     VOLUME  xxx11                                        NOVEMBW   1, 1955  -GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                              NUMBER  3

                                                                                                   And as necessary consequence, he is condemned, damned
            M E D I T A T I O N                                                            and cast away from God.
I                                                                                                  Where, then, is the upright and the perfect man ?
                                                                                                                         Q  *  9  *
                         The Peaceful End
            "`hfa~~k  t h e   p e r f e c t   TV&,  and  b e h o l d   t h e   upvight:            And still the text says: Mark the perfect man and the
            for  the end of that man  is  peace.J'  PSALM  37  137                         upright . . . .
                                                                                                   Yes, there are perfect men and upright men (and wo-
      The end of the perfect man and the upright is peace!                                 men, and children) among us.
      Astounding truth  i                                                                          To be a perfect man does not mean that we are without
      About whom does thk poet speak ? Are there such people                               sin.
on this sorry earth ? Who would dare to say that he  i%  a.                                        It means that he is and has everything which belongs to
perfect man? And who would dare to say of himself that he                                  the Christian here below.
is upright? Are we not all very imperfect, and also false?                                         It means that with respect to all the manifestation of his
      Let us see.                                                                          life and heart and conversation he bears the image of J&US
      First of all, the derivation of the names  perfect  and  ztp-                        Christ.
,l-tglzt  leads us to contemplation of the Godhead. God is the                                     You see, when man fell  away from God, so that there
eternally perfect One, as also the Upright One.                                            was no longer any man that revealed the virtues of God,
      Attend to this Scripture: "He is the Rock, His work is                               God chose Him a Man. There is really only one Man left.
perfect: for all His. ways are judgment: a God of truth and                                And that &tan is Jesus, the perfect and the upright Jesus.
                                                                                                   Oh, how He has shown that during His sojourn among
without iniquity, just and right is He." Deut. 32 :4.                                      the serpents and the adders.
      God's endless perfection means that with regard to His                                       He is the only Man who could arise and throw this
Divine Being He is blessedly full, complete and integral.                                  challenge among men : Who of you convinces me of sin ?
There is no lack in God. All that is needed to be the great                                        He is the Upright one and the perfect Man.
God is in Him. Perfection emphasizes fullness, completeness.                                       And no one, either in the Church or without the Church
      God's uprightness emphasizes truth.                                                  has ever had the courage to deny this. If anything in the
      It is that virtue of God whereby He is as He reveals Him-                            whole manifestation of Jesus was plain it was this : Jesus is
self. His inmost thought and the works of His hands, even                                  L'lnnocence  in Person.
as His words are all harmonious. He thinks, speaks and                                             For He was  aid is and shall be God, most blessed for-
works as He is from eternity to eternity. You are never                                    ever, Amen !
disappointed in God. Uprightness stresses that the hidden                                          Therefore, -if any man, women or child has Jesus in his
and inmost life as well as that which is seen and manifested                               or her heart, he is perfect and upright.
are in complete harmony with one another. Far is the Al-                                     That is even true with regard to sin.
mighty from falsehood.                                                                             If you are regenerated, and if this regeneratibn  has reached
      Relatively these virtues dwell in man, made in the si-                               your consciousness, you reveal the perfection of your deepest
militude of God.              ~~                                                           heart, in the hatred against sin, especially your own sin.
      -That is, as man came forth out of the hands of God                                          The perfect child pf God hates sin, condemns it, eschews
in Paradise.                                                                               it and sorrows beca,use  of it.
      But he fell. `And now man, by nature, is very imperfect,                                     And he proceeds, ancl will tell it all to his God. He con-
and very false.                                                                            fesses sin.

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

      And he or she is also the upright one.                               But not so the perfect man and the upright.
      The upright-is the man (or woman) whose inward and                   When God says to them: Prepare your house for  you
outward life is harmonious.                                        shall die! they say: I will be ready right away, Lord!
      You will note that such is the very opposite of deception            Of all people, only the perfect man and the upright are
which is our natural heritage.                                     able to die. Their death is an act of faith.
      But the real Christian's life is such that the subjective            And their end is peace, says the text.
and the objective harmonize with each other.                               Peace, what is it?
      And now, please, do not oppose me by saying that all                 Peace is absolute harmony between God and us. In
Christians confess that the opposite is often true. That the       the sphere of love.
Christians often are also false. Take for instance David.                  Peace is when God's heart and your heart beat in unison.
Watch how he smiles on Uriah  when he returned from the                    And it seems to me that it ought to be rather plain that
wars. And tries to induce him to go home to Bathsheba.             only the perfect and upright have a peaceful deathbed.
      We will admit all this with reservations.                            God will never dwell with the imperfect and the false.
      You must not stay there. Watch David in Psalm 51.                    For God is  God He is far from all iniqiuty. He cannot
      And then you have the complete picture. There you see        dwell with sinners. Only when Jesus has made you perfect
something which, you will never find with the reprobate.           can you expect to dwell in the hallowed tranquility of heaven's
David confesses all his sins. And proves his uprightness. So       perfection.
much, that he will even warn sinners from sin.                             And here is the sweetness of the present Gospel, that
      Here is the explanation: the Christian is perfect and up-    you may taste this peace even before you go to heaven. That
right in two wkys..                                                is also proof of the stand that there are perfect and upright
      First, he is perfect in Jesus Christ. And also upright in    men in this world. If there were not, all communion with
Him. All the uprightness and perfection of Jesus' Person           God would be impossible. But even now you sing: In sweet
and work is reckoned unto the elect. Our fathers wax very          communion Lord with Thee I constantly abide.
bold, and say that the elect will stand in the judgment as                 And Paul tells us that we have peace with God since we
though they themselves in their own persons had fulfilled all      are justified by faith thru our Lord Jesus Christ.
the law of God. So completely are they justified in the Son                And such peace is past understanding. Even now.
of God.                                                                    But that peace certainly will be tasted to the full when we
      Second, they are perfect and upright here on earth in        die.
this life in principle. And mark you well, that little prin-               The end of that man is peace says the text.
ciple of perfection and uprightness dwells where they live                 But at this juncture I must remind you that all of this
the deepest, in their inmost heart. The Scripture denominates      is of grace.
it as "truth in the inward parts."                                         Of grace you are chosen ; of grace Jesus was given to you
      And that is the portion of all God's elect. It is not so,    `and died for you ; of grace you believe and are saved ; and
that some of God's children are perfect and upright and that       it is the gift of grace that the perfection and the uprightness
others have little or nothing of these virtues. No, but all        of Jesus is given to you on this side of the grave. And it is
God's people are equally perfect and upright in Jesus Christ,      again the grace of God which makes you sing on your death-
and there is a varying degree of perfection and uprightness in     bed: Even if I go thru the valley of the shadow of death, I
them here on earth. And we are admonished in the Scrip-            will fear no evil, for Thou art with me . . . .
tures to strive after them, if  haply we may grow in such                  It is peace, but out of grace, the grace of God in .Jesus.
beauties.
      God be blessed, there are perfect and upright men and                                      * 8  *  *
women.                     *  * *  *                                       Mark such !
      There is an end.                                                     Behold them !
      Contrary to our creation.                                            It is the injunction of the text.
      We should live on and on everlastingly.                              Mark the perfect man and behold the upright!
      That is the way we were created in Adam and Eve.                     It shows that the children of God are walking Gospels
      But we sinned, and the Lord said : Dying you shall die.      unto their fellows.
And die we did.
      There is an end.                                                     Do not mark the imperfect or the false. It might make
      And it is very unnatural for man to die. We hate and         you do as they do. But be sure and mark the perfect man.
abhor death. We all do. He is the great enemy.                     And be sure and behold the upright.
      And the wicked rebel against death. They never bow                   We are walking Evangels for one another.
the head in obedience to God's voice. God has  -to snatch                  There .is a wondrous power of Christian discipline in the
them away in death.                                                communion of saints.


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                          51

   Paul reminded the Philippians to mark the apostles, so
that  haply they might follow them, seeing the end of their                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
conversation.                                                               Semi-moftthly,  except  mo&hly  d&&g   Jutte,  Jltly   a&  August
   That is especially so at their latter end.                                 Published by the  REFORMED   FREE  PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
    Mark the perfect man (and the woman) when they die.                     P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
                                                                                                  Editor  -  REV.  H
    Some of them sing on the way to the hospital where they                                                                    ERMAN  HOEKSEXA
will breathe their last breath.                                             Communications  relative  to contents should be addressed to Rev.
                                                                            H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
    In fact, I have derived much joy in marking the end of                 All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
a dear mother in Israel, who had passed the age of the stiong.              G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
                                                                            Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
    Her end was peace. And we have marked and beheld.                      address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for  -each  notice.
   There was a song of, peace among us when we have sown                    RENEWALS:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
her earthly remains against the day of the harvest.                         ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                            to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
    It is in her memory that I wrote these few lines.                        i                      Subscription price : $4.00 per year
    Peace, blessed peace ! Amen.                                             Entered  as Second Class matter at  Grand Rapids, Michigan
                                                                 G.V.


                                                                                                              C O N T E N T S

                                                                         MEDIT~ITION  -
                           I N   M E M O R I A M                                  The Peaceful End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~.... 49
                                                                                         Re;. G. Vos
   Monday evening, at about 8:00 o'clock, October 17,  1955,  our        EDITORIALS  -
beloved Mother,                                                                   Based on Untruths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
     MRS. GERTIE SCHUT, nee  VANgLOMPENBERG                                              Rev. H.  Hoeksenia

fell asleep in Jesus, at the age of 76 years.                            As  TO  BOOKS-
                                                                                  Expository Outlines on the Whole Bible.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
   The knowledge that she is in glory softens our sorrow.                                Rev. H. Hoeksema
   "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is          OUR  D
covered." Psalm 3.2  :l                                                               OCTRINE-
                                                                                  The Triple Knowledge (Part III  - Of Thankfulness) . . . . .  .54
                           Her children :                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema
                           Jake L.  ,Schut                               FRO.IVI HOLY WRIT  -
                           Mr. and Mrs. John L. Schut                             Expositi'on  of I Corinthians 1-4.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...57
                           Mr. and Mrs. Henry L. Schut                                  Rev. G. Lubbers
                           Rev. and Mrs. George  C. Lubbers-Schut
                           Mr .and Mrs. Henry Heuvelman-Schut            IN HIS  FEAR-
                           Mr. and Mrs. Chris Schut                               Speech that Manifests Fear.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...59
                           Mr. and Mrs. Steven  Holstege-Schut                           Rev. J. A. Heys
                           Mr. and Mrs. John C. Lubbers-Schut            CONTENDING FOR TEE FAITH -
                           Mr. and Mrs.,  Lambert  Schut, Jr.                     The Church and the Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :. . . ...61
                           Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit L. Schut                                  Rev. H.  Veldman
                           Mrs. Wm. Grasman-Schut
                           55 grandchildren                              THE  VOICE  OF OUR  FATHERS-
                           13 great-grandchildren                                 The Canons of  Domrdrecht  (Second Head of Doctrine) . ...63
                                                                                         Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
Hudsonville, Michigan.
                                                                         DECENCY AND  ORDER-
                                                                                  The Election o,f Elders. _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...65
                           I N   M E M O R I A M                                        Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg
   Our Society herewith expresses its sympathy with our  fellow-         FEATURE ARTICLE  -
                                                                                  The Much Cattle of Jonah 4:ll. . . . . . . . . . ;. . . . . . . . . . .                     . ...67
members, Mrs. Chris Schut, Mrs. Steven Holstege, and Mrs.                                Rev. J.  McCollam
John C. Lubbers, in the loss of their  .Mother,
                                                                         CONTRIBUTIONS  -
     MRS. GERTIE SCHUT, nee  VanKLOMPENBERG                                       Tlhe Promise of God is only unto the elect, historically
   May the knowledge that she has entered heavenly glory be                       the Believers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...69
their comfort.                                                                           Rev. G. M. Ophoff

           The Hudsonville  Prot.  Ref. Ladies' Society,                          Missionary Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
                                     Rev. Gerrit Vos, President
                                     Mrs. H. J. Holstege, Secretary

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

                                                                    launched and so many complaints lodged and protests were
             E D I T O R I A L S                                    written, and who left Synod with the testimony of the
                                                               11 largest assembly of our churches that he is fundamentally
                                                                    Reformed." p. 195.
                     Based On Untruths                                  Did we, in 1924, ever deny that Synod has jurisdiction
                                                                    or authority in matters pertaining not only to doctrine but
       Whether they deliberately, in court, misrepresented the      also to discipline  ? We never did. On the contrary, we
 Reformed conception of church polity or whether they never         emphatically asserted this.
 understood' it, I do not know and cannot judge, but certain           Again, in the same communication to  Classis  Grand
 it is that  Kok  C.S. tried to make the court believe that we      Rapids East, we state:  `.
 have what is really a congregational form of church gov-              That the Consistory fully agrees with Art. 31 of the
 ernment.                                                           Church Order: `Whatever shall be agreed upon by majority
       Even their lawyer received that impression from their        vote shall be considered settled and binding.' If only our
 testimony. In his fourteen grounds for appeal, he states:          Churches and especially Classis  and Synod had adhered to
       "12. The trial court erred in not finding and decreeing      what is considered settled -and binding, also in matters con-
 that the First Protestant Reformed Church is more nearly a         cerning procedure and rules of order . . . But with regard
 congregational form of government than at presbyterial form        to the point in  questioni  Consistory maintains that. Synod
 of government."                                                    had the entire case before it, finished it, gave an answer to
       He also states:                                              all protests and questions, the question now put by Classis
       "6. The trial court erred in not finding and decreeing       included, and that this must be considered settled and bind-
 that the Classis  and Synod were merely advisory bodies in         ing according to Art. 31 of the Church-Order." pp. 194, 195.
 the church, and erred in not decreeing that  Classis  and             When I read this history again, I am still thoroughly
 Synod had no judicatory power."                                    convinced that we were right and that Classis  Grand Rapids
       All this is in direct contradiction to the Church Order,     East was in error.
.as the judge understood very well.                                   Synod had ultimately decided in my case.
       He read article 36 of the Church Order which states:           Synod had adopted the. "Three Points" and at the same
 "The classis has the same jurisdiction over the consistory as      time expressed that I was fundamentally Reformed.
the particular synod has over the  classis and the general             Synod had rejected all requests for discipline that were
 synod over the particular."                                        before that Assembly.
       Indeed, as is always. well understood by Reformed men,         Classis  could, therefore, not reopen the case, but had to
the article does not state that the broader assemblies have         agree that, under the Church Order, the decisions about my
 the same jurisdiction over the consistory as the latter has        case were final, were "settled and binding:" I f   Classis
 over the congregation. But that is something quite different       wanted to do anything at all, it could have made a new case
 from declaring that  classis and synod have no judicatory          or appeal to Synod to reopen it.
power at all. Without some form of authority or jurisdiction           The jurisdiction of Synod is, according to Art. 36 of
no denominational life were possible. By becoming part of a         the Church Order, higher than that of  Classis.
 denomination a local congregation agrees to surrender some            At any rate, it should be perfectly evident that we never
 of its authority or jurisdiction  to-. the broader assemblies.     denied the jurisdiction of the broader assemblies over the
 This is definitely expressed in the Church Order.                  consistory.
       Nor did we, in 1924, assume a different position as es-         Nor did we ever regard only those decisions settled and
pecially Kok maintained and attempted to prove by quoting           binding that are in agreement with the dictates of our own
 from my book "The Protestant Reformed Churches in                  conscience, as  Kok would have it.
America." That this is not true is evident from the fol-               Classis  and Synod have no authority or jurisdiction under
lowing.                                                             the Church Order?
       In a document, composed by undersigned and addressed            Consider Art. 3 of the Church Order: "No one, though
by my consistory at the time to Classis  Grand Rapids East,         he be a professor of theology, elder or deacon, shall be
we state the following:                                             permitted to enter upon the ministry of the Word and the
       "Consistory does not question that Synod possesses the       sacraments without having been lawfully called thereunto.
ultimate authority to interpret our Confessional Standards.         And when anyone acts contrary thereto, and after being fre-
But neither does the Consistory want  Classis  to  assmne  a        quently admonished does not desist, the classis shall judge
position which would indicate a  .denial  of the fact that Synod    whether he is to be declared a schismatic or is to be pun-
also possesses ultimate authority in matters pertaining to          ished in some other way."
cases of discipline. And Consistory maintains that  Classis           Note that. in this article the classis is given independent
has no authority to reopen a case against the pastor, Rev-          jurisdiction, even without the consistory.
erend H.  Hoeksema,  against whom so many attacks were                 Consider also Art. 4 of the Church Order, which  stip-

