    V O L U M E   x x x 1 1                        DECEIVIBER   1,  1955-GRAPU'D   RAP&S, MICHIGAN                             NUMBER  5

                                                                                 But through one act of sin, he lost all that sweet savour.
                                                                                 As you all know: savour is taste and smell combined.
                                                                              And the savour of our text is sweet, and so this knowledge of
                                                                              God in Christ is sweet.
                               A Sweet  Scxvour                                   But I tell you that ever since Adam fell in Paradise, he
                                                                              does not spread such sweetness anymore.
               "For we are' unto God  a.  sweet savour of  C'hrist, in
               them that are saved and in them that perish: To the                There is our  quarrel  with the church of  I Jesus Christ
               one  tie are the savour of death unto death; and to            today. Yes, we have  2 quarrel with the church of Christ.
               the. other the savour of life unto life. And who is            We have a  cluarrel with Mother who threw us out of her
               sufficient for these -things?"            II Cor.  2:15, 16    communion.
   A sweet savour of Christ !                                                    And here is the quarrel `between her and us : she holds
   Wh$t may that be ?                                                         that Adam and Eve retained a small principle of the sweet
                                                                              savour of the knowledge of God, while we affirm that they
   The answer is not difficult, since in the immediate con-                   lost all the sweet savour not only, but that it turned into its
text this figurative speech is  esplained. Attend to verse  14:               very opposite.
"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to                               And such faith is according to the word of God.
triumph in Christ, and  maketh  manifest the savour of His
knowledge by us in every place.                                                   Or do we not read that "a wicked man is loathsome, and
                                                                              cometh  to shame"? Like wise, we read of the godless the
   The sweeet savour is the knowledge  qf. God.                               following in  Psahn 14  :3, and Psalm 53  :4: "they are alto-
   And that, my dear reader, is a lost heritage.                              gether become filthy." And if you have a reference Bible..
   There was a time when we knew the Lord. That is long,                      you will note that the Hebrew has "stinking" for the word
long ago, in the first Paradise of God.                                       " f i l t h y . "   ~
   They knew God, that is, their progress was toward God,                         Do you .not notice that the Lord uses the very opposite
walking hand in hand in the garden of God. They knew His                      figure tq; denote the present ethical and moral state of fallen
countenance, His will, His wondrous, Being. And such                          man ? In my text we hear the saint in Christ affirm that he
knowledge made them rejoice all the day.                                      is a sweet savour  unto God, but in the above texts we- read
   They also spread  that savour. All the  su&oundifig                        that fallen, wicked, godless man is stinking unto God.
creatures experienced that they knew God. They were the                           But our dear, erring brethren keep on saying that man
priests of creation, and the brute creation knew it. They                     has retained a small principle of his original sweetness.
were not afraid of Adam, and they did not run at his ap-                          Even the saint of God will judge that apart from Christ
proach.                                                                       he is nothing but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores
  And all  such knowledge in Paradise was rooted  in the                      that have not beeen closed, neither bound up, neither molli-
love of God which was spread in  the hearts of Adam and                       fied with ointment. And if you would listen to Job's ap-
E v e .                                                                       praisal of self, especially as we find it in the original He-
   Ah yes, Paradise was a beautiful picture of harmony and                    brew, there is an anger that your "refined sensibilities" would
peace.                                                                        be outraged,, for I assure you that you will hear of terrible
   There wa'lked the prophet, priest and king of God.                         things. In truth, brethren,  IJob likens himself with a run-
   And there was  ha$piness  in his kingdom.                                  ning, fetid sore! But the translation of our English fathers
   It was a sweet savour unto God.                                            says: I abhor myself.
   But not of Chi-ist.  That was destined to appear later on                      And if you know your Bible, you know that we could
in time.                                                                      multiply these appraisals of self dozenfold. Man has lost his

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

 original-sweet savour, and has become a stinking object in           They come to church alive in the Lord, regenerated, con-
 God's nostrils, and to His taste.                                  verted, and hearing the Word of the Lord. And they leave
                                                                    the church more alive in Him. They have tasted that the
                             *  *  * *                              Lord is gracious.
       But then came the sweet savour of Christ.                        In them that are perishing; in them that are being saved.
       And that savour is a thousand times thousand sweeter             Both terrible and wondrous.
 than the sweetness of Adam in the first Paradise.                      But in both the apostle is a. sweet savour.
       Why  ?                                                                                * *  * *
       Because Christ is the manifestation of the Almighty Cove-
 nant Jehovah.
       In and through Christ there is manifested a knowledge            Unto whom ?
 of God which is far and above the knowledge, the natural               Unto God.
 knowledge of God in the first Paradise. The knowledge of               That is what the text tells us.
 God is now exalted to the heavens.                                     Here you have the ever recurring theme of the Bible: all
       For Christ is in the bosom of the Father. And it is the      things are for God's sake. So also here. Paul, and his fellow
 determination of the Triune God that in that Christ all the        laborers in the vineyard, is unto God a sweet savour of Christ
 fulness of God's covenant life shall dwell.                        in them that are perishing and in them that are being saved.-
       There are treasures of knowledge in Jesus that will make     It is again unto God!
 you happy for evermore.                                                Oh no, you cannot withdraw into a neutral corner when
       Oh, that Christ knows God, and He declares, exegetes         God is coming out to fight His battles. You will have to smell,
 that God to us. If you would know God, look strongly on            and you do smell when He emits the sweet savour of His
 Jesus, His Person, His work, His suffering, His dying, His         knowledge in Christ.
 resurrection, etc.                                                     It is as in the case of Simon when he held the Babe
       Now we know this about God: He is so indescribably           Christ in his arms and addressed Mary and Joseph. That
 lovely and good that He will go to everlasting hell for you !      Christ child is set for the fall and rising again of many in
 Can you even imagine anything sweeter than that?                   Israel, and for a sign that shall be spoken against. And why ?
       That is the sweet savour -of Christ ?                        Listen : "that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed  !"
       In whom is that savour ?                                         And so it is with every sermon that is preached.
       In them that perish, and in them that are saved.                 You cannot make a detour around the savour of His
       Both are facts.                                              knowledge in Christ.
       Men are-perishing; and men are being saved.                      You are not and cannot be and remain neutral.
       There are men (and women, and children) that come                You either increase in life with God, or you perish a
 into contact with men who spread the sweet savour of the           little more after every sermon you hear. It all depends
knowledge of God in Christ, with the result that they become        whether you live unto God, or whether you are dead before
 deader than they were before. They were dead when they             His face.
came into contact with this savour, and when this savour                But both reactions are unto Him.
had done its work, they were deader.                                    And the one thing, the one sweet Thing, whether it kills
       What does this prove ?                                       you, or whether it makes you alive and quickens you, is unto
       This: that God is unbelievable good and virtuous, but        God always a sweet savour. As also the men that spread it.
that wicked man is horribly wicked and perverse.                        Do you not hear the echo from the Old Testament. What
       The sweeter the thing you give unto the wicked, the more     did Isaiah tell Israel ? This : the Word of God would never
wicked he becomes.                                                  return unto Him void. It shall always (saith God) accom-
       Now read that sentence once more, and you may recog-         plish that which I please! Either unto hardening or unto
nize the most abominable sin ever committed on this sorry           making tender. But either way, "it shall prosper in the thing
earth. What did the angel say to Mary  ? This :  ". . . there-      whereunto I sent it." Isaiah 55 :llb.     '
fore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be          And so everything is unto God.
called the Son *of God."                                                What a comfort for the poor preacher. He is often
       And what did wicked men do to this HOLY THING?               abused. But for God's sake. For His sake he is killed all
They crucified Him, the Lord of Glory.                              the day long. They hate Christ. And so they hate the
       There you have my text. Christ with -all His Divine          preachers for Christ's sake.
and heavenly flavour worked death unto the reprobate.                   And the deepest reason is : they hate God.
       And so it is today and throughout history.                       For all things are unto God.
       But in them that are saved He is the sweet savour of life        He is the Ultimate End of all things, both in heaven and
unto life.                                                          in hell.


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                   99

        And through whom is that flavour, savour, sweetness,
     knowledge of God ?                                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
        Strictly speaking, God, of course.,                                   Semi-monthly,  exce-ept   moltthly   dwing   Jme, July  artd  &gust
        It is of Him, through Him, and unto Him.                                 Published by the  REFORMED  FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
        We understand that very well.                                          P. 0. Box 881, Madison  Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
        But in a relative sense God will use mediums.. He will                                  Editor  - REV. HERMAN  HOEKSEMA
     send out Jesus the perfect Man first.                                     Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
        And then He will call certain Christians, and tell them :              H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
     I will permeate you with the sweetness of My flavour. and                All matters relative to subscriptions  should be addressed to `Mr.
                                                                               G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
     then you stand into the midst of men, namely, the men unto               Announcements and Obituaries must be ma&l  to the above
     whom I send My Gospel. And I will do the rest.                           address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
        And so it goes through the ages.                                       RENEWALS:  Unless a definite  iequest  for discontinuance is re-
        Men are called, separated unto the Gospel. And they                    ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the 4xcription
                                                                               to continue without  the formality of a renewal order.
     preach the Gospel.  And'as far as they are concerned, they                                  Subscription price : $4.00 per year
     would like to be a flavour unto life for all their audience.
     They would like to save all. Not one preacher enjoys being                 Entered as Second Class mutter at Grand  Rag&is,   Michtgan
     a savour of death unto death unto anyone. Attend to Moses
     and Paul.
        But they bow the head. They bring the Word. They                                                      C O N T E N T S
     spread the savour of His knowledge.
        His is the harvest. Amen.                                        MEDITATION  -
                                                                                                                                                                          97
                                                                G.V.              A Sweet  Savour..........................................
                                                                                       Rev. G. Vos

                                     .I     .                            EDITORIALS -
                                                                                  The Opinion of Judge Charles A. Flinn.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .lOO
                      WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                              Rev. H. Hoeksema
        On December 2,  1955,  the Lord willing, our dear parents and
     grandparents,                                                       OUR  DOCZTRINE-                                                                                 .103
                      MR. and MRS. JACOB PIPER                                    The Triple Knowledge (Part III  - Of Thankfulness) .
                                                                                       Rev. H. Hoeksema
' will commemorate their 40th wedding anniversary.           We are
     thankful to our God for having spared them for each other and       TBE  DAY   OF  SHADOWS-
     for us these many years. Our earnest prayer is that He may                   The Prophecy of Haggai.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .             .106
     further bless them in the way that lies ahead.                                    Rev. G. M. Ophoff
                              Their grateful children
                                  Mr. and Mrs. Barney Haak               FEATURE ARTICLE  -
                                                                                                                                                                         .lOP
                                  Mr .and Mrs. Robert Morrow                      The Anti-Christian Implications of Russian Communism.
                                  Mr.  and Mrs. Donald Lotterman                        Rev. E. Emanuel
                                  and  8 grandchildren.                  IN HIS  FEAR-
                                                                                  Speech that Manifests Fear (4). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .              .112
                                                                                       Rev. J. A. Heys
        "Some, more haughty than even Lucifer are not content                                                                                         .
     with barely lifting themselves to an equality with Thee; but        CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -
     are most daringly desirous to govern and control Thee, Who                   The Church and the Sacraments.. . . . . . .":. . . . . . . . . . . . . .               .114
     art the King of kings. Such are they, who dread not to af-                        Rev. H. Veldman
     firm, that, even in a con?mon action, their own will walks first    D
     as an independent mistress; and that Thy will follows after,             ECENCY AND ORDER  -
                                                                                  The Office of the Elder.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .    .116
     like on obsequious handmaid: that they themselves go fore-                        Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg
     most, like sovereign lords; but Thou walkest behind them,           A
     like an hired servant : that they issue their orders as kings ;          LL  AROUND  Us-
                                                                                  LovetheLord   Thy,Gcd...............................                                   .118
     and that  .Thou, like an implicit subject,  attest according to              Is the Reformed Church in  Amerisca  an "Open
     the imperial nod of their determining will."                                 Communion" Church  7.,...............................                                  .118
                                                 - Dr. Bradwardine.                     Rev. M.  Schipper

         "The church of the elect, which is partly militant on           CONTRIBUTIONS  -
                                                                                  Hope Welcomes New Pasto,r.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
     earth, and partly  triumphant in heaven, resembles a city                          John  Lanqing
I    built on both sides of a river. There is but the stream of
     death between grace and glory."                       - Toplady                                   . .


1      0      0                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

I                                                                                                   I V
              E D I T O R I A L S                             II       That plaintiff is governed by a consistory, consisting of
                                                                    elders and deacons. That under the discipline, rules and
                                                                    usages of the Protestant Reformed Churches in the United
      The Opinion of Judge Charles A. Flinn                         States of America, the consistory is the governing body  of
                                                                    the corporation and has charge of the temporalities of said
     I here publish, without comment, the opinion of the            church, including the building .and personal property.
judge in the Edgerton  case:                                                                  /      V
STATE OF MINNESOTA  j                                                  That said denomination is divided into two  classis,
COUNTY OF PIPESTONE  ) ss                                           namely, East and West. That the Classis  East consists of all
                               IN DISTRICT COURT                    Protestant Reformed Churches east of the Mississippi River,
                                                                    and  Classis  West consists of all Protestant Reformed
                   THIRTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT                     Churches west  of the Mississippi River. That each church
The Protestant Reformed Church                                      in said  classis sends delegates, a minister and an elder, to
of Edgerton, Minnesota, a                                           said classis which meets at least once in three months or as
corporation under the Laws of                                       otherwise provided in Article 41 of Church Order. The
The State of Minnesota,                                             general synod of said' denomination meets once every two
                               Plaintiff,                           years pursuant to Article 50 of Church Order.
                            FINDINGS OF FACT,                                                      V I
                            CONCLUSIONS OF LAW, AND                    That sometime prior to August 31, 1953. one Hubert
                            ORDER FOR JUDGMENT.                     DeWolf, a minister in the First Protestant Reformed Church
        vs                                                          of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was suspended and deposed
"John Templeman, Gerard Mesman.                                     from his ministry by proceedings under the rules and usages
Marinus Mesman, Harold Gunnink,                                     of the consistory o-E said church and the said Classis  East of
                                         Defendants.                the Protestant Reformed Churches in the United States of
                                                                    America.
     The above entitled matter came on before the court to be                                V I I
tried without a jury. Mr. Benjamin Vander Kooi,  ,Luverne,
Minnesota,.appeared  as attorney for the plaintiff. Mr. L. M.          That the suspension and deposition of the said Hubert
Himmelman,  Pipestone, Minnesota, appeared as attorney for          DeWolf as a minister of the Protestant Reformed Churches
the defendants. Following the trial of said action the,matter       in the United States of America was based upon a matter
was submitted to the court on a transcript of the testimony         of doctrinal interpretation not wholly in accord with the
adduced at the trial and written briefs submitted by counsel.       findings of the officers and members of some of the churches
                                                                    of said denomination and that such deposition became a mat-
     NOW, THEREFORE, having heard the evidence and                  ter of discussion in many of said churches.
considered the same, together with the briefs of counsel, the
transcript of the `testimony, and all the records and files                                        VIII
herein, it is found, as,                                               That  Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches
                                                                    in the United States of America did on September 2, 1953,
                    MATTERS OF FACT                                 in  Classis  West meeting at  Oskaloosa, Iowa, decide as fol-
                                                                    lows: "That we cannot recognize the suspension of Rev.
                                 I                                  Hubert DeWolf and the deposition of the elders supporting
     That plaintiff is a corporation organized and esisting         him but on the contrary must consider Rev. Hubert DeWolf
under the laws of the State of Minnesota.                           with his consistory and congregation as the legal and proper
                                                                    continuation of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
                                 I I                                Grand Rapids, Michigan."
     That the defendants are residents of the State of Minne-                                      I X
sota and members of the congregation of the plaintiff church.          That on August 31, 1953, the consistory of the Prot-
                                I I I                               estant Reformed Church of Edgerton, Minnesota, met in
     That plaintiff affiliated with the denomination known as       session with the following members: John Doctor, J. Van
the Protestant Reformed Churches in the United States of            Nieuwenhuyzen, James Ver Hey, John Templeman, Gerard
America. That said church is bound by the usages, orders,           Mesman, Marinus Mesman and Harold Gunnink, and that
and regulations of the Protestant Reformed Churches in the          said consistory was on said date the duly constituted and
United States of America.                                           governing body of said church, properly acting as said con-


