        VOLUME XXX11                           APRIL  1,  ~W~-GRAND RAPIDS', MICHIGAN                                       NUMBER  13
 n                                                                       maus. Let us fall back and see what He wants. Listen,  He
             MEDI.TATION                                           .I[ will speak to our downcast friends.
                                                                             What manner of communications are these that ye have
                                                                         one to another as ye -walk, and a,re sad ?
                        Jesus' Resurrection                                  Oh, oh, that question found no friendly home. We can
                                                      Luke 24  :13-35    see that in one glance. The one, named Cleopas, turns him-
                                                                         self impatiently to the questioner with somewhat of a -stern
       It must have been rather late in the afternoon when two           rebuke: Art thouonly a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not
 of the disciples of Jesus left Jerusalem for the village called         known the things which are come to pass there in these days ?
 Emmaus. Rather late, because the distance was about  7                      Oh, let us not be hard on Cleopas. The intended rebuke
 miles and when they arrived there, it was toward evening                has-a  rather weighty reason. The things that happened there
 and the day was far spent.                                              in Jerusalem were to them the most terrible that could have
       And what a day it had been!                                       happened. Their very lives and hopes for the future were all
       On the afternoon of that day of Jesus' resurrection, we           wrapped up in` Jesus of Nazareth. We can understand the
 see two men leaving the gates of the holy city in order to              annoyance of Cleopas and. his friend. Besides, the. things
 direct their steps to the village called  Emmaus.                       alluded to are about the most important ones of all. the ages.
       We shall do well to be quiet. We want to listen in on             So important that Paul after due study and contemplation,
 their conversation. They are certainly enwrapped in it. Ques-           born of the Holy Spirit of God, came to the conclusion that
 tion follows question, remark follows remark. They speak                Jesus' cross would have to be the sum and substance of his
 and ask again., And ever the same answer: No, we cannot                 preaching. Come now, stranger, are you the only stranger,
 understand why Jesus had -to. die.! Oh, why did He -have to             here in Jerusalem,? Dost thou not know of the cross of Jesus ?
 die ? Who can understand that awful cross ? Here we had                     But our stranger on the road to  Emmaus insists: What
 placed all our hopes on this wonderful prophet. He would                t h i n g s   ?
 be the great general who would lead our legions in order to                 And then the floodgates of their hearts are opened. The
 once more vanquish the armies of God's enemies. But no,                 words gush out. You cannot help but notice how eagerly
 without striking one solitary blow, He gave Himself to a                they relate the whole grievous story in well chosen words,
 handful of soldiers and servants, armed with swords and                 the whole sad problem, including the main question that
 sticks. When they  .scolded  Him and struck Him, He grew                bothered. them : "and how the chief priests and. our rulers
 silent. He even rebuked.one of  us-  when we would strike and           delivered Him to be condemned to death, and have crucified
 kill and destroy!                                                       Him        !" .
       And yes, now He is gone! Nevermore to return. And                     Two things stand out in  .thei.r  version of Golgotha  and
 did we not love Him ? Oh, we love Him still even though                 all that related to it: First., that they could find no place.`for
He is. gone forever. For` He was so good and wise and                    that cross. Everything else concerning Jesus they could  .un- .
 wonderful in all His words and deeds! Our hearts are                    derstand, nay, worship. He was a prophet, mighty in deed  '
 weeping within us for the Christ of God who died and went               and  word.,before  God and all the people.  ,In a few words
 His solitary way!                                                       you have all their happy experience of the last three years.
       And thus they talked and talked.                                  They had been witnesses of the power of God unto salvation.
                               * *  *                                    The dead arose, the sick were healed, the elements were
                                                                         but servants in His hand, the poor received life and substance.
