    VOLUME xxx11                                       MARCH  1,  1956-,G~~l~~   RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                              NUMBER 11

                                                                                  How is this possible? Did He not call him a devil this
             M E D I T A T I O--N                                              same night?
I_____1                                                                                                   * *  *
                                                                                  A few hours ago Jesus had said: "Henceforth I call ye
                         What a Friend!                                        not servants  ; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord
                                                                               doeth  ; but I have called you friends ; for all things that I
              "Rise, let us be going :  beho,ld, he is at hand that  doth      have heard of My Father I have made known unto you."
              betray Me. And while He yet spake, lo, Judas, one                   And Judas was among the company that Jesus addressed.
              of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude
              with swords and staves,  fro,m the chief priests and             And in harmony with that conversation, Jesus calls Judas
              elders of the  peo,ple.  Now he that betrayed Him                His friend.
              gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss,                  What constitutes a friend ? What is the meaning of
              that same is He: hold Him fast. And forthwith he                 friendship ?
              came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master; and kissed                   It is really very simple. Friendship is the exchange of
              Him. And Jesus said unto. him, Friend, wherefore
              art thou c&me? Then came they, and laid hands on                 the secrets of the heart. You heard that `definition in  ,the
              Jesus and took Him."                          Matt.  26:46-50    above quotation: John 15  :15. And in the Old Testament
             - "But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the             ,God said concerning Abraham, the friend of God: "And the
              Son of man with kiss?"                           Luke  22:48     Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I
    My friends, we are going to watch a sorry spectacle: the                   do ?" No, God would not hide it from Abraham, for he was
betraying of our Lord Jesus Christ was a kiss (of all                          God's friend. And so God told him.
things !)                                                                         Friendship is the exchange of the thoughts of the hearts
                                                                               of two or more friends.
    I have often wondered at Jesus' address : "Friend l"
    -  -               . . .                                                       Certainly, Jesus had opened His heart and had told Judas,
    But let us watch thus sorry spectacle.                                     as well as the other apostles, all the secrets of His mission.    .
    It.is night. There is a lurid glow of torches and lanterns,                He had declared the Father to them all. Judas had heard
carried by some of the multitude of soldiers and servants of                   everything the others had gleaned from the mouth of Jesus.
the chief priests that are accompanying Judas, the arch-                          And ostensibly Judas had also given his heart to Jesus.             1    _
fiend. In that glow of flickering light we see the small band                  That is, ostensibly. It was also  .his confession, as well  as
of Jesus and His disciples, surrounded by the "great -multi-                   of the others, that Jesus was his Lord, his Saviour, his Mas-
tude" with their swords and staves. The fools! A million                       ter, his God. Judas had  .made confession of faith. When
.swords,  multiplied a million times cannot take the God who                   Jesus had said to him: Follow Me ! he had -left all and
made the heaven and the earth ! A~ simple answer is given to                   followed Jesus.
a simple question, and God shows His majesty and almighty                         There are a great many of this class of people : the most
,power; they stagger backward: and fall to the earth.                          miserable of all men.
    B u t   w a i t !                                                             And Judas carried it through to the very-moment when
    There is one man among the soldiers that draws our at-                     he came with his despicable band of soldiers. Oh, that kiss
tention: he has a false smile on his face: he has recognized                   of Judas ! He will not forget it unto everlasting. Nor will
the Saviour. He hastens forward, falls on Jesus'. neck and                     he forget that strange address of Jesus : Friend ! Do you not
repeatedly kisses Him : "Hail, Master !"                                       see it now? Jesus accepts unto the very last the confession
    ,Oh, why is. it, that Jesus does not reel back in horror !                 of Judas, and also will judge him according to' it.
It is worse than the deadliest adder who embraces Him!                             I said : there are a great many of such men and women..
    Instead, we hear the voice of Jesus : "Friend  !"                          The elder son in the parable of the Prodigal Son is one of



                                                  ,


      2        4    2                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                     0

     them. And God, in the parable, accepts and judges him on                And yet . . .
     the basis of his confession: all that is mine is thine: you             Shall we stand from afar, or on the heights of righteous
     ought therefore to have been glad when this thy brother             indignation and enjoy our indignation and horror of Judas?
     returned from the dead. You ought to be very happy and                  Shall we draw our robes of righteousness a bit tighter
     glad, and not lurk outside, murmuring and condemning !              around us? .
            But such people condemn themselves. In fact, I am sure           For shame, Judas : I am more righteous than thou !
     that the whole of humanity which is lost will condemn them-             Shall we draw a diagram of the pit and place Judas in
     selves in that great and dreadful day of the Lord.                  the very center of such drawing: the rays of the wrath of
            But the Lord reveals many pre-auditions of this dread- . God descen,ding  straight from heaven into hell, and the first
     ful day.                                                            one who is touched and burned is Judas the perfidious
            In our text we have one of them: Judas, My friend, dost      friend of Jesus ?
     thou betray the Son of man with a kiss ?                                But, oh God, are we without fault, without the fault of
           A kiss ! !                                                    Judas  ?
           Is there anything sweeter?                                       No, I am not going to accuse you.
           It is the token of love, specifically, of the love of God.        Because I am of those that are false and perfidious.
           Attend to this:  ."Kiss the Son  !" Psalm 2. Kiss the God         We shall listen to God.
     of your eternal salvation!                                              Jesus addresses Judas as His friend, and we wondered
           Attend to this: "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His       at that. But Jesus took him at face value, in order to  con-
     mouth !" It is the petition of the Church of all the ages.          -demn  him the more. Those words of Jesus which I prefixed
           The kiss is a token of the love of God.                       above this meditation must have been as molten lead on the
           In it the lovers express how they delight in all the mani-    heart of Judas.. Luke  22:48.
     festation, the revelation which the hearts have exchanged               But here is the point I desire to make: did not Jesus say
     to one another.                                                     the same thing to Peter the Apostle ? Peter, lovest  thou Me ?
           Such is the weak. shadow among men, and such is the           Lovest  thou Me, of Whom thou saidst: I know not the
     spiritual counterpart in the intimate communion between             Man !
     God and man in Christ Jesus the Lord.                                  A n d   D a v i d   ?
           And on that pathway we find the adder, which is called           Jesus Christ spoke in the Hittite Uriah..
     J u d a s .                                                            And how did David react to him? Uriah, my friend, go
           Yes, he is called Judas.                                      in unto thy wife. Rest from the strenuous task of being a
           That name harmonized with his exalted position: the           soldier. Go into thy house and have a good time.
     apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.                                      But it did not help. Uriah was a man of stern, virtue.
           Judas means Praiser of God!                                   He slept on the floor, and would have none of connubial bliss.
                                                                            And' then ? David played the hypocrite to Joab, and later
           Well, is there. anything incongruous in the praiser of        also to the messenger who brought the evil tidings that Uriah
     God to kiss His Son  ? I trow not.                                  and others had fallen in the battle.  ". . . for the sword  de-
           But here is the point: Judas is a traitor. Judas is  a        voureth one  a.~ well as  another"!  Oh, yes, but David had
     liar. Judas has the personal Devil in his heart, and the devil      his eye on the obituary of Uriah!
     instigated that kiss. Satan reveals his inmost heart. It               And what doth God say in Jeremiah 17 :9?
     could only have originated in that arch enemy of God and
     His son. And Judas, an apt pupil of the devil, acquiesces.             This : "The heart is deceitful above all things, and des-
I      ' The chief priests and he must have planned all this. They       perately wicked : who can know it ?"
                                                                            And that, my friends, concerns us.           I
     must have said: Judas, it is night, and it is dark in the              No, let us not draw our robes of righteousness a bit
     garden. How shall we know that the right person is appre-           tighter about us. No, let us not stand afar and above poor,
     hended. And at that juncture the devil and Judas concocted          pitifully poor, Judas.
     the ,plan. When you see me kissing a person, grab him : it is          I  ask you: did you ever play the host to Satan himself?
     He!                                                                 Did the devil ever inhabit your heart? No, I do not ask if
           What unspeakable perfidy !                                    you ever had a devil or devils within you. I ask, did you
           The betrayal of the love of God by a sign which cries         ever have a visit from the arch-fiend himself? I know of no
     `from a thousand hills : I love Thee ! See, behold, how I           other man of whom the Holy Bible says that the devil came
love Thee: I will seal it with a kiss. (If we are to believe             within him. And when that happens, you can expect the
     some commentators, he kissed Him repeatedly, at least most          things you saw in the lurid light of torches and lanterns in
     warmly and profusely.'                                              the garden of Gethsemane.
           There was glee in hell that night. But angels hide their         When that happens, your face and my face assume the
     faces.                                                              filthy smile of Satanic deceit. And innocent prey falls by the
                                   *  *  *                               wayside.


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                       243

   Yes, Jesus called him friend, and there was no divine
pity for him. He subsequently hanged himself, and he is                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
damned forever.                                                        Semi-monthly, excefit wwmthly a&kg  Jw, July amd August
   Peter was also false, devilishly false, but the Lord loved            Publishedbythe  Rmomrm FREE  PUBLISHING ASSOMTION
him from eternity. And after the question: Lovest  thou mk,            P. 0.  Box 881, Madison Square  St&ion,  Grand Rapids  7,  Mich.
Peter? there came the announcement of wonderful work in                                    Editor-Rm.  HERMAN  W~EKSEIIA
the kingdom of God. Peter was included in the bundle of                Communications r&&e  to contents should be addressed to Rev.
the living.                                                            H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
   Above this meditation I wrote: WHAT A FRIEND !                      All  matters  relative  to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                       G. Pipe, 1463  &dmore  St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
Note that exclamation point.                                           Announcements and Obituaries  musit   ,be mailed to  the above
   It is meant for you to say: not much! But let us in con-            ,address  and will  `be  ptiblished at a fee of $1.00 for each  notice.
clusion forget about Judas, and look strongly on Jesus, and            RENEWALS:  Unless a  defmite  request for discontinuance is re-
then say again: What a Friend! He opened and gave His                  ceived, it i's assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                       to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
heart, His all for you and me.                                                              Subscription price : $4.00 per year
   And calls us to be His friends : giving our hearts to Him,
and through Him to God, 3n everlasting adoration for such               Entered as Second C&s matter at Groord Rafids, Mkhigm
a Saviour, betrayed by a kiss of perfidy.                                                                          e
                                                           G. V.                                       C O N T E N T S
                                                                    MEDITATION-
                                                                          What a Friend'!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
                   WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                           Rev. G. Vos

   On March 11, 1956, the Lord willing, our dear Parents and        EDITORIALS-
Grandparents                                                              The Apostates of 1953 and the Three Points.. . . . . . . . . . . . .244
                MR. and MRS. JOHN FABER                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema
will commemorate their 30th Wedding Anniversary. We are             As TO Boons-
thankful to our God for having spared them for each othkr and             Expository Outlines on the whole Bible, by Simeon.. . . . . . .245
for us these many years. Our earnest prayer is that He may                Het Woo,rd  Gods bij Augustinus.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246
further bless them in the way that lies ahead.                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema
                   Their grateful children :                        OUR DOCTRINE-
                                                                          The Triple  K;nowledge   (Part  III  -  9f  Thankfd~ess)  . . .  .246
                                  Mr. and Mrs. John Wm. Faber                    Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                  Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Faber.
                                  Mr. and Mrs. Marvin  Friber       TBE  DAY  OF  SHADOWS-
                                  and 2 grandchildren.                    The Prophecy of  Zechariah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
                                                                                Rev. G. M. Ophoff                                       li
                      NOW GLORIOUS                                  FROhr HOLY WRIT-
                                                                        Exposition of I Corinthians l-4 (10). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .252
       I praised. the earth, in beauty seen                                    Rev. G.  Lubks
       With garlands gay of various green.;                         IN HIS FEAR-
       I praised the sea, whose ample field                               The Sabbath in His Fear (5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2.54
       Shone glorious as a silver shield ;                                      Rev. J. A. Heys
       And earth and ocean seem'd to say,                           FEATURE ARTICLE-
       "Our beauties are but for a day !"                                 The Concept of "Faith" in +he Old Testament.. . . . . . . . . . .256
                                                                                R e v .   R .   Veldman
       I praised the sun, whose chariot roll'd
       On wheels of amber and of gold ;                             THE VOICE ok OUR FATHERS-
                                                                          The Expo'sition  od the Canons of Dordrecht..  . . . . . . . . . . . . ; .2!%
       I praised the moon, whose softer eye                                     Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
      Gleam'd sweetly through the summer sky ! L
       And moon and sun in answer said,                             DECENCY  AND ORDER-
                                                                          Family  Visit&ion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .260
       "Our days of light are numbered  !"                                      Rev. G.  VandenBerg
       0 God ! 0 Good beyond compare !                              Au  ARCIUND   Us  -
       If thus Thy meaner works are fair!                                 Nova` Scotia Pastor Understands the Truth.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .262
       If thus Thy bounties gild the span                                       Rev. M.  Schipper
       Of ruin'd earth and sinful man,                              CONTRIBUTIONS-
       How glorious must the mansion be                                   Missionary Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
                                                                                                                                       . .
       Where Thy redeemed shall dwell with Thee!                                Rev. G. Lubbers
                                                i Reginald Heber