                                           T'HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 101

sistory. That the defendants are a majority of the cons'istory                                  xv
of the Protestant Reformed Church of Edgerton, Minnesota.             That the synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches in
                                                                   the United States of America had held its regular synodical
                               X                                   meeting in June of 1953 at the Fuller Avenue church in
   That at a meeting of said consistory on August 31, 1953,        Grand Rapids, Michigan, with duly accredited delegates
`a motion was duly made and carried by a majority vote of          present from all churches which were members of said synod.
said consistory to the effect that the Protestant Reformed         That said June 1953 synodical meeting adjourned until March
Church of  Edgerton  did not recognize the suspension and          10, 1954, said adjourned meeting to be held at the Fuller
deposition of Rev. Hubert DeWolf as a pastor of the First          Avenue church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That on the
Protestant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan.              agenda for said March 1954 adjourned meeting of said synod
                              X I                                  the only item to be considered was the report of a study
   That thereafter John Doctor, J. Van Nieuwenhuyzen and           group. That said adjourned meeting was called by the Stated
Jim Ver Hey, a minority of the consistory of the Protestant        Clerk of the Synod as in existence in June 1953. That no
Reformed Church of Edgerton, claiming to act for said con-         action was taken at said March 1954 adjourned meeting of
sistory, met and declared themselves to be the legal  con-         synod deposing the defendants as the consistory of the
sistory of said Protestant Reformed Church of Edgerton  and        plaintiff church. That no `action was taken at said meeting
declared the defendants to be guilty of schism, and notified       reversing any of the action of Classis West at its September
the defendants that they were suspended and deposed as             1953 meeting.
members of the consistory of said church. That said John                                       X V I
Doctor, J. Van Nieuwenhuyzen and Jim Ver Hey, claiming                That the minority of the consistory of the plaintiff church,
to act as the legal consistory of the plaintiff church and pur-    together with other officers and members of various churches
portedly under the provisions of Art. 79 of the church order       of  Classis  West as it existed in August 1953 constituted a
met with the  Doon, Iowa, consistory and attempted to declare      faction supporting the deposition of Rev. DeWolf. That the
the defendants deposed from office as members of the con-          defendants, as a majority of the consistory of the plaintiff
sistory of the plaintiff church. That such attempted deposi-       church, and other officers and members of other churches
tion was taken without any of the defendants being present.        West opposed the deposition of said Rev. DeWolf.
That such action -was taken without the defendants being                                       X V I I
notified of any action or hearing being contemplated and              That the group supporting the deposition of Rev. De-
without knowledge of any of said defendants of said meeting.       Wolf in  Classis  West, together with certain officers and
                             X I I                                 members of some of the churches in  Classis  East, did not
   That none of the members or officers of the Protestant          attend the adjourned meeting of synod held in March of 1954.
Reformed Church of Edgerton  ever filed any protest or com-        That no proper appeal from the action of  Classis  West on
plaint with Classis  West, the next highest govern&g  body of      the Rev. DeWolf deposition was ever presented to the said
the Protestant Reformed Church, nor with any higher ec-            adjourned meeting of synod.
clesiastical body within said church organisation. That no                                    X V I I I
attempt was made by any of the members of said Protestant             That the group supporting the deposition of Rev. DeWolf
Reformed Church of  Edgerton  to comply with the provisions.       held a purported meeting of synod consisting of delegates in
of Article 31 of the Church Order, governing the Protestant        accord with their views. That such purported meeting was
Reformed Church.                                                   not a legally constituted meeting of synod in according with
                             X I I I                               the Church Order.
   That Classis  West met on September 2, 1953 and refused
to recognize the action of Classis  East suspending the Rev.                         AS CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
DeWolf of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand               1. That the plaintiff corporation is not entitled to any
Rapids, Michigan.                                                  relief as against the defendants herein.
                             X I V                                    2. That the defendants herein are the duly constituted
   That the Rev. Homer C.  Hoeksema of  Doon,  Iowa, ob-           and legal consistory of the Protestant Reformed Church of
jected to such action and indicated his intention to appeal to     Edgerton, Minnesota, and as such are entitled, to the control
the synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches in the United        of the property of said church and the use of the name of
States of America. That the consistory of the said  Doon,          Protestant Reformed Church of  Edgerton.  Minnesota.
Iowa, church thereafter originated a proposal to "reorganize"         3. That the defendants have their costs and disburse-
Classis  West and with the consistories or purported consist-      ments  herein.
ories of other churches in  Classis  West, as in existence in         LET JUDGMENT BE ENTERED ACCORDINGLY.
August 1953, attempted to set up a  Classis  West of the           Dated this 1st day
churches not in agreement with the action of said  Classis         of November, 1955.                      Charles A. Flinn
West taken in  -September  1953.                                                                                   District Judge.,


 102                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B'EARER

                        MEMORANDUM                                   sidered at the September meeting of Classis  West, was that
        The court commences in the present lamentable dispute        the group supporting the deposition of Rev. DeWolf was
with a recognition of the undoubted rule that the civil courts       satisfied in advance of the Classis  meeting that any action of
should not and cannot `enter into any dispute relative to            Classis  would be unfavorable to their views.  Classis  West
doctrinal matters in a church organization. Nor can it in-           although it had no real reason to act on the matter of the
terfere with or enter into any dispute relative to church            deposition of Rev. DeWolf by  Classis  East, did refuse to
government. The court is, of course, bound by the well rec-          recognize such deposition.
ognized rule that where a church congregation is divided,               With Rev. Homer C. Hoeksema as the organizer of the
the group which has proceeded in accordance with the rules           churches favorable to the deposition of Rev. DeWolf, a proper
of the church government must be recognized as the group             remedy was to appeal the action of Classis  West to the next
entitled to control of the physical property of any of the           synodical meeting. Instead he purported to organize a new
churches belonging to a certain denomination.                        Classis  West, calling it "reorganized"  Classis  West. Obvi-
        Here, counsel and all parties have stipulated that the       ously, including in such supposed reorganized Classis  West
Protestant Reformed Churches in the United States of                 the churches favorable to their viewpoint. on the DeWolf
America are presbyterial in so far as their form of govern-          matter.
ment is concerned. These churches supposedly are organized              The synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches in the
so that the consistory of a church is the governing body of          United States of America had met in June 1953 apparently in
the individual church. In case the action of the consistory          reasonable `peace and harmony, and then adjourned their
aggrieves any officer or member ofthe  church that officer or        meeting until March 10, 1954. This March 10, 1954 meeting
member must then appeal to the Classis  of which the church          of synod was not an annual meeting but merely an adjourned
is a member. The plaintiff church being a member of Classis          meeting and actually ,did not have on its agenda anything
W e s t .                                                            relative to the DeWolf, matter. In March 1954, the breach
        The Protestant Reformed Churches in the United States        on the DeWolf matter having widened, both factions at-
of America are `divided into two groups.  Classis  West of           tempted to hold what were called meetings of the synod, and
which the plaintiff church is a member and Classis  East con-        at each of these  .meetings  action was attempted to be taken
sisting of churches east of the Mississippi River. Delegates         in connection with the DeWolf matter.
from Classis  East and West constitute the synod of the Prot-           The court feels that the action of the group supporting
estant Reformed Churches in the United States of America,            the deposition of Rev. DeWolf in attempting to organize a
and actions of this synod are ineffect a court of last resort of     new Classis  West upon realizing that they were defeated in
the denomination.                                                    the Classis  West meeting in September 1953 was ill advised
        The problem then is whether or not in the present split      and not in accordance with) the church rules. That therefore
in the Protestant Reformed Churches in the United States             any attempted deposition of the defendants as the legal con-
 of America, the parties concerned followed the rules of the         sistory of "the plaintiff church by action at the Doon  meeting
 Church Order (plaintiff's exhibit 5) by taking proper ap-           or by action of the claimed reorganized classis is of no effect.
peal from consistory to Classis  and from Classis  to synod.            Neither can the court recognize any attempted action of
        After a thorough study of the transcript of the testimony    the synod group supporting the deposition of the Rev. De;
and the exhibits, it appears to the court that the members of        Wolf as the legal action of the synod. of the church. The
the plaintiff church feeling themselves aggrieved by not             regular synodical meeting in June of 1953 had met and
agreeing with the action of their consistory in failing to rec-      adjourned until March of 1954 and could then take up only
 ognize the deposition of Rev. DeWolf' by  Classis  East, did        the matters then on its agenda. Only the delegates who had
not avail themselves of their*proper  remedy by appeal to the        been accredited tit the June 1953 meeting being the proper
 September 1953 meeting of  Classis  West. To the contrary,          members of synod therefore it is felt that any action at-
 Messrs. Doctor, Van Nieuwenhuyzen and Ver Hey, at some              tempted by the anti De Wolf faction claiming to meet as the
 date subsequent to the meeting of  Classis  West, met with          synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches in the United
the consistory of the  Doon,  Iowa, church, of which Rev.            States of America is void and of no effect.
 Homer C. Hoeksema was the minister, and a member of the                 Surely, in this whole dispute the remedy of the group  ~
 faction with  ,which  they were affiliated, and attempted to        claiming to be aggrieved by the action of consistory, classis
 depose the defendants as the consistory of the plaintiff church.    or synod, is not an attempt to set up a new group favorable
 This is evident by defendant's exhibit 2, dated September 11,       to their own viewpoint but to proceed according to the
 1953, which purports to give the results of some action taken       Church Order. A party aggrieved by  the* action of any
 prior to that date, although it is possible that no real action     church governing body cannot then proceed to attempt to
 was attempted until September 17th or 18th.         ,.              suspend or depose the group whose action aggrieved them.
        It is only too apparent that the reason why no attempt       Of course?  here, both the group exposed to Rev. DeWolf and
 was made to have an appeal from the action of the defendants
as members of the consistory of the plaintiff church con-                                (Co&med   ox page 120)


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              103
                                                                                                                          -

                                                                     wonder of grace whereby the sinner is delivered and  cleansed
          O U R   D O C T R I N E                               II from the pollution of sin and corruption, and sanctified to
                                                                     walk in a new and holy life. The same is true of all the
                                                                     signs and wonders which the Lord Jesus performed while
             THE  TRIPLi:  KNOWLEDGE                                 He was in His earthly sojourn in the midst of the world.
                                                                     And even when He raised the physically dead, it certainly
    AN EXPOSITION OF THE HEIDELBERG  CATECISISM                      was a sign of that marvelous wonder of grace whereby the
              PART  III  - OF THANKFULNESS                           dead will be raised into incorruptibility and immortality in
                                                                     the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. The same is true of the
                        LORD'S DAY 50.                               signs and wonders that were performed by the disciples
                         Chapter Two                                 that were sent out throughout the land of Canaan during
              Healing on the Prayer of Faith                         the earthly ministry of the Lord. And again, the same holds
                                                                     for the signs and wonders that were performed by the
   Still more, in Mark 14 :16-18 we read : "He that believeth        apostles after the resurrection and ascension of the Lord
and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall      Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe ; In          It is evident that this has nothing to do with healing
my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak ,with new       by the prayer of faith. In fact, many of the wonders which
tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any          the Lord performed during His earthly ministry did not
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them ; they shall lay hands on       even presuppose faith in those that benefited by them. Nine       _
the sick, and they shall recover." Finally, the text that is most    of the ten lepers which the Lord cleansed, while only one
frequently-quoted by those that believe in the healing of the        returned to give Him thanks, certainly did not have faith
sick through the prayer of faith is James 5 : 14, 15 : "Is any       when the Lord performed His wonder upon them. The man
sick among you ? let him call for the elders of the church ;         that was born blind and  .to whom the Lord gave his eyesight,
and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the            according to John 9, certainly was not cured on the prayer
name  .of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the           of faith. The same is true of the feeding of the five thousand
sick,' and the Lord shall raise him up ; and if he have com-         and of the four thousand in the desert. They certainly did
mitted sins, they shall be forgiven him." Scripture, there-          not pray the Lord that He might give them bread to eat.
fore, certainly seems to lend support to those that believe in       And how about the raising of the young man of Nain, of the
the healing of the sick by the prayer of faith.                      daughter of Jairus, and of Lazarus, whom He called out of
   We should never forget, in the first place, that' the             the grave. There certainly was no activity of faith in them,-
healing of the sick and the curing of the lame and the blind         and no prayer of faith before the Lord raised them from
and the deaf by the Lord Jesus and also by His apostles              the dead. And the same is true of the. wonders performed
were wonders, that they were by no means always accom-               by the apostles after the ascension of the Lord and the out-
panied by the prayer of faith on the part of those that wit-         pouring of the Holy Spirit. A clear illustration of this is
nessed them and were objects of them. They were wonders              the wonder performed on the man who was lame from his
accomplished by the Son of God in the flesh, and through             mother's womb, whom the people laid at the gate of the
the same power of the Son of God in the disciples which He           temple so that he might ask alms of the passersby. Of this
sent forth during His sojourn on earth, and by the power             we read in Acts 3 :2-8 : "And a certain man lame from his
of the exalted Christ through the apostles afterwards. And           mother's womb was carried,. whom  they~ laid daily at the
a wonder is at the same time a sign of the wonder of grace,          gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of
a sign of the coming of the kingdom of heaven, and a sign            them that entered into the temple ; Who seeing Peter and
of the spiritual wonder of grace by which the sinner is turned       John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And
from darkness into God's marvelous light. When the Lord              Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on
healed the physically sick, it certainly was meant to be a           us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive some-
sign of the recovery from the spiritual sickness of sin and          thing of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I
death. When He opened the eyes of the physically blind, it           none ; but such as I have give I thee : In the name of Jesus
was a sign of that wonder of grace whereby the sinner is             Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by
empowered to see the spiritual things of the kingdom of              the right hand, and lifted him up : .and immediately his feet
heaven, to recognize his own spiritual blindness, his sin            and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood,
and his death, and to behold the wonder of the cross and of          and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking,
the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. When He' opened           and leaping, and praising God." It is evident, therefore, that
the ears of the deaf, it certainly was a sign of that wonder         all these signs and wonders that were performed by Jesus
of grace whereby the spiritual ears of the spiritually deaf          and His apostles give absolutely no Scriptural ground for
are opened to hear the Word of God unto salvation. When              the pretention of those that claim that they can still heal
He cleansed the lepers, that cleansing was a sign of that            the sick on the prayer of their faith.