      But, wait, here is another sojourner on the way to  Em-            And unto the `spiritually hungry .the Gospel was given. But

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

that Cross, -oh, that Cross! We find no place for that cross.       their faces lit up, their every mien and bearing expressed
We thought that He would be the promised redeemer from              exultation.
the yoke of the heathen. But no. He was crucified and,is now          What strange, passing strange scene we are witnessing.
dead and buried three days.                                             A preacher of the Word of God. Yes, but He is both
                                                                    subject and object of His sermon. He preached the Christ
                             * * *                                  and He is the Christ. What authority rung in every word.
    And the second thing we note is their love for the Christ.          And what audience to this perfect sermon. They are silent
Listen to Clkopas, he will tell you. Certain women have been        in admiration. They are taught heavenly wisdom. 0 happy
at His grave. They tell of a vision of angels,, of the unbeliev-    souls. Would you not have liked to be there ? But then, let
able story that He, lives - but, stranger, Him, oh, Him they        us make no mistake. We have the sermon in Old and New
saw not !                                                           Testament. And when the Holy Spirit has opened our heart
    But as soon as they are silent again, He says to them :. 0      we also may sit at Jesus' feet to listen and drink of the water
fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have       of life. And we do unto ,God's  praises.
spoken! Your problem is no problem at all. You find no                                         9 * *
place for that awful cross, do ye ? Well, that cross is the
Divine answer to all your sad questions. It fits with Heavenly         But watch the closing scene.
accuracy. But you have been and are fools and slow of heart            Talking and listening the miles have dwindled away.
in believing. Had you read your Bibles with more belief in          There are the first houses of  Emmaus. They approached their
your hearts you would have seen that the Christ of God in           own dwelling. But the stranger held Himself as though He
order to be Christ ought to suffer the things that you could        would go farther.
not understand, in order that He might enter into His glory!           But no, stranger, no, that may not be. Please, enter our
    Don't you know the Scriptures?                                  dwelling. There must be more to say, to listen, to enjoy.
    Come, let us begin with Moses. Don't you remember the           This is heaven to our souls.  Our hearts are burning within
first Paradise and the happy pair of mortals that dwelled           us and it is all because of Thy words and sermon.
there  ? How they sinned and how Jehovah slaughtered an                 Sweet, simple, lovable children of, God ! They had enjoyed
innocent animal in order to cover their nakedness ? See the         the bread of angels. And would fain prolong such bliss. it
flood of innocent blood that was shed in history by sacrifices      is not every day that we may sit at the feet of such a
and offerings. Come with me and I shall show you, slow of           Teacher and Preacher. Oh, the Saviour's audience was indeed
heart, the cross in Isaiah's prophecy. Listen to the roaring        appreciative.
of the Christ in the psalms of David. You will hear the exact           Yes, they constrained Him. It  .ihas become history.
words that reverberated the hills of Judah a few days ago.          Cleopas said : Abide with us, fast falls the eventide ! The day,
                                                                    0 stranger, is far spent! Note the words that convention
                             *  *  *                                dictates. Their plea is : Abide with us ! And here are the
                                                                    .reasons, 0 stranger ! It is toward evening. And: the day
    No, we have not the exact words of the sermon, but we           is far spent ! Yes, but Jesus knew the real reason : they had
have the beautiful text. It is the Bible. It is the exposition      learned to love this stranger. Their shining eyes have told
of the Son of God.                                                  their story.
    And-here is the emphasis : Christ must suffer and die in
order. to enter into His glory. Do you see it, Cleopas ? To-                                   *  *  *
gether with your friend ?
   It must happen: There was a Divine necessity. God                   And He went in to tarry with them. Angels hovered
wanted to glorify Himself in His children. The elect children       ,near their Lord and His children. Scene of heavenly harmony
of God whom He loved, had by His determinate counsel fal-           and bliss. Our `hearts grow weary with longing for heaven
len into sin and subsequent guilt. Yet He loved them even           and heaven's God.
while they were sinners. And He determined to have them                Yes, and He was invited to sit at meat with them.
with Him in heaven forever. And since the Son of God was               And then the second miracle happened. The first miracle
made their Head in His counsel that Son must needs suffer           was that Jesus would deign to appear to them in earthy garb.