                                                                    also declared, with regard to to the pastors Danhof and
             E D I T O R I A L S                                    Hoeksema that "it cannot be denied that, in the fundamental
                                                                    truths, as they are formulated in the Confessions, they are
                                                                    Reformed, although it be with a tendency to one-sidedness."
   The Apostates of 1953 and the Three Points                           But, of course, this cannot be said of the apostates or of
     An article  in De  Wachter  of Feb. 14, 1956, by Prof. M.      anyone that subscribes to the Three Points. For the latter
  Monsma, indirectly corroborates what I have been writing          surely are not Reformed according to the Confessions.
about the apostates and the Three Points of 1924. At least,             But, at any rate, the professor here provides an added
 the professor suggests that those that apostatized from the        inducement for the apostates to return to the Christian Re-
 truth as maintained by our churches might better return to         formed fold. And I advise them to follow up this inducement.
 the fold of, the Christian Reformed Church, and virtually              This advice, you understand, is based solely on their
 gives them an invitation to do so.                                 present attitude and standpoint, not on the basis of the truth.
   He does so by suggesting to draw a gentle line and to            If I should give them advice, sound advice, which is, ac-
 make it as easy as possible for the apostates to return and        cording to my conviction, based on the truth, I would have
 that, too, for their ministers. To be sure theymust apologize,     to urge them to return from their evil way, to confess from
 as did Van Weelden, for the sins they have committed by            the heart, before God and us, that they have fundamentally
 rejecting the Three Points, but if is not necessary to publish     departed from the Reformed truth, and that, for a long time
 all this in the church papers. It would be sufficient and much     already, they have become guilty of slander, intrigue and
 better. according to the professor, that their classes "in such    corrupting our churches. If they would do this we would,
 cases would simply announce that, with joy and thanks to           indeed, rejoice with thanks to God. But this appears so
 God, they make known to the churches that the brother -            hopeless that it would seem to be impossible advice. Hence,
 to be mentioned by name after thorough investigation, fully        all they can do if they would still remain as churches, will
 satisfied the  classis  and, confidently, gave him consent to      be that they allow themselves to be swallowed up by the
 preach."                                                           Christian Reformed Church.
     That, it seems to me, is easy enough, provided they                There is still a third inducement which the professor
 agree with the Three Points, and confess that it was sinful        offers for the apostates to return to the Christian Reformed
 that they ever opposed them. This Van Weelden did and              Church. This is really the most important of all, because it
 this all that apostatized from the Protestant Reformed             concerns the Three Points themselves. It is this, that  the.
 Churches, no doubt, can also do as, principally, they did          Three Points are not so bad as we, Danhof, Ophoff, and
 already. According to the author of this article in De Waclz-      Hoeksema, always made them.
 tev,  and according to the western classis that accepted Van           Writes the professor :
 Weelden, they can even retain their ministerial status. This           "And it also remains a fact that most of those that
 also implies, of course, that the Christian Reformed Church        left us simply followed a few leaders who read, in the decla-
 is ready to recognize the instruction in our seminary.             rations of Kalamazoo, things for which the Synod would
     In that case, the minister could take his whole congrega-      never have considered itself responsible. Personally, I am,
 tion along, and the individual members of such a congrega-         ,at any rate, convinced that, if the deviated ones would have
 tion would not have to apologize.                                  (accepted our own interpretations of the synodical  decisions,
     My advice to them is that they follow the suggestion of        instead of the interpretations of the ministers Danhof and
 Prof. Monsma: As a separate church they will not continue          Hoeksema, many of them would have remained with us
 to exist seeing that they have no principle ground on which        with a good conscience. The brethren above mentioned pro-
 to stand as such. They have to be swallowed up by some             claimed everywhere that we had become unreformed, and
 church.                                                            that we had taken Arminianism under our wings."
     Secondly, Prof. Monsma makes it rather easy to return             The last sentence is the only one that is true in the above .
 to the Christian Reformed Church by stating that the apos-         paragraph. It is, indeed,  true.that  we proclaimed everywhere
 tates are not bad heretics at all.                                 that the Three Points are not Reformed. Moreover, espe-
    Writes he: "It seems to me that this is all the more            cially at the beginning of our movement, we always offered
 proper because, in regard to those that went along with the        free debate whenever we proclaimed this. No one ever took
 schism of 1924, we deal with brethren and sisters who, ac-         up our challenge to debate.
 cording to the language of the Synod of 1924, did not want            I will still challenge Prof. Monsma to debate with me
 and intend anything else `than to teach and maintain the           when I state here that all the rest of the above paragraph is
 doctrine of Scripture and the Confessions.' In those that          not true.
 left us we do not have to do, for instance, with members              My interpretation and discussion of the Three Points
 that became Arminian, Baptistic, or even liberal. Not at all.      Prof. Monsma and anyone may read in my Histocy -of the
 If that were true the case would be entirely different."           Protestant  Refowted  Chativches.  Anyone may also  ,`donsult
   Prof. Monsma might have added that the Synod of 1924             the different volumes of the Standard   Bearer, not only for


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                245

my interpretation, but also for that of the Revs. Danhof and        is the meaning of the first point: God is gracious to the
Ophoff. Besides we have discussed openly the brochures of           reprobate in the preaching of the gospel.
Berkhof and H. J.  Kuiper.                                             Does not Prof. Monsma remember that we sent this par-
    We claim that the Three Points :                                ticular question, at the time, all over the Reformed world:
    1. Are not in harmony with the Confessions  ; nor with          "What grace do the reprobate receive in the preaching of
Scripture.                                                          the gospel  ?"       .
    2. That, if the Three Points, are viewed in the light of the        Can Prof. Monsma deny that this is the real teaching of
passages of the Confessions and of `Scripture that are quoted       the first point?
by the Synod of `1924, they are not Reformed but Arminian              He cannot.
and Pelagian.                                                           But can he show that this denial of reprobation is proved
    I will not take space, at present, to prove these conten-       by Canons II,  5?
tions. If Prof. Monsma will take up my challenge, however,              I, say: by no stretch of the imagination can he find this
I will be glad to offer him all the space in our paper he           false doctrine in this or in any other canon.
needs. Even at this late date it may be fruitful to conduct a           What does Canon II, 5 teach? It teaches:
discussion of this nature.                                              1. That the promise of God unto salvation is particular.
    But to prove the two statements above mentioned, I will         It is for those that believe in Christ. And since, according
quote just two glaring examples.                                    to the Canons and to all our Confessions, faith is a gift of
    The first of the Three Points, as we all know, reads as         ,God which. is sovereignly bestowed on whomsoever He will
follows :                                                           bestow it, without the aid or will of .man, the promise is for
    "Relative to the first point which concerns the favorable       the elect only.
attitude of God, to humanity in general and not only to the            2. That the particular promise must be proclaimed. and
elect, Synod declares it to be established according to Scrip-      published to all men and to all nations promiscuously with-
ture and the Confessions that, apart from the saving grace          out distinction. In other words, the preaching of the gospel
of God shown only to those that are elect unto eternal life,        is general, as we have always taught and as we, indeed,
there is also a certain favor or grace of God which he shows        practice. And this preaching of the gospel must be accom-
to His creatures in general. This is evident from the Scrip-        panied with the command to repent and believe. Does this
tural passages quoted and from the Canons of Dordrecht I-I,         mean that in the preaching God is graciously inclined to
5 and III, IV, 8, 9? which deal with the general offer of the       all that hear the gospel ? Prof. Monsma knows better. It is
gospel."                                                            .a11 for the salvation of the `elect and for the hardening of the
    Now, I will only refer to the supposed proof for this           reprobate.
point in Canons II, 5. There we read:                                   3. And this is, not in God's favor to the reprobate, but
    "Moreover the promise of the gospel is that whosoever           according to the counsel of God : "to whom God out of his
believeth in Christ crucified, shall not perish but have ever:      good pleasure sends the gospel."
lasting life. This promise, together with the demand to repent          This, then, is our interpretation of the first point. Let
and believe, ought to be declared and ,pubiished  to all na-        Prof. Monsma attempt a different explanation.
tions and all persons promiscuously and without distinction,                                                                  H. H.
to whom God of his good pleasure sends the gospel."
    Now, I would ask Prof. Monsma whether he, by any
form of logic or by any stretch of the imagination, can de-                              AS TO BOOKS                                II
duce from this passage of the Canons that there is a grace of
God to all creatures. Or, to speak more definitely,, will he           Expository Outlines on the Whole Bible : Revelation ; by
prove from this part of the Canons that God is gracious to the
reprobate which is the real intention of the first point when       Charles Simeon. Published by Zondervan Publishing House,
                                                                    ,Grand Rapids,  Mich. Price $3.95.
it speaks of a grace or favor of God to all creatures or when
it teaches in the last part of a favor or grace of ,God over his       What I have remarked about this commentary in other
creatures in general as is evident' from the general offer of       numbers of our Standard Bearer I may repeat here in regard
.salvation ? For that this is the real intention of the first       to this volume on the book of Revelation, even though I
point by the camouflage expression "all creatures" is evident       cannot agree with every detail of its exposition, which, be-
from the original form in which this point appeared in the          sides, is rather fragmentary. I have a deep respect for the
report of the committee. According to that report the first         work of Charles Simeon and gladly recommend it to every
point had to read that "according to Scripture and the Con-         student of the Bible. And this ought to include all our read-
fession it is established that God is favorably inclined and        lers. This volume is concluded by notes on the composition
shows grace unto ungodly and unrighteous under which the            of a sermon, by Claude, and by several indexes  sqme of
reprobate are, of course, comprehended." This, therefore,           which are rather extensive.

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

    As I remarked before, I cannot agree with every detail
 of- this exposition of Reveiation. This is not surprising, of                  O U R   D O C T R I N E
 course, in view of the many different interpretations of this                                                                         II
 book. Besides, this is not a continuous commentary. It is
 very fragmentary. Whole sections as, e. g., chapter VI and                        biE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE
 several other important parts, are omitted. As to Simeon's              AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM
view on the millennium, it seems that he adopts the view                            PART  III  -  OF  THANKFULNESS
 that, before the coming of the Lord, there will be a period
 when "the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth ; as                                   LORD'S  DAY  52
 the  .waters cover the sea." The whole world shall then be                                    Chapter One
 converted to the faith in Christ. pp. 165 ff. This is also in                         A Serious Limiting Clause
 harmony with his view of "the first resurrection" in Rev.
20  ~5, which, according to him, does not refer to the bodily          Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death :
 resurrection of the saints (with which I can agree), but            that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
 refers to a figurative resurrection, consisting in this that the    `of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
piety of the saints shall live in successive generations during      life." But I need quote no more. All Scripture is full of the
 "the thousand years" (with which I do not agree).                   truth that justification cannot possibly stand alone, but must
    But I recommend this entire commentary (of which I               have its end and fruit in sanctification and complete deliv-
 still did not receive  all- the volumes) to our readers, con-       erance from sin and death. Nevertheless, the relation be-'
 vinced that, although they do not agree with every detail,          tween the fifth and sixth petition, is such that the former is
 they will derive spiritual benefit from it.                         basic for the latter. Justification is the basis of sanctification.
                                                           H. H.     In the gift of justification we have the right to be sanctified.
                                                                     We are justified in order that we may be delivered from sin
   Het  Woord Gods  Bij  Agztst&zus  (The Word of God-in             ,and death. We are pardoned in order that we may be lib-
Augustine), by Dr. A. D. R. Polman. Published by J. H.               erated. We are forgiven in order that we may be freed from
Kok N. V. Kampen, the Netherlands. Price f. 8.90.                    the power and pollution of sin.
                                                                        There is still another relation between the fifth and sixth
    That Dr. Polman is interested in the study of Augustine          petition of the Lord's Prayer. In the objective sense, as we
 we have learned before from his study about the doctrine            said, the forgiveness of sins is -the ground of the deliverance
 Calvin. The volume about the `Word of God-by Augustine              from evil ; and justification looks forward to sanctification.
is presented as the first of a series under the general heading      But also subjectively, that is, in the experience of the believer
 "The Theology of Augustine." The book has seven chapters :          and in the `application of these blessings to the elect, the tw.o
 1. The Word of God, Christ; 2. The Word of God as Holy              are most intimately related and can never be separated. In
 Writ; 3. The Word of God as  tha Word of Christ; 4. The             the life and consciousness of the Christian justification never
 Word of God as Preaching; 5. The Word of God in the                 exists alone, without sanctification. He that believes that he
 Church ; 6. The Word of God in the Personal Christian Life;         is justified is already in principle delivered from evil. Al-
 7. Without and by the Word of God.                                  though. in the objective sense justification is the basis of
   In a general introduction, the author tells us that he lets       sanctification, yet in principle the believer is made holy and-
Augustine speak as much as possible., This promise he, in-           is principally delivered.from  evil before he can ever lay hold
 deed,  fulfils  very liberally. The book is filled with many        on the blessing of the forgiveness of sins. It is the regen-
 quotations from the works of Augustine. He also distin-             erated, called, and believing Christian that longs for, seeks,
guishes, throughout the book, the period of Augustine's life         and receives his justification in Christ Jesus our Lord. For
and work, in which this church father was still rather deep-         it is only the beginning-of a sincere love of God and the
ly influenced by Neo-Platonic philosophy and the last period         conscousness  of a deep sorrow after God that makes the be-
when he had largely, though not entirely overcome this in-           liever cry for forgiveness. But by the same token, the prayer
 fluence. Interesting it is to read that Augustine placed the        for forgiveness of sins cannot be his final request with re-
Septuagint on a par with the Hebrew original of the Old              spect to sin. As long as he8 is in need of the prayer for re-
Testament and emphasized that they were equally inspired,            mission, he has not reached perfection. He is still sinful,
and that he even believed the legend about the origin of the         and he still transgresses the good commandments of his God
 Septuagint.                                                         in thought, word; and deed. With this condition he can never
    The author writes a clear style. The quotations from             be satisfied. The very same sorrow after God that makes
Augustine's works are all translated. Anyone, therefore,             him bemoan his sins and .impells him to cry out for forgive-
that is interested in the study of Augustine and that can read       ness also causes him to hate sin,  to. realize the  .danger `of  -
Dutch, had better acquire this book of Dr. Polman.                   falling into temptation while he is in this world, to seek
                                                           H. H.     strength to fight against the powers of evil within him and