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

       But how about the passage in James 5 :14, 15? `Does not       passage the term capnot  possibly refer to- physical weakness
this text speak of the healing of the physically sick ? Is not       ought to be evident. The same is true. of II Cor. 13 :4 : "For
that physically sick man admonished to call to him the elders        though he .was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by
of the church, in order that they may  .pray over him and            the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall
anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord ? And is not             live w&h him by the power of Gdd toward you." And once
the positive promise to that man that he shall be healed and         more, in the same chapter, vs. 9: "For we are glad, when
be raised up ?                                                       vire are weak, and ye are strong."
       My answer to this question is that the sickness mentioned         From all these different illustrations from Scripture it
in verse 14 of James 5 does not refer to physical sickness,          ought to be evident that there is a good deal in favor of the
but to spiritual weakness, discouragement, and the darkness          view that also in James 5  :14, 15 the reference is not to
of spiritual doubt and lack of faith.                                physical sickness, but rather to spiritual weakness and faint-
       My reasons for this interpretation are the following:         ness of faith.
       1) In the passage two different terms occur for what is          2) These considerations are confirmed when we pay at-
translated in our English Bible by the word "sick." And              tention to the context. In verse 13 mention is certainly
these terms, although often denoting physical sickness, by           made of physical affliction and suffering,  ka~hopn~h~i:   "Is any
no means always refer to the sickness of the body, but may           among you afflicted ? let him pray. Is a?y merry ? let him
just as well refer to spiritual weakness and illness of the          sing psalms.' Whether this affliction refers simply to sick-
soul. Thus, the term that is used in verse 15 occurs outside         ness, or to suffering inflicted upon us by men, makes no dif-
of the text in James only in Hebrews 12  :3 and Revelation           ference. Fact is that in this verse the reference is undoubt-
2 :3. In the former passage we read : "For consider him that         edly to physical suffering. Now it is certainly not probable
endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest          that in vs. 14 we simply have a repetition of what the apostle
ye be wearied and faint ii7 your minds." Here the term that          had already mentioned in vs. 13 : "Is any ainong you af-
is used for "sick" in James 5 :1.5 is translated by "be wear-        flicted ? . . . Is any sick among you ?" This would bk a sense-
ied," and therefore denotes a certain spiritual weakness,            less repetition. Added to this is the fact that in vs. 13 to the
spiritual retrogression in the faith, spiritual weariness, as a      one that is afflicted the admonition is addressed that he must
result of lack of patience in the midst of the suffering of this     pray, while to the one that is sick according to vs.  14' the
present time. And in Rev. 2 :3 the Lord testifies of the saints      counsel is given that he must call the elders of the church,
in the church at Ephesus:  ". . . And hast borne, and hast           in order that they may pray for him. The meaning is evi-
patience, and for my' name's sake hast labored, and hast not         dently that in vs. 14 the sickness is of such a nature that
fainted." Here the term that is translated by "sick" in James        there is no spiritual power to pray. Is one spiritually faint,
`5 :15 is rendered by "hast not fainted," which, according to        in darkness and in doubt, weak in the faith, in hope, in pa-
the context, certainly cannot mean physical faintness, but           tience ? Is he spiritually so bowed down that his prayer will
refers to spiritual weariness    j                                   die on his lips? Well then, in that case let him call the elders
   As to the first word, translated by  "sick" in the fourteenth     of the church, in. order that they may pray for him, anoint-
verse of the passage in James, also this does not necessarily        ing him with oil, a symbol of the Holy Spirit; for of that
denote  aby physical ailment, but signifies  simply `weakness."      Spirit, that quickening Spirit of  the Lord Jesus Christ, the
A comparison with other passages of Scripture where the              one that is sick in that sense of the word has need. Of course,
word occurs can make* this evident for everyone. Thus the            spiritual weakness and physical sickness may very well go
word is used in Remans  8 :3 : "For what the law could not           together, even so that the latter is the occasion or cause of
do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his           the former. Hence, the Scripture here teaches that we ought
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned      not to call the elders or the minister of the church for any
sin in the flesh." Here the word is translated by "weak,"            kind of physical trouble. We must be able to pray ourselves
and that too, in relation to the fulfillment of the law, and         also. But when our condition becomes such, when we be-
therefore cannot possibly refer to physical weakness or  phys-       come weak in the faith and faint in our spiritual life, so that
ical sickness. In Rom. 4:19  we read: "And being not weak            we cannot pray any more, then we must call the elders of
in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he           the church, that they may pray for us.
was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of            Nor must we overlook the fact that really in the entire con-
Sarah's womb." The very same word that in James 5 :14 is             text the subject is that of spiritual sickness and spiritual
translated by "sick" is rendered by the term "weak" in               health, rather than of physical ailments. Even in the last
Romans 4:19, and that too, in reference to the faith of Abra-        clause of vs. 15 we read : "and if he have committed sins,
ham, and therefore cannot possibly denote physical sickness          they shall be forgiven him," another proof that the question
or weakness. The same rendering the term has in II Cor. 12 :         is not of physical sickness, but rather of spiritual weakness
10: "Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches,        and faintness, so that the "sick" has no hold of the forgive-
in necessities, in persecution& in distresses for Christ's sake :    ness of sins, and therefore on the atonemknt of our Lord
for when I am weak, then am I strong." That also in this             Jesus Christ. Again, in vs. 16 we read: "Confess your faults


                                            THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  105

one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be            turn directly to his heavenly Father, and to ask Him for his
healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man  avail-     proper portion of bread for one day. And this certainly
eth much." The clause, "that ye may be healed," certainly           means, first of all, that we acknowledge Him as the  onljr
does not refer, according to the context, at least, to physical,    sovereign over all things, and, on the other hand, confess our
but to spiritual healing. And in the last two verses of the         own dependence on Him, and on Him alone. He only is the
same chapter the author once more refers to spiritual heal-         Lord of hosts, and His kingdom ruleth over all. In whatever
ing when he writes : "Brethren, if any  of you do err from          way and by whatever means and through whatever channels
the truth, and one convert him ; Let him know, that he which        we may obtain our daily bread, we boast not in self, not in
converteth the sinner from the error of his way,  shall save a      our own ingenuity and wisdom, nor in men and in an arm
soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."               of flesh, but acknowledge that God alone is sovereign and
    3) Finally, there is also the consideration that in vs. 15      that He alone  can. and must give us our daily bread. We
we have an absolute and unconditional promise that the              must never make the mistake of imagining that this prayer
prayer of faith shall save the sick. Now, one can possibly          is adapted only for the poor, that must live by the day and
make of this unconditional promise all kinds of different           that perhaps when the day is over have no idea from what
applications that seem to fit somewhat the idea of physical         source their bread for the morrow must come. On the con-
healing, but no one will ever be able to succeed in applying        trary, this prayer is meant just as well for the rich. It is not
this unconditional promise in all its significance to physical      meant only for those, that must kneel down by their empty
sickness and physical healing. It simply is not true that we        bread baskets every day to ask the Lord of all to fill them;
always recover from our physical sickness. Nor do we have           but it is a petition that must be sent to the throne of grace
the promise in Scripture of constant physical health, if only       also by those that sit down at their well-supplied tables,
we pray for it or call the elders of the church to pray for us.     loaded with an abundance of food and drink. For that food
For presently the end must come, and we have to be willing          is not ours : It is our heavenly Father's. We have no right
to die  and, to pass into eternal glory. It is not a sign of a      to it in ourselves. It is the Lord God that must give it to us,
strong faith that when we are sick the prayer for recovery is       and that must, besides, give it to us in His grace, if it is to
the first that enters our mind and comes to our lips. At any        be a blessing unto us. For man shall not live by bread alone,
rate, it ought to be perfectly plain that we have no promise        but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
in Scripture that when in physical sickness we pray, or call        It is God, and God alone, that prepares our food and drink,
the elders of the church to pray for us, we surely shall re-        our clothing and shelter, even as He provides for all His
cover from our illness.                                             creatures. It is He that sends the springs into the valleys,
    On the basis o,f all these considerations I am persuaded        to give drink to every beast of the field. It is He that makes
that the text in James 5  :14, 15 does not refer to physical,       a habitation for the fowls of the air, that causes the grass to
but to spiritual sickness, to weakness of faith and faintness       grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man. It is
in our entire spiritual liffe.                                      He that prepares the wine that maketh glad the heart of man,
    Of course, in normal circumstances, when we are sick            and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strength-
physically, and the sickness is not necessarily fatal, we may       ens man's heart. Ps.  104:10-15. It is He that covers the
recognize the Lord's hand and ask Him that He may cause             heaven with clouds, and prepares rain for the earth. It is He
us to recover from dur illness, if it be His will. For as  the      that giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens
Catechism has it, in our prayer for daily bread, ,we acknowl-       which cry. Ps.  147:8, 9. But He also governs all the  affairs-
edge God as the fount of all *good. Besides, we may use the         of men in labor and in industry, so that He supplies to us
means which God gives us to recover from our sickness and           the means whereby we can procure food and drink and all
even to prevent various serious ailments. Nevertheless,             the necessities of our daily life. Literally we may indeed say
above all we must never forget that it is the God of our            that it  ii He that brings our food to our tables. And this
salvation that also sends us the sickness, and that above all       is true no Fatter what may be our position in the world. It
we need grace to be patient and to believe that all things,         may seem easier for the farmer than for the industrialist, for
also our sicknesses, work together for good to them that love       him that literally is dependent on the rain and the sunshine
God, who are the called according to His purpose.                   than for the laborer, to utter this `prayer.  -For it is rather
                                                                    evident that God sends the rain and the sunshine, that He
                           Chapter Three                            gives the increase and makes the corn ripen in the field. But
                                                                    it may appear more difficult how God also brings the loaf
          The  Implic&ions  of the Fourth Petition                  of bread to the table,of  .the shopworker through all the maze
   One of the first and chief implications of the fourth            of economic  and industrial and commercial relationships  thst
petition is that in it the believer acknowledges the absolute       exist in o,ur world. Yet,. the believer knows that even over
sovereignty of God over all things and His providential care        all these relationships his Father in heaven rules, and that
for him in his daily life in the midst of the world.                He governs them absolutely.
   Mark you well, the believer is taught in' this petition to                                                               -H. H.

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

                                                                            in their wars the kingdoms of the world will destroy them-
II          THE  DAY  OF  SHADOWS                                      II selves as well as each other.
                                                                               25.  In that  da,v  - In  the.period  that this destruction is
                   The Proplaecy  cd Ba:ggai                                going on and is finally completed.
                                                                               The initial  fulfilment  of our prophecy was the violent
       The preservation of the church in the convulsions that               political commotions of our prophet's time. There were wars
will destroy the godless world powers, Chapter ii. 20-23.                   and rumors of wars as there are now in this present time.
       20. And there zvas a zvord of Jehozmh a. second  t&e to              There was war between Persia and Babylon, Persia and Scy-
Haggai on the twenty fourth (day) of the mortth, sayhg,                     thia, Persia and Greece, Syria and Egypt. So was the world
       21.  Sfienk  to  Zerctbbabel,,   Govemo~ of  Juda,h,  I will         of our prophet's time, its kingdoms and nationalities, passing
shake the 1leaven.s and the ea:t*th;.                                       away before his very eyes.
       22.  An.d I  zvibl  ozmhwx  the  tlwone of the  kimgdom of the          Zembbabcl   - an offspring of David and as such the
kingdoplzs,  artd I zwill destsoy the strettgth of the kingdoms of          representative of his throne and dynasty (Luke iii.27).  11fy
the nations, and  1 will  oz~ertum  the chariot  avtd  the riders           sevzlant  - Though appointed governor by the king of Persia,
thereof;  a,nd shall go dozen the lzorses  and their ridem, each            he was the Lord's servant as ruler of His people. In a theo-
by the. szuord  of his brothel-.                                            cratic relation his office and the authority that went with
       23. In tha.t day, saitla the Lord of hosts, I will take bee,         it was the Zord's.  Through the king of Persia as His organ,
                                                                            the Lord had appointed him to the office and was qualifying
Zerztbbabelj the Son of Sheadticl, my  sewant, suit12 Jehovah,              him for its duties also spiritually so that he `was also the
and I will set thee as a.  sea.1, for thee I  haz!e  chosen, saith
the  Lol-d.                                                                 Lord's friend. ilnd I z&l1 ta,kt, thee, Zembbabel . . . my sew-
                                                                            want . . . and  will  set  thee as a. seal- seal. a)  "Any device
       20.  Ox the twenty-fourth  da$ of the month.-  It was the            bearing a design so made that it can impart an impression in
fourth and last message of Haggai. It was delivered on the                  relief upon a soft substance, as clay or wax. h.)An impres-
same day as the preceding of which it forms the climax.                     siotl thus made." Here it is the impr_ession  made, so that the
       21.  Sfeak to  Zerubbabel-Though the promise was for                 thought is that of Isa. 49 :16, "Behold, l have engraven  thee,
ally God's people, it was addressed directly to Zerubbabel,                 Zerubbabel and thy -people,  upon the palms of my hands."
seeing that it concerned him first of all. And shall slmke the              The reason is stated in the succeeding verse, `rFoy thee have
heazJ,em  and  the &&-an  abridged reiteration of the                       I chosen.  saith  the Lord  - It means that Zerubbabel was
promise of ii. 6 (see there).                                               precious in the Lord's  eyes.. And, therefore, in that day  01
       22. This verse is an extention of ii. 7, "And I will shake           toppling thrones and falling kings and kingdoms and perish-
the nations." Wherein. this shaking is to consist is now ex-                ing nationalities, Zerubbabel and his small and despised  theo-
plained. And I  zwill  oz~e+twn   the  tlwbne  of  the  l&gdol?bs   -       cratic state there in Judea  would abide and not pass away as
throne - used collectively - thrones, governments. King-                    would the other kingdoms. For the Lord would guard and
do9ll.s  -the nations politically organized under one govern-               protect him as the apple of His eye.
ment. Indicated are the. thrones of the kingdoms of the nai                   Zerubbabel was in need of' this encourageinent  as builder
tions of our prophet's age and in the final instance the king-              of God's house. But eventually Israel, as God's city, would
doms of all the ages that were still to come and culminating                also fall and pass away. For it was but shadow, as was also
in the anti-Christian  world power of the book df Revelation.               Zerubbabel. He typified Christ. He is the true seal upon
Heading the list were the kingdoms and the nations of                       God's hands - He the Christ. His kingdom is unshakable.
Haggai's own age particularly the Persian empire founded                    It shall abide forever. And .the destruction of the kingdoms
by Cyrus and under the yoke of which the post-exilic Israel                 of the world pave the way for its appearance in glory. "that
of that time found itself and that consisted of several other               day" of our prophecy is, therefore, in the final instance, this
nations. The Lord will overthrow them all and extinguish,                   prese'nt  dispensation of the world, the end of which will come
their glory sooner or later after they simultaneously or suc-               when  ,the church has been gathered and God's house built.
cessively make their appearance. Styengtla - the means by
which the rulers of the worldly kingdoms large and small
entrench themselves in powers and impose their rule upon                      (Having herewith completed. my exegesis of this prophecy,
others.  Clwwiots   . . .  hol=res  . . .  ridef=r--These,  their  well-    I am now prepared to provide it with an introduction. j
equipped armies, are their strength in which they trust. With                                 The Book of The Prophet
these ovei-thrown their thrones topple. and their kingdoms
perish.  Ea.ch by the sword  of  his  brotJLm-Every  man's                     The Content  - The book consists of four addresses,
sword will be against his fellow as was the case with the                   words of the Lord, i, I  - II ; ii, I-9 ;  ii,20-23,  that bear on
Midianite horde with which Gideon did battle in the times                   the rebuilding of the temple, and a section that describes the
of the Judges. But the statement has a more general appli-                  fruit of this first address (i, 12-15 j .
cation. It points to civil war and must be taken to mean that                  The first "word"  (i, I-II) came to Zerubbabel and Joshua


