.
our purpose.as  the attempt to elucidate upon the prin-                               It `discusses the means of grace, preaching, regener-
ciples of Church Order . so that the order of the                                     ation, `the idea of the sacraments, baptism, the cov-
institutional and organic life of the church may be                                   enant relation between SGod and man, the ground of
preserved and maintained. If, in some small measure,                                  infant baptism. For the most part of its contents,
we succeed in this, our efforts will. have been                                       the book follows the recognized highway of the Re-
abundantly rewarded. With this goal .befare.  us it is                                formed Faith. The teaching is sound, clear and help-
almost needless to say that our starting point will- be ful." He then quotes from the chapter on Preaching
the Word of God so that in its light we may be ledto                                  as a Means of `Grace (p. 29) to. give an example ,of
walk according to the proper rules and order of the                                   what he means by the last statement. The review con-
Church.                                            T                             ., *. tinues : "A considerable portion of the book is devo-
                                                                                      ted to a discussion of different views of the covenant
   Next time, D. V.,. we will have a f,ew ,moreeintro-                                relation between God and man. The author refers to
ductory remarks to make before entering our subject the Westminster ,Confession of Faith VI. l-3 (evident-
proper.                                                                               ly an error for VII. 1-3 j and says i `Here we meet with
                                            $G. Vanden Berg the idea of the covenant as . . . a means to an end.`-
                                                                                      an ideawhich..the  author rejects, among other reasons
                         Jg-          Y       -                                       because Scripture speaks of it as an `everlasting' cov-
                                                                                      enant." He then quotes Hoeksema : `A means is not
                                                                                      eternal : when the `thing to be effected by it has been
    -       Zion,~ founded on the mountains, ..                                       attained, the means  has. served its purppse. An ever-
              God, thy Maker loves thee well ;                                        lasting covenant, therefore, is not a way or a means,
            He has ch.osen thee, most precious,                -.                     but is the destination, the end itself.' (pp.142-3). Rev.
              He delights in thee to dwell;             \c                .-          Vos continues : "The. text cited is Jer. 32:40 where
                  IGod's own city,                                                    the word for `everlasting' is the Hebrew  ,OFLAM,   ~a
             `Who can all. thy glory tell?                                      ,:
                            . .                                                       word translated 20 times in the King James Version
                                                                                      as `perpetual', which'need not have the strict meaning
           -Heathen lands and' hostile peoples                            .'          of absolute eternity. Thus in Gen. 9 :16 the covenant
              Soon shall- come the Lord to know;                                      made `between :God and every living creature of all
           = Nations born again in- Zion                                              flesh, that is upon the earth, after the Flood is called
              Shall-the Lord's salvation show;                                        `the everlasting (CLAM). covenant', yet it can hardly
                God. Almighty                                                         be. regarded as eternal in the strict sense ; compare
            Shall on Zion strength bestow.,                          .                [G&r:- 8  :22, `while the earth  ~remaineth'." Referring


                                             T H E   ST~'NDX~G--   B E A R E R                                     263
                                  - - - -
 to page 140 of' the book, the Rev. Vos deems Hoek-           responsibility of the- second `part, as described in the
 sema's remark "a rash assertion" when he `frejects           formula for baptism as used in the Christian Reformed `.
 as `pure fiction' -the. idea that God promjsed  Adam _. Churches." And after making a few comments on the
                                                                                       _     -
 eternal life as the reward for obedience to the com-         chapters dealing with Baptism and Infant Baptism in
 mand.not  to eat the fruit of the tree of the know- which the reviewer contends that. in respect to the
 ledge of good and evil." He asserts "Surely the pro-         latter (Infant Baptism) the author's "argument
 mise of eternal life .as the reward for obedience in the     would have been more complete, we feel, had the
 Covenant of Works was implied. by the presence.of:,the       writer explicated the passage which calls covenant
 tree of life in the garden of Eden." The reviewer            children `holy' children (I Cor. `7 :14) ", the Rev. Van
 likes the interpretation of his father, the late Geerhar-    Houten concludes with the following paragraph : "The
 dus Vos, better, as he ,quotes, fromhis Biblical Theol-      reviewer recommends -this book highly. This does not
ogy' p.  33..  He' closes his review with the remark:         mean, of course, that he agrees with the author at ev-
 Yt is clear that though much of the teaching of this         ery point, as we have indicated above. However, the
 book is acceptable, it needs to be read with, some. disr sound and clear emphasis upon the sovereignty of
 crimination."                     .x                         `God and the preciousnessof Reformed truth is needed
    Interesting it was to read another review of this t o d a y !