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

ulates with respect to one that is to be ordained into the             This is the height of folly.
ministry for the first time:       '                                   Nor did we do so in 1924.
    1. That he must first be declared eligible for a call by           When  Classis  Grand Rapids East put us outside of the
the churches with the advice of the  classis.                       Christian Reformed  Churche's,  no matter how illegal and
    2.  *That the call must be submitted for approval to the        corrupt this action was,, we at once assumed another name,
classis.                                                            the name Protesting Christian Reformed Churches. And this
    3. That he must be examined by the classis  in the pres-        was, after 1926, changed -to Protestant Reformed Churches.
ence of the deputies  aa'  en-a&na,  which are  synodical  dele-
gates.                                                                 But I wish to return, for a moment to the fourteen points
    All this presupposes jurisdiction over the consistory that      on the basis of which the attorney, Mr. Lindsey, claims that
called him. Under the Church `Order no minister can be              the court in Grand Rapids erred and on the ground of which
ordained otherwise.                                                 he makes his appeal to the supreme court.
    The same is true of Articles 8, 9 and 10.                          These points all imply that the Protestant Reformed
    And how about Art. 52  ? It states : "The ministers of          Churches have "more nearly the congregational form of
the Word of God, and likewise the Professors of Theology            government than the presbyterial," and this is, to my mind,
(which also behooves the other professors and school teach-         also the main reason why this appeal is doomed to failure.
ers) shall subscribe to the three formulas of unity, namely,           This is true, for instance, of point 4: "The trial court
the Belgic Confession of Faith, the Heidelberg Catechism,           erred in not finding and decreeing that the attempted sus-
and the Canons of  Dordrecht,  1618-19, and the ministers           pension on June 23, 1952 of Rev. De Wolf by cross de-
of the Word who refuse to do so shall de facto be suspended         fendants and the deposin,m of all the other members of the
from their office by the consistory or classis  until they shall    consistory who stayed in the church was illegal and of no
have given a full statement, and if they obstinately persist in     binding force and effect."
refusing, they shall be deposed from their office."                    Fact is that, even apart from the fact that the action by
    Notice that, in such cases, the Church Order gives the          the consistory was perfectly legal in itself, the  classis ap-
consistory but also classis power to suspend and to depose          proved of it and had jurisdiction to determine who were the
from office.                                                        legal and proper delegates to its session of Ocotber 6, 1953.
    Art. 79 declares that the consistory may suspend the               This point, too, therefore, presupposes that we have the
ministers of the Word, but ,"whether  these shall be entirely       congregational form of church government, and that the
deposed from office, shall be subject to the judgment of the        classis has no judicatory power whatever.
classis, with the advice of the delegates of the (particular)          To a few more items I still wish to point, but this must
synod mentioned in article 11."                                     wait till our next issue, the Lord willing.
    The entire Church Order, therefore, attributes judicatory                                                               H. H.
power to the major assemblies.
    But what then  ?
    Did we not always maintain that the broader assemblies                            AS TO BOOKS
have only advisory power over the Consistory and that the
local church is after all autonomous ?                                 Expository Outlines on the Whole Bible, by Charles  9
    We did and we do.                                               Simeon. Published by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand
    But remember, in the first place, that every local church       Rapids,  Mich. Price $3.95.
in the denomination voluntarily agrees with and subscribes             Again I received and perused some volumes of this most
to all the articles of the Church Order, also to the articles       excellent commentary. All that I have written about them in
that ascribe judicatory power to the major assemblies. By           former issues of our Standard Bearer still I hold to be true.
doing this, it certainly voluntarily limited its own autonomy.      It is, on the whole, thoroughly Scriptural, written in a very
It surrendered voluntarily some of its power. Without this          clear style, and easily accessible to the general public.
no denomination of churches could possibly exist.                      Of course, this does not mean and cannot be understood
    And, secondly, the local church still always remains            to mean that I agree with all the exegesis and interpretation
autonomous, even if it leaves or is cast out from the denomi-       of the text offered in this work. As an instance of disagree-
nation. No local officebearers can be deposed from oftice, if       ment I would refer to Acts` 1:7-9 on the restitution of all
the consistory chooses to maintain them. But remember: in           things, and Rom.  11:26 on the salvation of all Israel. The
that case they are outside of the denomination with their           muthor appears to believe a post-millennarian view, though
officebearers, and they cannot sail under the name of the           he is somewhat hesitant about it.
denomination.                                                          This, however, does not retract from the value of this
    This last is what Kok denies and denied in court. Even          work, and I heartily recommend it to the general student of
if he leaves the denomination he can still keep the name            Scripture.                                                   H.H.
Protestant Reformed.                                                                     (Couhzced ou page 72)

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

                                                                     Spirit and grace  td know and to do Thy will. And hasten
           O U R   D O C T R I N E                             - the day when the wo&ers of iniquity shall be no more, and
                                                                I/ all shall be in perfect harmony with Thy will, which is
                                                                     only good. Thy will be done. Amen."
              THE TRIPLE KNOVJLEDGE                                                          L O R D 'S  D A Y   5 0 .         .
     AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE HEIDELBERG  CATEC>IISM                             Q. 125. Which is the fourth petition?
                                                                                A. "Give us this day our daily bread;" that is, be
               PART  III  -  OF  THANKFULNESS                                   pleased to provide us with all things necessary for
                                                                                the body, that we may thereby acknowledge thee to
                         LORD'S  DAY  49                                        be the only fountain of all good, and that neither our
                                                                                care nor industry, nor even thy gifts, can profit us
                          Chapter Two                                           without thy blessing  ; and therefore that we may
            Prayer for Obedience and Submission                                 withdraw our trust from all creatures, and place it
                                                                                alone in thee.
    If we do, we assume the attitude of hypocrites. It is
 certainly true that in this life we are  still ever so sinful.                                   Chapter One
 We have but a small beginning of the new obedience. Never-                                 Our Daily Bread
 theless, this petition presupposes that we hate our own sin
 and our own carnal nature, and that we strive to put off the           The fourth petition, the petition for our daily bread,
 old man and put on the new. Only in that spiritual attitude         stands first in order in the series of petitions which we are
 can we pray this particular petition: "Thy will be done on          to send to the throne of grace fo; our own personal needs.
 earth as it is in heaven."                                          The first  thi-ee petitions,  - "Hallowed be thy name  ; thy
     Moreover, this petition presupposes also a longing to           kingdom come  ; thy will be done,  L all  haire reference to
 receive the grace of God.  Witho$ that grace we can do              God, to His name, His kingdom, His will. And these stand
 nothing, and we know it. And therefore, this petition pre-          first in order. It certainly is the primary and deepest need
 supposes a longing in our hearts for the grace of the Holy          of the Christian, living, from the principle of his regenerated
 Spirit, that He may work within us to will and to do of             heart, th& God's name may be glorified, that His kingdom
 God's good pleasure.                                                may prosper and come with power in the day of our Lord
    And finally, this prayer expresses the longing for final         Jesus Christ, and that His will be done on earth as well as
 perfection. Principally this petition looks forward to the          in heaven. These realities, therefore,  are first in order be-
 consummation of all things, to the perfect life in the new          cause they are of primary significance. But the three  petit-
 Jerusalem, in the new heavens and the new earth, in which           tions that follow in this model of prayer are strictly con-
 righteousness shall dwell.  l$or the prayer that God's will         cerned with our own personal needs. And at the head of this
 may be done-on earth as it is in heaven certainly looks for-        second part of the Lord's Prayer stands the petition for
 ward to the state in which the workers of iniquity Shall be         daily bread.
 no tiore, and all without exception shall do the will of God.          We -must not cater to the erroneous conception of the
 You understand, of  coursee,  that also in that new creation        contents of this fourth petition of some over-spiritual, Chris-
0 each one will have his own station and calling. We are not         tians, according to whom we have in this prayer a request
 just going to sit down lazily on the banks of the river of life,    not for material bread, but rather for spiritual nourishment,
 singing our songs and playing our harps.' On the contrary,          for the bread that came down from heaven and that `feeds
 the perfect life will be full of activity and work: Only then       our souls to everlasting life. From the lofty heights of their
 there will be no more toil, no more slaving for a living or for     would-be spirituality these people judge that it would be
 filthy lucre. All our work will then be service of God, fully       below the high level of this model of prayer to insert a re-
 and consciously. For- that final perfection the believer longs.     quest for mere bread, for earthly necessities. Besides, they
 Here he finds that even his best work& are defiled with sin,        argue that if this were the meaning of this fourth petition, it
 that often he is inclined to- rebel against the Lord because of     would seem to stand in flat contradiction to all that the Lord
 the way he must travel, or the place he must occupy. Be-            teaches us elsewhere concerning our attitude to earthly
 sides, here he comes in daily contact with the world, that          things. Does He not teach us plainly in the sermon on the
 cares not for the will of God, that is full of unrighteousness      Mount that if we. set our hearts on things earthly, we at-
 and rebellion, and in which it is ever so difficult to do the       tempt to serve God and Mammon ? And does He not ad-
 will of his Father. And then, looking upward to heaven,             monish us in that same sermon that we shall take no thought
 where even now the will of the Most High is the delight of          for them whatsoever: "Therefore I say unto you, Take no
 all, he longs for the time when all life in all the new crea-       thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
 tion will be like that in heaven. And prostrating himself be-       drink  ; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not
 fore the throne of grace, he prays: "Our Father,  Which art         the life more than meat, and the body thari  raiment? Behold
 iti heaven, give unto me, give unto all Thy people, Thy             the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither dd they reap,


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                      55

 nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth               always easy to utter this petition in spirit and in truth, with-
 them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by               out reservation. We do not usually live on the high spiritual
 taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature  ?  AIild           level that is required to take this petition on our lips and to
 why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the           mean it. And the end also of this present meditation on the
 field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:            Lord's Prayer will have to be an  acknowledgemeht  on our
 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory            part that we still have much to learn, and that we will have
 was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God  SO              to assume an attitude of constant watchfulness in prayer to
 clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow         be able to say, "Give us this day our daily bread." This is
 is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 0           also the conception of the Heidelberg Catechism. According
 ye of little faith ? Therefore take no thought, saying, What          to it, the emphasis in this fourth petition is not so much on
 shall we eat? or, What shall we drink ? or, Wherewithal               mere bread, which especially in our country we normally
 shall we be clothed ? (For after all these things do  the' have in great abundance, but on the acknowledgement that
 Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye              God is the giver of all good things: ". . . that we may there-
 have need of all these things." Matt.  625-32.  How then,             by acknowledge thee to be the only fountain of all good, and
 they.say, could it be possible that the same Lord would insert        that neither our care nor industry, nor even thy gifts, can
 a prayer for these very things in the series of petitions which       profit us without thy blessing ; and therefore that we may
 He teaches us to pray ?                                               withdraw our trust from all creatures, and place it alone in
     Others have an idea that this prayer for daily bread              thee."
 appears to be so earthly in its contents- that all men without           As has been said, in the second series' of petitions that
 distinction may take it on their lips. It would seem to re-           occur in the Lord's Prayer the prayer for bread has a leading
 quire no special spirituality to send this request to the throne      place, on the basis of the principle that the natural is first,
 of our Father in heaven. Here is a prayer that touches a              even though it is not the most important, while the spiritual
 deeply felt need of every man and woman on earth. And                 is second in order. In order of time we need bread, even be-
 surely, even the natural man is able to pray, "Give us this           fore we need the forgiveness of sins and the deliverance
 day our'daily bread." -                                               from evil. And as soon as we need bread no more, we shall
     Both these views are utterly mistaken. As far as the              have no more need of forgiveness and deliverance. But al-
 first-mentioned conception of the fourth petition is con-             though it occupies the first place in the second section, we
 cerned, it is certainly true that the Lord teaches in the Ser-        must not overlook the fact that, together with the whole of
 mon on the Mount, in the passage which we quoted above,               the second part of the Lord's Prayer, it is strictly subordi-
 that we shall take no thought for the morrow, that we shall           nate to the first part, in which we are instructed to ask for
 not be anxious about the needs of our body. But this ad-              the glory of God's name, the coming of His kingdom, the
 monition certainly does not stand in contrast to the prayer           submission to and obedience of His will. The significance of
 for daily bread. In fact, as we shall see, it is quite in har-        this is clear. It means, to be sure, that in the fourth petition
 mony with that admonition of the Lord in the Sermon on                we pray not simply for bread, in order that we may eat and
 the Mount. Besides,' the simple words of the petition, its            drink, still less in order that we may use the bread for the
 exact position in the series of prayers we are taught to pray         satisfaction of our sinful desires, but in order that we may
 in this second part of the Lord's Prayer, as well as the              be able to hallow the name of God, to seek His kingdom, and
 reminder that we are still on the earth and not yet in heaven,        to obey His will: "Give. us bread, our Father in heaven,
 - all this ought to be sufficient to convince aynone that we that we may serve and glorify Thee, and represent Thy
 do indeed have a request for daily, earthly, material bread           cause in the midst of the world." Such is the- meaning of
 in this fourth petition. And in opposition to the latter view,        the fourth petition in the order in which it occurs in the
 namely, that any natural man, apart from the grace of God,            Lord's Prayer.
 can take this petition on his lips, we wish to emphasize that           But this order teaches us something else. The statement
even though we deal here with a prayer for very tangible and           is often made, quite without reservation, that in this petition
 material bread, the petition is nevkrtheless very deeply spir-        we have the promise that God's people in this world will
 itual. This is not a common petition, which  ariy man can             never lack bread, will never suffer hunger, that every day
 pray. The natural; unregenerated man certainly is npt able            their food and drink will certainly be provided. And, in
to make it his own. All the manifestations of greed and                the sense that the Lord will surely always care for His
 covetousness, the strife after the things of this world and           people, `and that l%e will provide them with the necessary
 always more of them, the constant and bitter fight between            means to live BS His people in the world, this may be said
 the "haves" and the "have  nets," the lust of the flesh and           to be true. But we should not forget that all this is strictly
 the lust of the eyes and the pride of life that manifestly            subservient to the purpose of God's glory, to the coming of
 characteriz.e  the life of the natural man, - all these constitute    His kingdom, and to the realization of His  ~311. Scripture
 a striking contrast to the simple request in this fourth              teaches us everywhere that we must expect suffering for
petition for daily bread. But even for the believer it is not          righteousness' sake in the world. And this suffering may