and die for them, so that He might bring all these sons and         As long as their, eyes were holden, that is, as long as their
daughters  -to glory. -                                             eyes just functioned as earthy eyes should function, they
   The two wayfarers have grown silent. Not one question            would not know Him. But now the second miracle happened.
they asked. Far from interrupting the stranger, they have              When He took bread, blessed it, and brake, and gave to
hung on every word He uttered. They drink in every word,            them, their eyes were opened and- they knew Him.           -
every phrase, every thought expressed. Their eyes shone,.              Do- you not notice how the mouth of Cleopas already


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                                                               291

opens to  say  : My Lord and my God !  ? But too late.  He
vanished out of their sight. Why? Because no manner of                               T.HE  S T A N D A R D ,   B E A R E R
misery, despair, sorrow or anything could ever blot out the         Se?Ri-~~~.o~ltl~l~~,   e.zcept  mo?tthly  dwiwg  Juxe,  .hlj  a,&  Au&t
image of their Lord whom they had learned to know through             Published by the REZQRNED  FREE PUBLISHING ASSKIATI~N
His Word. No enemy or devil could ever obliterate the               P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square  S&on,  Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
image of Jesus that dwelled in their hearts through the Holy                            E&or-REV.  HERMAN HOEKSEMA
Ghost that was given unto theme                                     Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
                                                                    H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
   Are they sorrowing because Jesus disappeared out of their        All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
midst ? Oh, why should we ask such a foolish question. Watch        G. Pipe, 1463  Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,. Michigan.
Cleopas and his companion. They rose- up the same hour              Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
and back they went the same journey to Jerusalem. They              `address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
will multiply the joy that burns within them. Oh, why do            ~NEWALS:   Unless a definite request  fotr discontinuance is re-
                                                                    ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
you think we speak and sing and make music this day?                to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
   The day is far spent and yet `our Lord abides with us.                                 Subscription price: $4.00 per year
And He shall abide until life's journey is over. Then again         E&red  as. Second Class  matter  at Grand  &$ids,  %&gap&
He will take the chief seat at the table of the Lord in His
Father's house. To take the bread and bless and give it:
   Unto our eternal joy and singing.                                                                 C:ONTENTS
   The Lord is risen indeed and appeared unto His own.
Hallelujah ! Amen.                                                MEDITATION  -
                                                        ' G.V.         Jesus' Resurrection .,..................................... 289
                                                                               Rev. G. Vos

                                                                  EDITORIALS  -
                      Announcements                                     The Apostates. of 1953 and the Three Points.. . . . . . . ;. . . . . .292
                                                                  OUR DOCTRINE  -
                Eastern Ladies' League                                  The Triple Knowledge (Part III  - Of Thankfulness) . . . .  .294
   The Eastern Ladies' League meeting will be held in the                      Rev. H. Hoeksema
First Protestant Reformed Church on Thursday, April 26,           THE DAY  OF SHADOWS -
at 8 p.m. Our speaker for the evening will be Rev. G.                   The Pr0,phec.y  of Zechariah.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .297
Vos, who has chosen for his topic, "A Vision of God." Re-                     Rev. G. M. Ophoff
member the date and be sure to plan on being present for          FRO'M  H O L Y   WIUT-
an evening of, Christian fellowship and for the edification of          Exposition of I Corinthians l-4 (12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .300
one another.                                                                   Rev. G. Lubbers
                                Mrs. Gerrit Pipe, Vice-Seer.      FEATURE ARTICLE -
                                                                        Should Elders be Permanently in Office , . . , . . . . . . . . . . .302
                       M e n 's League  -                                     -Rev. G. Lantiug
   The annual meeting of our Men's League will be held            CON~NDING  FCJR  THE-FAITH -
April 19  `at the Fourth Church. The speaker will be Rev.               The Church and the Sacramentts  (Baptism 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .304