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        247

  round about him, and to long and pray for the state in              .plied in a favorable and an  .unfavorable,  in a good and an
  which he will be completely delivered from the dominion             evil sense of the word. It may be conceived from two dif-
  and corruption of sin and serve his Father in heaven in             ferent points of view.
  perfect righteousness. Hence, the petition for forgiveness of         Fact is that temptation and trial are closely related con-
  sins already looks forward to, and must needs be followed           cepts. They are materially the same, only they differ with
  by this other prayer, "And lead us not into temptation, but         respect to their aim and motive. It is  p,erhaps  safe to say
  deliver us from evil."                                              -that for the people of God all temptation is also trial, .and
     The question now is : what is the idea of temptation ?           trial is at the same time temptation. Yet there is a good deal
     According to the Heidelberg Catechism, temptation is             of difference between the two. First of all, we may note
  the occasion and cause of a very bitter spiritual warfare           that one. cannot speak of trial with respect to the wicked.
  against "our mortal. enemies, the devil, the. world, and our        Trial presupposes something good in man which is put to
  own flesh," that never cease to assault us.                         the test and which is improved, purified, and strengthened
     The Greek term that in the New Testament is trans-               by the testing process. Gold and silver are tried, in order
  lated by the English "temptation" does not always have the          to purify them, to'separate  the foreign elements in them, and
same connotation. In James  1:2 we read: "My brethren,                to enhance the beauty of their luster. But one does not test
  count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations." In this     a lump of clay or a piece of stone. The wicked, therefore,
  passage the word could better have been translated by our           cannot be said to be tried, for there is no good in them.
  English "trials," as is evident from the fact that in vs. 3 the     They are totally depraved. But God's people are tried in as
  text continues as follows : "Knowing, this, that the trying         far as they are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
  of your faith worketh patience." The meaning is that temp-          unto good works, in order that the power and beauty of the
  tations, or rather, trials, test the faith of the believer, give    work of God's grace may become manifest, they may be
  to that faith  a. tried character, and thus bear the  .fruit of     purified, and strengthened in their faith, so that the trial of        _
  the spiritual grace of patience. The same is evidently the          their faith may be to the "praise and honor and glory at the
  meaning in vs. 12 of the same chapter. There we read:               appearing of Jesus Christ." I Peter  1:7. The wicked are
  "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation : .for when he         indeed tempted, but never tried. For while trial aims at
  is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord        (the bringing to light the beauty of the work of God's grace,
  hath promised to them that love him.`? The same term that           temptation appeals to the sinful nature of the wicked and
  in the above passages is translated by "temptations" occurs .causes him to manifest himself in all the corruption of his
  in I Peter 4 :12, but is there correctly translated by the term     nature. However, it will be evident that the very. same
  "trial.? There we read: "Beloved, `think it not strange con-        means whereby the people of God are tried also constitute
  cerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some         for them temptations. For there is but a small beginning of
  strange thing happened to you." This is also true of I Peter        the new obedience in them, and all the rest is flesh and cor-
  1  :6, though there in the Authorized Version the term is           suption. What therefore is a trial of their faith is at the            '
  translated by "temptations," while the Revised Version ren-         same time a temptation for their sinful nature. When, for                   '
  ders it more correctly by "trials." In this passage we read:        instance,' a believer is threatened with the loss of a profitable
  "Wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season, if             Bosition in the world unless he in some way becomes un-
  need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations."         faithful and denies his Lord,  his.faith  is being tried; but
  But on the other hand, there are also several passages where        the same situation is an appeal to his sinful nature to deny
  the word evidently means temptations in the evil sense of           Christ and keep his position. It certainly was a fiery trial
  ,the word. Thus it is clearly in James 1 :13, 14: "Let no ,man      of their faith when in the early church believers were some-
  say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God                times confronted with the choice of confessing that Caesar
  cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man!           was lord or being thrown into a pot filled with boiling oil.
  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his              But of course, the enemy meant this horrible` threat to be
  own lust, and enticed." Here the term is evidently used in          a temptation for their flesh, to bow the knee to Caesar and
  ,the unfavorable sense of the word, and has the'same  mean-         to deny the sole lordship of Christ. And thus it is always:
  ing as in Matt.  4:1, where we read: "Then was Jesus led            what is a trial for our faith is a temptation for our flesh.
  up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the             But this is not all.
  devil." There are more passages in Holy Writ where the                 We must make a further distinction between  .trial and
  word, is properly translated by "tempt" or "temptation,"            temptation.
  while in some cases it is difficult to determine what is the           Trial always presents the truth ; temptation is always a
  proper rendering.                                                   lie. Temptation always presents the way of sin and iniquity,
     It is evident from the above passages that the term              of backsliding and unfaithfulness, of denying Christ and
  "temptation" has two different connotations, one favorable,         violating the covenant of God, as something desirable, as a
  the other unfavorable. Or perhaps we may say that the               good that. is worth striving for, as preferable to the way of
  concept which is denoted by the term tew@tation  may be ap-         obedience, righteousness, holiness, and faithfulness to Christ.


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  When God places the tree of the knowledge of good and evil          may not be led `into the circumstances and situations that
  in paradise, and gives man the so-called ,probationary  com-        `constitute temptations. Also this would require that the Lord
  mand, He proves, He tries, Adam.         But He tells him the       remove us from the world. As long as we are in the world,
  truth, "The day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely         we are surrounded by temptations. The three factors, or
  die." But when the devil tempts man in paradise, he presents        agencies, that work together to bring us into the temptation
  the lie to .him. He contradicts the Word of God, causes the         are always present. For, as we said before, they are the well-
  wo'man to see that the tree was good for food and that it           known triumvirate of the devil, the world, and our own sin-
  was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make          ful flesh.
  one wise; he tells her, moreover, that they shall not surely           The devil is the arch-liar and deceiver. And he is Satan,
  die, but that God is jealous in the evil sense of the word and      the opponent of God and of His people. And although he no
  knows that when they eat of the tree, their eyes shall be           longer has the power to deceive which he did in the old .
  opened and they shall be as God, knowing good and evil.             dispensation, and although he can no longer enter into heaven
  And thus it is always. It is never a good, a thing to be de-        as he did before the coming of Christ (cf. Job 1, Rev.  12),
  sired, to walk in the way of iniquity, to pursue after evil, to     because Christ is now in heaven and sitteth at the right hand
  violate the Word of God, and to serve mammon. That truth            of God, exalted in the highest heaven, and clothed with all
  is always presented as truth in trial. But temptation always        power in heaven and on earth, yet the devil has great power,
  makes use of the lie, that there is a good apart from God, in       and constantly seeks to deceive and devour the people of God.
, the way of sin. Temptation is moral, ethical deception ; trial      He does not do so personally and individually, for he is by
  deals with the truth.                                               no means omnipresent. It appears that only in crucial mo-
      We must make still another distinction between trial and        ments of history the devil appears .in person on the scene of
  temptation.                                                         temptation to deceive the people of God. He did so in para-
      There is between the two a `fundamental difference in mo-       dise, in the form of a serpent, to induce our first parents to
  tive and purpose. Hatred of God and hatred of one another,          fall away from the living God. He did so in the case of. Job,
  hatred of that which is good'and delight in sin and corruption,     ,when God gave him permission to torment that servant of
  - these are the motives of temptation. And the purpose of           the Lord. And he did so in the case of Judas Iscariot, in
  the tempter is always God's dishonor and the damnation and          whose heart Satan entered, that he might betray -his Lord.
  destruction of the believer. It makes no difference who it is       But for. the rest we do not read that Satan appears person-
  that assumes the role of tempter in regard to you. It may be        ally, although most likely in the days of Antichrist and of
  your husband or wife, your brother or sister, your dearest          Gog and Magog he will take a personal part. But he has
  friend: in the capacity of tempter he hates God and you, and        many helpers. He is the chief of the demons, and they obey
  seeks your destruction. When your best friend tempts you            him, and evidently go wherever he sends them. And there-
  to depart from the way of truth and righteousness and to fol-       fore, there is a host of wickedness in high places, according
  low after the lie and vanity, he is your enemy, and you should      to Scripture, against which we have our battle.
  never hesitate to say to` him: "Get thee behind me, Satan."            Secondly, there is the agency of the world in its evil
  But trial is always motivated by love, by the love of God and       sense; the world of which the apostle John writes : "Love
  of one another. And the purpose of trial is always your own         not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
  good and salvation. Temptation, then, is that lying appeal to       man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
  our sinful nature that is motivated by enmity against God, His      For all that is in the world, the lust of the- flesh, and the lust
  cause, and His people, and which aims at God's dishonor and         of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but
destruction.                                                          is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust
      Such, in brief, is the idea of temptation.                      thereof: but he that doeth'the will of God abideth for ever."
                            Chapter Two                               In a  -thousand ways that world, in the midst of which we
                                                                      have our life and walk, tempts us to leave the way of right-
                 God's Sovereignty Over. Temptations                  eousness and to follow after the lusts of the flesh. Sometimes
     We must-not overlook the fact that in the sixth petition         it attacks us by its vain philosophy, attempting to toss us to
  the believer is taught to pray emphatically,  "Lead  us not into    and fro by every wind of false doctrine. Then again, it tries
  temptation."                                                        to entice us by its treasures and pleasures, offering them to
     The meaning of these words is not, and cannot possibly           us if we will only forsake the way of truth and. righteousness
  be, that .the believer implores his Father in heaven that he        and become unfaithful to our Lord and our Father in heaven.
  may never be tempted or tried. For that would be impossible,, Again, it threatens us with the .fury of its wrath, deprives
  as long as we still have but a small beginning of the new obe-      us of name and position in the world, mocks and blasphemes,
  dience, as long as we are still in the flesh and in the world,      or even erects scaffold and stake, to terrorize us into the
  and as long as the devil goes about like a roaring lion, seeking    denial of the name of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  whom he may`devour. Hence, the meaning cannot be either             That world too, therefore, is a powerful agency of tempta-
  that the child of God prays to his Father in heaven that he         tion. And the child of God can never avoid it.              H.H.


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     II                                                                     priests and carnal  worshippers.  But the difficulty is that
                 THE DAY OF SHADOWS --                                      the charge to the highpriest already included these honors.
                                                                            Eli had the custody of the sanctuary. But `his great fault was
                                                                            that he did not use his authority, to restrain his wicked sons
                     The Prophecy of Zechariah                              who were desecrating the sacrifices. If by "house" is under-
            The Solemn declaration to Joshua, verses 6-10.                  stood the people of Israel, the promise is that Joshua will be
              6. And the angel of the Lord protested to Joshua and          given also the kingship so that he will be. the sole ruler in the
     said,                                                                  post-exilic community as well as the great priest. But then
              7. Thus saith Jeh0va.h of Hosts, If thou wilt walk in my      he must have replaced Zerubbabel  - a view for which there
     ways and keep my charge, Thou shalt judge my house and                 is not the slightest basis. So it is best to regard the promise
     also keep my courts, And I will give thee access among those           as holding forth to Joshua eventual custody of the temple.
     sta.nding here.                                                            In the final instance the promise has respect to Christ,
              8. Hear, I pray, 0 Joshua the highpriest, Thou and thy        and the temple to the church of the elect, the whole family
     colleagues who sit before thee, For m'eu of wonder are they,           of redeemed, all the members of which are priests and kings
     For, behold, I bring my servant, Branch.                               unto' God. Being come a highpriest, Christ entered in once
              9. For, behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua;      into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
     upon one stone are seven eyes; Behold, I shall engrave the             us  - entered in not by the blood of goats and calves but
     `engravings thereof; And, I remove the iniquity of this land           by His own.blood.  Here the atoning blood and the priest are
     in one day.                                                            one and the same. He was obedient unto death even the
           10. In  that day,  saith  the Lord of Hosts, shall  ye invite    ,death  of the cross. He, in a word, kept the charge. And
     every man his neighbor zt.ndei  the vine and under the fig tree.       therefore God also mightily exalted Him and gave Him a
            6. Protest - Not in the sense of object to. The meaning         name which is above every name. And this mighty Christ
     is that the angel solemnly affirmed, vowed to the highpriest.          was given to be the head over all things in the church. This
            7. Walk  in  my ways  - Be undefiled in the way by              house He gathers. To Him was given its key - the key of
     walking in the law of the Lord and seeking Him with the                David. He openeth and no man shutteth ; and shutteth and
     whole heart (Ps. cxix. I, 2)) or, in the language of the New           no man openeth. And also keep +ny courts - elucidation of
     Testament Scriptures, lay off sin and put on Christ as every.          the promise of the previous clause. The reference is to the
     believer is certain to. do by God's grace. Keep my charge -            courts of the temple, the outer court, the  holies,  and the
     `This expression must be explained in its context. The com-            holiest place. It will be Joshua's duty and privilege to see
     mqn priests made atonement for individual offenders. But               to it that no one enters these sacred places who has no right.
     the Lord's charge to the highpriest was that he make atone-            And I will give thee places to walk among those standing
     ment for the accumulated iniquities of the whole congrega-             here  - An important additional promise. Those standing
     tion of the children of Israel that they might be clean from           here or by are the angels in the vision. They stand by the
     all their sins before the Lord.' This was done annually on             angel of Jehovah as poised to do His bidding as I$s serv-
     the great day of atonement (Lev. xvi. 29). On this day                 ants. It will be given Joshua freely to. walk among them.
     Aaron lay both his hands upon the live goat, and confessed             They will be his friends. Implied is that at all times he will
     over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all         have free access to the throne of grace as intercessor of the
     their transgressions and all their sins, putting them upon the         people for whom he acts. So did the Father reward Christ.            .
     head of the goat,' whereupon he was sent away into the wil-            When He had kept the charge, blotted out by His death the
     derness as bearing away, symbolically, all the iniquities of           sins of His people and was raised from the dead because of
     the people. The other goat in the transaction was slain. Its           their justification, the Father gave Him and His people in
     blood was sprinkled by the highpriest upon the -mercy-seat             Him places to walk among the' angels  - a privilege that
     -upon the lid of the ark of the covenant that stood in the             they once enjoyed but had lost through Adam's transgres-
     holy place  - and accepted of the Lord as a covering of the            sion.
     sins of the people. If Joshua will fear the Lord - if he will              8. Verses 8 and 9 contain the concluding promises. Hear
     faithfully cover, blot out (symbolically) the sins of the cove-        . . . 0 Joshua the  highpiest  - Though Joshua has been
     nant people by the blood of his sacrifice, intercede for them          paying strict attention all along, he nevertheless is admon-
     as he saw himself doing in the vision, confess their sins and          ished to hear. It indicates that what the angel is now about
     implore Jehovah's forgiveness - he will be rewarded. The               to declare is of highest significance. Thou and thy colleagues
     Lord will exalt him. It will be given him to judge God's               - Joshua's companons  in office, namely the common priests.
     house. If by "house" is understood the temple that at the              They are now absent. But the words of the angel will be
     time was in process of being built, the promise is that Joshua         relayed to them by Joshua. Then with undivided attention
     will be given custody of the temple and the oversight over             they shall listen to what is reported. Who sit before thee -
(    the common priests in order that he may guard against all              Not now while Joshua stands before the angel but in the
     idolatry and the profanation of the services by unworthy               assembly of priests. For men of wonder are they - It< would