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               107          :
                                                                                                                              - - -
- the civil and ecclesiastical heads of the Jewish people -                The fourth  *message  (ii, 20-23) was delivered on the
on the first day of the sixth month of the second year of              same day as the preceding and sets forth new promises.
Darius, king of Persia (i. I j. The prophet reproves the               The kingdoms of Zerubbabel's world shall fall and pass
people because of their indifference to the condition of the           away. But he and his little theocratic state there in  Judea
temple. The house of God lies waste with them dwelling in              shall abide. The Lord will protect him as the apple of His
costly houses (2-4 j . He urges them to pause and consider             eye. The house of God, therefore, shall be  ,built and com-
their way. Because of their carnality, they suffer shortage of         pleted.
crops owing to the fact that the curse of God is upon their                The.promise  is Messianic, to be sure. Zerubbabel typified
fields and upon men and cattle and all the works of their              Christ. His kingdom is unshakable and shall abide forever.
hands. He exhorts them to build God's house and assures                And the destruction of the kingdoms of the world pave. the
them that He will take pleasure in it (5-D).  The preaching            way for its appearance in glory (20-23).
bears fruit. The attitude of the people changes and they fear                                  The Prophet
before the Lord (12). To encourage them, He promises
that He will be with them (13). Whereupon, on the twenty-                  In the Old Testament Scriptures, the name of our prophet
fourth day of the sixth month, a commencement is made of               is borne by none other. We cannot be certain regarding its
the work (14, 15).                                                     meaning and etymology. It may be rendered' festivnl  or
    The second address (ii, l-9) was delivered on the twenty-          Jehovah lzntl~ girded.  It could also be taken to mean feast of
first day of the seventh month. Its purpose was to fortify             Jehovdrz.,
the people against being disspirited by the. gloom and de-                 Haggai prophesied to the remnant of Judah that had
spondency of the "ancient men" in the community who had                returned from the captivity of Babylon. He appeared upon
seen the glory of the first temple and in whose eyes the glory         the scene in the second year of Darius Hystaspis (B.C. 520)
of "this house" was as nothing in comparison with it (i-3).            approximately fifteen years after the arrival of the Jews in.
The Lord now proclaims His promises. His servants shall be             Jerusalem. His recorded addresses bore upon the building of
strong, for He is with them (4). The promise of His cove-              the temple. Four in number, they are brief messages to the
nant  - the covenant of Sinai  - and His Spirit will abide             people encouraging  buildin,c operations. Jointly they cover
among them. They shall not fear (5). Once more he shall                but four months. having uttered his prophecies, Haggai dis-
shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land,          appears from the scene just as suddenly as he had appeared.
and they shall pass away. A.nd there shall be new heavens              During his ministry he enjoyed the cooperation of Zechariah
and a new earth (6). And He shall shake the nations also,              his successor in the prophetic office (Compare  chps. i, I;
and the elect of the nations shall come to His worship. For            ii. I, 10, 20 of Haggai's prophecy with Ezra v. I; vi. 14).
the gold and the silver is His. So shall He gather His                 This is all that we know with certainty of the personal history
church, build His house. And "this house" shall be filled              of our prophet. It has been inferred from chap. ii.3. that he
.with His glory, surpassing by far the glory  ,of Solomon's            belongs to the small company of Jews that beheld the
temple. And it shall be a house of peace (7-19).                       glory of the first temple. But this is doubtful as then he
    The third address (ii, II-19j was spoken on the  $ay on            must have been close to 80 years at the time of his public
which the temple was founded, three months after the first             ministry. But that he was well along in years would seem to
steps toward its construction had` been taken. This address            follow from the brevity of his prophetic activity. It is not
promises relief from their present calamities,, seeing that they       unlikely that he was born in Babylon in the beginning of the       .
are again zealous as builders of God's house. But at least             captivity.
a part of the people resented the rebukes of the prophet. They                                     D a t e .
imagined that, sprinkled as they were by the blood of their               As was stated, Haggai wrought in the second year of
sacrifices, they were holy in God's sight, they and their fields       Darius Hystaspis, king of Persia, that is in 520 B.C. Dur-
and all the work of their hands, and. that, therefore, there           ing that year he received of the Lord four revelations that he
could be no connecetion  between their calamities and their            communicated to the people on the day that they were com-
neglectfulness regarding God's house. As armed with in-                municated to him, the first on the first day of the sixth
struction derived from the priests, the prophet assures them,          month (i, I), the second on the twenty-first day of the
that, despite their sacrificin,,
                              m they are unclean through their         seventh month [ii,  ~j,  and the third and fourth on the
transgression. This being so, they pollute everything  thex            twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (ii, 10, 20). He thus
touch, so that their sacrificing, too, as a work of their hands, is    addressed the people on three different days and on four
an abomination. Besides, they should understand that the               occasions.
sacrifice does not transmit its sacredness to their fields (lo-
14). The prophet once more calls attention to their present                                Historical Situation.
calamities. but hastens to add that from "this day upward"                In considering the historical situation that occasioned the
they shall be blessed of the Lord; seeing that they have re-           prophecies of'Haggai  and Zechariah,,it  is well that we begin
pented. Their harvests will again be abundant (15-19).                 with the first return from exile. Cyrus captured Babylon in  _


\      108                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

       535. B.C. In the second year of his reign he made a pro-           In the reliance upon the Lord and with their finger pointing
       clamation throughout his empire in which he exhorted the           to the proclamation of Cyrus, they `should have kept right on
       Jews to return to Jerusalem and build the house of God. Be-        building during those previous years. 3) The brevity of the
       tween forty and fifty thousand Jews responded. At first            usurper's reign  - he ruled but seven months  - and the
       they manifested a commendable zeal. On their arrival in            fact that his successor, Darius Hystaspis, favored  Judea,
       Jerusalem they went right to work. The altar of burnt of-          should have caused the Jews to resume the work. But it did
       ferings was built and set on its base, the legal festivals were    not. They had to be stirred up by the exhortations and
       reinstituted, workmen were hired and the materials gathered        rebukes of Haggai. 4) They were being made to experience
       for the construction of the temple. And according to Ezra          the curses of the law. The Lord was smiting them with
       iii, 8-13 the foundation of the temple was laid in the second      hail and draught and mildew in token `that, in neglecting His
     . year.                                                              house,-they were walking in a sinful way. But they refused
              But now began their troubles. At this time the  Samari-     to be instructed. Their miseries were an unmistakable sign
       tans, the heathen nations that the king of Assyria had planted     that they should be building God's house, but as hardening
       in the depopulated cities of the ten tribes, offered to build      their hearts they refused to see God's hand in their calami-
       with them on the ground that they sought and worshipped            ties. 7 j While neglecting God's house as insisting that .it was
       the same God. But the request was indignantly rejected and         not the time to build, they beautified their own homes with
       from that day on the Samaritans were bitterly hostile. They        their surplus wealth.
       tried to cause the work to cease. Doubtless now, too, as well        From all this it is clear that the real cause of the slowness
       as later when the walls of the city were being repaired, they      of the progress of the work was not the animosity of the
       mocked the people of Judea  - the Jews - and threatened            heathen but rather the disposition and posture of heart of
       to make war against them (See Neh. iv, 18). The result             the builders themselves. They had among them men, "an-
       was that the hands of the builders were weakened (Ezra iv,         cient men," who had seen the first temple. In their eyes
       5).      Yet the work must have continued to progress,             "this house" was nothing in comparison with the house of
       however slowly. For now and henceforth for thirteen                God in her first glory. So, when the foundation of "this
       years the Jews were accused of their adversaries be-               house" was being laid, they had wept,with a loud voice. They
       fore the kings of Persia by hired counselors. They wrote           were that despondent. Being mostly priests and Levites and
       letters in which Jerusalem was presented to view as a rebel-       chief of the fathers (Ezra 3 :12) they were a bad influence.
       lious city, hurtful to kings and provinces. They advised that      Their despondency was contagious. Then, too, perhaps, there
       the Jews be prohibited from building. But these machina-           were many among them who were discouraged by the fact
       tions could get them no action from Cyrus nor from his son         that the promise of the pre-exilic prophets of a glorious
       and successor, Cambyses, who reigned from 529 to 521. Per-         restoration was not. being fulfilled, as they had expected. It
       haps they were too occupied with extending the boundaries          may also be assumed that the true believers did not make up
       of their empire to take any notice. But it was different with      the bulk of the little community. This non-believing element.
       the usurper, Gaumata (the Artaxerxes of Ezra iv, S). He            could have no real need of the temple. And perhaps even
       had the records examined and was told that the charges were        the faithful, with the exception of a few, did not miss it too
      true. He now gave written command that the city be not              much, seeing that during the exile they had become ac-
       built until further notice was given. A copy was sent and          customed to doing without it. The altar of burnt offerings
       read to the leaders of the opposition in Palestine, who in         had again been built and stood on its base. Sin was again
       haste went up to Jerusalem unto the Jews and made them to          being atoned. And so their fellowship was again with God
       cease "by force and power" (Ezra iv, 24). Shortly there-           at His altar. So they imagined. But they were mistaken.
      after Gaumata, after a reign of but seven months, was               For in their neglectfulness of God's house, they were un-
       assasinated, and Darius Hystaspis acceded to the throne. It        spiritual.
      was found that he favored Judas, and the Jews, as aroused               It is plain that their disposition justified Haggai's minis-
       by the preaching of Haggai and Zecharius, resumed and com-         try. It justified, the tone and the matter of his addresses to
       pleted the work of building God's house.                           them, and the method of treatment that he adopted toward
         That the slow progress of the work during those thirteen         them in these addresses. It was what they needed in their
       years - in that interval between the founding of the temple        present spiritual condition. And it was also laid upon their
       and the beginning of the prophetic activity of Haggai and          hearts by the Lord, so that it bore fruit. They repented of
       Zechariah - was not entirely owing to the hostility and op-        their sinful indifference and did the work. And now that  '
       position of the Samaritans is abundantly manifest from the         they were again zealous as builders of God's house,. His
       Scripture passages that bear on this matter. I) The Samari-        blessings would again be in their fields and upon all the
       tans did the Jews no actual physical harm. They only threat-       work of their hands.
       ened and plotted, but it was sufficient to weaken the hands of
       the builders. 2) the first ruler in the throne of the Persians         To be able to estimate the sinfulness of their disposition
       to outlaw the building operations was the usurper Gaumata.                              (Codwtd   0s page 117)