56                                          T H E   ST.ANDARD   B E A R E R

very well include that the portion of our daily bread be-           bread, puts us on a very simple level of living: "Give  US
comes very small, that we really suffer hunger and want,            bread."
starvation and death. The apostle Paul relates how for the            The same idea  .is emphasized still further by the word
kingdom of God's sake he was "in weariness and painful-             that is translated by "daily." Give us this day our  daily
ness, in  watchings  often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings       bread. The Greek word that is translated by "our daily"
often, in cold and nakedness." II Cor. 11  27. And the              presents a little difficulty, and there is considerable doubt
epistle to the Hebrews mentions those that "wandered about          as to the exact meaning of the term. The trouble is that in
in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tor-       the New Testament it occurs nowhere else. Only it may be
mented." Heb. 11  :37. And does not the Bible  forwarn us           said confidently that it does not mean "daily." Some sug-
that the time shall come when we shall not be able to buy or        gest that the word means "that which is presentf' ; and the
sell unless we receive the mark of the beast? Rev. 13 :7. It        meaning of the prayer then would be: "Give us this day
is important, therefore, that we pray for our daily bread in        bread for the present." But this idea is really already ex-
strict subordination to the glory of God's name, the coming         pressed in the words "this day." Give us this day our bread
of His kingdom, and the realization of His will, which is           means: give us bread for the present. Others see in the
always good.                                                        composition of the original word the meaning "coming" or
      Turning now our attention to the contents of this  pe-        "future." The Lord then would teach us to pray: "Give us
fition, we are at once impressed  by the fact that it places the    this day the bread that is coming, bread for the future, bread
petitioner on the level of a very simple life as far as earthly.    for the morrow." But this would appear to be in direct
things are concerned. It teaches us to ask for bread, no            conflict with the teachings of our Lord when He emphasizes
more. We understand, of course,  that'there is a figure of          that we shall nbt be anxious for the morrow, and that
speech in this term, a figure that is denoted by the strange        sufficient untd the day is the evil thereof. To me it seems
word "synecdoche," and which means that part is expressed           that the word may properly be  rendred  by "bread that is
to denote the whole, or the particular to denote the general.       corn-g to us." The prayer  theri means: "Give us this day
So bread in this petition certainly represents more than mere       the bread that is coming to us, that. is, the bread that is our
bread. Our needs include far more than this. We need                proper portion for this particular day. Give us our own
clothing and shelter and all the necessities required by our        proper, limited portion of our daily necessities." This proper
earthly life. In our modern world we need money to buy              portion, varies. It is not always the same. Nor is it the
bread and all the rest of our necessities. And in order to          same for all. The needs of a large family, with small chil-
earn the  .money we need a job or a position in the world.          dren, differ from those of an old couple. They are different
In  .fact, we need a thousand and one things  .for our daily        on a severely frosty day in January than on a pleasant,
life. Nevertheless, it is very evident that the term "our daily     warm day in June. They are not the same when we are sick
bread" definitely  escludes  whatever is above and beyond the       as when we are in good health. Our proper portion varies
things that are strictly necessary for our physical and earthly     according to our circumstances and position in life. And the
subsistence. One cannot very  wdll so stretch the term              prayer asks that our Father in heaven in His wisdom may
"bread'`-in this peteition that it includes riches and luxuries.    give us that particular portion which i's proper for-us.
Especially in modern life tie have a thousand and one things           And do not overlook the further limitation of this proper
for our enjoyment: delicacies to render our earthly life            portion of bodily necessities expressed in the words, "this
comfortable, abundance of food, rich and comfortable homes,         day." This is to be taken most literally, and most seriously.
beautiful clothing, instruments of music, beautiful and com-        It does not mean that we may ask for a well-stocked food-
fortable churches and schools, telephones, radios, television,      cellar or a full coal-bin, that may carry us through the
and many other things. These are certainly not included in          winter, or a reasonably large bank account, on which we
the fourth petition. This is not saying that we may not have        may fall back. It does not imply that we ask our Father in
them if we are sure that our heavenly Father gave them to           heaven to give us so much that we may feel secure for a
us, and that we may not enjoy them if we can  db so with            year, or a month, or a week, or even for another day. It
thanksgiving and, to the glory of our God. But it certainly         means exactly what it says : "Give us what we need for this
does teach us that we may not set our heart on these things,        day." In other words, the prayer teaches us to assume the
that we may not seek them, covet them, and that therefore           attitude of faith, which the Lord exhorts His people  to
we may not ask  otir heavenly Father for them. Positively           assume with respect to earthly things : "Take no thought for
speaking, it teaches us that we shall seek and ask for only         the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the
those things that are strictly necessary for our earthly sub-       things of itself.  SuKicient  unto the  day is the evil thereof."
sistence. In the fourth petition we do not pray for riches and      The morrow is not ours, for we are but children of the mo-
for an abundance of earthly goods. We do not pray for               ment. To ask for today is sufficient.
sugar and coffee and cake and pie, for beautiful clothes and                                                                    `H.H.
silk stockings, for comfortable homes and radios and pianos
and automobiles. The fourth petition, with its request for

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

II                                                                  it had come simply by a committee delegated to bring this
           F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T II sad neivs to Paul we are in no position to state. The state of
                                                                    affairs in the congregation- was such that silence could no
                                                                    longer be maintained and word was brought to Paul, who
                Exposition of I Corinthians  lL4                    was at this time at Ephesus.
                                                                       Although an allusion is made to four types of partisans
                               3.                                   in Corinth, to wit, of Paul, Apollos, Cephas and Christ, yet
      It is rather important to keep in mind that the church        one should not draw the conclusions that there were four
at Corinth is, in spite of her many sins and imperfections,         parties in this church. For the text in verse 12 does not
most emphatically the church of God. Paul addresses this            state that "some" were saying we are of Paul, wseof  Apollos
church as the called saints, saints in Chirst, together with        etc., but rather "each of you" is saying "I am of Paul" etc.
all the people of God, who call upon the Name of our Lord,          The picture is rather a confused din of voices ; there is,much
Jesus Christ. Living members they are of the body of                confusion, and it affected the entire congregation. It set the
Christ, and such they  wBuld  remain forevermore. For God           whole church on fire  - this party- strife spirit did. None
is faithful who hath called them into the fellowship of His         was exempted from it. And out of this confusion we hear in
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefqre she shall surely be           strong staccato notes: "I, indeed, am of Paul, I of Apollos,
presented in that day a church without spot or wrinkle or           I of Cephas and I of Christ." All sane `discussion had gone
any such thing.                                                     out of the window and in its stead had come a mad clash and.
      But this church is at the time when Paul writes this          strife over the talents, personalities and preference for
Epistle to her far from this final perfection. If ever a church     preachers ! Such is the partisan spirit in this church of God
showed that she has only  `<a small beginning" of the new           at Corinth !
obedience it is here. Fact is, that this church in good part was       Attempts are made to try to show the reason for these
not even living up to the spiritual manhood in Christ that          preferences. If there are any reasonable considerations at
begins to live not or11y  to some but according to all of God's     the bottom of this party-strife, they may be conjectured to
commandments.                                                       be the following:
      To bring this church to that "perfection" (see Chapter           1. Those who were partisans of them who cried "I am
2 :6). Paul here addresses a Word of reproof and correction         of Paul" evidently were sent down this evil road by the con-
in righteousness, so that this church may indeed be equipped,       sideration that Paul was  ,the first preacher, the Apostle in
be in that spiritually readiness and purpose of mind to walk        Christ He had preached to them first in the Synagogue and
in all good works.                                                  later  .in the house of  Crispus,  the ruler of the Synagogue,
      What was wrong in this Church ?                               which stood right next door to  this  place of worship. They
      There were several evils in this church  ; evils that had     were the followers of a mere man, a "leader in the church."
crept in and would eat through the entire body as a cancer.         -They forgot, or probably had never profoundly learned, that
However, the particular evil we would call attention to is          Paul is a "minister" (diakonos) by whom they believed. They
that described and refuted in the verses  lo-17 of the first        did not see Paul in his proper place in the dispensation of
Chapter of I Corinthians. In these verses we read the follow-       God, and therefore gave an improper and doting dispropor-
ing :                                                               tion to Paul's place in God's church. These were the
      "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the Name of our Lord         "Paulites       !"     '
Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there         2. Once down this unholy line of conduct and thought,
be no divisions among you ; but that ye be perfectly joined         which is void of all spiritual sobriety, the temptation is there
together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For             for others to choose Apollos as their man. He was a man
it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them          of learning and of culture, a man of words schooled in
which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions
          _       -                                                 Alexandria, a man mighty in the Scriptures. And in the
among you . . . . For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to         blurred vision of respect of persons these doting partisans
preach the Gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the Cross         too could not see that Apollos was but an earthen vessel, a
of  ,Christ should be made of none effect."                         mere man, yet called to be a minister, a messenger to bring
      In these words we have a very keen analysis and a very        the tidings of good things.  These  seemed to be the men
strong rebuke of the schism and party-strife in the church of       who were inclined to rhetoric in the preaching, although
God at Corinth.                                                     Apollos is not guilty of having incited this feeling among
      It is the rebuke of sinful schism in the body of Christ       the readers. The blame is with the Corinthians. For this
where the unity of the Spirit should be kept in the bond of         party-strife is due to their not being willing and ready to
peace.                                                              all have the same deep inner feelings toward each other, to
      Notice of this schism had been brought to Paul "by the        mind the same thing in the Lord.
house of Chloe," a house-church under that name. Whether               3. Of course, there were also the Peter-partisans, who
this word had come to Paul by means of a letter, or whether         were more or less inclined toward legalism, perhaps. Or

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

 they might claim him as being an apostle of greater rank               God lest His anger rise against  us  but a little- and we
 than the others since Christ had addressed him as "Peter,"             be consumned  !
the rock upon which he would build the church. These too                         Schism in God's church is a great evil under the sun. It
 lack the sobriety which sees that Peter is  only great when            is a great evil under the sun as it shines Anno  1955, October
 the Lord makes known to him His secrets concerning great-              20 also ! And therefore we do well to take the `shoes from
 ness in the Kingdom of heaven.                                         off our feet and pray with the Psalmist: "Search me o God
        4. And, finally, there are the "Christ-partisans." These        and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts: and
 were correct in condemning the parties of the others, but              see it there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the
 probably did so in such an arrogant manner that it was im-             way everlasting."
 possible for them to restore the unity and the unanimity so                     We must know therefore whether the "schism" which we
 sorely needed in the church. Ipso facto they simply became             see in our midst is a schism (spaldung) which is caused by
 another party next to the other partisans. Since they did not          the Word of the Cross or whether it is due to wisdom of
 try to restore and heal in the  spirit of  meekness,  but rather       Words. Then it is reduced to its last denomination. Thus,
 uttered hard staccato cries: I am of Christ! they too helped           of course, it must be in the holy place, and thus it is done
 tear the church of Christ in pieces. Truly the latter should           by Paul here  thmcglz  OUT  Lord  ,Jesus Christ. (See  verse 10).
 give us all reason to reflect whether we are really the peace-                  Of course, such parliamentary considerations as rules of
 makers who shall be called the sons of' God"! Matt. 5 :9. It           majority and that of "unanimity" are considerations which
 is the truth of the mote and the beam which lies demon-                are indispensible in conducting the affairs in God's church in
 strated in this party "I am of Christ !" Paul too is of Christ,        proper order. And these are the matters which are dealt
 but he does not do this in a holier than thou attitude, but            with in  Civil~Courts.  But in the Court of God the last, the
 rather in that mellowness and love, and fatherly wisdom and            rock-bottom question is : is the schism in the Church one
 fearless courage which would bring all under the dominion              which is the manifestation of the falling and rising again of
 of Christ, subjecting our every thought to His Word!                   many iri Israel, and that, too, because Christ was thereunto
        From the above it appears that there may be some as-            set and appointed by the Lord !
 certainable startingpoint in these partisan confusions and                 When this "schism" is present  .-and when there is a
 every evil work, but that at bottom it is not something which          show-down battle between these two forces then there is
                                                                        not power on earth to keep them together in the true unity
 belongs with our "reasonable service," but belongs to the              which has the sanction of God in Christ. But where it is
 works of the flesh. Such is often the case where there is              the disunity of the flesh waging war and assaulting the unity
 sinful schism and when we try to analyze those who work                of God in Christ in His church-then the wisdom of Solo-
 schism. One fails to see the reasonable service of Christ, as          mon and courage of David and the meekness of Moses  - all
 this reasonableness is taught us in sound words of wisdom
 in Scripture, in those who are filled with a partisan spirit           men of like passions as we can cause the sword to stop
                                                                        destroying in Israel. Then it is not the sword of the division
 and do not live out of faith, according to His -law and unto           of Christ, but it is the sword of mere man, the puny sword
 His glory.                                                             of Peter which must be put back into the sheath ! The
        Well may one pray: lead me not into temptation, but             former makes separation between the church and the world
 deliver me from the Evil One, that is, "since we are as weak           in the church here below, while the latter makes separation
 in ourselves, that we cannot stand a moment; and besides               between brother afid brother- in the Lord.
 this, since our mortal enemies, the devil, the world and our               The latter was true in Corinth.
 own flesh do not cease to `assault us, do thou therefore pre-              It was the flesh in the church. This must be crucified.
 serve and strengthen us by the power of Thy Holy Spirit,                   And since God works grace through admonitions Paul
 that we may not be overcome in this spiritual warfare, but             will admonish this church so that she may indeed be of the
 constantly and  strenupusly  resist our foes, till at last we          same mind and the same speech: there be no schism in the
 obtain a complete victory." Ques. 127 of Heid.  Catechism.             church, the body of Christ.
        When Paul would still the angry tempest of the flesh,               With what masterful spiritual skill Paul handles the
 this mortal foe in this church at Corinth he does so in such           sword of the Spirit in this given situation tie hope to trace
 a way that he does not capitalize on the situation to enhance          in the  next  instalment, D.V.
 his own prestige (read Phil. 1  :15-18),  but rather he so                 He does not get involved in this brawl over personalities,
 writes that all the attention is drawn away from the  &n-              but as the wise builder builds upon the foundation besides
 istem  of the Gospel to the  co,ntent   and purpose of the Gospel,     which there is none other, in order that his work may stand
 Rather than in any way becoming involved in this mad party-            the test, and not be burned while he himself be saved as by
 strife he placed first of all  hi~,~~e~~, and then  those that read    fire.
 and  1zea.r   I&Z under the Word of the Cross. Such is al-                 Having cried out the'victory for  &hers he himself does
 ways the proper order. Let it never be forgotten! And if               not become a castaway!
 we have forgotten it let us confess it humbly before our                                                                          G. L.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                59