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

be strange if the reference here were to the common priests          causing it to unfold before the eyes of His people, God was
alone and not also to Joshua seeing that he was  the-  high-         preparing the church for the coming of His servant Branch.
priest. Joshua and his colleagues were men  ,of wonder as               In the above interpretation I proceeded on the basis of
priests, that is, their being men of this description subsisted.     the view that the priests were men of, wonder because they
not in their person but in their office. As priests in offering      typified Christ our great highpriest. However, the priests
sacrifices and making atonement for sin they were signs and          - the priesthood  - may also be taken as typifying the
wonders, miracles. This is the idea. For the Hebrew here is          family of redeemed, formed as they are of a people made of
mopheeth,  a word used of miracles performed by God and              Christ priests, and kings unto God. The type of Christ was
by- those sent by Him, Exod  4:21; 7  :3, 9, etc. And to             more particularly the highpriest. Perhaps we -should retain
bonder the Scriptures join sign. The expression "signs and ,both views by combining them. But if the former view be
wonders" is common. Joshua and his companions as priests             adopted, the flow of thought of these verses is this: The
were not the body, reality  - it was not possible that the           priests, being what they are, men of wonder typifying the
blood of bulls and of goats should take away sin - but they          family of redeemed formed as they are of man made of Christ
were signs, shadows, types, that is they pointed away from           priests .and kings unto God, is a sure pledge that I, Jehovah,
themselves to something else. And as signs they were won-            will bring forth without fail Branch, the Christ, that He
ders. For they foreshadowed, signified as signs not things           may redeem the people typified by these men of wonder.
earthly and not things illusory, but they foreshadowed the              My servant Branch  - written without the article  -
realities of God's heavenly kingdom - Christ and His re-. Branch. Not, the  Branch. For there are not other Branches
demption  - that God would surely bring forth, would needs           in comparison with which he is  the  Branch. There is then
have to bring  forth* because of their being foreshadowed,           but one Branch, namely this servant. Zerubbabel was not
promised of Him. That this is the meaning is `plain from             this servant. He was not Branch as some claim. For the
the succeeding line. Fo?, behold, I will bring forth.my serv-        priesthood did not typify him, seeing that he was the gov-
_ ant BRANCH  - The thought-process is clearly this : Joshua         ernor of the post-exilic community. Besides, he had already
.and his companions are wonders. For they foreshadow my              `appeared upon the scene, while Branch was still to be brought
 servant Branch. They do surely, Because without fail I,             fourth. It was necessary that God call him "my servant
 God, will bring him forth. But there is more to say. The            Branch," in other words, that "servant be joined to Branch.
fact that the covenant people are being told that Joshua and         For the name servant was borne also. by the people of Israel
 his companions, that thus the priestshood foreshadows God's         ,as a whole and in addition by the church of the elect. Be-
 servant Branch, means that they are being given to under-           sides, the prophets were also servants of God and every
 stand that he will be brought forth as priest, even as their        saint in Israel as well. That it might be known that it was
 true priest and that this priest, God's servant Branch, see-        he that God meant when talking about Him to the covenant
 ing that he is not just another shadow but the body, will           people, He set Him apart from all other servants by calling
cause all their sins to pass from upon them not by the blood         Him  "my servant Branch." ,And the name Branch, better
 of bulls and goats, for then he, too, were but a shadow, but        slzoot,  scion became Him. For that is what He was, namely,
 by his own blood. `This is the thrust of the ,Gospel  as it here    a scion, a shoot coming forth out of the stump of Jesse,
 being proclaimed unto them. The only question is whether            a scion growing out of his roots (Isa. ii. I). A stump, let us
 they understood. We may say that they did but without               consider, is what remains of a stately tree, when it is cut
 our losing sight of the fact that it was the dispensation of        down. The family tree,, the house of Jesse, the father of
 Shadows. The Spirit was not yet to lead into all truth in           ,king  David, had been cut down, reduced to a stump in the
 that Christ had not yet died. One thing may be regarded             ground, that is, all its earthly power and glory had been made
 as `certain, namely that they did understand that their sins        to pass from it even long before Christ came forth out of
 were not being covered, blotted out, by the death of their          it as born of the virgin. The  ,throne of David had been
 animal sacrifices, that thus they- were not being redeemed          vacant for all -of four hundred years. Worse. than this. At
 from their iniquities by the priesthood that now represented        the time of Christ's birth it was occupied by an Edomite,
 them. But by whose blood, if not by this blood ? And by what        descendant of the reprobated Esau. And to the world-power
 priest, if not by this priesthood  ? These must have been           that be represented the people of Israel were in bondage.
 among the questions uppermost -in the mind of every saint.          How had the gold become dim. What a difference, as to
 By what blood? By the blood of God's servant Branch. By             status, mode of existence and circumstance of life, between
 what priest? By the priest whom God calls  `<my  servant            Joseph, the supposed father of Jesus, and Solomon, - the
- Branch." For Joshua and his companions are men of won-             former a poor carpenter, the latter king of glory (typical)
 der. They foreshadowed this priest. This was now God's              who had ruled over an empire that stretched from the Med-
 answer to these questions. He had answered them before              iterranean to the Euphrates. Out of that stump Jesus came
 and all along, but never in this way. It .was new instruction,      forth. He was, therefore, indeed what His name signified -
 new light shed upon the promise. So, in this way, in the way        not a tall, mighty and stately tree, but Branch, scion, a shoot
 of shedding always new light upon the promise and thereby           `growing out of a stump in a dry ground. So, of earthly


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                251

  power and glory He had nothing. He was strictly without           lost ;-the temple itself ; the people of Israel as the foundation
  form, comeliness, beauty that anyone should desire Him (Isa.      of the new order of things.; the kingdom or people of God,
  liii. 2). But being a shoot of the stump of Jesse, what He        outvvardly  insignificant when compared with the great moun-
  did have was the promises of God. And as we shall see             tain [iv. 7) ; the plummet.        .
  presently, with these promises our prophet is again occupied         All of these explanations are doubtful. It is well to ob-
  in the succeeding verses.                                         serve in the first place that this verse is closely connected
     A similar imagery is contained in the prophecy of Eze-         with the preceding, and that the connecting particle t`for,"
  kiel (Chapter xvii). There is a difference, but it is not es-     Hebrew  ki, is causal, so that the thought-process here is this :
  sential. Here Christ is not a shoot that grows out of a stump     I will bring forth my servant Branch who by His death,
  in a dry ground but a tender twig that God crops off, the         such is the implication, will cause all your sins to pass from
  topmost branch of a strong and lofty cedar - the house of         upon you, because, behold, the stone that I have laid before
  Israel  - that He has plucked up by the roots and left to         Joshua, upon this stone shall be seven eyes. So then, God
  wither and die. He plants the twig in the mountain of the         will bring forth His servant Branch, the Christ  because He
  height of Israel. The twig takes root, brings forth boughs,       has laid this stone before Joshua, this one stone, the head
  and bears fruit, and is a goodly cedar. Under it dwell all        stone, chief corner stone (iv. 7). In the first instance this
  fowl of every wing. And all the trees of the field know that      head stone is the chief cornerstone of Zerubbabel's temple.
  it is the Lord who has brought down the high tree, and            Upon this stone shalLbe  seven eyes or facets, namely a num-
  exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree, and made the       ber of small plane surfaces like those of a cut diamond and
  dry tree, the tender ttiig, to flourish. This is a wonder. It is shining like eyes. The stone, therefore, must be some kind
  an accomplishment of which Jehovah alone is capable. For          of gem or precious stone to begin with. For it has possi-
  the Messiah was but a root-shoot, a twig cropped off a tree,      bilities. It can be cut or engraved like a diamond and thereby
  without beauty and undesired therefore. Nay worse, He was         be made  .to glitter.  Behold,  .l will  &grave the engravings
  despised and rejected of all men. From a human standpoint,        thereof,  mith the Lord  - The stone (of Zerubbabel's tem-
  therefore, He was without expectation altogether.                 ple) will be beautified by the Lord. He will do the engrav-
     For, behold, I bring fo& - Namely Branch, scion. God           ing, of course, through human  artificers  as His organs.
  brought Him forth. He sent His only begotten Son. By              The stone in its beauty, like the temple, will be His workman-
  the wonder of His grace He made Him to grow out of the            ship. This stone is unto Joshua the certain pledge that God
  stump of Jesse. That alone God could do. For the stump            without fail `will bring forth Branch, the Christ. And I will.
  was rooted in a dry ground. There was no moisture. And            remove the iniquity of that land in one day - All the guilt
  so it was not by the will of man that Christ was born of the      of the people is to be removed on one day. This, too, will
o virgin. But the Holy Ghost came upon her, and she was             be God's work that He will accomplish through the. Branch
  overshadowed by the power of the Highest. Therefore also          on the great day of atonement at Golgotha.
  .that holy thing that was born of her was called the Son of          10. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye ca.11 every
  God (Luke i. 34). And the Spirit of Jehovah rested upon           9xa.n his neighbor under the vine avtd under the fig tree -
  Him - the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit          This phrase is borrowed from I Kings  .4  :25, where it de-
  of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear        scribes the happy period under Solomon. Here is again hung
  of the Lord, and made Him quick of understanding .(Isa.           before us an earthly picture of the blessedness of the saints
  ii. 3). And when He bore the burden of God's wrath against        -their peace and prosperity- as residents of the new earth.
  our sin, who  was it that sustained Him  ? None other than           How plain then from the flow of thought in this pas-
  God. And isn't it owing to God alone that .the tender twig,       sage that the stone typified Christ. That the stone fore-
  planted of Him in the mountain of the height of Israel  -         shadows Christ is proved by the following  considerings:
 and the height of  .Israel here is the Zion that is above  -       1) The context does not indicate that the stone signifies any-
  brings forth boughs and bears fruit? Christ is the vine and       thing else but strongly favors the view that it typifies Christ.
  His people the branches. But the husbandman is the Father.        2) It is called one stone in the text, which can only mean
  He planted the twig. "Behold, I bring forth my servant            that it is the head stone (iv.  7), the chief corner stone of
  Branch." The goodly cedar is God's production; and His            Zerubbabel's temple. According to I Peter ii. 6, 7 the chief
  aione. This receives the emphasis also in what follows.           corner stone is Christ. 3) The stone has seven eyes, facets.
     9. For, behold; the stone tha.t I have laid before Joshua,     In Rev. v. 6 Christ is presented to view having seven eyes.
  upon one stone seven eyes - The one stone is the same stone       4) Like Christ the stone of Zerubbabel's temple was  pre-
  that was laid before Joshua, so that the meaning is : For, be-    cious and chosen. 5) God was the founder and beautifier of
  hold, upon the one stone that I have laid before Joshua shall     this stone. So, too,  w.as He the founder and beautifier of
  be seven eyes. What is the stone? Here follows the, several       Christ. 6) The text states that ;God will. bring forth Branch,
  answers that have been given to this question: the precious       the  Chr,ist because he has laid before Joshua this stone.
  stone adorning the highpriest's breast; the stone as sub-         This can only imply that the stone typifies Christ.
  stitute for the ark of the covenant that had been permanently                                                            G.  i'l. 0.

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

                                                                     Paul did not plan to leave the beaten path, which he had faith-
11 `F R O M   H O L Y   WR.lT  11 fully pursued up till this point. He had never left it up till
                                                                    -this point, and even in Corhh he did not make an exception
                                                                    to the rule. Had such been the case, then - of course, these
           Exposition of I Corinthians  l-4                         partisans would be able. to place the responsibility of -their
                              10.                                   boasting in Paul upon Paul himself. Paul's preaching in
                                                                    Corinth was true to the very Word of the Cross, and such
    In connection with the verses l-4 of the second chapter         preaching simply excludes all boasting, save in the Lord!
of 1. Corinthians we must still make a few observations. We             Furthermore, a careful examination of Paul's labors in
refer, of course, to the rather well-known theory that Paul         Athens shows that it is rather far-fetched to distil from the
gives expression to a renewed and a rededicated resolve to          Scriptural. accounts of Acts 17, that Paul had there been
walk in the calling wherewith he had been called as an Apos-        derelict in his apostolic duty. The Apostle certainly did not
t l e .                                                             pour strange waters of a "natural theology" with the pure
    The theory just mentioned reasons, briefly, as follows :        waters of the "Word of the Cross"!
    In the first place, that Paul prior to his coming to Corinth        In the first place this is proven by the real fruit of faith
had labored exceedingly hard and with much hardship                 in the hearts of some of the Athenians. In Acts  17:34,
in Philippi, Thessalonica and in Berea. There he had endured        "Howbeit, certain men  clave  unto him, and believed  :. among
great persecution so that it was necessary for him to flee from     them which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman
Macedonia and come to Athens..                                      named. Damaris, and others with them." That there was not
    Paul, according to this theory, had come to Athens and          much -fruit, that not many believed here is not due to the fact
there he had preached something besides Jesus Christ and            that Paul's preaching here lacked efficaciousness, since it was
Him crucified! He had proclaimed a certain "natural the-            empty `of the Word of the Cross, but rather to the fact, that
ology" in Athens, in appealing to the religiousness and             God did not have "much people" of election in the city ! Com-
perverted worship of these Athenians, particularly in their         pare Acts 18 :9, 10. And; let it be noticed, that there was not
worship of the UNKNOWN GOD. But that ministry had                   only fruit upon Paul's labors performed in the Jewish syna-
failed, and so Paul, having taken inventory of these labors         gogue (vs. 17) but that his speech, spoken in the Areopagus,
in Athens, sees its shortcomings, its inadequacy!                   the so-called "Natural Theology" speech, also bore fruit of
   Hence, when Paul comes to Corinth, so this theory holds,         faith and repentance. Certainly the crucified and risen Lord
he resolved that here he would know nothing save Jesus              sanctioned the labors of Paul in Athens, as is attested by the
Christ and Him crucified ! With the failure in Athens in            very evident fruit of faith wrought by the preaching through
mind he says "And I, having come to you, determined to              the Holy Ghost, as the Spirit of Christ.
know nothing except Jesus Christ and Him crucified"!                    Secondly, that Paul's preaching in Athens was not a
   Now, what are we to say about this "theory" in the light         leaving of the Word of the Cross, but a preaching of the full
of the very wording of the text in question itself; as well as      counsel of God, in as far as the moral consciousness of these
from what we read in Acts 17, where Luke records to us the          Stoics and Epicureans permitted of, is proven from a careful
labors of Paul in Athens ?                                          analysis of the. speech of Paul himself in Athens, standing
   In the first place, we would observe that there is nothing       in the Areopagus.
in the entire context here to even suggest this  "interpreta-          I cannot do better than to quote `here what I wrote on
tion" of the phrase here in question. Paul is here not making       this subject already in 1944. I quote in part from Beacon
an apology for his labors in Athens, but rather he here is          Lights, December, 1944. There I wrote under the heading
defending the truth that in his labors in Corinth he had pro-       "Paul's Speech I'n The Areopagus," `and noticed three cardi-
claimed, had not held back from proclaiming the full counsel        nal points in this message.
of God. See Acts  20:28:  Paul here. takes away from these             The first was: "God in His relationship to the creature.
partisans, Pauline-partisans every imaginary reason for boast-      Vss.  24? 25."
ing in Paul and not in the Lord! Here is a grandeur beyond             Concerning this. we wrote : "He is the Creator. He made
compare. And this grandeur of Paul's humble boast cannot            the Cosmos as it is one harmonious, beautiful whole. And
be shaken by a specious theory that Paul here speaks by             nothing is to be excluded from this work of creation.. As
implication of his failure in Athens, a failure which he did        such He is  transcen-dunt  above the creature. He has an  es-
not repeat in Cornth.                                               sense apart from the Cosmos. Therefore, also apart from
   Besides, a careful reading of the text in the original Greek     temples made with hands. God dwells in Himself. This has
shows us that Paul does not state here at all a resolution a        been changed by foolish man. . . .
"determination" not to  preach  anything save Jesus Christ             Further : "This God, being  Lord of heaven and earth,
and Him Crucified.. Literally the text reads : "For not  I          does not need to be served for the reason, that without our
judged to preach anything in your midst save Jesus Christ           service He would  lack: He is the FOUNTAIN! . . .  ." The
and Him crucified." The negation is with the judgment.              proof of this, according to Paul here in Athens is: Creation