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                109

  THE ANTI-CHRISTIAN IMPLICATIONS OF                               purpose of setting forth the truth of an existing situation.
               RUSSIAN COMMUNISM                                      On the other hand, this topic was not simply'selected that
                                                                   we, as, Protestant Reformed people, might also `(jztmfi on the
  It must be understood and readily admitted that it is im-        band-wagon" as so many have done and are doing, and voice
possible to set forth all the "anti-Christian  implications of     our objections to Communism. This is true of all of the so-
Russian Communism. I say, this is impossible because RLIS-         called free world. It seems that all are raising their voices
sian Communism is a  "world   atzd  l,ife view." Therefore, it     and condemning Communism. But why, may we ask? What
must of necessity express itself regarding all spheres. In         is the reason ? If you should ask the reason of a cross-section
other words, in every relationship of life experienced by man,     of the so-called free world, the answer would undoubtedly
Russian Communism  `has something to say.                          be: "Russian Communism is deserving not only of severe                ,
   And what we consider to be the Truth, as revealed in            criticism, but denouncement and condemnation because it
God's Word and set forth in what we term Christianity (in          makes it impossible for the people to realize and enjoy the
its narrow and limited sense, as over against the Moderns          `Four  Freedovtzs."  And what are these "Four Freedoms  ?'
and Liberals), also does the very same thing  - expresses          Freedosm  of  Speech,  Worship,  WaM,  and  Fear.
itself with regard to every experience and relationship of            In a report prepared by the Senate Committee on For-
man. This expression may be direct or indirect, as in the          eign Relations and entitled: "Tensions Within the Soviet
matter of only setting forth a principle of interpretation.        Union," we read the following: "Public enemy No. v of the
   In stating this fact, you can see everything is included        Kremlin is, however  - and has been since the establishment
such as the spheres of Religion, Science, Medicine, Econom-        of the Soviet regime in Russia - the n.atztre of man &imself,
ics, Social Life, etc. Furthermore, included under these           with a,11 his inborn instincts a;lzd desires for well-being, per-
specific spheres, there are any number of departments, or          sonal property, moral freedom, and spiritual  ,irtdependeme."
what might better be called "minor fields" which certainly           In these words, you can see, one of the reasons (one with
must also be considered and an opinion expressed regarding
                             ._.                                   many ramifications) why our own country, the United
them.                                                              States, condemns Russian Communism. Its true, Russia is
   Therefore, to  do& justice to the title of this Article, one    worthy of being openly and vehemently denounced, but  this
would have to consider these particular spheres with their         rea.son is a very shallow and superficial one, yea, a very hol-
sub-divisions and demonstrate how Russian Communism,               low on-e. For don't you see, while in substance Russia is
with its %&ld ,a.nd life view," radically differs and opposes      condemned for her materialism, in that very condemnation,
the  "`world and life  view" of  Clzristhnity.  However, this      the  "mtztve of mart" is upheld and defended. This means
would be impossible since it would greatly exceed the length       that the very materialism which is condemned on the one
of this Article. Yet, because we firmly believe that all things    hand, is defended and exalted on the other hand. For, what
in all spheres have absolutely no meaning apart from God,          is the nature of man ? What are the "inborn instincts and
who brought them into being and who sustains them we can,          desires for well being, etc ?" Do not all these things mani-
in this article, endeavour to set forth that which Russian         fest and reveal the sin and the corruption of man's heart ? Do
Communism considers to be of $riMae importance. In other           they not show what man is, by nature? Did not God see that
words, for Christianity, the essential principle - the pivotal     "the -wickedness of `mart was great in the earth, and that every
point - the place around which and in whom all things have         sil$%agination  of the thhghts  of his heaVt was only evil contin-
any meaning, is the  .1hsolute, Sovereign  a.nd  Holy Gbd.         ually?  (Ge. 6  :5) Did He not declare:  "tlzere  .is no  ?tia?z
NOW, then, this being true with regard to Christianity, we         tha.t  sinneth  9LotY (1 Kings  8:46).  Is not man, by nature,
can consider what Russian Communism, in its "world and             "shapen  in  iniqakty and conceived in sin?" (Psalm 51  5)
life view," understands and holds to be comparable to that         And what does God behold when He looks upon man ?
of the Absolute and Sovereign God, in Christianity. In this        "EveryoAe  of them is gone ,!a.ck : they aye a.ltogeth become
way, then, opposing the very fundamental and basic prin-           filthy; there is n&k  that  doetlz good, no, not  OW."  (Ps. 53 :
ciple of Russian Communism to Christianity, we can arrive          3) Does not the Lord declare, through His servant, Isaiah
at some idea, at least, of the "anti-Christian implications of     that all men "aYe as an ,urtclean thzg, and all our riglateozts-
Russian Communism." Implications, I say, because when the          nessc`s are as filthy rags; and we all do fade a.s a leaf; and
very basic  fivinciple  of any system of thought is presented,     ow  irtiqztities, like the wind, have  taken  $6.~ away." (Is. 64:
one naturally sets forth that which effects and thereby colors     4) And, under the impulse of the Holy Spirit, does not Paul
the whole "woyld  and life view" of that system of thought.        cry out: "0 wretched man that I a.ytz! who shall deliver ,me
   This leads me to say that the title of this Article was not     ~YO~X   the body  of  this  death?  (Rom.  7:24)  Then, too, what
chosen arbitrarily, I'am sure. It is assumed, and it is true       is the purpose of God declaring: "Tlaotb sJzalt not  covet thy
that Russian Communism does  lzave  "anti-Christian implica-       neighbor's  house,  thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's  wife,
tions." What some, however, consider to be Christian, is           nay F;is +xan servant, nor his ptzaid servant, nor his ox, nor his
another question. Yet, the title of this Article is true and       ass, nor anything that is thy neighbors?" (Ex. 20 :17)
hence, was not chosen arbitrarily and without thought and              Does not this language of the Holy God clearly reveal the


110                                              T H E   STANDAKD   BEAKER

 depths of  sill in the heart of man ? Furthermore, does not                 which is nothing other ihan  the reconciliation or union of the
 this language show US how this sin in the heart of man is                   opposites.
 ma$sted? He "longs fob and "pines  a,wa.y"  for the                             From all this.  Hegel concluded that there was nothing
 earthly  - for the `ima.twiaJ'J that the sinful desire and lust             stable - stationary, or fixed ; everything `could be changed.
 of his wicked heart may be satisfied. Ho& then can we LIP-                  Because once the synthesis takes place, the whole process
 hold "tlze nal,l,tve  of `Titan with a.11 his inborn ,irasthcts a,nd de-    begins afresh -the synthesis becomes another thesis.  All
 sires for well-b&g?" What "good" can possibly come forth                    reality, then, is nothing but a process of change- a going
 from man, as he is, by nature ? Common grace may have the                   from that which isn't too clear, to that which is a little
 answer, but the Word of God knows nothing of such  "good.)3                 clearer. And to this thinking process, all the earth is subject
       Very few there are who truly understand the  "anti-chris-             because it is a part of it. In other words, the earth develops
tian  in$lications of Russian Communism." Therefore, to ar-                  in the way in which we think. This process continues until
 rive at what Communism considers to be the very fundamen-                   such time as an ultimate idea or concept makes its appear-
 tal principle in its "way-16 avhd lifs vie-w". and to oppose this           ance, and in which all opposites or contradictions are resolved.
 to Christianity, it is, only proper that something be said of                   But now, this Feuerbach was  bne who believed only in
 that which gave rise to this principle. Hence, we must briefly              ana.tteu.  Being thoroughly materialistically minded, he held
 note that behind the "wor2d  and life vuiew" of Russian Com-                that  o~tly  ma.tter was the  fundamental reality.  Nothing else
 munism stand certain aspects of the philosophies of Hegel,                  was real but matter. Therefore, he a'dded:  a. man ,is what he
 Feuerbach, and also the contribution of the French sociolo-                 ents.
 gist, Proudhon.                                                                ,A11  this was quite appealing to Karl Marx who, at this
       Communism has given a very important place to Hegel's                 time was formulating the .philosophy of Russian Communism.
 "Dialectics." From all that we read, Hegel fostered what is                 I-Ie saw attractive elements in both  Hegel and Feuerbach and
 called a  "Dia2cctical   IdeafLisnL."  He is referred to as an              hence, he took the dialectic process of Hegel and applied it
 "idealist" because his concern was with the nature of  ideas-               not to thought, idkas  and concepts, but to matter and history,
 thoughts and concepts. The manner in which these ideas                      as well. In this way, he combined the thinking of these two
 and thoughts and concepts developed  - the approach  Hegel                  men and called it  dialectical  ~~~zate~inlism.  This meant, of
 used to determine the nature of them has been called "dialec-               course, what was true regarding the idea and thought with
 tical."                                                                     Hegel in his thesis, a?Ltitlaesis,  and syntlacsis,  would be true
       This simply means that ideas which are completely op-                 with Marx and Russian Communism  regaiding   runt&r  or
 posite and contradictory are created. This is very  `kvident,               the earthly. Therefore, Russian Communism says, you don't
 he held, because everywhere about us and even in our minds.                 need God becnrtse everything ~moves and changes and deve-
 there is an unfolding process, and this process is that of con-             lops and is  bccovaing. Why.? Because of this thesis, anti-
 tlradiction   or  dialectics.  He said, further, that everything is         thsLis and synthesis in all the universe. This whole process,
 in a state of flux ; everything is always moving and chang-                 it says, will continue until such time as fhe "classbcss society"
 ing. A thing changes into its very opposite and its very op-                comes forth, and in which all opposites are resolved. For
 posite then changes into something else. There is never any                 Russian Communism this meant the two great classes would
 immutable (unchangeable) truth or principle for Hegel.  All                 disappear  ;  the  Bourgeoisie, the' class kown as Capitalists,
 you have is ideas and thoughts. And these are the result of                 who hire the wage-labour  : and the class known as proletariat,
 this dialectical process -- process of contradiction. But this              those who must sell their labour-power to live.
 process, you see. can only end in despair because it is a                       But this isn't all. Marx also saw the value of Proudhon's
 vicious circle. As long as there is not any stable and un-                  contribution in which he emphasized the necessity of giving
 changing truth which can serve as a standard and criterion                  `~`cco~~.o~~~ics'~  its rightful place. After all. said Proudhon,
 for all times, then there can be no certainty, either. Yet, this            "`econo~vnics" was very important therefore, the dialectical
 is Hegel with his tlresis  - antithesis aped sym%esis.                      materialism should be applied to  ".econowics."  This, Marx
       For instance, if I am in a gathering and there is a ques-             did and the resuit was that "economics" became basic and
 tion as to how we shall spend the evening, I might suggest                  fundalzzevztal  to all matter - to all  reality. Furthermore, in
 that we go for a walk. Someone else might suggest that we                   the system of Communism, it is th "h6lP of all history -
 remain at home. Disagreement and conflict arises, and out                   se&ing that it is nothing but reality in "historical FOWL."
 of this conflict comes forth the synthesis. We do not go for                   Therefore, Russian Communism speaks not only of
 a walk, nor do we remain at home, but we go for an auto-                    Dialectical Materialism, but also of an "Economic Determin-
 mobile ride. Now, strange as this example may sound, it                     ism" and "Hisforical24aterialism."
 nevertheless serves to illustrate Hegel's dialectical process ;                As one writer put it:  "History  is  bread"  for Russian
 thesis  - antithesis,  and synthesis. In the first place, an idea           Communism.  Econonzics  is now seen to be the  basic  p~k-
 ai affirmed. Secondly, it is nullified or negated by another
                                  _                                          ciple.  Why  ? Because "economics" is  concefxed  with  Tpzapz,
 idea; then from this conflict, there comes forth the synthesis              and  Itaapl,  is  conccvncd  with the  "ma,teuia.l."  Therefore,


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     111

according to Conmumisn~~ riwav~  is econo~~~ics"  - he's  noth-               Russian Communism, we do so from the viewpoint that
ipg but a mechanical being in the huge economic machine.                      Conmmnism,  in its sinful and darkened mind, wilfully re-
        Well, this can mean only one thing. If you've got                     jects the truth that it is the Sovereign God who "putteth dozwz
"Economic Determinism" and "Historical Materialism," the                      one,  a:nd  setteth  .16p  n.notAw."  It is the Lord who  "doth  but
result of applied "Dialectical Materialism," Slzen one tlci:iltg is           ~1,  diflerewe  betzvew the  Egyptin~ns  a.nd  Israel."
s~`P:  the  Spil-itzml must certainly go.  You can't possibly                   Therefore,  a,11  mm  aYe  w.ot  cpal before God's face.  The
hve  n+zy place,  fo+ God,  and  Rwssia.n  Comn~.zwism  hasn't                difference is there and Russian Communism may  not  and
e i t h e r .    It refuses to recognize any God above it : wtnt~rinlistic    ca,n?Lot a.ttc,wlfit  to erase and remove that difference with her
mad  atlrcistie  it is  %,n. its  ideals.' Hence, setting itself  up as       sinful and wicked philosophy of  ath&tic  w~a.t&ialist.  She
the  "presei-uer"  and  "`sn.z~io~t?' of man, it demands all of               cart never do it! Because the very essence of her philosophy
inan's loyalty.                                                               which is  esemplified  in the "material"- in the things with
        The purely  uanterinb   and  -cal-tidy  is that which receives        which she sinfully strives to realize her ends -the en& and
the emphasis, as is evident from the place given to "ecoYLolPL-               the  emthly  goods- these, do not belong to her. For  011
its"  in  Co,~,lr~~l:ll~isnr.   As Karl Marx wrote in his "Poverty            tlzngs  are  the Lord's  and hence, she may not act like the
and Philosophy" - "The social history of men is never  &y-                    thief that she is.
t1zin.g  but the history of the&p indi,zidzml developw~u-xt,V  whetk~r            But now, in all sincerity, I ask again: "Where do we
they  0.1~ conscious of it  or not. Their  .wlatehal  relutions   a+e         read of any such denouncement and condemnation of Conl-
the  basis of all their  t&.tio7zs. These  nzn.te%al   ,I-elatbu   we         m&n?" And I answer:  "Op~ly   flrom  the lips of  those  who
owly th c necessary fem. in wlziclr their material mLd indivl:d,llal          hve been given- to taste the Mercy  and the  Grace  of-  the
nctivity is  reabkcd."                                                        Sovereig+L  God of  thriv  sa~lva~tiort,  nnd  whow~  they desire to
       Thus, it becomes imperative to do away with the differ-                exalt ,iv~ all their life and zva.lK."
ences or inequalities among men an'cl  bring forth a "clcmless                                                                           E. Emanuel
society." according to Marx.  This  will be  .tlze  ultima.te  sy"-
thesis and "economics,," being the very fundamental and
basic principle of Russian Communism's  "zwo%  an.d  l,ij%
view" is considered to be the principle that will bring this                                        HE HOLDS THE KEY
synthesis. Why ? Because "ec&nomics" concerns the abund-                           Is there some problem in your life to solve,
ance of things and all this is  ~recessary  to remove the lines                    Some passage seeming full of mystery?
of inequality, according to Coninxinisni.                                          God knows,  Who brings the hidden things to light.
        But, now, we ask: "Is not God, God? And therefore,                         He holds the key.
must not Russian Conmunisn~  be condemned because, as we
have seen, i?L its very essence, it is mbellion  ngcinst God and                   Is there some door closed by the Father's hand,
in direct conflict to His Truth ? Isn't this so ? Of course it ,is!                Which widely opened you had hoped to see ?
But, where do we read of Comnmnism  being condemned be-                            Trust God, and wait; for when He shuts the door,                    .
cause of this? Rebellion against God. Not the god of the                           He holds the key.
Modernist nor even of the  Arminian-Fundamentalist,  who
sows the seed of Modernism. But where do you read or                               Is there some earnest prayer unanswered yet,
hear such a condemnation of  Co&unism  because it is  a                            Or answered not as you had hoped `t would be ?
,risirlg+ of the cl-enf l,(re b.g.ainst th Creator- the Sovereign'                 God will make clear His purpose by and by.
Creator who is no respecter of persons and therefore has                           He holds the key.
declared  :  rrJacob   have I loved,  ht  Esa.u  hve I  Med."
        The Sovereign Creator who made all things and in the                       Have patience with your God, your patient God,
midst of all things placed man and called him to serve and                         All-wise, all-knowing, not long tarrying, He.
glorify His God as a faithful steward, in the way, of con-                         And of the doors of all your future life
secrating all things to Him.                                                       He holds the key.
        Where do you read of Coniinunisin  being condemned be-
cause God, in His Sovereign and Righteous Justice gave                              Unfailing comfort, sweet and blessed rest,,'
man gifts  -not  only creating the spiritually rich and the                        To know of every door He holds the key;
spiritually destitute, according to His Sovereign Election                         That He at last, when just He sees `tis best,
and Reprobation, bringing forth the "Jacobs" and the                                Will give it thee.
~ESCIUS"-  but where is there such condemnation of Com-
munism because it is also  this  sn.me Sovereign, God  who
makes the earthly  k-h,  a:nd  the earthly poor  -  who even
declares : `Fou ye hve the poor nlzu~~ys  with yo~.`~                             "Whoever hath Christ, cannot be poor; whoever wants
        When `we speak of the "`anti-Christian implications of                Him, cannot be rich."                                       - D Y E R