                                                                   to the sound as they can without uttering the name. The
              I'N  H I S   F E A R                                 forms are so numerous. We could not  be&n to give a
                                                                   catalogtie of them all.
                                                                      You know the'nl.
             Speech That Manifests Fear                                "Gee, but it is hot!" A nickname for Jesus is used by
                                                                   those who dare not use His Scriptural name. "Cripe' `is used
                              (2)                                  by those who know that to use the name "Christ" is for-
    Nicknames for God!                                             bidden. "Gosh" and "Gol!y" are the nicknames for "God."
    Nicknames for Holy things!                                     "Gee Whiz" becomes another and a closer substitute for
    The very thought of such nicknames strikes a discordant        "Jesus." A nickname for "God" that avoids the first letter
chord in the heart of the regenerated child of God.                and so seems to get away fro& the awful thing of swearing
    Yet there are many, many such nicknames given and              is "cotten ;" one using only the first letter and varying from
used by those whd claim to walk in His fear.                       there on is the oft used "Guy."
    Webster tells us that nicknames are names "given in-              And the Holy things ?
stead of the one belonging to the person, thing or place,              These are chiefly used in the realm of cursing rather
usually descripti<e  and given in sport." As a verb f'to nick-     than swearing. The man who dares not say  "0, hell it is
name" means, according to Webster L`to misname  ; to give          true," will swear by a nickname and say  "0, heck, it is
a nickname or to call by a nickname."                              true !" But in the realm of cursing, he who dares not con-
    Does one in `sport give God names other than those             sign one to hell by using the word will also resort to that
which He has given us of Himself ? Does man dare do that ?         word "heck." He who dares not say-"Damn it" says "darn
    Can we describe Him better by names which we. have             it." And so we could continue, although we are thankful
manufactured than the names He has given us of Himself?            that our vocabulary on these "nicknames" is as limited as it
Can we with words we invented tell who and what He is              is. These will suffice to show how we offend with tongue,
more clearly and more correctly than He has Himself in the         with the same tongue that blesses God. Listen to the speech
names He gave us in Holy Writ?                                     of men around you. Either by a similar sound, a word that
    Will we not be guilty of misnaming Him as Webster              begins with the same first letter that God's names begin with
suggests in his definition of the verb "to nickname"?              or some other device, men give nicknames to God atid to the
    Dare the creature even think that it may do this to God-       Holy Things.
be he His child- as he does to a friend ? A friend he will             This is really nothing new. Jesus said to the multitude
slap on the shoulder; and in sport he will call him some-          that they should not swear by heaven, by Jerusalem or by
thing that is a nickname. Dare he change God's names into          the king's throne. These also were devices used by men
nicknames and in a jovial spirit pronounce them before God's       who knew the Third Commandment and tried to commit
face ?                                                             its sin in a sinless way. That, of course, is folly.
    Can that be done in His fear?                                      You use these expressions and never thought of it that
    0, man is proud. Conceited specks of dust that depend          way ?
upon God for every breath of life do dare to speak without             That is not impossibie,  and we hope that these lines will
reverence before His face. They do dare to take the name           be blessed and applied by the -Spirit to give you grace to let
of the Transcendant One, The Almighty, Sovereign and               your yea, be yea and your nay, nay that you may utter
Holy One oi Israel and hurl it around like a plaything. They       speech that manifests fear; the fear of the Lord.
curse and swear and boast of being able to, curse and swear            The sad thing is that many of the books that are pub-
for two 6inutes  straight without repeating themselves! The        lished for our youth and are even labeled: Christian Fiction
devilishness of it all!                                            and are stories which are woven around the conversion of
    Of that we usually piously  (  ?) wash our hands. His          this or that young  man or woman and picture what are to be
names we do not take in vain. As far as that Third Com-            Christian families and Christian young people contain  many
mandment is concerned;. we are quite sure , that we keep           such expressions as "Gee", "Gosh" and "Golly" : That is to
that precept of God.                                               be deplored. It is hard enough to rebuke and warn your
    And we are quite sure of that even when we do perform          children against these things as they hear them from the
that other hideous thing: that we manufacture nicknames            mouth of the world ; but it makes it harder when - as the
for Him and for the things that are Holy. And we dare to           undersigned once had to do-you must read carefully all
use them left and right -and I once' heard a man declare           the books purchased for the church library and deface them
that-he did so in His fear! He claimed to do it with rever-        by blotting out in black ink these things in so-called Christian
ence !                                                             fiction.
    To what ,do we refer?                                              It was also in this connection that I heard that' remark
    This : many who feel the horror of accenuating  their words    of using these nicknames in His fear. A continued story
with:the names of God and of His Son will come as close            reading program was featuring one of these so-called chris-


 60                                          T H E   S T A N D A K D   I3EAKER

 tian fiction `books ; and the radio personality who has reading     redeemed child. It seems to  mdnifest  the covenant relation
 it for the children came across such an expression: the word        more beautifully. It seems to indicate that we truly con-
 "Gee." He felt it was out of place and after reading it stop-       sider Him to be our father; and we never address our
 ped long enough in his reading to remark that if we only            earthly fathers with the lofty "thee" and "thou." But it
 use that word reverently it would be alright; although, he          does not manifest speech that reveals the fear of the Lord !
 added, it would be better without it. Reverent use of the             Indeed we do not address our earthly fathers as "thee"
 irreverent? In His fear you cannot use these terms reverent-        and "thou" exactly because they are earthly fathers. But
 ly in any other way than to condemn them in no uncertain            Jesus taught us in His model prayer to address Him as Our
 terms. To defend them is to be irreverent, is to show lack          Father Who art in heaven, not to be placed on the same level
 of the fear of the Lord in regard to that matter.                   with our earthly fathers.
       Let us also bear in mind `that to refrain -from the use of      He is God !
 these "nicknames," which are cursing and swearing as much             How easy it is to forget that. How much more convenient
 as the vain use of God's names, simply because of the pres-         and man-exalting it is to ignore that fact. But we may not!
 ence. of parent, an elder or minister of the gospel still is not    And we know that too. When we appear before an earthly
 speaking in His fear. The reason for our putting a stop to          judge, we call him "Your Honor." And God we will put
 the use of all these words should not be to avqid a rebuke          below that man  ? God Himself declares that the children
 from men. It should not be to keep from hurting the feelings        should honor their fathers and their mothers. But we do
 of those who object to such language. It should not be in           not honor Him when we drag" Him down to our own level
 the first place either to keep from offending others-in the         in our speech and talk to Him as though He is one of us.
 Scriptural sense of offending, namely, to cause them to                To address Him as "You" rather than "Thou" has a
 stumble into the same sin. It should always be discarded            form of godliness in it in that it looks like we are so spiritual
 from our speech in order to walk in His Fear. In order to           that we are so close to Him and on such good terms with
 glorify and praise God  in our speech, we should refrain from       Him; but it denies the power of godliness, for it denies that
 all these variations of His names for our own selfish defense       He is God.
 atid emphasis of our words.                                            He who lives in His fear has a deep, spiritual respect
       "Profanity is the attempt of a feeble mind to express it-     for Him as God. The angels cover their faces before Him.
 self  fordefully." I read that slogan somewhere. But it is          Job, having been instructed by God says "I will put mine
 a very materially minded slogan. It had a form of godliness         hand upon my mouth," Job 40 :4. He who lives in His fear
 to it,; but it denies the power thereof. God is not in it.          and prays to Him in His fear does so with reverence and awe.
 "Gee !" "Golly  !" and "Gosh !" are not simply the attempt             He is our covenant Father and has lifted us to a glorious
 of a feeble mind to express itself forcefully by using the          state as children who have in Christ the right to all the
 names of the Almighty One. You either use God's name to             blessedness of His house. But He is and remains God.
 His praise and glory  or else you take it in vain. And the              Speak of Him and to Him in such a way that you mani-
 attempt of a feeble mind to .strengthen its words by the use        fest a faith in Him as GOD and not as some creature on
of the Almighty's names is taking that name in vain. It is           your own level.
 the proud and devilish act of trying to make God your                 He lifts us to heavenly heights in the salvation He has
 servant. Proud, fallen, depraved `man will not even have            accomplished in His Son  ; but in it all He remains the
 scruples about seeking God's help in his evil attempt to set        Transcendant One. In our salvation we are lifted far above
 himself up as god. (The same is true, of course, also of all        where we are through the Fall and even far above where
 heresy. A heretic wili not have a scruple to use God's names        Adam stood before the Fall ; but He remains infinitely above
 and to quote His Holy Word to defend himself in his lie             us. We have been made a little  loiver  than the angels and
 and for self-vindication.) But that  is. not walking in His         raised by Christ above them  ; but God has not in that sal-
 fear. We must manifest speech that manifests His fear. We           vation been demoted to any degree. In fact it is the child of
 must stand in holy reverence and awe before Him as GOD.             God who is saved from the foolishness and blindness of sin
       And words formed from part of the letters of His names        and the lie who understands how lofty and exalted above all
 or fashioned after the sounds in His names or of Holy Things        creatures God is.
 is taking His name in vain. It is not manifesting the fear            Such a saved child of God utters speech that manifests the
 of the Lord. It is behaving as though we do not consider            fear of the Lord.                                       J. A. H.
 Him to be the Lord and God that He is.
       We might add that for this reason also we cannot at all                              Men's League
 approve of the practice of speaking to Him as "You." Many               The Men's League meeting will be held in our Hudson-
 circles like to do that and claim that it is a more personal        ville  Protestant Reformed Church on Thursday, Nov. 17, at
 touch. The discarding of the forms of "Thee" and "Thou"             6 p. m. The Rev. H. C. Hoeksema will be our speaker. Men,
 in our prayers, it is claimed, show a more intimate and             show your interest by being present.
 tender relation between the God of our salvation and His                                                    Jac. Oomkes, Secretary.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B-EARER                                                    61

I                                                                   trinal results of the council but declared the elevation of the
         -Contending For The Faith . II bishop o! Constantinople to the patriarchal dignity to be. a
                                                                    work of pride and ambition-the humble, modest pope  !-
                                                                    to be an attack upon the rights of other Eastern metropoli-
          The Church  and the Sacraments                            tans-the invader of the same rights in Gaul !-especially
     VIEWS DURING THE SECOND PERIOD  (300-750 A.D.)                 upon the rights of the Roman see guaranteed by the council
                                                                    of Nice-on the authority of a Roman interpolatian !-and
              THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH                            to be destructive of the peace of the church-which the'
              T                                                     popes have always sacredly kept! He would hear nothing
                   HE PAPACY  (by Philip  Schaff) .                 of political considerations as the source of the authority of his
     But  thus, at the same time, was roused the jealousy of        chair, but pointed  rath&r  to Divine institution and the pri-
the bishop of Rome, to whom a rival in Constantinople wit-h         macy of Peter. Leo speaks here with great reverence  of
equal prerogatives, was far more dangerous than a rival             the first ecumenical council, under the false impression that
in Alexandria or Antioch. Especially offensive must it have         that council in its sixth canon acknowledged the primacy of
been to him, that the council of Chalcedon said not a word          Rome ; but with singular indifference of the second ecumen-
of the &-imacy  of Peter and based the power of the Roman           ical council, on account of its third canon, which was con-
bishop, like that of the  Constafitinopolitan,  on political        firmed at Chalcedon. He charges Anatolius with using
grounds ; which was' indeed not erroneous, yet only halt of         for his own ambition a council, which had been called simply
the truth, and in that respect unfair.                              for the extermination of heresy and the establishment of
     Just here, therefore, is the point, where the Eastern          the faith. But the canons of the Nicene council, inspired
church entered into conflict with the Western, which con-           by the Holy Ghost, could be superseded by no synod how-
tinues to this day. The papal delegates, protested against          ever great; and all that came in conflict with them was void.
the twenty-eighth canon of the Chalcedonian council, on the         He exhorted Anatolius to give up his ambition, and re-
spot, in the sixteenth and last session of the council ; but in     minded him of the words: Tene quod habes, ne alius  ac-
vain, though their protest was admitted to record. They             cipiate   coronam  tuam-Rev. 3 : 11.
appealed to the sixth canon of the Nicene council, accord-            But this protest could not change the decree of the coun-
ing to the enlarged Latin version, which, in the later addi-        cil nor the position of the Greek church in the matter, al-
tion, Ecclesia  Romana semper habuit primatum," seems to            though, under the influence of the emperor, Anatolius  .wrote
assign the Roman bishop a position above all the patriarchs,        an humble letter to Leo. The bishops of Constantinople as-
and drops Constantinople from notice  ; whereupon the canon         serted their rank, and were sustained by the Byzantine
was read to them in its original form from the Greek Acts,          emperors. The twenty-eighth canon of the Chalcedonian
without that addition, together with the first three canons of      council was expressly confirmed by Justinian I, in the 131st
the second ecumenical council with their express acknowl-           Novelle (c. 1) , arid solemnly renewed by the Trullan council
edgment of the patriarch of Constantinople in the second            (can.  36),  but was omitted in the Latin collections of
rank. After the debate on this point, the imperial commis-          canons by Prisca, Dionysius, Exiguus,  and Isidore. The loud
sioners thus summed up the result; "From the whole dis-             contradiction of Rome gradually died away  ; yet she has
cussion, and from what has been brought forward on either           never formally acknowledged this canon, except during the
side, we acknowledge that the primacy over all and the              Latin empire and the Latin patriarchate at Constantinople,
most eminent rank are to continue with the archbishop of old        &hen the fourth  Lateran  council, under Innocent III, in
Rome  ; but that also the archbishop of New Rome should             1215, conceded that the patriarch of Constantinople should
enjoy the same precedence of honor, and have the right to           hold the next rank after the patriarch of Rome, before those
ordain the metropolitans in the dioceses of Asia, Pontus,           of Alexandria and Antioch.
and  Thrace,"  etc. Now they called upon the council to                Finally, the bishop of Jerusalem, after long contests
declare whether this was its opinion  ; whereupon the bishops       with the metropolitan of Caesarea and the patriarch of
gave their full, emphatic consent, and begged to be dis-            Antioch, succeeded in advancing himself to the patriarchal
missed. The commissioners then closed the transactions              dignity  ; but his distinction remained chiefly a matter of
with the words: "What we a little while ago proposed, the           honor, far below the other patriarchates in extent of  real
whole council hath ratified  :" that is, the prerogative granted    ppwer. Had not the ancient Jerusalem, in  th8 year, 70,
to the church of Constantinople is confirmed by the council         been left with only, a part of the city wall and three gates to
in spite of the protest of the legates of Rome.                     mark it, it would doubtless, being the seat of the oldest
     After the council, the Roman bishop, Leo, himself pro-         Christian congregation, have held, as in the time of James,
tested in three letters of the 22nd May, 452  ; the first of        a central position in the hierarchy. Yet as it was, a reflection
which was addressed to the emperor Marcian,  the second to          of the original dignity of the mother city fell upon the new
the empress Pulcheria, the third to Anatolius, -patriarch of        settlement of  AElia Capitoline, which, after Adrian, rose
Constantinople. He expressed his satisfaction with the doc-         upon the venerable ruins. The pilgrimage of the empress