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D ' B E A R E R                                               253

 and providence. And concerning these fundamental works of          does not live in temples made with hands ! That is not nat-
 God Paul makes the following clear: "1. God as the Foun-          ,ural theology taught by Paul, but a spiritual-psychological
 tain gives life and breath and all things . . . God gives  US     analysis of the blind, of moral depravity seeking what it
 existence. He upholds all things by the Word of His power,        cannot find, and, yet, not finding, can never be blessed. For
 Heb. 1 :3. This was a fundamental blow at all the idols of        man cannot rest save he rests in God.
 heathendom, and of that of these Athenians in particular ! 2.         And so when a "few" are apprehended here by Christ, it
 Indeed these Athenians did not know GOD ! And their               still remains true that "I was found of them that sought me
 whole philosophic conception and foolish religion topples with not." And to this axiom of Scripture Paul remains faithful
 this one mighty cut of the Word of God."                          also in this sermon in the Areopagus.
     I now ask: is Paul in thus preaching to these Athenians
 not preaching the Word of the Cross implicitly? One might             Wherefore, we take the stand, for the above enumerated
 as well, it seems to me, accuse John of the same thing in the     reasons, that the entire theory of Paul's having been derelict
 "Prologue" of the first 18 verses of his Gospel. And, again,      in his duty in Athens rests upon conjecture, exegetical inac-
 one might as well accuse Paul of the same in Romans 1:18          curacy, and stems from a preconceived philosophic and dog-
 through  Remans  2  :16. To teach that man can know God           matical bias. Surely the heathen philosophers did not and
 apart from the Word of the Cross is one thing ; but to deny       could not construct. a natural theology ; but to show this we
 the "glimmerings of natural light" and the "external !egard       can employ better weapons. than those of misunderstanding !
 for virtue, the difference between good and evil" is quite an-    Furthermore, we need not throw away the baby with the
 other. And when Paul appeals to this "glimmerings of nat-         wash. Let us maintain the "glimmerings of natural light"
 ural light" in these Stoics and Epicureans, he finds a  psy-      lest we lose a "point of contact" even in testifying in an
 ,chological "point of contact" in this Audience ! Yes, the        evil world of sin, righteousness and judgment!
 greater part keeps even this truth down in, unrighteousness.          Such Paul did not do in Athens`!
 Yet, even so, they betray that once they were created in the          And here in the church at Corinth ? He is the unchanged
 image of God !                                                    Paul. The content of His preaching is not different in
     It seems to me that we should never allow the fact of         Corinth than in Athens. The audience was different and so
 man's depravity as taught .by Scripture and confessed in the      the "approach" is different here in the stronghold of philo-
 Confessions, to be so interpreted that the "glimmerings of        sophic tradition.
natural light," the  traces  of the original, be no longer rec-        Let not the modern common grace enthusiast make of
 ognized. Man does not become an animal, an irrational brute.      Paul's speech the occasion of a "natural theology," nor the
 This is evident from the song of Cleanthes, the Stoic, quoted     Pauline partisan make Paul's preaching a reason for strife.
 by Paul in verse 28 "`For  we-.are  also his offspring." Of       But let everyone, who feareth the Lord, glory in the Lord
 course, this quotation of Cleanthes is no indication that this    ,in creation and in re-creation!
 Stoic properly understood the real truth of the matter as                                                                     G. L.
 taught in Scripture and confessed by the church. On the
 contrary. Cleanthes did not understand. Even so, he kept
 down the truth in unrighteousness by doing which he                                   .(
 <became  `(without excuse" before God. Cleanthes, even in                                   Notice for  Classis West
 composing this song, did not sin in a vacuum. He sinned
 keeping down the truth in unrighteousness. And so he never            Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will
 engaged in "natural theology," but was busy with "unnatural,      meet, the Lord willing, in Edgerton, Wednesday, March 7,
 idolatry."                                                        1956. The consistories are- reminded of the rule that they
     And, finally, let it be understood that Paul also directly
preached Christ, the judgment of the world by the Son of           are expected to nominate an elder or elders who are able to
 God. He makes his speech effective by appealing to the            serve as synodical  delegate.
 "work" of the- law, -in which they are ever engaged `even in                                          Rev. H. Veldman, Stated Clerk
 their depravity.
     Such is Paul's "point of contact" here when he would
 preach Christ, who hath put and is putting all things under                                                I-,'
                                                                                                             #.

 his feet. That only a "few" are here thus "apprehended of                        \
 Christ" does not change the fact of Paul's moral and judicial                               Bound Volume Notice
 point of contact in the minds of these Athenians. Their               A charge of $5.00 will be made for, all bindings beginning
 "seeking" God is not the true seeking which finds, but is the               -
                                                                   with Volume 32. Credit of $1.50 will be given upon return
 seeking of God, in trying to feel after him and find Him.
 They first indentify Divinity with the creature. -And then        of complete set of the old issue.
 try the impossibility of finding the Transcendant One,~ who                                                              The Board
                                                                                                      -.


254                                          THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A K E R

                                                                     that one of which Paul speaks to Timothy and tells him that
               I N           HIS,FEAR  i i we can expect these things in the time in which we live - it
                                                                     was not manifested so clearly and boldly in the Church at
                                                                     .that time!  - that men are "lovers of pleasure rather than
                 T&e  Sabbath In His Fear                            lovers of God," II Timothy 3  :4.  Our sin, then, is that by
                                                                     our fishing or whatever earthly pleasure we seek, we say to
                               ( 5 )                                 God that we deem this more important than to worship Him
       "Equally true it is that what is good and according to        in His sanctuary, that we consider the things of this present
God's law on Monday is good and according to His law on              life more enjoyable .and more worth our time and effort than
the Sabbath."                                                        the salvation He has prepared for His people. The sin, is
       So we wrote in the February 1 issue of the  Standard          not in the activity as such that we are engaged in on that day.
Bearer.                                                              but in our purpose and motive in seeking it.
We pause briefly  iri our consideration of how positively               We buy  oli the Sabbath when it becomes  essential.  We
to observe the Sabbath in His fear, as we began to do in the         buy gasoline when we receive word that a loved one is dying
last issue, to-say a few more things about the above statement.      in a distant city. We buy a train ticket, a bus or a plane ticket
       There may be need for this. At least it was brought to        when it becomes essential to being with  such's loved one be-
our attention that there might for some be need of clarifi-          fore he is taken away from us. We buy and sell medicine.
cation.                                                              `We buy electricity,' though we pay for it on another day.
       We want to make sure that the sentence taken all by it-       We hire men to work for us that we may broadcast the
self out of the paragraph and out of the whole series on "The        gospel over the air on the Sabbath.
Sabbath In His Fear".is not used to overthrow all that which             In all this it becomes evident that what is good and ac-
we have thus far written. We did not write the statement             cording to God's law on Monday is also good and according
above about the Sabbath and Monday's works to open a back            to His law on the Sabbath. We sin when we do these things
door to all manner of activity on the Sabbath after tightly          on the Sabbath when the motive for doing them is wrong.
padlocking the front door.                                           That is what always determines whether a deed is -wrong or
       The fact cannot be denied that there are times when we        right in God's sight. There are works that are in themselves
all perform works on the Sabbath whidh we condemn when               wicked because they can have no good motive. One cannot
they are executed by the world on the' Sabbath ; and we per-         bow down before an idol with a righteous motive. That is
form them convinced that we did so -because we interpreted           always a wrong deed. Even works that outwardly seem evil
the Sabbath as. Jesus did : "The Sabbath was made for man            can be according to God's law and good in His sight. The
and not man for the Sabbath. "                                       man who closes the switch so that the payer flows into the
       We would not go fishing on the Sabbath ; and we con-          electric chair to kill the man sentenced to death by the
demn it as an act of ,unbelief  in the countless number of the       earthly judge is not necessarily violating the sixth command-
world who wait for the Sabbath exactly for such pleasure             ment which says : "Thou shalt not kill." If this motive is
seeking. However, we would not deny the youth of our                 personal revenge upon the man whom he is called to- execute,
church who are serving in the armed forces of our country            it is murder. If he does it simply as a mandate from the
and who might'be forced down in a forsaken part of  oti?             authorities without any malice in his heart for the  man he
country on late Saturday afternoon, because of plane engine          kills, he is innocent of his murder seven though it might be
failure or the `like, to fish on the Sabbath morning in order        proven later on that the man was not guilty of the crime for
to try to1 obtain some food for the day. We would not insist         which he was executed. That  hold4  true also for the judge
that to fish - which is good and according to God's law tin          who sentenced him when all things pointed to him as the
Monday  - is forbidden them and that God ordains that,               gtiilty  one. If he erred because the-man had nothing to prove
though He has brought them down by a stream with plenty              his  innocency,  the judge has not committed murder.
of fish, He insists that they go without food all that day.              With every sin it is always a question-as to the motive in
Jesus defended His disciples who picked corn to eat as they          the heart.. Many works which we judged to be good may be
walked through the fields. Catching fish, which is good and          revealed  td be very evil in the day of judgment when Goi
according to God's law on Monday is good and according tol           reveals the  secrets  of the hearts of all men. Many of  the
God's law on, the Sabbath also.                                      things we condemned, because we did not see the motive,
       With no need to catch fish fsr the necessities of our body    may also be revealed as having been pleasing in God's sight.
for that day, with plenty of other food on hand, going out to        Even the disciples were rebuked by Jesus when they ob-
fish would mean that we sin against the Holy God; but not            jected to the women presenting their babes to Jesus to have
because it is sinful to fish on the Sabbath. The sin is not one      them blessed.  Many a man (and prophet) was considered to
of fishing. The sin is that of using the day for a purpose for       be a child of the devil because he defended tlie truth,  r&
which it had not been given by G6d in His grace and of not           buked men for their sins  dr spoke a word of warning to
using it for the purpose for which Hk did give it. The sin is        others against their ruin. As we said, certain deeds can never


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  2 5 5

 be good in God's sight - whether committed on the Sabhat13       ices. You can always find a "church" that will agree with
 or on any day in the week - because they can have no~good        you.. You can, without too much difficulty find a "church"
 motive. There never is a righteous motive for denying God        that has three months vacation during the summer months
 His glory. Nevertheless, the motive determines whether the       In fact you can even find "churches,' which will never bother
 deed is good in God's sight or not. When we try to make          you even if you never again appear for worship with them
 a list of `what we may do and what we may not do on the          on the Sabbath and still retain you as a member in good
 Sabbath, therefore, we `will have to determine what works        standing. However, it is the Sabbath in His fear that has
 can and what works cannot have a good motive for per-            our interest. A sabbath in the fear of man is not even worthy
 formance on the Sabbath. The Sabbath being by God's sov-         of the effort of any thought on the matter. The motive must
 ereign appointment a special day in the week we will have        be one of wlnich God can. and `does approve.
 to bear that in mind when we speak of the proper motive for         In the second category we place all those wbrks which
 a work on that day.                                              reveal that we make the Sabbath a holiday and a day  for
    All this does not mean that the Sabbath is a dull, gloomy     doing the things for which we would not take time during
 day in which we must be sure that `not as much as a smile        the  week  and whereby we to any degree choke the word that
 forms upon our faces and must be sure that we have not had       was heard and was preached.
 joy or pleasure on that day. It is not as the quaker pastor         It is quite contrary to the  whsle exposition of the Law
 once gave advice and answer to the question whether one          as we find it in the Heidelberg, Catechism to accuse our
 might  take a walk on the -Sabbath : "Yes, but be sure that      Fathers of teaching that if we attend the services on the Sab-
 you do not enjoy yourself." Surely we are not to assume          bath we have kept the day and now have the rest of the day
 that on the Sabbath we may not enjoy and find pleasure in        for the flesh. In the sixth, seventh  ar$ eighth command-
 the Same food that the day before had such a delicious taste.    ments especially, the Catechism strongly emphasizes the
 Our food does not suddenly begin to lose its flavor when the     spir'it of the law as well as the letter. It is certainly doing
 Sabbath rolls around. God does not want it to taste dull         our Fathers an injustice to maintain that all they had in mind
 and flat on that day. We may have  that  pleasure on the         when they approved of this answer in Lord's Day  thirty-
,Sabbath.  Receiving it with thanksgiving and remembering         eight is that in accordance with the letter of the answer all
 the Lord Who gave it and Who put that delicious flavor in        that is required of us is that we attend the services to per-
 it in a marvelous way we surely may enjoy it. For that           form the things which are then listed. Had they been con-
 reason He gave it and put that flavor in it. Walking througH     fronted at that time with all the godless entertainment which
 His creation  cons&ous  of His power and wisdom, His beauty      lures the church on the Sabbath as well as on the week days,
 and order we certainly may enjoy our walk.                       we may be sure they would have indicated a holy indignation
    Because it is the motive behind the work which a.lzvay-       for all these things especially on the Sabbath. Likewise is it
 determines whether the deed is sinful or not, we hesitated       entirely out of line and contrary to the very thing that is
 and refrained from setting down a list of what actions are       stated in -this  answe;. Frequenting God's church to  hea?
 living on the Sabbath in His fear and which are not. We          His word and these godless entertainments are so in conflict
 will instead list two categories in which the works which        with each other that it may safely be said that we, have not
 are sinful because they can have no good motive and leave        heard and enjoyed that word if we can rush home to revel
 it up to the readers to, judge their own deeds according to      in the godless entertainment of the radio and television pro-
 their motives. In the first category we place all those deeds    gram.                                                            0
 which we perform instead of frequenting the church of God           Next time, D. V., we will continue where we left .n" q.c
 to hear His word, to use the sacraments and publicly to call     to the pbsitive  living in His fear on the Sabbath and will hqTT*b
 upon Him when He has not taken,the  possibility away from        opportunity to say more about these things wherein we  makp
 us. Let it be added that when God has not made us sick. has      a holiday out of the holy day in connection with what we
 not made it essential -that we stay with the sick or babes,      ought to do. We, therefore, can let the matter rest for no-s
 wheti God has not blocked the roads with .snow  or in some       and continue next time more positively.         ~
 other way closed the physical way to His sanctuary or in                                                                   J. A. H.
 some other way made it undeniably plain that He wants us
-elsewhere, we cannot have a good motive for the things
 which we do instead. In fact it may be stated unequivocally
-that then you do not frequent His house because you have an          "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it."
 evil motive in your mind.                                                                                             I Thess. 5  :24
    Let it be understood that we are writing about the Sa!)-
 bath in His fear. It is not a question as to whether we can          "Yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be
 persuade men to believe that we have a good' reason and          ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name."
therefore  ar good motive for staying away from divine serv-                                                           I Peter  4:16.
                                   -
                              I