112                                          THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                      -....-
                                                                     fully will utter speech which shows disrespect to the Living
                I'N,HlS  F E A R                                     God rather than fear, reverence and awe before His tiajesty,
                                                                     His sovereignty and righteousness.
                                                                         The shy, retiring and meek little man who dares not
               Speech That Manifests Fear                            ask his "boss" for a raise, who dares not express an opinion
                                                                     contrary to that given by a fellow mortal is bold to speak
                                  (4)                                up when the Almighty, Sovereign God has wrought a work
                                                                     that displeases him.
       No one likes a proud man.                                         How often have we not `grumbled, criticized and spoken
       And by nature all men are proud.                              disrespectfully of God's works that displease us. We ask:
       It is the very pride of man that he hates a proud man.        "Does it have to rain again ?" Or we grumbling and protest-
The hatred of pride in the natural man is not a spiritual            ing against the Sovereign God say : "Look ! It would have to:
virtue. In the natural man hatred of the proud is the reac-          rain just when we got all set for having some fun." Do we
tion of one carnally proud heart and mind to the boastful            not realize that such statements and questions are directed
and haughty deeds and words of another. Because the natural          toward God  ? He sent that rain. He chose the moment for
heart is itself proud, it cannot stand to hear some' other           it to pour down. He with His finger guided the clouds and
proud heart boast of being more than itself.                         sent the winds to bring them to that particular spot at that
       Man may be very shy and retiring. By all that the             definite moment. We criticize Him when we ask whether it
natural eye sees he may appear to be so very humble. Yet             has to rain again. We find fault with Him when we grumble
his fear before men which this shyness and inferiority-com-          that it would just have to rain the day we had set aside for
plex reveal may be rooted in pride. So proud he may be of            fun and pleasure. Our speech so quickly and plainly reveals
his name, position, social standing or the like that he retires      that we are not walking `in His fear:
into the corner lest he suffer shame or ridicule. He is  ex-                                                       ,
                                                                         And when He sends things our way, when He piles
treme!y sensitive to ridicule, criticism and shame  ; and fearing    affliction upon affliction upon an individual - and does it
them he stays quietly in his corner because his pride makes          sovereig6ly  in His good pleasure- we sometimes dare to
him so sensitive.                                                    say: "That should not have happened to a dog !" It pleased
       Fear of men is not necessarily humility.                      God to have it happen to a man, and we dare to express the
       The fear of the Lord is always humility.                      thought that God should not even have caused a dog to ex-
       To fear Him and to be proud at the same time is im-           perience such a thing.
possible. He seeth the proud ajar off but hath respect unto             And in that holy sphere  of prayer?
the humble. And Adam and Eve, when they lost their fear
of Him,  dared to go ahead and disobey His command not                  We must constantly be on our guard -in our prayers lest
to eat of the forbidden fruit.                                       in them likewise we utter speech of pride and arrogance
       He hates pride in righteous jealousy, for He is God; and      rather than speech that manifests fear. We are all too quick
there is no God besides Him. Paul tells us in his epistle to         in prayer to criticize what God sends and to ask Him please '
Timothy that the condemnation of the devil is pride, I Tim.          to change it for our sakes. How carnal we are. The rain
3  6. And all men as they are  spirittially  his seed and chil-      for which the farmer longs and from his viewpoint he needs
dren have that pride in them and have not the fear of the. for the growth of his crop spoils our plans for a holiday.
Lord, except it be given them by God as He causes them               The farmer rejoices and gives thanks to God for the timely
to be born again.                                                    shower ; while others may even dare to go thru the motions
       That is why the shy, retiring, bashful man who cowers         of praying to God and asking Him to withhold it or make
before his fellow men and manifests a definite fear before           it to cease. We say "go thru' the motions of praying" to
them is often bold to speak haughtily before God! He dares           Him because actually that is not prayer. Such a man stirely
to criticize God whereas he fears to whisper a complaint             does not stand in his thoughts and desires before Jehovah.
against his employer, his neighbour or even before a friend.         He may stand before a god of his own imagination, some
       We do ! We all dare to criticize God. That is the pride       goody-goody who exists for the good of man and in a wishy,
of our old nature. And we do that in many, many. ways.               washy way tries to please all men. But before a sovereign,
We do when we grumble when He sends us things contrary               unchangeable God Who declares to us in His word that He
to our wishes. We do when He prevents our plans from                 is the "I am that I am" he does not stand.
being realized. We dare to call it all wrong.                           A request of the Sovereign God may very well reveal a
       In His sovereign good pleasure and in His righteousness       proud heart. The expression of a heart that is not content
indignation God sends the storms, the hurricanes and torna-          with the lot God has given it is not one of fear and humility
does-things which were never in the world before' the fall           before God but one of pride and haughty criticism of the
of man and the entrance of sin into the world -the hail and          works of a Sovereign God!
the sleet. And the man who dares not raise his voice in                 It may sound pious. It may seem to breathe all .kinds  of
protest to the man who -employs him and treats him shame-            spirituality. I once heard a minister pray that God might
  .


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              113

"increase the number of the elect." Such a prayer may              That occurs countless  times  in the New Dispensation. The
sound so full of love. It may sound like the words of              Spirit does not speak audibly to the church to forbid such
Stephen : "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." It may         things. But He, does close the door by making it either
seem to breathe the same spirit as Jesus' words on the cross :     financially impossible for the church or else thru the ban and
"Father forgive them for they know not what they do."              law of the ruler of the land where men had purposed to
It may seem to echo the sentiment of Paul when he says that        bring the Gospel. Do we  then  dare to tell God that this is
he could wish himself accursed for his brethren, his kinsmen       all wrong ? Dare we tell Him that His kingdom cannot get
according to the flesh. But the fact remains that such a           along without our sending a missionary here or thefe? Are
petition is rooted in pride and breathes a spirit of criticism     we walking in His fear in our prayers when we dare to tell
of the works; the eternal works of the unchangeable and            Him that we just got to get that new church building, the
sovereign God.                                                     addition to the school, to hire a few more nurses and doctors,
   It surely does not fit in with the prayer of Jesus: "I          to purchase more beds and this and that equipment?
thank Thee 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because                 Thrice Paul prayed for the removal of the torn in his
Thou has hid these  things from the wise and prudent and           flesh. And we would surely be inclined to think that with
hast revealed them to babes", Matthew 11 25. Significantly         its removal Paul would have been able to serve the church'
enough, Jesus adds, "Even, so Father, for so it seems good         of God to a greater degree than he did with it being present.
in Thy sight."' That breathes humility before God. That is         But God said, "My grace is sufficient for thee." Let that be
the speech that recognizes His sovereignty and bows before         our comfort also when projects in the church and its sphere
it. God does not increase the number of the elect in time!         which we have planned and strive to realize ar.e plainly not
From eternity He chose His people, how many and who                the will and plan of God. But let us by all means watch
they are. For, names are written in the Lamb's book of             our speech and thoughts) in our prayers lest we assume an
life. And names refer to persons. God chose persons not            attitude of criticism of the ways of God. Let our prayers
simply places which will be filled by the persons who are          utter speech that is characterized by praise and not by pride.
willing to fill them. Heaven and the kingdom of heaven is              Let our speech, then, whether in prayer or conversation
not ruled by the principle  6f "First come, first served."         among men, whether to man or to God, always be character-
There are not so many seats in heaven, so that and as soon         ized by this that we Say "Not my will but Thy will be done."
as they are filled God will bring this world to an end. God        Such speech praises God. For such speech declares that He
decreed how many and who would be saved ; and He upholds           is a sovereign God. Such speech manifests fear before Him.        .
the world in its present form until the last one of these is       It  r&veals that we stand in awe and reverence before Him.
born and born again. Then this world will have served His              When the weather is contrary to our flesh, let us bow
purpose and He will usher in the new world in which right-
eousness shall dwell.                                              before Him Who sent it to us. Then we will not ask (Him)
                                                                   whether it has to rain again. Then we will not grumble and
   Let us be careful in our prayers lest we criticize God's        ask (Him) whether it is ever going to warm up again. Then
works. Let us be careful lest we evince a spirit of knowing        we will not criticize His works and say that He should not
a few things ourselves which we better relate to Him for           have caused this to happen to a dog. We will say, "Not my
His instruction. Perish the thought! Yet we do exactly             will but Thy will be done."
that at times in our prayers. Let us beware lest in pride we
come before Him to tell Him what the course of our life in             Speech that manifests fear before Him is the speech  of
the future ought to be, what ought to happen to us. Let us         huniility.
beware lest we even dare to come before Him to tell Him                And that speech is possible only as the Spirit of Him
what is best for His church here below in the way of material      Who humbled Himself even unto death is given us. Only
and natural things.                                                as His mind is in us will we speak His language of praise
   We want to build a  new school . We have plans for a            rather than of pride.
new church edifice. Our church or our school is in financial           Speech that manifests .kis fear manifests also His mercy.
difficulties. We are on the board of sonic institution of mercy        For in His mercy He humbles us and sanctifies our
that is supported by the churches to which we belong. We           hearts, minds and tongues.
plan a drive. We set out to collect for these causes which un-                                                            J.A.H.
doubtedly are worthy causes. But do we first dare to go
to God and tell Him that we just have to have this money ?
The cause may be a worthy one-worthy in the sense that it              "Inward holiness and eternal glory are the crown with
is in the spirit of what God enjoins of us in the Scriptures.      which God adorns and dignifies His elect. But they are not
Riissionary  activity is also a worthy cause. No doubt about       the cause of electidn. A king is not made a king, by the
that ! But it does not always please God to prosper that mis-      royal robes he wears, and by the crown that encircles his
sionary activity in a financial and material way. Did the          brow; but he therefore wears his robes, and puts on his
Spirit not even forbid Paul to preach the word in Asia?            crown, because he is king."                        - Toplady

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

                                                                         Africa. and since Apiarius has now been excluded for his
                Contending For The Faith'                                offences, the pope will surely not expect the African church
                                                                     /( to submit longer to the annoyances of the legate Eaustinus.
                                                                         May God the Lord long preserve the pope, and may the pope
                 The Church and the Sacraments                           pray for the Africans." In the Pelagian controversy the weak
                                                                         Zosimus, who, in opposition to the judgment of his predeces-
            VIEWS DURING THE  SECONB.  PERIOD  (300-750 A.D.)            sor Innocent, had at first'expressed himself favorably to the
                     T                                                   heretics, was even compelled by the Africans to yield. The
                          HE DOCTRINE OF THE  CHURCH                     North African church maintained this position under the
                     T                                                   lead of the greatest of the Latin fathers, St. Augustine, who
                          HE PAPACY  (by Philip  Schaff) .               in other respects contributed more than ani other theologian
                                   ( C o n t i n u e d )                 or bishop to the erection of the Catholic system. She first
                                                                         made submission to the Roman jurisdiction, in the sense of
            The North African bishops and councils in the beginning      her weakness, under the shocks of the Vandals. Leo (440-
     of the fifth century, with all traditional reverence for the        461) was the first pope who could boast of having extended
     apostolic see, repeatedly protested, in the spirit of Cyprian,      the diocese of Rome beyond Europe into another quarter of
     against encroachments of Rome, and even prohibited all              the globe. He and Gregory the Great wrote to the African
     appeal in church controversies from their own to a  trans-          bishops entirely in the tone of paternal authority without pro-
     marine or foreign tribunal, upon pain of excommunication.           voking reply.
     The occasion of this was an appeal to Rome by the presbyter            In Spain the popes found from the first a more favorable
     Apiarius, who had been deposed for sundry  offences  by             field. The orthodox bishops there were so pressed in the fifth
     Bishop Urbanus, of Sicca, a disciple and friend of Augustine,       century by the Arian Vandals, Suevi, Alani, and soon after
     and whose restoration was twice attempted, by Pope Zosi-            by the Goths, that they sought counsel and protection with
     mus in 418, and by Pope Coelestine in 424. From this we see         the bishop of Rome, which, for his own sake, he was always
     that the popes gladly und,ertook to interfere for a palpably        glad to give. So  early as  385; Siricius, as we have before
     unworthy priest, and thus sacrificed the interests of local         observed, issued a decretal letter to a Spanish bishop. The
     discipline, only  td make their own superior authority felt.        epistles of Leo to  Bishop Turibius of Asturica, and the
     The Africans referred to the genuine Nicene canon (for              bishops of Gaul and Spain, are instances of the same author-
     which Zosimus had substituted the Sardican appendix re-             itative style. Simplicius (467-453) appointed the bishop
     specting the appellate jurisdiction of Rome, of which the           Zeno of Sevilla papal vicar, and Gregory the Great, with a
     Nicene council knew nothing), and reminded the pope, that           paternal letter, conferred the pallium on Leander, bishop of
     the gift of the Holy Ghost, needful for passing a just judg-        Sevilla.
     ment, was not lacking  to any province, and that he could as            In Gaul, Leo succeeded in asserting the Roman jurisdic-
     well inspire a whole province as a single bishop. The last          tion, though not without opposition, in the affair of the arch-
     document in the case of this appeal of Apiarius is a letter of      bishop Hilary of Arles, or Arelate.  The affair has been dif-
     the (twentieth) council of Carthage, in 424, to Pope  ,Coel-        ferently represented from the Gallican and the ultramontane
     estine I, to the following purport: "Apiarius asked a new           points of view. Hilary (born 403, died  449),  first a rigid
     trial, and gross misdeeds of his were thereby brought to light.     monk, then, against his will, elevated to the bishopric, an
     The papal legate, Faustinus, has, in the face of this, in a very    eloquent preacher, an energetic prelate, and the f&St cham-
     harsh manner. demanded the reception of this man into the           pion of the freedom of the Gallican church against the pre-
     fellowship of the Africans, because he has appealed to the          tensions of Rome, but himself not free from hierarchical am-
     pope and been received into fellowship by him. But this very        bition, deposed Celidonius, the bishop of Besancon, at a
     thing ought not to have been done. At last has Apiarius             council in that city, because he had married a widow before
     himself acknowledged all his crimes, The pope may here-             his ordination, and had presided as' judge at a criminal trial
     after no longer so readily give audience to those who come          and pronounced sentence, of death ; which things, according
     from Africa to Rome, like Apiarius, nor r&eive  the excom-          to the ecclesiastical law, incapacitated him for the episcopal
     municated into church communion, be they bishops or priests,        office. This was unquestionably an encroachment on the
     as the council of Nice (can. 5) has ordained, in whose di-          province of Vienne, to which Besancon belonged. Pope Zosi-
#    rection bishops are included. The assumption of appeal to           mus had, indeed, in 417, twenty-eight years before, ap-
     Rome is a trespass on the rights of the African church, and         pointed the bishop of Arles, which was a capital of seven
     what has been (by Zosimus and his legates) brought for-             provinces, to be papal vicar in Gaul, and had granted him
     ward ;is a Nicene ordinance for it, is not Nicene, and is not       metropolitan rights in the provinces Viennensis, and  Nar-
     to be fourid  in the genuine copies of the Nicene Acts, which       bbnensis prima and secunda, though with the reservation of
     have been received from Constantinople and Alexandria.              ca~usne  muj0~e.s. .The metropolitans of Vienne, Narbonne,
     L&t tl$ fiope,  therefore, in the future send no more judges to     and Marseilles, however, did not accept this- arrangement,