                                                                         It. is our prayer that the author may be
 same book in the latest issue of Torch and Trumpet           allowed to complete this series of thorough exposi-
  (Vol. 2 No. 6) by the hand of the Rev.' Frederick W.        tions of the `Heidelberg Catechism."
 Van Houten. `This reviewer offers his comment -and              Most interesting of all is the review appearing in
 criticism in a chapter by chapter review. Regarding the same issue of Torch and Trumpet ,by the hand of
 chapter 2, the Rev. Van Ho&en' says : "Preaching as          the Rev. Leonard  Greenway  on the latest of  R.ev.
 a Means of Grace-impressed Us as ,one of the best in         Hoeksema's books, entitled : Eating and Drinking
 the book. We, heartily recommend its reading to ev-          Christ.             -
 ery thinking Christian. The argument is clear, the              Rev. Greenway remarks : "In this exposition. of
 thesis worthy of careful consideration-even if one           the" Catechism  (Lord's. Day XXVIII  -  XxX1) the
 may not agree with.. its conclusion." A little further       author lives up to his enviable reputation for solid,
 on the reviewer continues "with unkindly severity the        substantial treatment of Scripture truth. I have yet
- writer denounces the revival type of meeting charac-        to read. something from his pen that might be- de-
 teristic of current Fundamentalist groups. No doubt          scribed as `light' or superficial.' He is an exegete of'
much of. this type of activity is` justifiably criticized,    unusual ability, a theologian par excellence, -and cer- ~_ ~.
 but nevertheless the author has `missed, an excellent        tainly a lover of the Reformed Faith."
 opportunity to bind upon- the heart of, the church the          "There have been in the past unfortunate devel?$
 urgency of the Great Commission, .SUch a call would          ments in connection  ., with certain emphases in his
 have given fine balance to this otherwise most excel-
 lent chapter.".                                              preaching and teaching which led to situations whe.re
                    ,Cdmmenting: on the .ref erences which
 the author expounds to establish the  .immediacy  of         animosities prevailed in place of brotherly discussion.
                                                              Had the Rev. Herman Hoeksema been willing to re-
 regeneration the reviewer continues : "Very little is, main in the Christian Reformed Church, where his
 said, however, concerning -those who are externally
 called,  ,that is, who  corn'`' under the hearing of the theological scholarliness is still admired by many, and
 gospel. We believe that this omission was not inten-         to submit his views to a more prolonged discussion
 tional, but this reviewer wishes that' an explanation        and examination, it  is. quite possible that the Pro-
                                                              testant Reformed [Church would never have come into
 of Romans 10 :14,15 and especially verse 17. . . would       existence, and the Christian Reformed Church would
 have been included." At this point we noticed an be the stronger for having him and- his fine people&l
 asterisk referring to a foot-note by the Editorial           her constituency. It is not unreasonable to cherish
 Committee.which  reads ,as follows : "In fairness to the
 Rev. Mr. Hoeksema it ought to be stated that these the hope that a reunion may be some day effected."
 passages are treated in his collection of sermons on            We could not escape' the question when we read
 Romans  g-11, privately published some years ago." this last paragraph: .What does this have to do with
 Perhaps the author of this foot-note would be so kind        the review of Hoeksema's book?. It seemed to us that
 as to let the Rev. Van Houten and -others  of- his           the  .reviewer  forgot for a moment his task, .and be-
 colleagues read that book of sermons. It would .be           came so overwhelmed with the thought of the evil
 most enlightening to them. Respecting Hoeksema's             treatment the author received by the' hands of his
 conception of the covenant, the reviewer remarks: it         Church leaders that he could wish they would sincerely
 "is rigidly one-sided, with very little emphasis on .the     repent and pray for the return into their .fold of "him


  z&4-   -.;`"
             -*   ?.                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R `
                                   ,_--_,.-_--                                                .:                           -.
 and his fine people." Was not the reviewer not a-little reviewer fiati. %e term. `consubstantiation' . . . '1s 1X
 conscience smitten when he penned thesi, words? And longer in `+ voglle'!;                   And, "more emphasis is being
 will- not his colleagues .be a little aggravated by. -the      placed" in-the l&$heran Church "on spiritual eating."
 boldness he evinced -when he also aceuses  . them- of           .'  A, more  -s&!ibus~- criticism, however;- the Rev.
 animosities they allowed to prevail in place of bu;o-          ,Gi+enway  gives to:.Hoeksema's discussion of the.. ques-
 therly discussion ?    One who is a little acquainted          ,tion :  What- is the promise of  t&e  GoGpel ?            Rev.