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

            THE CONCEPT "`FAITH" IN THE                                 of old are faithfulness and truth." Psalm 5  :9 is speaking
                         OLD, TESTAMENT                                 of the wicked, when it says: "For there is no faithfulness in
                                                                        their mouth  ; their inward part is very wickedness." It is
        Have you any idea how often the word "faith" and its            only in Hosea 2 :20 that the reference may be to man's re-
 related terms "faithful, faithfully, faithfulness and believe"         lation to God. There Jehovah speaks: "I will even betroth
 occur in the English Old Testament? I have in mind the                 thee unto me in faithfulness : and thou shalt know the Lord."
 King James Version, which is the one commonly used in our              It is more than possible that even here the reference is not
 churches. A study of your Bible with this question in mind             to some faithfulness that is worked in man's heart, but to
 will prove to be most' revealing, even startling,                      the faithfulness in God whereby he will betroth His own
        Do you know how often you find the word "faith" in the          unto Himself.
 Old Testament? Exactly twice. In Deuteronomy 32  :20 the                  Finally, do you know  how' often the term  "believe"-oc-
 Lord speaks concerning His people: "They are a very  fro-              curs in the Old Testament?' Exactly 44 times. Of these
 ward generation, children in whom is no faith." In Habak-              some 25 have no regard whatsoever to saving faith in God.
kuk 2 :4 we find the well known words : "The just shall live            Jacob's heart fainted because he believed not the word of his
 by faith." In both cases a word is used in the original that           sons. Moses feared that Israel would not believe that Jeho-
 is commonly translated "faithful" or "faithfulness." Accord-           vah had sent him. Achish believed David. The queen of
 ingly, "children in whom is no faith" could as well have been          Sheba believed ,not the words she had heard concerning the
 translated "children in whom is no faithfulness," and "The             acts and wisdom of Solomon. Only 19 times does the term
 just shall live by faith" might as well have been made to              have reference at all to God. The -majority of these refer
 read "The just shall live by his faithfulness."                        simply to accepting as truth some definite word of God. Only
        Do you know how often the word "faithful" occurs in             six or seven have a truly religious connotation, such as the
 the Old Testament? Exactly 28 times, with various shades               word has for us today, when we speak `of the activity of
 of meaning. Sometimes the idea of truthfulness is clearly on           faith in the God of our salvation.
 the foreground. At other times  the. notion  of. stability or             What does it all add up to  ? Taken together, the terms
 steadiness or steadfastness is more predominant. Several               "faith, faithful, faithfully, faithfulness, believe" are used only
 times the word is used in reference to God Himself. "All               35 times in the Old Testament in a sense approximating
 thy commandments are faithful," we read in Psalm 119 :86.              their connotation in the New `Dispensation. Several of these
 In verse 138 the Psalmist rejoices: "Thy testimonies are               are more or less doubtful as far as their specific religious
 very faithful." In Deuteronomy  79 we find the beautiful               significance is concerned. In the Old Testament there are
 words : "Know therefore that the Lord thy God is God, the              39 books ; more than 900 chapters. Hence, the average is less
 faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them               than once per book.; once per 26 chapters. Compare this
 that love Him."1 At other times the words is used with ref-            with the 27 books of the .New Testament, where the noun
 erence to men, often. however, in a rather general sense and for "faith" and the verb for "believing" occurs some 240
 without direct reference to the relation of man to God. "A             times each.      We shall venture an explanation presently.
 wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful am-
 bassador is health," Proverbs 13  :17. "A faithful witness                What about the original"
 will not lie : but a false witness will utter lies," 14 :5. "Most         The Old Testament lacks a definite noun for "faith;' such
 men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faith-             as we do have in the New Testament. That does not mean
 ful man who can find?"  20:6. Only 13 times is the word                that the matter itself does not appear repeatedly in the Old
 used with reference, more directly or less so, to man's rela-          Testament. It does. The entire Old Testament is full of the
 tion to God, to the manifestation of the grace of God unto             "promise," which could be appropriated certainly only by a
 salvation in the heart of the sinner. "0 love the Lord, all            true and living faith in God. Acts and activities of faith are
 ye his saints : for the Lord preserveth the faithful," .Psalm          recorded on almost every page of the Old Testament, and
 31 :23, etc.       .                                                   the New Testament repeatedly refers to them as such. How-
     How often do you find the adverb "faithfully" in the Old           ever, the technical term for "faith" is lacking in the Old Tes-
 Testament? No often&  than 5 times. Not once does it refer             tament. The spiritual-ethical relation of man to God is usu-
 directly to man's ethical relation to God, unless it be in a           ally expressed by words such as fear, serve, love, cleave.,
 very remote and general sense.                                         obey, trust, hope and wait.
    How about the word "faithfulness"? Only 19 times it is                .The words in the Old Testament approaching closest in
 used in the Old Testament. The Psalms contain the term                 meaning to the New Testament words for "faith" and "be-
 some 13 times, always, however, in reference to God. Him-              lieving" are all derived from the verb  "aman."  This word
 self. Not once do they speak of the faithfulness of man.               in its different forms has various shades of meaning. From
 Isaiah 11 :5 speaks of Christ : "And righteousness shall be            it, by the way, is derived our word "amen,", meaning: verily,
 the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins."    truly, certainly.
 Isaiah 25  :l refers to the counsels of God: "Thy counsels                In one form (Qal)  the word means : to stay, to support;
                                                                                                         .


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               257

also to nurse, to nourish, to bring up. In the latter sense the        is actual believing, trusting in Christ alone ; God in Christ
word is used in Esther 2 :20 : "For Esther did the command-            "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." It
ment of Mordecai, like as when she was  brought  UP with               is spiritual, experiential, saving knowledge of God in Christ.
him." In Numbers 11 :12 it is used in the sense of nursing :           Tn Christ all the rulness  of the Godhead dwelieth bodily an-l
"Have I conceived all this people  ? have I begotten them,             of that fulness we receive grace for grace. Faith is confi-
that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom,              dence, spiritual confidence in Christ, in Whom and in Whom
as a nursing father beareth the sucking child ?' Notice, this          alone God reveals Himself to us as the God of our salvation.
is the word approaching closest to the New Testament word              This is certainly the significance of "faith" in the Word of
for "faith."                                                           God. Christ is its.chief object and its significance grows in
    In another form (Niphal)  the word means : to, be sup-             the measure He is more clearly revealed unto us.
ported, to be nursed, to be borne; also, to be durable, lasting,          In the Old Dispensation Christ was not yet. God was,
permanent; further, to be confirmed, founded ; and finally, of course, also as the Father of His people and the God of
to be faithful, trustworthy, sure, with. respect to God, His           their salvation. Christ was, yes, but only in type and shadow.
Word, His law, His people, etc.                                        The reality had not yet come. All Israel's faith was directed
    In still another form, the most common in the Old Tes-             to the shadows as the promise of better things to come. It
tament, the word means : to trust, to confide in, `to lean, and        was the dispensation of the promise, the law, the type and
thus to believe. "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Be-               shadow. Therefore the emphasis is very much on the activ-
hold, I lay in Zion a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a            ity rather than the spiritual bond. Therefore the Old Testa-
precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that  believe&            ment-does not speak of faith as does the New. Therefore
shall not make haste." Isaiah 28:16.                                   words like fear, love, serve, obey, trust, hope and wait arc
    For the religious significance of the term in the Old Tes-         more predominent than faith.
tament three passages are perhaps most pertinent. Genesis                 Does that mean that faith was not in the Old Testament
15 :6 tells us `that Abraham believed in God and that faith            as well as in the New ? Of course not ! Principally the way
was reckoned unto him for righteousness. He did not doubt              of salvation does not change. Israel as well as we were saved
the promise, but trusted unconditionally, though all seemed            through faith. The New Testament speaks much of faith in
dark and hopeless, in the living God. Isaiah 7  :9 tells us            connection with the saints of the Old Dispensation. "For
that Ahaz, who seeks help from and leans on Assyria, will              what saith the Scripture ? Abraham believed God, and it
not be established, if he does not look away from Assyria              was counted unto him for righteousness." Rom. 4 :3. "There-
and lean on God alone. In Habakkuk 2 :4 it is said that the            fore it is of-faith, that it might be by grace ; to the end the
just shall live only in the way of trust in  ,God and His              promise might be sure to ail the seed ; not to that only which
promise.                                                               is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abra-.
   Faith and trust always go hand in hand. God is the ever             ham ; who is the father of us all." Rom. 4 :16. Read Hebrews
Faithful One and they that believe in Him in spite of all              11 to see how all the saints of the Old Testament lived and
adversity and opposition are the faithful in the land.                 acted by faith. The way of salvation was the same in the
                             * *  .*                                   Old Testament as in the New. "But we believe that through
   As far as the concept "faith" is concerned, therefore, there        the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even
is a tremendous difference in usage between the Old and                as they." Acts 15 :ll. Then as well' as now it was true that
the New Testament. Why this difference ?                               the just should live by faith. They as well as we needed from
   It seems to us that the answer lies in Christ and His               God the power, the  habitus  of faith. They as well as we
coming into the flesh in'the fulness of time. Always on the            lived and served God through the activity of faith.
foreground in the Word of God is the spiritual relation of                All of which, however, does not gainsay the difference in
faith to Christ and our salvation in Him alone. Faith is that          dispensations. As the promise is fulfilled in the living Re-
work of God in the elect whereby the latter are implanted              deemer the significance of faith comes into ever clearer focus.
into Christ and embrace and appropriate Him and all His                In the Old Testament the eyes of the saints were directed in
benefits. By faith, therefore, we are ingrafted into Christ.           hope and expectation to the coming Christ; in the New Tes-
It is the spiritual means whereby we are united with Him ;             tament the life of the church is in the Word Incarnate Him-
the bond which makes one body with Him. All our salvation              self. In the Old `Testament hope is predominant; m the New
is in Christ alone ; all our  re-demption,  forgiveness, righteous-    Testament faith. Therefore the difference in  the. use of the
ness, knowledge of God, wisdom, sanctification, eternal. life          term. Therefore the noun and the verb for faith and believ-
and light and joy. To obtain all these we must become one              ing occur some 240 times each in the New Testament.
plant with Him. The bond that realizes this mystical unity             Therefore both have an almost exclusively religious conno-
is the bond of true faith. As a power, a spiritual aptitude,           tation in the `New Testament. Very seldom are they used
it has Christ as its chief object. Faith is the power to appro-        in a general sense. As Christ becomes richer the concept
priate Christ; the fitness to believe in Christ. Without this,         "faith" becomes richer, both in Scripture itself and the con-
power all believing is eternally impossible. In its activity it        sciousness and conception of the church.          R. Veldman.


 i5s                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                                        the Reformed view presented by the Arminians. That use
 11 The Voice of Our Fathers                                                         11 of caricatures, of so-called `fstraw men," is characteristic of
                                                                                        heresy and heretics. They do not come against the truth as
                   The Canons of Dordrecht                                              such. That would be open folly. But they twist and contort
                                                                                        the truth, deliberately eliminating some aspect or drawing
                                   PART TWO                                             false conclusions or setting up false contrasts ; and then they
                      EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                                          attribute their own twisted caricature -of the truth as being
                      SECOND HEAD OF DOCTRINE                                           the correct presentation of that truth, in order to hold it up
 O F   T H E  D E A T H   O F  C H R I S T ,   A N D   T H E  R E D E M P T I O N       to scorn and ridicule and contempt as-a wicked and horrible
                             O F  M E N  T H E R E B Y                                  and impossible position. And, let it be added, they- do this,
                                                                                        of course, out of the desire to cover up at the same time their
          Article 6. And, whereas  mkny who are  called by the gos-
          pel, do not repent, nor believe in Christ, but perish in un-                  own false view. Such a contortion of the truth is implied in
          belief; this is not owing to any defect or insufficiency in                   the well-known objection against predestination found in
          the sacrifice offered by Christ upon the cross, but is wholly                 Romans 9: "Why doth he yet find fault? for who hath re-
          to be imputed to themselves.                                                   sisted his will ?." And another is involved in the false con-
        Our English translation is not all that could be desired.                       clusion that since salvation is `of grace only, "let us continue
 I refer especially to the last clause, which is correct if the                         in sin that grace may abound.". A current example is found
 word "imputed" be properly understood, but which is ver-                               in the attempt to present Our-Protestant- Reformed view as
 bose and far from literal, and for that reason not clear. The                           consisting in a false contrast between faith as a means unto
`Latin is simply : "sed propGa  ipsoruvtz  culpa." And the Dutch                         salvation and faith as a fruit of salvation, while the true
 renders it more correctly : `(four door hz&e  eigerze  schuld."                         issue was whether faith is a condition of salvation or a means
 A correct and literal English  translation; retaining the Latin                        unto salvaton. Such deliberate, slanderous, intellectually dis-
 construction and literal meaning of the word  c&pa would be:                           honest attempts are characteristic of heresy and heretics.
 "but is exclusively through their own blame (guilt) ."                                  And in effect many of the Canons expose these "straw men"
        And this little reference to the translation brings to our                       as being truly- made of "straw," and they at the same time
 attention immediately and sharply the main subject of this                              reveal what the real Reformed stuff consists in. And, as it
 article, namely,  the guilt,  blame, fault, of the  unbeliej of                         were, the fathers say in the Canons: "The Arminians do not
 yytany  z&o are  called   by  thi gospel.  Moreover, it is of the                       present our view correctly; they change it. And it is against
 utmost importance that we clearly understand that this is                               their own misconception and misrepresentation of our view
 indeed the subject of this article. The subject is not:' the                            that they shoot their arrows, claiming that they demonstrate
 sovereign reason of this unbelief of many. It is not : the rela-                        the absurdity and untenableness of the Reformed position.
 tion between the fault of unbelieving men and the sovereign                             But they have not demolished our `position at all ; they have
 counsel of reprobation. These, although they are important                              merely .destroyed  a straw man of their own making. If they
 questions and are without doubt involved in the present                                 would destroy our position, here it is. Let them truly aim
 question, are not mentioned in the article. As a matter of                              at it and show its absurdity, if they can. But let them not
 fact, the article itself traces the unbelief of many no farther                         claim that our own position is absurd and untenable while
 than the "guilt" which it mentions. That guilt of unbelief is                           they have never in reality aimed at it."
 the subject, and that too, in contradistinction from any pos-
 sible defect or insufficiency in the sacrifice of Christ offered                           Now if it be asked, "What is the straw man the Armin-
 on the cross and proclaimed in the gospel.                                              ians set up in connection with this sixth article ?y the answer
    Once again we must bear in mind that this article was                                is : the Arminians came with the age-old and over-used argu-
 written against the Arminians and with the purpose of set-                             ment essentially that the Reformed position denies the re-
 ting forth the true Reformed position over against the-cari-                            sponsibility of man,.- here particularly the responsibility
 cature of that Reformed position which the Arminians                                    of the unbeliever. And they charged that the Reformed
 ascribed to the Reformed. We have referred to this char-                                position really implied an insufficiency and a defect in the
 acteristic of our Canons more than once. But it is well to                              sacrifice of Christ. Their argument ran that since the Re-
 remind ourselves of this continually in our discussion of                              formed position is that Christ did not die for all and every
 the Canons. In the positive `section of the Canons you do not                          man, but only for the elect, and since, therefore, there was
 find an expose and condemnation of the Arminian errors as                              no possibility for all men to be saved, but only the possibility
 such: that you find in the Rejection of Errors appended to                              that-the elect could be saved, therefore those who are lost,
 each chapter. But in the positive section of each chapter                               i.e.,  the unbelievers and unrepentant, cannot be blamed for
 you find the setting forth of the Reformed position as such.                            their unbelief and impenitence: they never had a chance to
 Only it must be remembered that also this declaration of                               be saved anyway. And therefore, the Arminians claimed, the
 the Reformed position is slanted against the Arminians.                                Reformed position ends' rationally with denying the guilt of
Each article is occasioned not merely by some aspect of the                             unbelief,-  and must also end with charging,-this blame in-
 Arminian error, but by a false presentation, a caricature, of                           stead to the sacrifice of Christ. That fact, recognized by