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

      Helena, and the magnificent church edifices of her son -on          controversies which centered around the question  whethc:r
      the holy places, gave Jerusalem a new importance as the             Christ had but one nature-H. v.  j,  and subsequently, afte:r
      centre of devout pilgrimage from all quarters of Christen-          the-year 622, were reduced to but a shadow by the Mohanl-
      dom. Its bishop was subordinate, indeed, to the metropoli-          medan conquests. The patriarchate of Constantinople, on
      tan of Caesarea, but presided with him (probably  sec+ihdo          the contrary, made important advances southwest and  north
      loco) at the Palestinian councils. The council of Nice gave         till, in its flourishing period, between the eighth and tent;
     him an honorary precedence among the bishops, though                 centuries, it embraced, besides its original, diocese, Calabri;
     `without affecting his dependence on the metropolitan of             Sicily, and all the provinces of Illyricum, the Bulgarians an";;
      Caesarea. At least this seems to be the meaning of the short        Russia. Though often visited with destructive earthquakt:S
      and. somewhat obscure seventh canon : "Since it is custom           and conflagrations, and besieged by Persians, Arabian
      and old tradition, that the bishop of  AElia (Jerusalem)            Hungarians, Russians, Latins, and Turks, Constantinop';:
      should be honored, he shall enjoy the succession of honor,          maintained itself to the middle of the fifteenth ,century  as tlle
      while the metropolis (Caesarea) preserves the dignity al-           seat of the Byzantine empire and centre of the Greek churcl h.
      lotted to her." The legal relation of the two remained for a        The patriarch of Constantinople, however, remained vi:l--
      long time uncertain, till the fourth ecumenical council, at its     tually  only  privutzts  &er pares, and has never exercised a
,     seventh session, confirmed the bishop of Jerusalem in his           papal supremacy over his colleagues in the East, like that (,f
      patriarchal rank, and assigned to him the three provinces           the pope over the metropolitans of the West; still less  lo1s
      of Palestine as a diocese without opposition..                      he arrogated, like his rival in ancient Rome, the sole  dcI-
                                                                          minion of the entire church. Toward the bishop of Rome 1ie
                The Rival Patriachs  of Old and New Rome                  claimed only equality of rights and coordinate dignity.
           Thus at the close of the fourth century we see the Cath-          In this long contest between the two leading patriarch1s
      olic church of the Graeco-Roman empire under the oligarchy          of Christendom, the patriarch of Rome at last carried  tlie
      of five coordinate and independent patriarchs, four in the          day. The monarchical tendency of the hierarchy was muc:h
      East and one in the West. But the analogy of the political          stronger in the West than in the East, and. was urging a
      constitution, and the tendency toward a visible, tangible           universal monarchy in the church.
      representation of the unity of the church, which had lain at        The patriarch of Constantinoplee enjoyed indeed  tlle
      the bottom of the development of the  hierachy  from the            favor of the emperor, and all the benefits of the imperial
      very beginnings of the episcopate, pressed beyond oligarchy         residence. New Rome was most beautifully and most  acI-
      to monarchy ; especially in the West (Oligarchy means :             vantageously situated for a metropolis of government,  1of
      government by a few-H. V.). Now that the empire- was                commerce, and of culture, .on the bridge between two COI I-
      geographically and politically severed into East  arid West,        tinents ; and it formed a powerful bulwark against  tlle
      which, after the death of Theodosius, in 395, had their             barbarian conquests. It was never desecrated by an id01
      several emperors, and were never permanently reunited, we           temple, but was founded a Christian city. It fostered tlie
     can but expect in like manner a double head in the hierarchy.        sciences and arts, at a time when the West was  whelms :d
      This we find in the two patriarchs of old Rome and New              by the wild waves of barbarism ; it preserved the knowledl ze
      Rome  ; the one representing the Western or Latin church,           of the Greek language and literature through the middle
      the other the Eastern or Greek.. Their power and their              ages; and after the invasion of the Turks it kindled by i ts
      relation to each other we must now more carefully observe.          fugitive scholars the enthusiams of classic studies in tlie
            The organization of the church  in the East being so          Latin church, till Greece rose from the dead with tlie
      largely infiuenced  by the political constitution, the bishop of    New Testament in her hand, and held the torch for the Re:f-
      the imperial capital could not fail to become the most power-       ormation.
      ful of the four oriental patriarchs. By the second and fourth           But the Roman patriarch had yet greater advantage!S.
      ecumenical councils, as we have already seen, his actual            In him were united, as even the Greek historian Theodor et
      preeminence was ratified by -ecclesiastical sanction, and he        Concedes, all the outward and the inward, the political arid
      was designed to the foremost dignity. From Justinian I he           the spiritual conditions of the highest eminence.
      further received supreme appellate  jurisdi&on,  and the
      honorary title of  ecztmzenical  patriarch, which he still con-         In the first place, his authority rested on an ecclesiastical
      tinues to hear. He ordained the other patriarchs, not seldom        and spiritual basis, reaching back, as public opinion granted,
      decided their deposition or institution by his influence, and       through an unbroken succession, to Peter the apostle ; while
      used. every occasion to interfere in their affairs, and assert      Constantinople was in no sense an apostolica sedes,  but lold
      his supreme authority, though the popes and their delegates         a purely political origin, though, by transfer, and in a meas-
      at  .the imperial court incessantly protested. The  patriar-        ure by usurpation, it had .possessed itself of the metropolitim
      chates  of Jerusalem,  Antioch, and Alexandria were dis-            rights of Ephesus. Hence, the popes after Leo  appeak:d
      tracted and weakened in the course of the fifth and sixth           almost exclusively to the divine origin of their  dignit Y,
      centuries by the tedious monophysite controversies (the                                    (Conbivmed  on page 66)



                                                                                            n


                                                   T H - E   SeTAr,NDARD   B E A R E R                                                    63
                                            -

                                                                           order to let the rebel sinner go free. And the sinner  whoj
  I! The Voice of Our Fathers                                         11 looking by faith at that demonstration of divine righteous-
                                                                           ness in the cross, confesses his sins, acknowledges God's
                  The Canons of Bordrecht                                  righteousness, and pleads for forgiveness, is allowed to go
                                                                           free, is saved, - not on the basis of the satisfaction of jus-
                                 PART TWO                                  tice, but on the basis of his repentance and confession and
                    E                                                      acknowledgement of divine justice, and all the other con-
                         XPOSITION  OF  THE  CANONS                        ditions of salvation which we have previously noted. (For
                    SECOND  HEAD  OF  DOCTRINE                             an exposition and a criticism of this theory of the atone-
                    OF  DIVINE  PREDESTINATION                             ment, confer, "The Triple Knowledge, Volume III, The
                                                                           Death of the Son of God," pp. 94 ,ff .) . Now it may be true
  Of the Death  of  Ch-ist,  and  the Redemption of Men Thereby            that all the Arminians did not follow Grotius and his gov-
  I n t r o d u c t i o n   ;                                              ernmental theory of the atonement; but they all agreed in
      As the title of this Second Head of Doctrine indicates,              this, that they denied that the death of Christ was a vicar-
 This chapter deals not only with the death of Christ as such,             ious satisfaction of justice, and that He bore the sins of all
  but especially with the                                                  His people on the accursed tree. God did not have to
                                 nature,  or character, of the death of
  Christ: His death was a                                                  exact complete payment for sin, but might consider anything
                                  redmi~~ptive  death. And this is in-
  deed the fundamental truth of this chapter, as we shall see.             He pleased as the condition of forgiveness and salvation.
  And the basic issue at stake in the controversy with the                 And it is this view which the father opposed as basically
  Remonstrants was exactly the maintenance or the denial of                consisting in a denial of the redemptive character of Christ's
  this                                                                     death.
           redemptive  death of Christ. In the opinion of the
  fathers the Arminians really so construed the death of                     As to the relation between the present chapter and that
  Christ and the scope of the death of Christ as to deny its               on divine predestination,we may be brief. It must be quite
redemptive value, even though they continued to speak of                   obvious that since the fathers conceive of sovereign election
  "redemption" and a "Redeemer."                                           as the foundation of every saving good (Canons I, A,  9),
                                                                           the doctrine of predestination is determinative for the doc-
  Historically, of course, this second chapter of the Canons               trine of the redemptive death of Christ. The latter is one of
  stands opposite the second point of the  Remonstmnce,   in               the "saving  good? flowing from the fountain of election.
  which the Arminians maintained that "Jesus Christ, the                   Election determines the scope of redemption. Touch the
  Saviour of the world, died for all men and for every man, so             former and you invariably touch the latter. But also: touch
  that he has obtained, for them all, by his death on the cross,           the latter and you cannot avoid saying something of the
  redemption and the forgiveness  of sins ; yet that no one ac-            former. Accordingly, it is quite obvious also that the present
  tually enjoys this forgiveness of sins except the believer               chapter, as well as those. following, do not stand coordin;?rtely
  . . ." And that in this proposition, even though they speak              with the chapter on predestination, but rather in a position
  of redemption, the Arminians poured another than the                     of subordination.
  Scriptural meaning into this term became very evident when                                         * * *  8
  they actually developed another theory of the atonement, the
  so-called "governmental theory," propounded by one of their                         Article 1. God is not only supremely merciful, but
  eminent scholars, Hugo De Groot (Grotius  j.  In this new                            also supremely just. And his justice requires (as he
                                                                                       hath revealed himself in his Word), that our sins
  theory. of the atonemenet  they, denied the substitutionary                          committed against his infinite majesty should be
  character' of Christ's death and denied that it constituted a                       punishment, both in body and soul; which we cannot
  satisfaction  for sin, a satisfaction of divine justice with re-                     escape, unless satisfaction be made to the justice of
  spect to the sins of the elect. According to this theory, God,                       God.
  the governor of the universe, cannot forgive sin without                    In this article a fundamental theological principle is laid
  in some way demonstrating His righteousness and His dis-                 down, which may not be ignored or denied when speaking
  pleasure over against sin and His determination to punish                of any of God's dealings with men, and especially with sinful
  the, sinner. Hence, God gives an exhibition of His righteous-            men. And in the present, discussion the fathers emphasize
  nes and justice in the death of Christ: by delivering up His             particularly that this principle may not be contradicted when
  otin Son He clearly reveals to the sinner what He might                  speaking  `of God's redemptive dealings. The reason is, of
  righteously do to every sinner.. The well-known comparison               course, that God Himself does not ignore this principle, or
  is here made with the general who, instead -of sentencing                rather, that God never acts contrary to His own Being.
  every soldier in a mutinous regiment to death, rather singles            Moreover, the fathers here do not merely lay down a fun-
  out one man, possibly the ringleader, in order to demon-                 damental principle, but they delineate the consequences of
  strate his justice to all the rebels, and in order to teach them         that principle as far as the sinner is concerned. The principle,
  a lesson. Thus God demonstrates His justice in Christ, in                positively speaking, is : God is supremely just. The  con-