                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.YER                                                       115

and the succeeding popes found it best to recognize again           fourth and fifth centuries,`examples  of the successful asser-
the old metropolitans. Celidonius appealed to Leo against           tion of their jurisdiction.
that act of Hilary. Leo, in 445, assembled a Roman council             The early British church held from the first a very iso-
(coi?cilium  sacerdotum) , and reinstated him, as the accusa-       lated position, and was driven back by the invasion of the
tion of Hilary, -who himself journeyed on foot in the winter        pagan Anglo-Saxons, about the middle of the fifth century,
to Rome, and protested most vehemently against the appeal,          into the mountains of Wales, Cornwallis, Cumberland, and
could not be proven to the satisfaction of the pope. In fact,       the still more secluded islands. Not till the conversion of
he directly or indirectly  caused,Hilary  to be imprisoned, and,    the Anglo-Saxons under Gregory the Great did a regular
when he escaped and fled back to Gaul, cut him off from the         connection begin between England and Rome.
communion of the Roman. church, and deprived him of all
prerogatives in the diocese of Vienne, which had been only             Finally, the Roman bishops succeeded also in extending
temporarily confered  on the bishop of Arles, and were by a         their patriarchal power eastward, over the' praefecture  or
better judgment taken away.                                         East Illyria. Illyria belonged originally to the Western em-
                                                                    pire, remained true to the Nicene faith through the Arian
   He accused him of assaults on the rights of other                controv&sies,  and for the vindication of that faith attached
Galilean metropolitans, and above all of insubordination' to-       itself closely to Rome. When, Gratian, in 379, incorporated
ward the principality of the most blessed Peter; and he goes        Illyricum Orientale with the Eastern empire, its bishops
so far as to say: "Whoso disputes the primacy of the apostle        nevertheless refused to give up their former ecclesiastical
Peter, can in no way lessen the apostle's dignity, but, puffed      connection. Damascus conferred on the metropolitan Acho-
up by the spirit of his own pride, he destroys himself in hell."    lius, of Thessalonica, as papal vicar, patriarchal rights in the
Only out of special grace did he leave Hilary in his bishopric.     new praefecture.  The patriarch of Constantinople endeav-
Not satisfied with this, he applied to the secular arm for help,    ored, indeed, repeatedly, to bring this ground into his diocese,
and procured from the weak Western emperor, Valentinian             but in vain. Justinian, in 535, formed of it a new diocese,
III, an edict to  AEtius,th&  magister militum of Gaul, in          with an independent patriarch at Prima Justiniana (or
which it is asserted, almost in the words of Leo, that the          Achrid$ his native city) ; but this arbitrary innovation had
whole world acknowledges the Roman see as director and              no vitality, and Gregory I received active  intkrcourse with
governor; that neither Hilary nor any bishop might oppose           the Illyrian bishops. Not until the eighth century, under the
his commands ; that neither Gallican nor other bishops should,      emperor Leo the Isaurian, was East Illyria finally severed
contrary to the ancient custom, do anything without the             from the Roman diocese and incorporated with the  patri-
authority of the venerable pope of the eternal city ; and that      archate of Constantinople.
all decrees of the pope have the force of law.                         From this description of the rise of the papacy, in this
 The letter of Leo to the Gallican churches, and the edict          and preceding articles, as narrated by Philip Schaff, it is
of the emperor, give us the first example of a defensive and        evident that the rise of the papacy was gradual, and that
offensive alliance of the central spiritual and temporal powers     the contention of the Roman Catholic Church, that the pope
in the pursuit of an unlimited sovereignty. The edict, how-         at Rome is the successor of the apostle, Peter, is hardly sub-
ever, could of course have power, at most, only in the West,        stantiated by history. The rise of the papacy must be ex-
to which the authority of Valentinian was limited. In fact,         plained politically as well as spiritually. The fact that Rome
even Hilary and his successors maintained, in spite of Leo,         was the leading city in the West, that the bishop of Rome
the prerogatives they had formerly received fl'om  Pope Zosi-       was often consulted in controversial matters and that he
mus, and were confirmed in them by later popes. Beyond              often gave sound and orthodox advice and counsel, and that
this the issue of the contest is unknown. Hilary of Arles           the bishop of Rome was also a tower of strength against the
died in 449, universally esteemed and loved, without, so far        assaults of the barbarians contributed much to the rise of
as we know, having become formally reconciled with Rome  ;          the papacy. Nevertheless, we have also seen that his claim  of
though,  nothwithstanding  this, he figures in a remarkable         superiority was ofteri disputed, and that therefore it is ob-
manner in the Roman calendar, by the sjde of his papal              vious that he did not owe his position to the fact that he was
antagonist Leo, as a canonical saint. Undoubtedly Leo pro-          the successor of the apostle, Peter. In later articles the Lord
ceeded in this controversy far too rigorously and intemper-         willing, we will show that the rise of the papacy was also
ately against Hilary ; yet it was important that he should hold     achieved through two gigantic frauds. These frauds are now
fast the right of appeal as a guarantee of the freedom of           acknowledged to have been frauds. Nevertheless people be-
bishops against the encroachment of metropolitans. The papal        lieved in these frauds for centuries; and when finally  they
                                                                    were exposed as frauds the papacy had been. firmly estab-
despotism often proved itself a wholesome check upon the            lished. In the following and subsequent articles we will con-
despotism of subordinate prelates.                                  tinue with the historical presentation of the papacy by Philip
   With Northern Gaul the Roman bishops came into less              Schaff, and discuss  fhe papacy proper.
frequent contact; yet in this region also there occur, in the                                                                 H. V.

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

 Ii--r                                                                15)  ; for noncompliance with the  Levirate  marriage law
               DECEFdCY and ORDER                                          (Deut. 25  :7ff.) ; enforcing the law (Deut.  27:l)  ; in con-
                                                                      ducting the service in expiation of unwitting violation of the
                                                                      law (Lev. 4 :13ff) ; etc. In general the elders were older inen
                    The Office of the Elder                           who served as rulers and judges in Israel.
        "The office of the elders, in addition to what was said               In the New Testament we  find two separate words,
 in Article 16 to be their duty in common with the minister           "Presbuteros," from which our word "Presbyter" is derived, _
 of the Word. is to take heed that the ministers, together with       and "Episkopos," from which the English "Episcopate"
 their fellow-elders and the deacons, faithfully discharge            comes. Thayer, in his "Greek-English Lexicon," says that
 their office, a&l both before and after the Lord's Supper, as        the former did not differ from the latter as is evident from
 tinie  and circumstances may demand, for the edification of          the fact that the two words are used indiscriminately and
 the churches; to visit the families of the congregation, in order    that the duties of the one are described by the terms of th2
 particularly to comfort and instruct the members, and also                other. This is undoubtedly correct but with the added dis-
 to exhort others in respect to the Christian religion." (Article     tin&ion that "Presbuteros" emphasizes the dignity of the
 24)                                                                  office while "Episkopos" tends to stress the functions or
                     I. The Idea Of The Office                             duties of it. The former term is by far more generally used
        Just as soon as we begin to consider the nature and func-          and is nearer akin the Old Testament word, being used in
 tions of the office of the elder, we will understand why the              Luke 15  :25 and I Timothy 5  :2 very definitely to express
 spiritual requirements, which we have discussed, for this                 superiority of age. The  latter term is  only. used about a
 of%ce  are so very rigid. It is perhaps because the office it-       half-dozen times in the New Testament. It has its derivation
 self is not always properly esteemed that the requirements           from a word that means "to inspect, examine, to look after"
 for it are minimized and careless neglect is frequently dis-              and thus expresses the idea that the elder is one who is as-
 played in selecting qualified men for it. The consequence of              signed  the task of attending to the spiritual interests of the
 this is that those who hold the office of elder are not always            church of Christ. He is one appointed to office in the church
 given proper respect. This is not as it should be. Our Con-               whereiii  he is called to exercise spiritual oversight over the
 fession correctly states, "that everyone ought to esteem the              flock. He is an overseer, as the term itself is also translated
 elders of the church very highly for their work's sake, and be            in Acts 20  :2S. This passage is worthy of special note. It
 at peace with them without murmuring, strife or contention,               reads thus :
 as much as possible." (Art. 30) This can be a conscious                     "Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock
 reality only when we rightly understand the dignity and                   over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed
 importance of the office itself.                                     the church of God which He hath purchased with His own
        To help us arrive at this understanding, let us consider           blood." On the basis of this passage we must point out the
 the import of the term "Elder" itself. Our Form for Instal-          following :
 lation tells us that this terln is taken from the Old Testament.             1) The elder is one who is' appointed and qualified by
 It is certainly true that we read a great deal in the Old Tes-       the Holy Ghost. He is divinely called. Elders are not man
 tament  df the elders. It appears as though the term then            made. God places him in the office wherein he is called to
 signified mainly one of advanced age in distinction from                  execute the will of God in all things that pertain to His
 youth or the inexperienced and, perhaps, because at that                  church. He may not be a man-pleaser. It must be remem-
 time those who were chosen the office of leadership were                  bered that the sole ruling authority in the church is Christ.
 generally taken from the older men. The International Stand-         The elder is His servant, appointed and commissioned by
 ard Bible Encyclopedia informs us, "Among privitive peo-             Him to rule His church by the power of His Word. Both
 ples authority seems naturally to be invested in those who by        the elder himself and the congregation must always be mind-
 virtue of greater age and, consequently, experience are best         ful of this. Then, the elder will watch and pray that he does
 fitted to govern. Later the idea became merged in that of            not sinfully lord it over the church by imposing upon. her
 dignity. In like manner the word  patres  came to be used            his own wishes, and, if the congregation is spiritual, she will
 among the  R'omans. So also among the Germans authority              not murmur and rebel to the good rule of the elder but will
 was intrusted to those who  ?vere  older. The same is true           humbly submit herself to the authority of Christ manifested
 among the Arabians to the present day, the sheik being al-           through him. Elders may not decide ecclesiastical matters by
 ways a man of age as well as of authority."                          practical considerations but, having been appointed by the
        In the Old Dispensation the elders in Israel functioned in    Holy Ghost, ,they are bound to determine all things accord-
 civil as well as in ecclesiastical matters which undoubtedly         ing to His will. In his office he has no authority to do other-
was due to the union of state and church. They served as              wise even though his decisions meet with disagreement among
 local magistrates in bringin,u murderers to trial (Deut. 19 :        many and even arouses the ire of some.
 12, 21  :lff., Josh.  20:4)   ; in punishing a disobedient  `son     '       23  Thi: above passage recdrds  the words of the apostle,
 (Deut. 21 :19) ; in inflicting penalty for slander (Deut. 22 :       spoken in Ephesus, at the same time that he had warned that


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   117

"grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the         fication  of the church ; and that no strange doctrine be taught,
flock ; also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking per-     according to that which we read, Acts 20, where the apostle
verse things, to draw away disciples after them." The elder        exhorteth to watch diligently against the wolves, which might
then is one who is entrusted with the task of watching and come into the sheepfold of Christ; for the performance of
guarding the flock against such intrusion. That task is by no      which the elders are in duty bound diligently to search the
means diminished today.                                            Word of God, and continually be meditating on the  mys-
    3) The elder is one who is called not only to watch but        teries  Of  faith."  (Form   Of  Installation)
also to provide. This is clear from the-passage quoted also.           How then shall we summarize this ?
He is to feed the flock. He is a spiritual shepherd of Christ's        The office of the elder is that position which God has
sheep. Frequently elders conclude that this part of the  of-       established in His church and in which He places men, vest-
fice rests exclusively on the minister. This is not true and       ing them with authority to teach and to rule so that all things
every elder must be ready always to exhort, instruct, com-         in the church may be brought into subjection to the good
fort, and guide the sheep.                                         Word of God. This is indeed a very grkat task and an
                                                                   honorable position. No one understands this more than the
   4) The elder must exercise oversight over the flock not         diligent elder himself. And all elders are fallible men. This,
only but also, yes, even firstly, over himself and his fellow      to, the good elder knows and confesses. Because of this he
elders. As was said in the sixteenth article of our church         labors with holy fear and godly trembling.
order,  his task, together with the minister of the Word is to-        As such `you must receive him. Do not murmur against
exercise church discipline and to see to it that everything is     ,him. Rather labor with him knowing that his task is great.
done decently and in good order. That begins with self, then       Give him your whole hearted cooperation. Unto that you are
one's own house and extends to the house of God. The elder         called. Remember that the Word of God exhorts you to,
is  called  to rule under Christ so that everything may be         "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit your-
properly maintained in the church according to His Word.           selves; for they watch for your souls, as they that must give
   This important office of the church is beautifully circum-      account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief for
scribed in the Form for Installation in three parts. This de-      that is unprofitable for you."  (He& 13  :17)
scription of the office should not be brought to the attention        The next time,  D:  V., we will examine the various
of the church just once a year and then in a hastily executed      elements of the 23rd Article of our Church Order which
ceremony but every member of the church should be so well          speaks of the Elder's Task.                         G.  Vanden Berg
acquainted with it that he may at all times know what he may
and niay not expect of the elders. And these who serve as                             THE DAY OF SHADOWS
elders should know it especially well iti order that may dili-                          (Cokmd from page 108)
gently and faithfully deport themselves in their office in and to be able also to apprehend the Lord's love and mercy
accordance with this mandate :                                     in his manner of treatment to sinful people-and I speak now
   "In the firsf place, the office of elders is, together with     of the Israel according to the election of grace - we should
the ministers of the Word, to take the oversight of the            have understanding of the way in which the blessings and
Church, which is committed to them, and diligently to look         curses of the law worked themselves out in the existence of
whether every one properly deports himself in his confession       the people of Israel as a nation in that day of shadow. For
and conversation  ; to admonish those who behave themselves        this see my "observation on the blessings and  cursings of
disorderly,' and to prevent, as much as possible, the sacra-       the law," attached to my exegesis of ii, 19.
ments  fhom being profaned ; also to act against the impeni-                 Significance and Purpose of our Prophecy  -
tent, and to receive the penitent, `again into the bosom of the       Sign$icn~nce   - all four addresses of our prophet are
church. . ."                                                       connected with the rebuilding of the temple. He is  insis-
   "Secondly, since the apostle enjoineth, that all things         tent that the house of God be reconstructed. And he does
shall be done decently and in order, amongst Christians, and       not rest until building operations are resumed. And the fruit
that no other persons ought to serve in the Church o$ Christ,      of his preaching is that the people are stirred up. And the
but those who are lawfully called, according to the  chris-        work is done. This is the significance of his prophecy for
tian ordinance, therefore it is also the duty of the elders to     the church of that day. For as yet the temple was indispen-
pay regard to it, and in all occurrences, which relate to the      sible. For the Word had not yet become flesh. Christ had
welfare and good order of the Church, to be assistant with         not yet suffered and died and entered once into the holy
their good counsel and advice to the ministers of the Word,        place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. The saints
yea, also to serve all Christians with advice and consolation." had not yet come unto the city of the living God, the  heav-
                                                                   enly Jerusalem. For this Jerusalem was not yet (Heb. xii,
   "Thirdly, it is also the duty particularly to have regard       22). What it meant is that the earthly Canaan was still the
unto the doctrine and conversation of the ministers of the
Word, to the end that all things may be directed to the edi-                              (Co~~thed   01% page 120)