                                               T H E   S T A N - D A R D   B E A R E R                                              2.59

both Arminian and Reformed, that many do not believe and               truth of sovereign predestination and limited atonement is
that many go lost forever, must be explained somehow. The              not at all in conflict with the truth that he that  cometh  to
Reformed, according to the .Arminian charge, must logically. Christ will never be cast out, while he that believeth not the
explain it not by charging `the unbeliever with guilt, but by          Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
ascribing a defect and insufficiency to the sacrifice of Christ.       No, the guilt, the terrible guilt of unbelief, of despising the
If Christ had only died for all men, then they would all be            goodness and forbearance and longsuffering of God, is ever
saved ; but He did not, and so the fault is in His sacrifice.          sinful man's, not Christ's, and not Gods.
    What is to be said of this accusation ?                               But how is this fact to be explained ?
    First of all, let it be noted that it is a very serious charge,       Is it to be explained by making the death of Christ gen-
so serious that with it stands or falls the entire Reformed            eral and unlimited  ? Then we give up the Reformed posi-
position. It is indeed true that the accusation as such con-           tion for that of the Arminian. Is it to be explained by mak-
cerns only the subject of the sufficiency  of. Christ's death.         ing the gospel a general, well-meant offer of salvation on
But if we trace the implications of this charge, we will soon          the part of God to all who hear the preaching? Then we
discover that it strikes at the fundamental basis of the Re-           must choose between coming to the Arminian position of
formed position, namely, sovereign predestination. Once the            unlimited atonement as the basis for such an offer, or charg-
charge is granted, one must give up also that last-named               ing God with lying in that general offer, offering something
truth. For remember that Christ's sacrificial death is limited         which He has not.
and particular in character because of sovereign election.                No, the explanation of the fact that a man is guilty of
And if, therefore, the death of Christ is insufficient and de-         unbelief while there is not and never was a possibility of
fective because it is limited, then in last instance that defect       salvation for him lies in the Reformed maintenance, first of
is not due to Christ's death as such, but to God's predesti-           all, of the  general  proclamaton  of a  pa&c&r  gospel. That
nation. And so the blame must be laid- upon God : He must              preaching comes to  -elect and reprobate alike. And in that
be the fault, the blame, of the unbelief of man,. Ergo: God            preaching Christ is set forth evidently before the eyes of
is the Author of sin. And if that charge can. be successfully          elect and reprobate alike. And that Christ Who is set forth
maintained, the Reformed truth is proved false.                        in the preaching the unbeliever knowingly and willingly de-
    Secondly, and in close connection therewith, let it be             spises and scorns and rejects. And that is his sin. In the
noted that this is a very horrible accusation. If it is true,          second place, the explanation of this guilt lies in the corol-
then the Reformed faith is an awful thing. That Christ's               lary truth that it is not necessary at all to have anything or
death is insufficient and defective ? That the blame, the guilt,       to have an objective right to anything in order to despise
of unbelief must be laid upon Christ and upon God ? To                 and scorn it and to reject it in my'soul. I must know the
;maintain  a view, which really teaches such horrible lies would       thing, must have some conception of it; but I need not have
be terrible. Then our "Christ" is an unholy Christ, and our            it `or have the right to it. I need not possess a million dollars
"God". is a religious monstrosity, and our religion is blas-           in order to despise it ; I need only have some conception of
phemous. We must then `at once, and wthout any hesitation,             ,a million dollars in order to scorn it. So it is also with unbe-
forsake such a monstrously blasphemous view. All this I                lief. The unbeliever has no right to Christ or any of His
say, IF . . . `the Arminian charge is true.                            blessings. Christ never died for him. Christ has no salva-
    But, thanks be to God, it is not true !                            tion for him. But that Christ is plainly set before him in the
    The Reformed Churches maintain without any hesita-                 preachng, so that he beholds Him, His cross, His atonement,
tion that the guilt of unbelief is exclusively man's, and that         His righteousness, His life, His glory. And that Christ of
the fact that many perish in  impenifence  and unbelief is             the preached Word the unbeliever despises and rejects. The
exclusively through their own fault,  firop~ia  ipsorz,~utz  czt&~     guilt is therefore a matter of his own wicked heart and will.
Unbelief is never this, that man earnestly desires to be saved,; He, the unbeliever, according to a morally free act of his
sincerely yearns after the righteousness of Christ,' and would         own will despises God's Christ.
indeed believe if only  .he could, but that the sacrifice of              All this is not to say that such an unbeliever is  sover-
Christ is defective, that it is not valuable enough to cover           `eignly  free.  The, Canons do not here go further into the
him too, and that therefore he must go lost forever despite            subject. But you have the deeper explanation, even though
his good will and intentions. Never does it occur that a man           in infralapsarian language, in Article 6 of Canons I : "That
sincerely believes.and  repents, or would believe and repent,          some receive the gift of faith from God, and others do not
and really says: "Oh, how I wish to,,be a child of [God,  how          receive it, proceeds from God's eternal decree." And, in the
I long for salvation," and that he receives the answer from            light of Scripture, we may say still more. We may say that
God, "I'm sorry, but Christ didn't die ,for you." Never will           accordng to that general decree, God also hardens whom
,any man be able to appear in the day of  judg,ment before             He will. Also the reprobate come into contact with the
God, and say: "I wanted to believe in Christ and be saved,             living Word of. God. And this living Word of God is to them
but the sacrifice of Thy Son was defective, was not good               a savour of death unto death. Rom. 9 :18 ; John 12 :39, 40.
enough ; Thy salvation was not great enough for me." The                                                                      H. C. H.


  2 6 0                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA.TIER
                                                                      -      .
  I/           DECEPKY and 6Cll ing belongs to the institution of the office of the elders, is
                                                                       based upon God's Word and, therefore, against it no com-
                                                                       plaint may be lodged. To rebel is to, rebel against God. And
                                                                      <the church must not surrender to rebels but must fight them
                       F a m i l y   V i s i t a t i o n              `with the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. We
                                                                       repeat, however, that there may be legitimate criticism of the  -
                 D. Objections- To Family Visiting                     methodology. This is something quite different.
        Frequently, even among those who are members of Re-                       In the second place, where such objections are properly
  formed Churches, there emits rather strong sentiments of             raised they should not be brushed aside and ignored but seri-
  discontentment with the venerable practice of family visita-        ously considered by all concerned. On the part of those who
  tion. In some circles these dissatisfactions are catered to,         raise the objections, there should be open-mindedness and a
  resulting in either the complete abolition of the practice or        seady willingness to be shown if and in how far their ob-
  in its  ,being substituted with somethng less poignant and           jections are inconclusive because of a lack of- understanding
  official. Since `generally the objections that are raised are       (on the part of the objector of the purpose and nature of
  tendered by those who for carnal reason detest any form of           family visiting. This may very well be the case since often
spiritual investigation of their faith and walk, such a sur-          sincere objections result from a lack of mature understand-
  render on the part of the church characterizes her as spirit-       ing. Further, the objector must then not be a chronic com-
  ually weak and more willing to appease men than to  un-             plainer but must be ready to offer a concrete improvement
 stintingly perform her spiritual  .duty.  Thus the flesh pre-         in regard to the matter he contests. He must be positive as
  vails and the communion of saints is reduced to a common            well as negative. If he is not, his objections cannot be con-
  society. Order and decency as maintained by spiritual rule          structive and helpful. It were better that he, in that case,
  are lost and each member does without restraint as seems            either kept still or simply sought information instead of pro-
  good in their own eyes. The salt hath lost its savor!               testing. And on the part of the church there must always be
        Every instance of protestation to the practice of family      a readiness to consider in order that the very best in all things
  visiting, however, is not hereby judged carnal. We can con-         may be sought. This spirit is conductive to further develop-
  ceive of sincere and legitimate criticisms being offered, not       ment of sound institutions.
  for the purpose of destroying the institution or reducing it               Now then, let us briefly note some of the common objec-
  to an absurdity but rather, in an earnest effort to improve         tions that are frequently heard. In his "Poimenic Notes,"
  upon the present practice. One may feel that family visiting        the Rev. G. M. Ophof enumerates the following :.
  does not attain its real spiritual purpose and wish to seriously          " (1) Family visiting is too mechanical.
  inquire into the reason for its defect. Another may honestly               (2) It tends toward clericism.
  judge that the manner in which the work is performed is                    (3) It prevents the office bearers from really learning to
* not wholly beneficial and may, therefore, offer legitimate          know the sheep since a false front is often presented. It
 protestations along this line. Another may sincerely question        fosters hypocrisy.
  whether the official character of this work obstructs the                  (4) It is the ban of intimate contact of fellowship be-
 procuring of spiritual information that is sought. One may           tween the office bearer and the sheep.
 question the necessity of family visiting where the consistory              (5) It partakes more of the character of church discipline
 is aware before the visit is made that normal spiritual cir-         than of soul care."
 cumstances prevail. Or one may. doubt the validity of dealing               In his book, "Taking Heed To The Flock," the Rev.  I?.
 with the individual in the presence of the entire family.            De Jong points out that the objections to this institution may
        Where such objections are raised, two things ought to         be regarded as two-fold. Firstly, there are those whose ob-
 be kept in mind. In the first place, the objections are not          jections are based on the principle that there should be no
 raised against the institution of family visiting as such but,       supervision of the membership in the churFh%  by. those in
 although they differ in form, the criticism are all against          authority since all believers are equal in rank before Christ.
 the method which is used in executing this work. On the              Secondly, there are those who object for various practical
 latter point there is always room for criticism and improve-         reasons..
 ment provided that this criticism is constructively offered                 He then proceeds under separate headings to discuss the
 and aims at the betterment rather than at the destruction of         following objections to the practice of family visiting : It is
 the institution. On the former point there is no room nor                  "( 1) A Poor Substitute for the Confessional.
 ~possibility  of protest. Let me illustrate. I may offer many               (2) A Denial of the Equality of All Believers.
 objections to the manner in which the government of the                     (3) A Legalistic Conception of  Spiritual.Life.
 state is conducted but I may never protest to government ,                  (4) ,A Fruitless Work Because of its Formal Character.
' itself. The latter is instituted by God Who. in His Word                   (5) An Unwelcome and Unappreciated Work.
 commands me to be subject. To  this-.1  may never rebel.                    (6) An Unnecessary Work in a Normal Church.
 Thus we have shown in previous writings that family visit-                  (7) A Disregard of the Needs of the Individual.


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   261

       Our space does not permit a detailed discussion of each            wrong conceptions of other things. Thus, for example, the
   of these objections. Neither is that necessary since the               objection that family visiting denies the equality of all be-
   burden of proof lies with the critics. It is not for us to dis-        lievers. Of course this is not true. No Reformed person
   prove these claims but rather it is the task of those who make         having a Reformed conception of the church and its offices
   them to show clearly that they are true and of such weight             `would  voice such an objection. It is the Anabaptist whose
   as to require the cessation of the `work of family visiting.           insistence upon equality repudiates the authority in the
   Until this is done we are impressed but little by these crit-          visible church who reasons this way. He can do so only
   icisms.                                                                because his view of the church is a distorted one.
      However,  a-few words concerning them in genkral may be                 Hence, in conclusion, we insist that none of these objec-
   in place. In evaluating them as a whole we would classify              tions give good reason to discontinue this venerable practice.
   these objections in four separate groups.                              The spiritual benefits of family visiting are many for the             ,
      The first group contains those criticisms that are posi-            church as well as  -for the individual. And it need not be
  tively untrue. `As an example of this we cite the `following :          considered strange that there always have been and will con-
   "That family visitation is a poor substitute for the Con-              tinue to be objections raised against any practice that pro-
  fessional  ; or that it is an  unecessary work in a normal              inotes the spiritual. This is to be expected as long as the
  church." These, arguments can easily  be Shown to be en-                church is on the present earth. She need not become alarmed
  tirely falSe.                                                           at these criticisms but let her beware when her practices
      The second group contains arguments which are mere                  meet with the approval of all men and arouse the ire of
  conjedtures  `or simply wrong conclusions which the objector            none. Then assuredly something is wrong.
  draws as a matter of opinion and for which he offers not
. the slightest proof. Thus, for example, the argument that                  "Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions
  family visiting fosters hypocrisy or that it assumes the                which ye have been taught, whether by word or our epistle."
  character of church discipline or that if  _ disregards the             (II Thess. 2  :15)
  need of the individual. That the possibility of some of these                                                                      G.V.d.B.
                                                                                                                                I
  things-becoming a reality exists ddes not have to be denied
  but that such things are inherent in the institution itself is
  certainly false. Neither can this mode of reasoning serve as
  a sound basis for the abolition of this work. We cannot                    "Unto the pure all things are p&-e: but unto them that
  reason that way with respect to other things, nor db we do              are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure ; but even their
  so. For example, the possibility exists that there may be               mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know
  poison in my food that will kill me. It does not follow from            God  ; but in work they deny him, being disobedient, and
  this that  $1 food is poisonous or that I should, therefore,
  cease to eat. Such reasoning is folly.                                  unto every good work reprobate." Titus 1:15, 16.
      The third group, which is also the group most worthy of
  careful consideration, contains those objections that are really           "I wrote unto the church ; but Diotrephes, who loveth to
  directed against the manner in which this  work  is performed           have the preeminence among them received us not. Where-
  rather than against the work itself. As an example of this              fore, if I come, I wili remember his deeds which he doeth,
' we cite the arguments  that family  ,visiting  tends toward             prating against  us  with malicious words : and not content
  clericism ;: leads to a legalistic conception of spiritual life ; is
  fruitless because of its formal character, etc. We do. not say          therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and
 `that these things are true but only admit that when this                forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of  the
  work is done in a wrong manner the criticisms may be valid.             church." III John 9, 10.
  However, even if they are true they do not prove the neces-
  sity of discontinuing the work-  but only point to the need of             "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of
  reforming it. This is true on general  prificiples  of virtually        the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these
  everythng. When things are done wrong harmful effects will              things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written
  result. When I drive my car contrary to the law I will be               in this book. And if any man shall take away from the
  involved in accident in which I may get killed or I will be
  indicted for traffic violation. This is no reason I should not          words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away
  drive my car but is a strong argument that I should always              his part out bf the book of life and out of the Holy City, and
  drive it properly. So it is` with family visiting. If it is             from the things which are written in this book. He that
 -improperly conducted more spiritual harm will result than,              testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen."
  good. It is imperative then that this work be done properly                                                            Rev. 22 :&3-20
  "in good order and decency."
      Finally, there are those objections that are based upon                "Even  so1 come, Lord Jesus." Rev. 22  :20.