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

 sequences are : 1) Our sins committed against his infinite         His justice bestows upon the sinner forgiveness and eternal life.
 majesty must be punished with temporal and eternal punish-             The fundamental error in this conception lies in the fact
 ment, both in body and soul. 2) This punishment can be             that it denies the unity and simplicity of God, and denies
 escaped only if satisfaction is made to this supreme justice       the essential unity of His attributes. It makes a separation
 of God.                                                            between God's attributes. It posits a schism in God. And
       It is to be noted, first of all, that the Canons do not      now we must not imagine that the fathers of Dordt go to
 yet speak of the death of Christ and the redemption of men         the opposite extreme, and maintain God's justice in prefer-
 thereby. The fathers are laying a foundation for the Re-           ence to His mercy. Not at all ; but they maintain both divine
 formed doctrine of redemption. And that foundation is not          justice and divine mercy, not, however, in irreconcilable con-
 merely the mercy of God, but also His infinitely perfect           flict with one another, but in essential unity. Briefly. stated,
 justice. The method which the fathers follow is undoubtedly        God's  justce  is that attribute of His goodness according to
 correct. The foundation determines the size and shape and          which He maintains Himself as the only good, the infinitely
 soundness.of the whole structure, to be sure. But historically     perfect God, and accordin,= to which, with reference to His
 the reason for this method of the fathers lies in the fact that    moral creatures, He rewards the good with good and the
the Remonstrants struck at the very foundation of the truth         evil with evil. And God's mercy is  that- attribute of God's
 of redemption, and attempted to destroy it. As it were,            goodness according to which He is in Himself blessed as
they wanted to remove one of the piers of the foundation that       the infinitely good God, and according to which, with
 is fastened in the bed-rock of the divine Being, and wanted        reference to the creature, He is the sole Fount of all blessing,
 the truth of redemption to rest only on one pillar, that of        and therefore delivers the creature from all misery and fills
the mercy of God. The trouble is that when you remove one           him with life and joy. And as God is One, so His mercy
stone of foundation, you are not left with a partial founda-        and His justice are one in Him. God is His attributes. His
tion, but you have no foundation left whatsoever : the founda-      justice, and His justice is His mercy. Never is there in God
tion is one. And therefore our Reformed fathers insist first of     a mercy which is not just, nor a justice which is not essenti-
all on the fundamentals, on the foundation stones, before they      ally merciful. And therefore His justice never functions
rear up the structure of the truth of redemption. In close con-     without His mercy, and His mercy never operates apart from
nection herewith, we must note, secondly, that the fathers fol-     His justice. There is no conflict in God! Such is the fun-
low a method which is only too often despised and condemned         damental truth of this article. And the fathers mean to say:
in our day, namely, the tlzeological  method:  they begin with      "If you would speak of God's mercy, well ; but when you
the truth concerning God Himself. The presupposition of this        do so, do not forget and deny that infinitely perfect divine
first article is that you cannot say anything about redemption      justice that characterizes also the divine mercy !"
without saying something about the Redeemer-God, and that              The conclusion, therefore, is as follows : 1) Divine justice
your conception of the latter determines your conception of         requires the punishment of sin, a requirement which divine
the former. Or, to put it in general form, all doctrine is          mercy can never. overlook. 2) Divine justice requires exact
principally  theology,  doctrine of God. Also this had its          punishment of sin, that is, a punishment which is equal in
historical reason. The Arminians themselves adopted a               measure to the sin. Hence, sin against the infinite majesty
certain theological starting-point . They loved to emphasize        of God requires infinite punishment, that is, not only tem-
God's love and God's mercy to the exclusion of His right-           poral, but eternal punishment, both in body and soul. 3)
eousness and justice. And accordingly, they enjoyed accus-          Divine mercy cannot operate toward the sinner, except on
ing Reformed men of having a hard and cold conception of            the basis of the complete payment of this debt of sin. God's
God as an inexorably severe and just God, a Judge Who               justice must be satisfied! Upon no other basis can the sin-
knew no mercy. To this accusation concerning their God              ner ever taste the mercy of God. God, Who is really God,
the defenders of the faith must first give answer. Both the         cannot deny Himself.
Reformed and the Arminians concede that one's Theology                 This is the plain teaching of Scripture in many places,
determines his Christology, and that consequently if they           even though the Ca.nons  do not furnish Scriptural citations.
disagree on Theology they will also be at odds in their             After all, this is the position  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechist
Christology.                                                        also. And already' at the time of the Great Synod, it was
       The Arminians posited a conflict in  ,God between His        considered sufficient in Reformed circles to cite the  Cute:
justice and His mercy, a conflict in which divine mercy was         &ism as the norm of Reformed doctrine. The Arminians
victorious and overcame divine justice. According to His            also knew that this was the instruction of Lord's Day IV,
mercy, so they teach, God yearns for the happiness of the           Question and Answer 11; and they knew too, in fact, they.
sinner and cannot cause suffering and misery to him. And            had accepted this position of the  Heidelberger  as Scriptural.
though His justice requires that the sinner be stricken with        But now they would overthrow it. Hence, the fathers con-
the curse and be killed, God cannot exercise His justice with-      sidered it unnecessary to quote Scripture on this count.
out doing violence to His mercy. And hence, His mercy                  And this is the foundation of the Scriptural and Re-
prevails. He denies His justice, and without the satisfaction of    formed doctrine of redemption in Christ.                H.C.H.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 65

                                                                     ,winebibber,  covetous, striker, brawler, self-willed."
           DECENCY and ORDER                                  . .            It should be clear in this connection that the negative
                                                                          elements are descriptive of the works of the flesh while the
                                                                          positive virtues mentioned here are characterizations of the
                 The Election of Elders                                   fruits of the spirit. Consequently, the fundamental personal
                     Article. 22 Continued                                requirement for the office is that a man gives unmistakable
                                                                          evidence of his regeneration through the putting off of the
   Last time we cited a few passages of Scriptures wherein                works of the flesh and walking in the Spirit. It must be
are enumerated the qualifications of the office bearers of the            clear that one truly loves God and the things of God. Such
church and, more particularly, of the elders. In "The Church              a man may be said to be "blameless.f' He is a new creation
Order Commentary,"  hlonsma and Van  Dellen  make the                in Christ Jesus. In Him he is above reproach. It is true
following summarization of these qualifications :                    that sin still attaches itself to his best deeds and he himself is
   "As a general rule it may be said that the following are          the first to confess this. Such a man is personally qualified.
some of the chief requisites for a good Elder in our Churches :                      b. Marital  or  Fa.wdy  Qztalifca.tions   :
A thorough knowledge of God's Word ; unquestioned sin-                       In this connection many questions are frequently raised.
cerity of heart as a professing Christian  ; whole hearted                Some of these are: May an unmarried man serve in the
loyalty to the church as to its doctrinal position ; exemplary       offices of the church ? May a man whose wife is an unbe-
conduct in everyday life ; ability to instruct others ; forebear-    liever or whose wife belongs to a different church than he
ante, good judgment  ; self-denying devotion."                       serve  ? May one who has a son or daughter that reveal
   In considering the .eligibility  of candidates for the office,    themselves as disobedient, rebellious and evil children, be
Joh. Jansen cites this three-fold requirement: (1) one must          considered a possible candidate for the office ? The assump-
be a member of the church in full communion, (2) one may             tion here is, that such a man possesses all the other neces-
not-be under any ecclessiastical  censure, silent or otherwise       sary qualifications. How does his marriage effect the right
and, (3) one must be a male member.                                  to office?
   These quotations are correct and wherever men may be              _       Scripture states that one must be "the husband of -one
found who answer to this desription, they may be con-                wife, having his children in subjection with all gravity or
sidered as eligible candidates for the office of elder. They         having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly (for
express the substance of the Scriptural passages afore  cited.       if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall
The importance of this matter constrains us to look more             he take care of the church of God ?) "
carefully into the meaning of the two passages of I Timothy                  There are two things in this passage to consider. The
3 :l-7 and Titus 1:5-g. We quoted these passages last time.          first concerns the matter of marriage and the second the
They are in many respects similary. Both passages are                family. Concerning the first, the text does not exclude the
rather lengthy. Instead of following the exact order of the          unmarried from office as some seem to think. This inference
texts, we choose to divide these various qualifications under        is without justification. The text does not speak of the un-
separate headings with our comments:                                 married but simply sets forth the qualifications of those who
          a. Personal                                                are married. One feels the necessity of this by casually ob-
                          or  Chmacter   Qualificatiom               serving many marriages within the church in the present  age
   Under this heading the main term found in both passages           as well as then. An elder must be the husband of one wife.
is translated by the word "blameless" (without reproach in           These oft contexted words have been variously explained:
R.V.) although different words are used in the original.                     (a) that they refer to a deviation from morality in re-
This should not be confused with "perfection." Then none             spect to marriage, whether by concubinage, polygamy or im-
would qualify. The term denotes one that is above reproach.          proper second marriages. Many held at this time that mar-
He is unimpeachable. There may be those who do not like              riage after the death of the first wife was something im-
him! others who speak evil concerning him as they did also           moral. Although this was not the generally accepted view,
of Christ, but ~a charge of wrong doing cannot be successfully       even those opposing it regarded abstinence from a second
lodged against him. He is a man of ethical repute. It is             marriage, as something praiseworthy and meritorious. Con-
important that those who lead the church live an irreproach-         sequently, it was held on general principles that those who
able life in the opinion of both Christians and those without.       hold office in the church should not marry the second time.
The general testimony concerning him is, "He is a man of                     (b) that they refer to contemporaneous polygamy which
integrity and uprightness."                                          at that time still seemed to be quite prevalent among the
   Closely connected with this are several other requisites          Jews. "This corruption," writes Calvin,  "was borrowed by
mentioned in these passages. Some are positive, others               them partly from a sinful imitation of the Fathers, (for they
negative. The elder must be vigilent, sober or sober-minded,              who read that Abraham, Jacob, David, and others of the
of good behavior, hospitable., patient, just, holy and have a             same class, were married to more wives than one at the
good report of them that are without. Negatively, "not a                  same time, thought that it was lawful for them also to do

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

 the same) and partly from neighbouring nations; for the             the relation is spiritually that of father and children. God is
 inhabitants of the East never observed that conscientiousness       the Father of His Church through Jesus Christ. And the
 and fidelity in marriage which was proper. However that             office bearer, appointed of God, stands in the place of or is
 might be polygamy was exceedingly prevalent among them,             representative of God in the church. He must rule, not as
 and, therefore, with great propriety. does Paul enjoin that a       lord over God's heritage nor by constraint, but as a willing
 bishop should be free from this stain."                             example. He must bring the church into subjection to the
       (c) that they refer to successive polygamy whether after      will of God, her Father. Doing this it is imperative that he
 a divorce or after the loss of the first wife.                      knows how to conduct himself so that the members of the
       Meyer's explanation we take to be the correct one. He         church may also in love submit themselves to his rule. They
 states that, "there is good ground to take the expressionsim-       must be able to do this. They must be able to see in him
 ply as opposed to an immoral life, especially to concubinage.       the power of God. He must be a good example in all things.
 What Paul says then is that a bishop is to be a man who             And this begins in the home. His wife and children must
 neither lives nor has lived in sexual. intercourse with any         see in him a godly father.
 other woman than the one to whom he is married." This is               Then it is not only possible but also very much a reality
 also the underlying meaning of the three terms, "vigilent,          that a faithful father witnesses with grief the waywardness
 sober, and of good behavior," which follow this expression          and disobedience of some of his children. Does that disqualify
 in I Timothy 3  :2. Vigilent means to be calm, collected in         him ?. We say, "No." The conduct of the children does not
 spirit, temperate. Soberness is the state of a sound mind and       qualify or disqualify the father. There might be a worthless
 the exercise of self control. And good behavior denotes a well      father whose children, under the instruction of the mother,
 ordered life. Applied to marriage these terms emphasize the         grow up to be very obedient and behaved children. The
moral chastity of that holy state and this must be observed          fact that they are such does not qualify their worthless
 and practiced by those who seek the office of the church.           father to be an office-bearer in the church. No more the op-
       The text itself says nothing directly about the man whose     posite. Always there is a double seed brought forth in the
 wife is an unbeliever. It would seem that circumstances             historic generations of the covenant. No human rule, how-
 must somewhat determine the eligibility of such a man, Did          ever perfect it may be, is going to subject the reprobate
 his wife become an unbeliever, an apostate, while he was            seed to obedience of love. That is impossible. The same
 married to her? Was she such prior to marriage? This would          reality exists in the church. The sole question, therefore, is
 make some difference. A chaste and holy marriage is only            whether or not the father rules well? Does he conduct him-
 one that is  consumated  in the Lord. Where this is ignored         self in the home so that the children may learn to be obe-
 the bitter consequences of sin become evident in countless          dient or is he, perhaps, by his negligence or evil example
 ways. It would seem that one who wilfully plunges into that         the cause of the children's waywardness  ? If the latter is
 state and joins himself with an unbeliever disqualifies him-        the case he cannot rule in the house of God. If the former is
 self for the office of the church. Such is not being an example.    so, he may be considered. And the same principle applies
 Another may have every reason to believe that he marries            to him whose wife departs from the faith. If it is through
 in the Lord, only to find later that his wife is unbelieving.       no fault of his that this occurs and if he conducts himself
 He has been deceived. The fault is not his. This is a dif-          as the head of his house, an example of godliness, he may
 ferent case and to determine whether such a person is dis-          serve also in the church of Christ.
  qualified we would have to consider the matter of his ruler-                             (To be continued)
 ship in his house.                                                                                                        G.V.D.B.
       The elder must be one "who rules his own house well."
 The antithesis of this is not one who has no house to rule,                      CONTENDING  FOR  THE FAITH
 i.e., the unmarried. Often it is presented that way. An elder
 must rule his house well. An unmarried man has no house                                 (Cmtkmed  from page 62)
 to rule. Ergo: the  umnarried  cannot be considered for the         and to the primacy of the prince of the apostles over the
 office. This, however, is faulty reasoning. It does not follow      whole church
 because the antithesis in the text is the man who. does not             Then, too, considered even ,in a political point of view,
  rule his own house well and not the unmarried man. The             old Rome had a far longer and grander imperial tradition
 latter is not considered here at all.                               to show, and was identified in memory with the bloom of
       The good rule of the elder in his own home consists of        the empire ; while new Rome marked the beginning of its
 his having his children in subjection with all gravity; his         decline. When the Western empire fell into the hands of the
  children must be faithful and not accused of riot or unruly.       barbarians, the Roman bishop was the only surviving heir
 This rule and subjection or this relationship of,authority  and     of this imperial past, or, ,in the well-known dictum of
 obedience is reflective of a relationship in the church. For        Hobbes, "the ghost of the deceased Roman empire, sitting
 that reason one who is unable to maintain that rule in his          crowned upon the grave thereof."                            ._.*
 house is also disqualified to do so in the church. There, too,                                                                H.V.
                                                     .