                                                                               Rev. H. Veldman
H. Hanko. All our men are welcomed to attend this meeting.
                                    Rev. M. Schipper              THE  VOICE  OF OUR FATHERS-
                                    Jay Bomer                           The Exposition of the Canons of Dordrecht.. . . . . . . . . . . . .306
                                                                               Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

                                                                  DECENCY AND ORDER -
                                                                        Family  Visition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
   "Gracious God and Father, we thank thee through Jesus                       Rev.  ,G.  VandenBerg
Christ, that Thou hast been pleased to give this our fellow-      ALL  AROU&D  Us  -
brother repentance unto life, and to cause us to rejoice in             Nova Scotia Pastor Understands the Truth.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .310
his conversion. We beseech thee, show him thy mercy that                       Rev. M. Schipper
he may become more and more assured in his mind of the            CONTRIBUTIONS  -
remission of his sins, and that he may receive from thence              Adult Bible Class of Randolph Prot. Ref.  Churoh.. . . . . . .  .312
inexpressible joy and delight, to serve thee."                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema
            From Prayer of  "Readwzzitting   Excowwnicat~d
           Persons"


292                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   -BEARER
                                                                    ;            ._
                                                                     the so-called'civil good to a restraining influence of the Holy
           E  D-  I.-T  0 R I  .A  1  S.                                  Spirit. The second statement of the apostates does not men-
                                                                     tion the Holy Spirit, but speaks only of man's act of  con-
                                                                     version which he must .accomplish  before he can enter into
  The Apostates *6f 1953 arid the ,Three Points                      the kingdom of God
                                                                             The point I want to emphasize is that, if the apostates
    To the camouflaged interpretation of the second state-           subscribe to the second statement condemned by  Classis  East
ment of De W.olf by Bellflower (Doezema) we will call at-            of the Protestant Reformed <Churches, they certainly cannot
tention presently. '                                                 possibly have any `scruples to adopt the second and. third
    First, however, `we must call attention to the second and        points of 1924.             ,.
third points of Kalamazoo 1924 for our subject speaks of the
apostates and the three points. We will, therefore, quote                    The best they can do is follow Van Weelden, say,  pec-
the second and third points in order to see whether or not           cnviulttls,  we have sinned, and beg to be received again in
and in how far the apostates subscribe to them as they, un-          the Christian Reformed Church. There is, perhaps, room for
doubtedly do to the first point.                                     them there. As they have revealed themselves now, there is
    The second point .reads  as follows :                            no room for them in our churches. We want to maintain
    "Relative to the second point, which is concerned with           the pure Reformed truth, as long as God gives us grace to
the restraint of sin in the life of the individual man and in        do so. We maintain this -truth also over against the heresy
the community, Synod `declar.es  that there is such a restraint      of the "Three Points." The apostates do not. We are only
of sin according to Scripture and the confession. This. is           glad that they revealed themselves in time, before their cor-
evident from the citations of Scripture and from the Nether-         rupting influence spread any farther.
-land Confession, Art. 13 and 36 which teach that God by the
general operations of His Spirit, without renewing the heart
of.man,  restrains the unimpeded breaking out .of sin, by which              But it is alleged sometimes that we misinterpret this
human, life in society remains possible . . ."                       second statement of the apostates. `They offer their own
                                                             I
   And the third point:                                              interpretation which differs from ours.
                                                                            Let us examine this indictment.
   "Relative to the third point, which is concerned with the                It is in this connection that I briefly  must refer to the
question of civil righteousness as performed by the unregen-         interpretation offered by Bellflower (Doezema) .
erate, though incapably of doing any- saving good, can da                   The first possible interpretation they offer is as follows:
civil, good. This is evident from the quotations from Scrip-                "This second statement with contextual reference (sic !)
ture and from the Canons of Dordrecht III, IV, 4, and from           among other things may refer to the requisites of salvation
the Nether-land Confession, Art. 36, which teach that God,           and may give prominence to the idea that these must be in
without renewing the heart, so influences man that he is able        the consciousness of one as fulfilled in Christ before such an
to perform civil good. . . ."                                        one can and may lay hold on the claim of the riches of Christ
   It is evident at once that the second statement to which          and His kingdom."
the apostates subscribe is not directly implied in these points.            Is this clear to you ?