..with the -history asks himself a lot, of questions wtien      Greknway,  it. appears, is  n6t yet ready to accept
 he reads a -paragraph like this.                               Hoeksetia's p&sent&ion of an `uncbnditional' promise.
   F-But bcotheg Greenway .appears not to be too iwell          Hoeksema ; "from his rigid standpoint" has created
 acquainted &ith the history. Does he not' know that for the Y'eviewer  %- problem, and that problem ,appears
 Hoeksema -tifid &hers were  allowed ,110 brotherly `dis-       to .be this : What to do with mafi% responsibility ! The
 .&&n? Does he not' k&w that Hoeksema was not                   same  probleti  which his.  colleagues the Rev. -`Van
 &en consulted by the committee of  .pre-advice  that           H&ten has. .It.,&e&!md to us that the& `problem' Will
 hhd' his case, nor by the Synod that &ally foilotied           diss6lve  as soon as they- look at the truth. without the
 their advice? Does he not know that only once `was             colored  glasses.  of. the First Point of the Synod of
 Hoeksema `allowed to speak in his defence, alid that           1924.; .
 after he had pleaded for just .one opportunity? D`oes             W.e.$so have a problem. Briefly it is this:' What
 he not know that Hoeksema appealed to the Synod of             would the editor of the Banner say if he received some
 1926' and- that that Synod plainly ignored him?' K&as- book reviews  -like the two appearing in  Torch and
 brother  Greenway forgotten the Pantlind Confer@& b-urnpet to be published in the Banner?
 wheie Hoeksema challenged his fellow ministers $6                                                            M. Schipper
 continue brotherly discussion and that in the presence
 of the late Dr. Schilder who came to this country lo
                              \
 s&k for such a reunion? Does not Rev.  Greenwa.y                                .--G-m
 know that as far as Hoeksema is concerned, .it was
 npt a :questi&  of being willing. or unwilling to abide'in                                         -
                                                                                        .I
the.Chr. Ref. Chu!rches, but%hat he was ruthlessly. cast                                                            . .
:out1  .Does the Rev.  `Greenway not know that under'                      Who shall the Lord's elect condemn?
 no consideratidns  could the Rev. Hqeksema and "his               ..       `T~s #God -that justifies iheir souls ;
 fine. people" have remained %I the Ghris_tian Reformed                    And mercy, like a mighty stream,
 ,Ckurches  as  Jong as the unscriptural and  unlconfes-                   O'er. all their sins divinely rolls.
 si@l  .Three' Points of' Cotimon  Grace were main=                        Who shall adjudge the saints to hell?
 taitied? And  `doe;  he not  know that in view of the                     `Tis ChZst that- suffered i&heir stead :
 &ritual condition of the  `Chtirch""in   1924'  .the  &lit                And ihe salvaidn: * $0' fGlfi1,
 was unavoidable bee&se it was a refdrmation? And                          .Btihold  His risirik from the dead.
 fi&`aily, does not brother Greenway  have a wrong Gn-                      ,
 derst'afidilig of reformations to "cherish the hope &at                   He lives ! He lives ! and sits above,
 ,a-&inion" by our returning-to. the Christian Rqefornied                  Forever  interce$ni there;
 Churches "may some day be effected"? Yes, we tab                          Who shall divide -us fT?rn His. love?
 hope for a reunion, but it ,tiust be one in which ReS.                  : ,Or what should tempt us to despair?
 Greenway  -and his people will come to 'us in sorrdw                      Shall persecution or distress,
 and repentance and walk with us in the w&y 02 truth.                      Famine, 07 sword, or nakedness ?
 In. our `opinion he must do more than deplore the past                    H& that. hath loved us, bears us through,
 conduct of his Churches, he should protest &gain& `it                   . And  makes  us more than  conq%ors too.
 until his Chnkches repent, or cast him out alsb'as they
 did the author of the book he was reviewing, .whom                        Faith hath an overcoming pow'r,
 he describes- as "an exegete of unusual ability . . . a                   It triumphs. in the dying hour:
 lober of the Refprmed Faith".                                             Christ js our life, our joy, our, hope;
 Besides the complimentary aspects of his  review,                         .A@ can .ye sink with such a prop.
 the  Rev.  IGreenwajr  has especially two  criticistis  to.               Not all that men on earth can do,
 offer. He riot&  that Rev. Hoeksema'i  presentation of                  NoP  pow'ers  bn high, nor pow'rs below,
`the Lutheran doctrine' of consubstantiation is "a bit                     Shall .Catise `His mercy to remove,
 out-of-date", since  $&cording  to the information  tlie                  Nor,wean our hearts fro&Christ our love.