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              67

      THE  MUCH-CiTTLE   OF  JQNAR   4~11                         righteous, in Christ -else he would be no true prophet  -
                                                                  but he longed for the destruction of the reprobated wicked,
   The text of Scripture, from which the above theme is           and ail that denies God. `This tone is solemnly announced by
taken is as follows: "And should not I spare Nineveh, that        the psalmist who wrote: `"Let God arise, let his enemies be
great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons      scattered .  ._ . as wax  melteth  before the fire, so let the
that cannot discern between their right hand and their left       wicked perish at the presence of God." (Psalm  68:1, 2).
hand  ; and also much cattle?"  J.onah 4  :ll.                    Jonah, knowing  that-God would spare the wicked for the
   What gave rise to these words of the Lord, .were a com-        sake of the righteous, had fled from Jehovah. Had not God
plex set of factors, recorded by Jonah, beginning with the        blessed Potiphar's house, for the sake of Joseph? Yet, in not
revelation of God's determinate counsel concerning Nineveh.       obeying the voice of Jehovah, Jonah fell into sin. He had
God revealed to Jonah, that in fiineveh,  there was an elect      refused to trust the Lord, in the unfolding of God's counsel
nucleus among the Gentiles. For the sake of these remnants        concerning Nineveh. But when God thwarted his evil plan,
by election, God was pleased to direct Jonah to arise and go      the prophet went to Nineveh and preached as divinely di-
to Nineveh, that great city, and capital of the Assyrian em-      rected.
pire, and cry against its sins and wickedness, in the preach-        Next, this prophetic scripture tells of the object lesson
ing of the Word. Thus, it pleased God to proclaim this Holy       God used  - a  .rapid growing gourd that ultimately withered
Gospel to a people sitting in darkness, in a heathen land.        when attacked by a worm- as a pointer to Jonah that the
The content of this Gospel of God's redeeming grace, through      ways of God's mercy and providence are ways of consumate
the mouth of his servant, is  summed~ up in the prophet's         wisdom, great depth, and determinate sovereignty. The
words  : "Salvation is of the Lord" (verse 9). These words        Lord affirmed His right and justice, to spare Nineveh and its
mean essentially this : God saves the righteous, who in them-     much cattle.
selves are hell-deserving sinners, through election ; and de-         Now, the question arises, "What was God's purpose in
stroys the wicked, on account of their sins, through reproba-     sparing much cattle ?" At first glance, the question seems
tion. While this Gospel was proclaimed to all, in Nineveh,        to be easily answered, when the text is taken literally, as
yet only the elect there heard it unto salvation. These elect,    it stands. The text tells the reader three facts: First, the
nationally, were not Jews.;- they were of Nineveh. Their          Lord is sovereign ; it is His good pleasure to spare or destroy
salvation was rooted in sovereign, divine love, the fruit of      the city, as He wills. Secondly, the Lord spared acity  of one
election. They were saved because they. were elect. The           hundred and twenty thousand persons unable to discern
rest of Nineveh- the reprobate wicked, were hardened in           between their right and left hand- that is, a large number
their sins, through the very same preaching of Jonah. It was      of immature children. Thus, the population, by implication,
through the preachin,u that the thoughts of many hearts was       is six or seven hundred thousand persons. Thus, Nineveh,
revealed. Therefore, it was very necessary for Jonah to go        was a large city. Thirdly, the Lord spared much cattle in
to Nineveh, to preach unto- that great city. Jonah, however,      this city. This, He may do, since he hath given life and
in sinful rebellion against God, and willful disobedience, re-    breath to all creatures. He may spare, or destroy them. In
fused to go. This was Jonah's sin.                                this case, it pleased Him to spare the cattle when He spared
    Next, the record points out Jonah's futile attempt to flee    Nineveh, at the time of the preaching of .Jonah.  Their being
west to Tarsish. God intervened. Raising  up  a great fish        spared, on this occasion, provides both meat for food, hides
for the purpose, the Lord used the fish as a means of re-         for leather, or any other purpose.
turning Jonah to a place where he could once again start on           At other times, it was the Lord's pleasure to utterly
a journey to Nineveh. The word of God came to him a second        destroy the cattle. A case in point is the instance of the war
time, saying: "Arise, go unto Nineveh." He obeyed.                of extermination against the Amalekites. On this occasion,
    In Nineveh, the book goes on to relate, the prophet           Saul was directed by the Lord of Hosts to smite Amalek,
preached God's word, and it pleased the Lord to give the          and utterly destroy all that the nation had. The charge to
prophet fruit upon his labors, from the greatest to the least.    Saul included the slaying of both man and  .woman,  infant
This result was no surprise to Jonah. He knew, and he             and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. He was to spare
had also testified, that the Lord is a gracious God, merciful,    them not. Who would be capable, we may ask, from a
slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest of the        human standpoint, of carrying out such a charge  ? Only when
evil, that He said He would do.                                   one is armed with the shield of faith. Saul, though, sinned.
    But the question arises, quite naturally, "Why did he         He spared Agag, the king, and the best of the sheep and the
flee from the Lord's presence, if he knew of the mercy of         oxen, ostensibly as sacrificial animals for Jehovah. This act
Jehovah, to save  ?" He fled, (he thought), from Jehovah's        of Saul, God did not approve. It was then that Samuel spoke
presence because he knew that, in the salvation of the elect,     so beautifully to Saul, saying: "To obey is better than
God would postpone, for the present, at least, the destruc-       sacrifice, and to hearken, that the fat of rams." (I Samuel
tion that God said He would bring to pass on that wicked          15 :22).
city. To be sure, the prophet longed for the salvation of the         Considering the two instances- the cattle in Nineveh,

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

  and the cattle in the city of Amalek  - the cattle simply serve     very pointed inquiry. Before we turn to an answer, let us
  the purpose of, God, as God has His purpose revealed in             examine a parallel situation in the Bible record.
  each case. In one instance, He spares them, in the other He          God has revealed to Abraham that He would destroy
  destroys them. Being irrational creatures, they are non-            Sodom and Gomorrah on account of their grievous sins
  moral. Their function is subservient to God's purpose, which        (Gen.  18:16-33). Abra am,
                                                                                               h      in deep humility, and in love
  is primary. The cattle are a part of the brute creation that        for the election of grace, pleaded for the righteous in Christ,
  lies under the curse of God,  becaus% of man's sin. The             living in the city  ; pleading for fifty; later for ten. God, in
  original purpose of this brute creation was to serve God's          answer to Abraham's prayer for mercy, promised not to
  glory and man's usefulness (Gen. 1 :29, 30). This purpose,          destroy the cities for the sake of the righteous in the city,
  according to God's revelation, was not to be realized through       even if there be only ten. Note here, that God promised that
  man's obedience, but through man's Fall, the curse, sin, and        He would spare these plains cities for the sake of the right-
  death. The whole creation was subjected to vanity, in the           eous elect, in Christ, in the cities. Therefore, the conclusion
  bondage of corruption, in groaning and travailing, unto the         is certainly reasonable, that the Lord, through the mouth
  restoration of all things, with the coming of the Lord. This        of His prophet, spares Nineveh, its inhabitants, and its
  purpose He works out, as the revelation of His glory. The           much cattle means that the Lord spares the city for the
  cattle then, belong to the organism of God's creation.  This        righteous, in Christ, in its population. That is, the elect,
  creation He loves (John  3:16)  and pronounces good.                in Nineveh, are the reason for the city being spared.
. (Gen. 1.) The purpose of His creation is the service of His            A very important reason why it is to be concluded that
  counsel concerning all things in their organic connection with      the text indicates there is no support for a theory of "com-
  each other, and in their connection with Christ, who is the         mon grace," lies in the nature of grace itself. Grace, is a
  Head of His Church. The creature serves the Creator.                spiritual-ethical concept. Grace is rooted in ethical perfec-
        Thus the text may be understood. However, a difficulty        tion. (For an excellent development of the whole concept of
  arises, in the understanding of this text, when it asked: "DO       grace, see the "Standard Bearer," volume 31, September 1,
  we not have here, a gracious disposition of God unto salva'         1955, p. 462,463).
  tion, in sparing Nineveh and its much cattle  ?" At first              Because grace is rooted in ethical perfection and igoodness,
  glance, it would almost seem so. It would almost seem that          it has its origin in God Himself: God is the gracious and
  we have an instance here in which support could be found            good God  ; He is the Infinitely Perfect One. As God, He
  for the view of "common grace." Not so. Closer examina-             wills to seek Himself as the highest good in the sphere of
  tion of the text, in the light of the whole Word will prove         absolute ethical perfection. This is His blessedness. This
  that "common grace" is not taught in Jonah 4  :ll for the           blessedness, He Himself, wills. When He wills to bless the
  following reasons :                                                 creature, He wills to be gracious unto the creature by bring-
        The first, the text speaks of the Lord "sparing" Nineveh,     ing him into communion and fellowship with Him, to partake
  its inhabitants and its cattle. This act of God, whereby He         of His blessedness-not essentially, of course  ; but ethically
  "spares" the city, in and of itself, does not indicate that God     - spiritually. Only the elect in Christ may be the recipients
  is gracious, in the sense of blessng, unto Salvation. For, if       of His blessedness to save, and His grace. By nature, the
  sparing Nineveh means blessing the city unto salvation, then        elect are worthy of hell  ; not grace. This is spiritual and
  all the city would be saved, and a ground for universal atone-      ethical. Therefore, the nature of grace itself excludes an
  ment would be found in the text. Every last Ninevite then,          interpretation of the text, by which the sparing of Nineveh
  would be saved. This interpretation is inconsistent with the        and its cattle is to be understood as an operation of the grace
  current teaching of Holy Writ.                                      of God. Only when the question is asked, "To whom is God
        Secondly, if the text is to be understood to mean that        gracious" when He spares Nineveh, are we to get a satis-
  sparing Nineveh, its inhabitants, and its cattle signifies grace    factory answer to Jonah's words.
  unto salvation, then the question follows, "are cattle saved;        In conclusion, it may be said that God spares Nineveh
  do cattle need grace?" The answer, obviously is "no."               because of its elect remnant, and the cattle, because it belongs
        On the other hand, what does "sparing" Nineyeh mean?          to the sphere of the creation which God has made, in order
  The Lord "sparing" Nineveh is this: the Lord takes pity on          to fulfill His Counsel concerning the salvation of His
 the city ; He is compassionate to it ; He is indulgent towards       Church, in Christ.
 it. The word "sparing" indicates an anthropomorphism. God                                                                 J .   McCollam
repents of the evil which He said that He would do unto
 them (3  :lO). That God spares the city in the sense of
 preserving it unto His purpose, is the idea of the text.                          Let me no more my comfort draw
        But, l.et it be understood: to ask the question, "Is God                     From my frail grasp of Thee:
  gracious, in the sense of blessing," is not to get an answer                     In this alone rejoice with awe-
  to a really significant question. It is only when we ask "In                     Thy mighty grasp of me.
  sparing Nineveh, to whom is God gracious," that we ask a                                                                   - Selected


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  69

                                                                     see God, and that they shall be called the children of God
                CQNTRIBUTIQNS                                        (Matt. 5 :3-g). How could it be otherwise, seeing that they
                                                                     alone have a right to the promise.
                                                                         If Christ gives His promise only to His people, may the
  The Promise of  G&l is only unto the Elect,                        human proclamator of the Gospel proclaim that God's prom-
               Historically the Believers                            ise is unto all soul for soul ? Certainly not. Nor is he placed
                                                                     under this necessity by the fact that he does not know in-
   Let us now discuss the objections that are being raised           fallibly who the believers are. Christ knows infallibly, and
against the doctrine that- the promise is only unto the elect.       this is sufficient.
   It is said that the promise  cannot  very well be only to             That the human proclamator of the Gospel, despite the '
the elect for if it were it could not be preached, seeing that       fact that he does not know infallibly who the believers are,
the human proclamator of the promise does not know who               must nevertheless assure the believers only that theirs is the
the elect are. But this objection is not valid.  1~ the first        promise is also the plain teaching of our Confessions.  `In
place it is not correct to say that the human proclamator of         reply to the question how the kingdom of heaven is' opened
the promise does not know who the elect are. For election            and shut by the preaching qf the Holy .Gospel,  the Heidel-
is the sovereign cause and fountain of the church as a new           berg catechism replies, "Thus when according to the com-
creature in Christ Jesus and of all the blessedness that is          mand of Christ, it is declared and publicly testified to all
her portion in Christ in time and eternity. What it means            and every believer, that, whenever they receive the promise
is that the elect are historically the believers, the poor in        of the Gospel by a true faith, all their sins are really forgiven
spirit, they that mourn, they that hunger and thirst after           them of God, for the sake of Christ's merits . . ." Let us take
righteousness, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, they that         notice; the human  p.roclamator  of the Gospel, according to
ire persecuted for righteousness' sake, they that are reviled        the command of Christ, deciares  and publicty  testifies to all
and slandered and persecuted for Christ's sake. These people         and every believer. Here, too, it could be objected that this
are not hidden. They are as conspicuous as a light upon a            is impossible for the human preacher, seeing `that he does not
candlestick, as a city upon a hill. They focus upon themselves       know infallibly who the believers are. But our Reformed
the attention of angels, men and devils.                             Fathers were not confused by this Arminian reasoning, for
   It is not true therefore that the human proclamator of            they fully understood that the real preacher of the Gospel is
the Gospel, of the promise of the Gospel, does not.know who          Christ.
the elect are. He does know. The devil knows. The enemies                It is further objected that, if it must be declared and
of Christ know. If they didn't know, how could they revile,          testified unto the believers that the promise is theirs and
slander, and persecute the elect, that is the believers. If the      theirs alone, there can be no proclamation of the Gospel unto
devil and the wicked know, why should the human proclama-            all soul for soul as there should be. Now it is true, of course,
tors of the promise not know?                                        that the Gospel must be proclaimed, published unto all cre-
   True it is that the human proclamator of the promise does         atures soul for soul. But this in no respect militates against
not know infallibly whether a' man that confesses Christ is          the teaching that in the proclamation of the Gospel it must
truly a believer. But neither is this necessary. For the true        be testified to the believers that theirs alone is the prom%e.
preacher of the Gospel is Christ. It is He Who by His                We must consider wherein proclamation of the Gospel to all
Spirit mBkes room in the hearts of His people for the Gospel,        men soul for soul consists. Let us hear our Confession on
binds His promises on the hearts of His people and causes            this point, definitely Canons of Dort, Second Head of DOC-
them to live by them. And Christ knows who His elect are.            trine, Art. 5. It reads, "Moreover the promise of the Gospel
They were given Him of the father before the foundation of           is, that whosoever believeth in Christ Jesus, shall not perish
the world. And for them He laid down His life. This people           but have everlasting life." The pronoun "whosoever" means
alone, when they were dead in their sins, hath God quickened         "any," and therefore "all, every." But there is no "if" or
together with Christ, and hath raised up together, ancj made         conditional clause concealed in this statement, as if its teach-
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:  that in the        ing were this, "The promise of the Gospel is that any and
ages to come He might shew the exceeding  riche.3  of His            all persons shall have everlasting life, on the condition that
grace in His kindness toward this people, and this people            they believe." Nor may the statement be taken to mean, "The
alone the  promise,  assures that the promised salvation is their    promise of the Gospel is, that any and all that believe shall
priceless possession. It is to the poor in spirit, to them that      have eternal life, irrespective of who they be, reprobate or
mourn, to the meek, to such as hunger and thirst .after right-       elect." To construe this statement in either of these two ways
eousness, to the merciful, to the pure in heart, to the peace-       is to make it to teach nonsense not only but abominable
makers, to such as are persecuted for righteousness sake,            heresy  -as well. The meaning of the statement is, that the
that He declares that the kingdom is theirs, that they shall         promise of the Gospel is that any and all that believe shall
be comforted, that they shall inherit the earth, that they           have life everlasting irrespective of' rank and station and
shall be filled, that they shall obtain mercy; that they shall       nationality." Underlying this statement is the true universal-