262                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .
                              a
                                                                    precipitated into hell, according to the words of the apostle
              ALL  AROU-ND US                                       Peter.
                                                                       "Everyone who accepts the Bible as the infallible revela-
                                                                    tion of God recognizes the solemn fact that there are the&
Nom Scotia Pastor Understands the Tv&z.                             two classes of people- the elect and the non-elect or the
       In the January 1st issue of the Sthdard Bea.?,ev Rev. H.     redeemed and the reprobated-and that a great gulf -fixed
Hoeksema, on p. 149, reflected briefly on the writing of a          separates them from each other spiritually, although physical-
Nova Scotia pastor in which the latter commented favorably          ly, in this world, they are intermingled, and commonly are
on the pamphlet  A Triple Breach  written by Rev. Hoeksema          found  even in the same families. In considering the com-
years ago in which he showed clearly the error of The Three         position of the human race, no greater error can be made
Points of 1924.                                                     than to identify or confuse the physical unity of the race
                                                                    ("God hath made of one blood of all nations of men for to
 , Undersigned was the recipient of two copies of  The              dwell on all the face of the earth." Acts  17:26a)  with the
Con.tender,   a paper written by the above referred to minister,    spiritual destiny of men. These two things are by no means
one of which contains the quotation which Rev. Hoeksema             equal to each other. Although the whole human race is,
made. Not only the Rev. Hoeksema, but also the under-               alike, born `dead in trespasses and  sins,' yet this original
signed was amazed at the clear cut appraisal the Rev. Mal-          `unity' in sin and death does not long continue, God, by His
colm R. MacKay made of the Reformed doctrines of un-                eternal decrees of election and reprobation (damn&ion) di-
conditional election and reprobation and his sharp denuncia-        vides the fallen human race into the two portions which are
tion of the Arminianism implied in the Th?ee Points of 1924         mentioned in the words of our texts. Thus we see that the
as well as that of The  Free  Offer of  the Gospel  defended        fond theory of the spiritual oneness of the human race, es-
by the Profs. Murray, Stonehouse, and Van Til of the                pecially  as taught by the modernists, is shipwrecked upon
Orthodox Presbyterian Seminary of Philadelphia.                     the rock of the decrees of God. Not only the human race is
       I know our people will rejoice with us in reading a few      thus divided, but also the hosts of angels. Paul refers to the
more excerpts of the articles written by Rev. MacKay. In            `elect' angels (I Tim. 5 :21), indicating that by the s.ov&eign
this and the next issue of the  Standar/d  Bearer we  wish to       will of God sonie angels `kept their) first estate' while the rest
give you rather lengthy quotations of his writings and ask          did not, but fell into sin under the leadership of Satan and.
the manager  of the R.F.P.A. to see to `it that these copies of     lost their heavenly status. See Jude 6 and II Pet. 2 :4.-Hence,
the S. B. be sent to the Rev.  &I. R. MacKay, 240 Albert            let us resist to the death the modern craze (as in Jhe World
Street, New Glasgow, N.S., Canada. With Rev. Hoeksema               Council of Churches, the United Nations, etc.)  for the
I say it is indeed refreshing to note that there are still the      superficial and unreal unity of all mankind. This urge to-
seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.            `. wards unity denies or rejects, ignores or minimizes, conceals
       Rev. MacKay devotes two issues of  The Contender  to         or confuses the sovereign will of God who has eternally
the subject: "All To The Praise Of God's Glorious Mercy             separated the human race into two distinct portions, the elect
And Justice." The two passages of Scripture which he uses           and the non-elect, the redeemed and the reprobated."
as basis for this theme are: II Cor. 2 :15, 16, "We are -unto          From. the above quotation the reader will observe what.
God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved, and in          pastor MacKay is driving at. On the one hand, he would
them that perish : to the one we are the savor of. death unto       maintain the doctrine of God's sovereign electionand  reproba- '
death  ; and to the other the savor of life unto life." And         tion ; while on -the other, he purposes to militate against the
I Pet. 2  :7, 8, "Unto you therefore which believe he is            pernicious doctrine of modernism which would destroy this
piecious : but unto them' which be disobedient, the stone           doctrine. This becomes plainer still in the next three para-
(Christ) which the builders disallowed the same is made the         graphs of his first article, which he entitles: "Break Down
head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock            This Distinction At All Costs! Cries Satan."
of  offence  even to them which stumble at the Word, being             "Often we have referred to the false modernistic doc-
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed."                   trine of the  univkrsal   spititual  fatherhood of God and.
       Concerning these passages the  .Rev. MacKay writes :         brotherhobd `of man. At one stroke, Satan has deluded a
   "In  the words of our text we find two classes of people         large portion of. Christendom into thinking that there is no
referl'ed  to; namely, the elect and the non-elect, or the          eternal separation from God in hell and that literally every
redeemed and the reprobated. They are spoken of here with           human being will finally arrive in heaven. Thus Satan,
reference to the gospel df Christ and His headship  over the        through modernism, has succeeded in breaking down in the
Church. They are +hose in whom the gospel produces either           minds of many the distinction between elect and .non-elect,
eternal life or eternal death, according to the words of.the        or between redeemed and' reprobated.
apostle Paul. Or, they are those to whom the Rock that is              "Always the chief attack of Satan against God and His
Christ becomes either the cornerstone of the church, or a           kingdom centers upon the tw> decrees of predestinaton and
                                                                                                   -1,
stumbling stone (rock of  offence)  over which they are             reprobation. (MacKay evidently means by predestination -


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              2       6    3

election- MS.) These two stand or fall together . . . . .          deemed, and His burning, condemning wrath upon the lost
A moment's reflection will show why this is so. If God             for their sin. That this is no mere imagination is seen in-the
chooses certain people but not all, for heaven, it goes with-      enthusiasm with which they are developing the false theory
out saying that however you may think about it, He does not        of a `favourable attitude' in God toward the  nonelect  or
choose the rest. And from this follows what is doubtless           reprobate."
the most solemn aspect of all, namely, that since God does         After pointing out how this "strange attitude" is quite
not choose to save these people, He does not intend to save        contrary to the Scriptures and the Westminster Confessions,
them. Or, in other words, His' sovereign purpose is not to         the Rev. MacKay proceeds to attack the doctrine of Profes-
save them but to turn them over to eternal judgment. Thus          sors Murray and Stonehouse as, set forth in a pamphlet en-
we are brought to believe that. reprobation is far more than       titled : "The Free Offer of the Gospel," as well as the declara-
a mere negative thing-not choosing --; it means that God           tion of the Synod of the Chr. Ref. Church in 1924 as formu-
has a positive purpose in regard to these people, and that         lated in  The Three Points.  He considers this "strange at-
is to manifest through their reprobation the glory of His          titude" to be more subtle and dangerous than the out in the
sovereign justice.                                                 open battle against avowed Arminianism and Modernism.
   "It is this positive purpose of God in reprobation that men     He does not hesitate to say that those who have this
hate, and `rebel against more than any other particular point      "strange attitude" have their "sympathies with Arminianism,
in the whole Bible. For anyone to try to accept predestina-        even though they are within the Reformed `fold' and claim
tion (election - M.S.) without accepting reprobation  ,with        to believe in the decrees of predestination and reprobation.
it, is to give God less `credit' than he would give to a wise      It is this which makes the struggle so subtle, difficult and
man. If a prominent man chooses certain people of his              dangerous. It is this which may well explain why so many
acquaintanceship to share his choice benefits, but not others,     `Reformed' men for a long time have been praising out-and-
it`is equivalent to saying that he has a particular reason why     out Arminians as  `fine, earnest Christians.' It is this which
he does not choose those whom he passes by. But there are          may well explain why so very few `Reformed' ministers
those who would like to believe that God chooses certain           have been willing to take a real stand against Arminianism.
people for salvation, but they close their eyes to the, idea       It is this which may well indicate that those who actually
of God having any' particular or positive purpose to accom-        hold the true Reformed faith are only a fraction of those
plish in not choosing the rest. It `boils down' to this: there     who profess to hold it."
is a tremendous aversion in men to the truth of eternal justice       We must stop  .here because our space is filled. But let
in God. If this could be removed from the Bible, the human         me say in closing that our hat goes off to this "Contender"
race would rejoice -over it more than anything else in rela-       for the truth way up there in the North East extremity of
tion to God. But try as hard as he can, man cannot get rid         this hemisphere. We love every word he has written, and
of God's justice. It is always there as an attitude of God's       we say "Amen."
person to speak to him of sin and of righteousness and of
judgment to come. Nevertheless Satan turns his biggest guns          Next time, the Lord willing, we will tell you what he has
upon the truth of God's eternal justice which is particularly      to say about Common Grace expressed in The Three Points,
manifested in the damnation of the non-elect in hell."             and his -judgment of "A Triple Breach" written by Rev.
   In the next section of his first article Rev. MacKay,  writ-    Hoeksema.
ing under the heading: "God's Eternal Justice Is Revealed,                                                                   M.S.
Not Concealed," remarks that "even among those who
profess to believe in the eternal justice of God, as manifested
in the damnation of the reprobate, a strange attitude is often                          Announcement
reflected . . . . God's justice as revealed in the decree of          Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will
reprobation. (damnation) is something, they insist, that we        meet,  D.V., in the Fourth Protestant Reformed Church of.
are not supposed to inquire into too deeply, but rather keep
away from, as from an awesome, secret power that is liable         Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Wednesday, April  4th, at 9 a.m.
to do us great harm or even destroy us. This is just about         The delegates to this meeting will consider this ti reminder.
what the attitude towards God's eternal justice amounts to                                      Rev. M.  Schipper, Stated Clerk.
in the thinking of many Presbyterian and Reformed men . . .
They are trying to adhere  to the historic and Reformed
doctrine of reprobation on the one hand, and are attracted
by the false modern tendency (as in Arminianism and Mod-              `iBut ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day
ernism) to reduce the holy love of God to a soft sentimental-
ism which God is said' to display toward all mankind in-           should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of
discriminately, thus breaking down the Biblical distinction be-    light, and the children of the day: We are not of the night,
tween God's holy electing  ,love in Christ toward the  re-         nor of darkness." I Thess : 5 :4, 5.


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 2        6    4                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D - B E A R E R   -.

                                                                                        Remember me and all of our ministers, that boldness may
                                                                               be given to  -us thus to preach- the Word, never departing
I                                                                              from  t-lie same!
                             .                                                    .I                                                         G.L.
                    `I    Missionary Notes  _                   ,  -
       It is now some, nine months ago that we started our
 laborsin  the Reformed Hope Church of Loveland, Colorado.
 From time, to time. we have written of these labors .and at-                                           A n n o u n c e m e n t
tempted to give a glimpse of the iife of that church.      -            . .              CALL TO ASPIRANTS TO THE MINISTRY.
       . `-At  .the present time I am in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
 enjoying a few days with my family. The Lord, willing, I                               All young men desiring to study for the Ministry of the
 will again have been in Colorado for a couple weeks when                      Word kindly appear at the next meeting of the Theological
this appears in the  Standard Bearer.  Instead of staying                      School Committee which will be held D.V., on Thursday
at the Pine Motel I will be living at the Corner of Grant and                  evening, May lOth, at 7 :30 P. M. in the Hudsonville Prot.
`Third in a two room apartment. However, my mailing address                    Ref. Church, Hudsonville, Michigan.
 will continue to be Box 363, Loveland, Colorado.                                      The qualifications requisite to enrollment in our Seminary
       Our people in Loveland are at the present time looking                  are the following:
forward to hearing the Reformed Witness Hour over KLIR,
 Denver, Colorado, 990 .Klc. each Sunday afternoon at 3 :30                             1. You must be a graduate from High School and have
to 4 o'clock. Fact is, that our people in Loveland feel it a                   a knowledge of the following College subjects : Latin, Greek,
duty and a privilege to aid in the proclamation of the Re-                     Philosophy, Psychology, History General and Church His-
formed truth, and had given a substantial collection as a                      tory.
"gift" for this Radio ministry of the Reformed faith.                                  2. You must have a certificate from your local  Con-
       Denver is a city of some 600,000 inhabitants. About 2.5
miles to the north west lies the city of Boulder of about                      sistory signifying that you are upright in walk and pure in
15,000 where the University of Colorado is situated. Ap-                       doctrine.
proximately 60 miles to the north lies the city of Cheyenne,                           3. You must have a certificate' of health signed by a
Wyoming, and SO miles to the east is Fort Morgan, Colorado.                    reputable physician.                  .(
Notices were run for two weeks in all of these cities in the                                                    ,
leading daily papers, such as The Denver Post, etc. And                                All correspondence relative to the above announcement
KLIR  is also giving us some free advertizing on the air. It                   should be sent to the undersigned.
stands to-reason that KLIR has quite a potential audience.                                              Secretary of The Theol. School Comm.
       May the Lord of harvest richly bless this ministry of the                                        Rev. M.  Schipper,
Word. May the ministers of the Word, the Radio Choir and
all busy in this work be found faithful in their holy calling,                                          1636 Marfindale Ave., S. W.,
indeed, to be fervent in spirit! And let  .us remember also                                             Grand Rapids 9, Michigan.
this cause of our preaching mission in the world in our
prayers.
       It may interest our readers to know that at the present                         Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch
time the Reformed Witness Hour is aired in Sioux Falls                         and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and
So. Dakota,  ,Oskaloosa,  Iowa,. Hammond, Indiana as well                      they that be drunken are drunken in the night."
as on WFUR, Grand Rapids, Michigan. All told we may                                                                              I Thess. `5 :6, 7
under God,. broadcast from 5 Radio Stations at the present
time. Truly, here too we may see that the Lord opens the                               "And we beseech you, brethren,  -to know them which
way for us, and gives us the means and the desire to proclaim
the faith. And, let it not be forgotten what a good brother                    labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish
told me lately, that there "is no other truth." Only the                       you." I Thess. 5 :12.
Reformed Faith can be preached with full assurance as
being the preaching of the full counsel of God.                                        "Likewise you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder,
      It is with this conviction in my soul that I boldly and                  yea, all of you be subject one to another, and gird yourselves
joyfully proclaim the Scriptures according to the Reformed                     with humility to serve one another: for God resisteth the
Faith.                                                                         proud, and giveth grace to the humble." I Peter 5 :5.