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

II                                                                     whole of the Word of God speak in the instruction of the
              A L L   AROUND  U S                                 '/1u Catechism. Rev. De Witt also admits this when he says "each
                                                                       message contains many references to Scripture." And sec-
                                                                       ondly, Rev. Hoeksema never intended that each message
Love the Lord Thy God.                                                 should be a sermon with a text. If the minister wishes to
       A friend sent us the latest issue of the Missionary Month-      use much of the material Rev. Hoeksema offers in his books,
ly (November, 1955)  in which she called my attention to an            let him provide his own text if he is not lazy. And finally,
 item of interest which we pass on to our readers.                     I cannot see how the preface of a certain Scripture text to
       On page 311 of this issue appears a brief review of one         each message "would have added a stronger emphasis." Does
 of Rev. H. Hoeksema's books on the Heidelberg Catechism               not the abundance of Scripture evidence in the messages
 with the above title. The  Revl Gary De Witt writes con-              themselves make for stronger emphasis than the superscrip-
, cerning this volume as follows :                                     tion of a certain single text? I think it does.
                                                                           At any rate we are glad this volume eight is recom-
       "This is the eighth volume in Rev. H. Hoeksema's series         mended. And our readers who read the last Standard Bearer
 on the Heidelberg Catechism ; therefore little need be said           will remember that Rev. Vos informs us that the ninth vol-
 about it but to bring it to our reader's attention. In our            ume is already off the press, and the tenth and last volume
 Reformed Churches where we take the preaching of the doc-             is ready for the printer. We are grateful to God that the
 trines of the faith seriously, this series has been a great bless-    author was spared to finish this monumental work.
 ing. Dr. Hoeksema's thoroughness, his lively presentation,
and his strict adherence to the Scripture have helped many             Is the Reformed Church in Amwica. an "Open Cowtwutnion"
a pastor keep his presentation of Scripture truth dynamic              Chawch?
 and interesting.                                                          The Rev. Jerome De Jong, pastor of the First Reformed
       "This volume begins the third section of the Catechism          Church of Englewood, Chicago, Illinois, writes on this sub-
 and includes the first table of the law (Lord's Day  32               ject in the Church Herald of October 28, 1955. Also this
through  35). Each Lord's Day has from three to four  mes-             minister in the Reformed Church of America takes cognizance
.-sages. Although each message contains many references to             of Rev. Hoeksema's series on the Heidelberg Catechism from
 Scripture to this reviewer it would have added a stronger             which he quotes.
emphasis if each message could have had its appropriate                    The Rev. Mr. De Jong introduces his article with the
 Scripture heading. We preach the truths expressed in the              following :
 Catechism from the Word of God. Our people must be made                   "It must be admitted that this article will appear to many
very conscious that this is the truth of the Scripture. In con-        to be an argument in semantics, a quibble about words. Yet
,clusion, we recommend this volume to Bible Students."                 it is an important matter to consider. It has often been stated
       We were pleased to read this brief but favorable review,        that this is one of the great differences between this denomi-
and we are thankful to God for the help Rev. Hoeksema's                nation, and a sister denomination of similar theological con-
books on the Catechism is evidently giving to others besides           victions..  This is one of the historic reasons for the division
our own ministers. Either the Rev. De Witt has not heard               of the churches in 1857. In order to answer this question
of or he isn't affected by the ungodly rumor that the Rev.             there must be a definition of the phrase, `Open Communion.'
Hoeksema is "weak both in mind and body."  .To him the                 The Rev. Herman Hoeksema, who cannot be accused of
-books of Rev. Hoeksema are clear evidence of a sound Re-              liberal leanings in this matter, defines `open communion' as
formed mind and faithful adherence to the.~Holy  Scriptures.           follows :
And he seems to be aware of the fact that many others in                   Most churches in our day have `open communion.' They
the ministry of his churches have been helped by Hoeksema's            do not exercise Christian discipline, and the keys of the
series on the Catechism.                                               kingdom of heaven are long covered with rust. Anyone may
      When I read this kind of appraisal of Hoeksema's works           determine'wholly for himself whether or not he shall partake
I begin to wonder how it is that several of those ministers            of the Lord's Supper. (Eating and Drinking Christ, p. 129)
who were formerly with  us  can so disparagingly speak of                  "In the light of  ,this definition, the Reformed Church, con-
this man of `God whose abundant gifts have been used of God            stitutionally, liturgically, and historically, is  not  an `open
for the help of so many. Perhaps we should say that not he,            communion' church. Not everyone may come `to the Lord's
but they, are "weak in mind."                                          Table. The exclusions follow."             ,
       AS  to the criticism the' Rev. De Witt offers regarding            Here the Rev. De Jong offers five reasons why all are
each  m.essage  with "its appropriate Scripture heading," we           not invited to partake of the Sacrament in the Reformed
remark first of all that Hoeksema's exposition of the Cate-            Churches of America. Briefly stated they are:
chism, as we understand it, is not a treatment of a certain                1. All unbelievers are excluded.
text of Scripture though often in his exposition he treats                2. All children are excluded, i. e., baptized non-communi-
specific texts. Rather he purposes to let the light of the             cants.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  119

   3. Not every church member is included. All those who              to be members of the church in good and regular standing,
lead "offensive lives" or are in "open sin" are excluded.             are  `not disciplined for their membership in these godless
   4. Not every approved member is included. The liturgy              organizations, are not expelled from the Lord's Table, can
makes it clear that members must (1) consider their sins              the church then be said to have "closed communion"? I
and need of forgiveness (2 j have a living faith in the living        think not.
Saviour who forgives sins, and (3) purpose henceforth to live            It is therefore time that the Rev. De Jong and others of
lives of thankfulness.                                                his churches take special notice of the quotation of Rev. Hoek-
 ' 5. But what of the communion invitation ? Does not the             sema's book "They do not exercise Christian discipline, and
Reformed Church invite anyone present to partake of com-              the keys of the kingdom of heaven are long covered with
munion  ? Certainly not !                                             rust." And, "Anyone may determine wholly for himself
   Here the invitation to partake of the Sacrament may be             whether or not he shall partake of the Lord's Supper."
given to communicants present who are not members of that                The question concerning the acceptance of an invitation
particular church. (Liturgy, p. 43).                                  to "open communion" is one -that arises frequently also
   The Rev. De Jong continues : "The invitation is first of           among members of our own churches. We have received,
all to  cowzmzmkant.s.   A communicant is someone who is  a           e. g., letters from those in military service who are often
full member of some church. This is more than inviting any-           faced with this problem. The service chaplains invite all the
one `who loves the Lord Jesus.' Perhaps someone is present            boys under. their jurisdiction, Pentacostalists, etc., to come
who loves Him but who has never felt it necessary to join             and partake in unison of the elements at the Lord's Table.
the church. Clearly such a person is excluded ! Then too a            Only recently we received such a request for advice in the
communicant is obviously someone who is in `good and reg-             matter. And they must have an answer.
ular standing' in his own church. Otherwise such a person                Rev. Hoeksema in the Beacon Lights of June, 1943, gave
would be `outside of communion.' He is under the discipline           the following advice : "The question is whether I would ad-
of his own consistory, or session, or board of trustees, or           vise our boys in the service, though not in their own .church,
board of deacons. We may also add, according to Article 76            to partake of communion when opportunity presents itself,
of the Constitution, RCA, that this is a member of an evan-           either in some other church, or in the camp. And my an-
gelical church. This Demarest  defines as `one that holds to          swer is, first of all, that under ordinary circumstances it
the Gospel of the Grace of God in Christ Jesus.' (Demarest's          wo~zld,  of course, not be proper to accept an invitation to `open
Notes, p. 116). It might be further extended to mean one              communion.' And even under your extraordinary conditions
who held the faith expressed by the Apostle's Creed, one who          in the service you will have to use discretion. Nevertheless,
trusted in Christ alone for salvation. This would exclude             if communion is served in the proper way, that is, according
Mormonsi Christian Scientists, Spiritualists, Russelites, Mod-        to the Scriptures, to celebrate the atoning death of our Lord
ernists, and also Roman Catholics. The usual form of the              Jesus Christ; and if you feel the need of partaking, and
invitation in the Reformed churches is, `Those who are mem-           should, perhaps, feel as if you were denying your Lord by
bers in good and regular standing of the other evan-                  abstaining, you certainly may feel that you.are  in the Lord's ~
gelical churches.                                                     way, when you take your place with them that love the Lord
    "If,  inspite  of all these exclusions, one still insists that    and commemorate His death at the table of communion. And
the Reformed Church in America is `Open Communion' be-                so, my advice is: partake, but use your discretion."
cause she issues an invitation to others, then the appelation             Of course, this last clause "but use your discretion" some-
is truly hers,' but she does not invite everyone to the Lord's        what negates the first part of the advice; namely, "partake."
Table, remembering the words of Paul, `For he that eateth             If one uses his discretion he will also consider that in the
and drinketh unworthily, eateth-and drinketh damnation to             Lord's providence he is indeed in unordinary circumstances.
himself, not discerning the Lord's body.' (I Corinthians 11:          He may have a chaplain who is a firm believer in general
29) ."                                                                atonement. Or, he may have soldiers sitting next to him who
    We remark first of all that the Rev. De Jong may have             have no doctrinal agreement with him at all, or who show
proved on the basis of the liturgy of his church that the Re-         in their walk that they are practical unbelievers. How can
formed Church in America has no "open communion." I                   a child of God, who loves the Lord Jesus, ever sit down
am inclined to believe also that he correctly understands the         under these circumstances and partake of the Lord's Table, if
difference between "closed)' and "open" communion. But I              it be the Lord's Table? We do not allow anyone to partake
am not so sure that his church lives up to-the liturgical stand       of our Communion Service who is not in doctrine and life in
of "closed communion." Does not his church allow in her               agreement with us, do we ? It seems to me that consistency
membership members of secret societies, lodges, etc.  ? Do not        would demand that the same principles must determine the
these members also partake of communion? Isn't this partly            question of partaking in "Open Communion." Therefore I
responsible for the separation that took place in the Reformed        am inclined to advise that temporarily while in service the
Churches in 1857 when the Christian Reformed Churches                 Lord deprives His children of this privilege. Just as a man
had their `historical inception ? If lodge members are allowed        who lies on his bed, ill with cancer, is deprived of partici-

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

pating in the communion, or another is for some other prov-                 THE OPINION  Op JUDGE  CtiARLES  A. FLINN
idential intervention deprived of this privilege, so are those                              (Colttimid   from  page 102)
who for a time are required to serve in the military. Let             the group supporting him, claim to have acted legally and
them wait until the Lord brings them back to the church of            in accordance with the .Church Order.
which they are members, where their discretion tells them                 The court feels that here it must, as it has, find of neces-
that here they can really have communion.                             sity that the defendants were and are the legal consistory,of
                                                      M:  Schipper    the plaintiff church and have never been properly deposed by
                                                                      plaintiff or any'legal acting body of the Protestant Reformed
                  CONTRIBUTIONS                                       Churches in the United States of America.
                                                                          Nothing is more lamentable than a dispute of this nature.
                                                                      Many of the exhibits herein include vehement protestations
                                                                      of a desire for peace and harmony. Nothing has been shown
              Hope Welcomes New Pastor                                by either group to indicate any disposition to give an inch
       After over 13 years of labor in our midst, Rev. Heysy          in any direction to aid in achieving the peace and harmony
cepted a call to preach the Word in the congregation of Hull,         which all parties claim is so desirable. This court has nothing
Iowa. Spiritually his ministry was indeed fruitful in our             to do with the doctrinal differences between` the pro and anti
midst as we were instructed from Sabbath to Sabbath in the            DeWolf factions. Nor would it be competent to decide which
truth of God's holy Word. And although we were not ready              group is correct in their interpretation of the doctrine of the
for him to leave, the Lord has called him to labor elsewhere,         church. Suffice it to say, that not much has been shown in this
and our prayers go with him in his new field.                         proceeding, and all matters connected with it, to make the
       For seven months we were without a minister of our own,        court believe that the two groups desire the peace and
but although the elders took care of the pastoral work in the         harmony which they so vehemently claim they desire. I can-
midst of the congregation, we-were not without the ministry           not but believe that the matter could have been decided
of the gospel on the Sabbath. For every Sunday Classis  East          within the church organization had either group been willing
supplied our needs, or if they were unable, our seminary              to submit  to the action of their own governing bodies as the
sent us its students. And, although it is always abnormal             Church Order requires. The presbyterial form. of govern-
to be without a minister nevertheless, God cared for us and           ment, such as the churches of this denomination have, re-
did not forsake                                                       quires, as does any democracy, that the minority submit to
                    us with His presence.
   In August we extended a call to Candidate Herman                   the will of the majority.
Hanko after calling the ministers-that were eligible for a call.          It is possible that the action of the consistory of the
He informed us that he.felt  that God had called him to labor         plaintit?  church can be reviewed by or possibly reversed Uy
in our midst, and so it was arranged that he should begin             a legal meeting of Classis  West or synod, but in the-opinion
his ministry with- us:. That reminded us that the ministers           of the court this has not yet been done. Therefore the con-
we have had in years  gone by have always come to us di-              clusions of law reached by the court must of necessity be
rectly from the school.                                               that the defendants are the legal consistory of the Edgerton
                                                                      church and as such entitled to control of the church proper-
   We arranged for his classical examination and having               ties at Edgerton.               Charles A. Flinn, District Judge
received permission from the  Classis  to proceed with his
ordination, we did so on the night of August 13. Rev. C.
Hanko preached the sermon basing it upon Isaiah 50  4.
Rev. Vos, our moderator  and'advisor,  read the form, and                                  THE DAY OF SHADOWS
Candidate Hanko was ordained to the office of the ministry                                 (Cowtiwed   from  page  i17)
of the Word in Hope Church. The congregation welcomed                 heaven of the church, the earthly Jerusalem the capital of
him into their midst in a program that was arranged and he            God's kingdom, and the earthly temple His house. Here
with his family, entered- the fellowship of the saints in our         in this earthly temple alone of all places the glories of the
congregation.                                                         triune Jehovah were revealed in the face of Christ as reflected
   It was a forcible reminder to us and to him that the Lord          in the typical things of the law - the priest and the sacrifices.
cares for His church'throughout all the ages of history, and          Here alone the saints stood before God's face. Here they could
will care for it even until the end of time when He will take         hear themselves blessed of Him.-Here the saints shouted with
it with Him to glory.                                                 joy. The temple was the bond that drew together the faith-
   May God bless him and us, in our mutual relations.                 ful far and near, such of them as were scattered among the
                             The Consistory of the Hope Prot.         nations as well as those that dwelt in the community. It was
                              Ref. Church.                            thus at the time the center of unity of the whole church.
                                              Clerk, John Lanning     And it, therefore, had to be built.                    G. M. 0.
                                                                                            -