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

ity of the New Testament Dispensation. Seeing that Christ             the promise is unto all  ; not that He promises all that He
has redeemed His people from the curse of the law, the bles-          Will save them on the condition that they believe, and that
sings of Abraham are now come on the gentiles through                 they have everlasting life. Further, according to the article
Jesus Christ, Gal. 3 :14, and ,this is fulfilment of the promise      of faith under consideration, all persons soul for soul must be
that in Abraham all the families of the earth should be bles-         commanded to repent and to believe in Christ. And, finally,
sed. I+`aul repeatedly gives expression to this fact and truth.       according to the other article of faith quoted above, the
To the congregation at Rome he writes, "I am a debtor both            penitent ones must be told that God seriously promises
to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and             eternal life and rest to as many as come unto Him ; and (H.
the unwise."  (Rom. 1  :14). The epistle to the Colossians            Cat. Lords Day  31) and the impenitent and unbelieving
contains this statement, "And` have put on the new man,               must be told that they "stand exposed to the wrath of God,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that             and eternal condemnation, so long as they are unconverted:
created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circum-            according to which.testimony of the Gospel, God will judge
cission nor uncircumcission, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor            them, both in this, and in the life to come."
free,  btit Christ is all and in all." (Col. 1 :ll).                     This, according to our Confession is the full-orbed Gospei
      God will surely save believers, any and all believers. Not      preaching. And this full-orbed Gospel preaching we Prot-
one of them shall perish. All shall have eternal life, life in        estant Reformed have. And therefore the contention of our
glory, a life that they already now possess in principle and          opponents that we preach only for the elect is utterly false,
of which their faith is the fruit, the  exljression.  "For he         as well as their contention that; seeing that in our pi-qclama-
that believeth in the Son, hath eternal life" (John 3  :16).          tion of the Gospel, we limit the promise and its content to
Such,  a.ccording to the above-cited article of faith is the          the elect, historically the believers, we can only preach to the
promise. Concisely stated it is this, that God will surely            elect. It is hard to believe that they do not know any better.
save the believers. And if this is the promise, then it is only       We cannot but believe that they .do not know better. Yet,
JO the believers and they alone may be told that they possess         year in and year out they continue to repeat their old ac-
it. For if  tile promise is that God saves the believers, how         cusations.
can it be the possession of unbelievers, of such who are not             The trouble with our opponents is, that they are not satis-
saved of God ? This is only possible, if  the realization of          fied with what our Confessions understand to be the  full-
the promise depends on nian and not on God.                           orbed Gospel preaching. They want and also do have more
      Rightly considered, therefore, the meaning of the above-        then this. They teach in a,ddition that Christ'well-meaningly
cited article of faith is this: The promise to the believers is,      offers Himself to all men soul for soul and that the preaching
"that they shall have everlasting life." For the same idea is         of the Gospel is grace for all persons head for head, thus
clearly expressed in the 8th article of the Third and Forth           grace also for the reprobated, necessarily implying that Christ
Heads of the Doctrine of the Canons. Here the statement               died for all and that the will of man is free in the Arminian
occurs,  "He, moreover, seriousy  hromises  eternal life and          sense. So it goes with one that is not satisfied with what our
rest to as many as shall come to Him." Here, too, the                 Confessions understand to be the full-orbed Gospel preach-
promise and its blessed content is limited to the elect, his-         ing, and in his Gospel preaching goes beyond the limits
tor'ically the believers. These articles, it is plain, contain our    thereof. Such a one finds himself sailing in Arminian waters.
doctrine. Yet in 1924 we were expelled from the communion                The- promise is always particular, that is, it is unto the
of the Christian Reformed Churches, because we refused to             elect, the believers alone. And being God's promise, it is
repudiate this doctrine, and these were some of the articles          from the nature of matters unconditional, that is, it is not a
that were quoted against us. The question is now whether              promise with an "if" as is the case with the promise of a
the fact that the promise iS unto the beleivers, and that they        mere man. For God there can be no "ifs." For He is God.
alone may be told that the promise is theirs, makes impossible        He doeth all His goodpleasure. But the proclamation of this
a proclamation of the Gospel unto all nations and unto all            unconditional, particular, infallible and sure promise is .
persons soul for soul. Not according to the article of faith          general, that is it is and must be declared and testified to a11
with which we are here occupied. For the article continues,           persons soul for soul. This is the teaching of our Confes-
"This promise (the promise to the believers that they Bhall           sions regarding the Gospel and its proclamation. And to
not perish but have everlasting life) together with the com-          this teaching we Protestant Reformed strictly adhere.
mand to repent and believe, shall be declared and published              There is one more objection to the conception that the
to all nations, and to all persons promiscuously and without          promise is only to the believers -the objection of the
distinction, to whom God of his goodpleasure sends the                Liberated. Let me expose and analyze it in connection with
Gospel."                                                              the promise as we have it in the beatitude, "Blessed are the
      What then, according to this article of-faith must be           pure of heart, for they shall see God." Jesus is here speak-
declared unto all nations, and to all persons soul for soul ?         ing to the elect, historically the pure of heart, the believers.
Not that Christ as to His intention died for all soul for soul ;      He pronounces them blessed and promises them that they
not that He well-meaningly offers Himself to all ; not that           shall see God. This is the promise as set before us in this


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               71

particular beatitude of a sermon of Christ that is known as         &de faith. If so, we have God promising also faith on the
the sermon on the mount. And let us notice, too, that it is         condition that the baptized one believes . But this does not
unconditional. We see then how true it is that the promise,         make sense. This is also realized and therefore it is said that
wherever it occurs in Holy Writ, is always God's uncondi-           faith is not included in the promised salvation but as un-
tional oath unto the elect, historically the believers.             promised is bestowed upon the elect who therefore believe
   Now according to the Liberated this word of Christ is            and are saved. But this raises but another question. Since
prediction, prophecy but not promise. So, in proclaiming this       faith is of the very substance of salvation, how can God prom-
beatitude, the human preacher of the Gospel is proclamating         ise salvation without promising faith ? So the questions con-
prophecy but not promise. Such is the view. The promise,            tinue to multiply here. We may be thankful therefore that
it is said, is always conditional and is given to all, that is      those who went out from us recently did not succeed in in-
to all the baptized head for head, and as this is not the case      trqducing  this liberated conception of the promise into our
with the word of Jesus here under consideration, it is proph-       churches. For it is plainly Arminian.
ecy, prediction but not promise. Let us understand the                 But one will say, are we not confronted here with a
Liberated position well. Here is an infant  child,.  born of        difficulty nevertheless. Seeing that my given name, what-
Christian parents, whose name is Henry. If the word of              ever that name may be, John, James, or Henry does not
Christ in question read, "Henry, I am thy God, and there-           occur in God's promises, seeing that He calls His people
fore Henry, thou shalt see me, on the condition that you            only by their new name given them of Him, how does God
believe," it would be promise. But since it reads as it does,       assure me, that is, how do I come to know that I' am His child
since it tells the pure of heart but not Henry that they shall      and belong to His people.7 In this way, With you by His
see God, it is prophecy, prediction but not promise. Hence,         grace hiding yourself in Christ as your only hope of salva-
it cannot be used to assure Henry that God is his God, and          tion, and laying off sin and putting on Christ, He so sancti-
that he shall see God, if he believes. For that we need a           fies His unconditional Gospel to your heart that the con-
promise personally for Henry, a word of God that contains           viction is born in your heart that you are His child, a be-
the name of Henry in it and addressed not to the believers,.        liever, a pure of heart. And then His Gospel speaks to you
the pure of heart in genei-al  but definitely to Henry. Is there    personally. For then you know that you belong to that people
such a word of God? Yes, say the Liberated. And that word           that he calls by the name believer, pure of heart, etc.  In.
of God is the promi.se,  the conditional promise, the only real     the words of Paul, the Spirit itself, always speaking through
promise, that God by the mouth of the minister of the Gospel        the Scriptures, beareth witness with our spirit that we are
speaks, gives to Henry in the moment of his baptism. And,           the children of God.
according to the Liberated, that word of God is this: Henry,           A word in conclusion. To repudiate this pure `doctrine
I declare and testify unto you that I am your God, that I           that the promise is God's unconditional oath to the elect,
love you, that I give to you the right to all the blessings of      historically the believers, is to break with the truth all the
salvation, that thus thou art my heir-heir of the kingdom           way down the line, and to take the Arminian position re-
-and I assure you that I shall place in your actual posses-         garding election, reprobation, the scope of the atonement of
sion all these blessings of Christ's cross and thereby save you,    Christ, and the moral capacities of the natural man devoid
on the condition that you'believe.                                  of the life of regeneration. The teaching that the condi-
   But may not Henry be a reprobate ? The Liberated agree           tional promise of God unto all soul for soul goes hand in
that he may. Nevertheless  -this is God's declaration and           hand with the Arminian doctrine that God saves men on the
promise to Henry, and not only to Henry, of course, but             condition that they believe and that, being all knowing, but
to all- the baptized soul for soul, elect and reprobate alike.      not sovereignly so, He chose all such men of whom He fore-
   But, certainly, in the light of all that has been presented,     saw that they would fulfil that condition by supplying their
such a conception of the promise raises many questions.             own faith. It goes hand in hand with the Arminian false
First, where in the whole of the Scriptures is such a word,         doctrine that God justifies a man on the condition that he
promise of God to  Henry  to be  ,found? Nowhere of course.         believes. It goes hand in hand with the Arminian doctrine
We do not find in the Scriptures the names that we received         that Christ as to His intention died for the whole humanity
from our parents at birth. In giving his people His promises,       soul for soul, and that Christ now well-meaningly offers
in  asuring them that He will save them, He calls them by           himself to the whole of humanity head for head. It goes hand
the names- the new names .- that He has given them, such            in hand with the Arminian doctrine that the will of the
as believer, new creature in Christ, pure of heart, mourners,       natural man is morally free to believe or not to believe as
peacemakers etc. Second, if all the baptized soul for soul          he  chases.  It goes hand in hand finally with the Arminian
receive of God the right to the blessings of salvation, which       doctrine that grace is resistible, and  that at any time  .after
would have to, mean that all of them are justified in Christ,       his regeneratinn the true believer can fall away from grace
how is it to be explained that many of them perish in their         utterly and perish in his sins after all. Let us then hold fast
sins? There can be but one answer : either God can't save           the truth that the promise is God's unconditional oath to the
them or He is a liar. Third, the promised blessings must in-        elect, historically the believers.                      G.M.O.


                                    -                                                          -           -        -
 72                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D BEARER

                        Misi3ionary  Notes                            man of Reformed persuasion, one who loved the doctrine
                                                                      contained in the Heidelberg Catechism, to teach them and
       To properly understand the labors of the undersigned           their children..
 here in LoveIand,  Colorado, there are a few pertinent facts,            D. V. we shall have more to say about this in a next
 which should be kept in mind.                                        instal!ment.
       First of all the reader should understand  tiu Church                                                                               G.L.
 Political status of this congregation here at tll- foe;-hills  of
 the Rockies.                                                                                   \ AS TO BOOKS
       The name of this congreg&on is literally "The Reformed
 Hoffnungs Gemeinde of Loveland." Such i.s its official native              .-               (Coutimred   fvowz..`pa~ge   5 3 )
 on the document drawn up in 1904. (Incidently, herewith               -jeep Monument Der Afscheiding (A Monument of' the
 the reader may know-that the rendering of this name in the           Separation), by Rev. W. De Graaf. Published by J. H. Kok,
 former "Missionary Notes" is faulty', where the addition             N. V., Kampen, the Netherlands. Price  f&90.                   -
 "Protestant" slipped in through no fault of this v\lriter).  As          This is a very interesting book. It describes the origin,
such this congregation was one of the churches resorting              the history and the struggle of the Theological School in
 under the Nebraska Classis  of the. Northwest Synod of the           Kampen, the Netherlands, and in connection with  it,  nat-
 Reformed  Church  of the United States of America. This              .urally, relates a good deal of the history of the churches of
 must not be confused with the Refornied Church of America.           the Separation of 1934. Interesting this  boo-k  is, especially
 They are wholly dil'ierent  churches; The latter is of Holland       for those of us whose origin is personally in the old country,
 descent, descending from the State Church in The Nether-             who lived through, at least, the latter  part of this history
 lands, while the former is composed of the Reformed brethren         and of the struggle for the Seminary at Kampen. Many of
 out of Germany. Atid' it was, of course, to this church that         the  nanies  that are mentioned in this book will be familiar
 these brethren and sisters in Loveland,  Golorado  -once be-         to us. Who does not remember the names of Brummelkamp,
 longed.                                                              Lindeboom,  Bos of Bedum, Westerhuis of Groningen, who
       It should be noted that the Nebraska  Classis  which we        was for years my minister, Bavinck and Biestekveld  ? Who
 mentioned in the former paragraph, was a sister Classis  of          does `not remember the  sad- impression the last two men-
 the Eureka  Classis,  better known to us. Together with the          tioned made on. the churches of "Kerk A" when they re-
 Iowa hassis, Eureka Classis  and possibly others the Nebras-         signed from their professorship in Kampen to go to the
 ka Classis  belonged to the Northwest Synod of the Denomi-           Free cniversity  of Amsterdam ? _
 nation, known as the Reformed Church of the United States                Indeed, a' very interesting book, written in a style that
 of America,                                                          is e&ily  accessible to all that still read Dutch.
       However, since the Nebraska  Classis  merged with the                                                                              H. H.
 Evangelical Church and has thereby lost its  indehtity  as a
 Classis,  this church here at Loveland is the only  chtirch
 which is left of that  Classis.  This congregation did not ac-
 quiesce to this merger and therefore retained its indentity                                        I N   M E M O R I A M
 as the Reformed Hoffnungs Gemeinde of Loveland;Colorado.                The Men's Society of the First Protestant Reformed Church
       In so doing they  ~rejected the doctrinal position of the      heceby wishes to extend its sincere sympathy to our president,
 merged church, known as the Evangelical  and Reformed                the  Rev. G. M.  Ophoff,.in  the recent lose of his  mother
 Church which does not only have the Heidelberg Catechism                                      MRS. ETTA OPHOFF.
 as their doctrinal Standard, but also has as its Standards the         Psalm  31:7 : "I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for
 A.ugsburg Confession of 1529 and the Small Catechism of              thou hast considered my trouble: thou hast known my  sour in
 Luther. This the small but courageous group in Loveland              adv&sities."
 refused to accept. They insisted that the only Standard in                                                     Richard H. Teitsma, Secretary
 the Congregation was to be the Heidelberg Catechism. Fact
 is, that the Articles of the Constitution of this Congregation                                      I N   M E M O R I A M
 read that those who adhere to this doctrinal Standard shall             T.he  F&nice  Society of First Church,  Grand{  Rapids, expresses
 be considered to be the congregation, even though they be            its sympathy to our Bible Teacher, Rev. G. M. `Ophoff in  .the
 but two in number.,                                                  loss of his mother,
       It is on the basis of this Constitution that during this                                     MRS. E. OPHOFF
 past year the Congregation had the courage to tell the                  May our God comfort him  thkough His Word. Isa.  26:3.
 Evangelical and Reformed partisans together with their lea-                                                      Mrs. R. H. Meyer, President
 der, the Rev. "Max Schoenhaar, that Ithey  would look for a                                                      Mrs. Geo. Spruyt, Secretary