   Only, we must emphasize that this second statement is                    I confess that, to me, this statement is not very lucid. It
so much worse than the doctrine contained in the second and          needs a good deal of careful interpretation and analyzation
third points, that the apostates should have no scruples. to         before one can understand it. This is the reason why  I
subscribe to these.                                                  spoke of a camouflaged interpretation. The second statement
   Notice that both, the second statement of the apostates           of the apostates is rather clear. It'is that "our act of con-
and the second and third points of 1924, speak of the good           version is a prerequisite to enter into the kingdom of God."
that the unregenerate man can do.                                    But if the above interpretation by Bellflower is supposed to
   The second and third points speak of the good of so-called        be a commentary on that statement, the commentary surely
civic righteousness. The second statement of the  apostates. is in greater need of explanation than the statement itself. I
refers to conversion.                                                will not say that this camouflaging and darkness is inten-
   The second and third points of 1924 emphasize that man            tional. It is possible. that Bellflower could not quite see how
of himself, unless God renews the heart, cannot do any sav-          one could interpret this second statement in such a way as to
ing good. The second statement of the apostates teaches              give it a Scriptural and Reformed appearance. But this does
that the natural man, before he enters into the kingdom of           not alter the fact that this is a very dark commentary. And
heaven, must and does convert himself. For they teach that           darkness and confusion it is very often in which heretics seek
"our act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter into the           shelter.
kingdom of God."                                                            But  let- me make  ,an  .attempt  to analyze this dark  corn..
   The second and third points of 1924.  do, at least, ascribe       mentary on a clear statement.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   293

     1. It strikes us, first,of all, that Bellflower does not want      the covenant of grace, adoption unto children, the washing
to take responsibility for its own interpretation of the sec-           away of our sins, justification before God, the gift of  the'
ond statement of the apostates. It does not say that its                Spirit, His dwelling in us and His application of all the
interpretation is the correct and only possible one. On the             blessings of salvation to us, even unto eternal glory.        -
contrary, it employs very doubtful language: "This second                   To be sure, there is another "part," not party, to this,
statement with contextual reference among other things may              that we love the Lord, fight against sin, and-walk in a new
refer to the requisites . ~ .j' The second statement may mean           and holy life before God in the midst of the world. But all
this, but it also  plaay   not  wzcan this. It is one interpretation    this is the fruit of God's part. There are no  PRErequisites.
among others. You may have your choice! Only, by all                        Well, then, Bellflower (Doezema) understands the sec-
means, do not adopt the interpretation of  Classis  East and            ond statement of the apostates : "our act of conversion is a
the only interpretation which the words permit. ,It does not            prerequisite to enter into the kingdom of God,' as meaning
mean that our act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter              really exactly what our Baptism Form teaches : all the
into the kingdom of God! Not only did the original author               requisites of salvation are fulfilled by God in Christ; we
not mean this, but also the words themselves, though they are           have nothing to add to our salvation; we can do nothing be-
plain English, do not even suggest this.! This according to             fore we enter into the kingdom of God.
Bellflower.                                                                 Can you read this interpretation in this second state-
    2. But what do they mean, then ? Well, first of all, they           ment  ?
refer "to the requisites of salvation . . . as fulfilled in Christ."        I cannot. Nor, I am sure, can anyone else.
Mark you well, the words "our act of conversion is a pre-                   3. But there is' more to this commentary on the second
requisite to enter into the kingdom of God,' do not, in the             statement. Bellflower does not simply state that the second
first place, refer to a  PRErequisite, but to requisites of             statement, of the apostates means that all requisites of sal-
salvation. Moreover, they do not refer to anything we do                vation are fulfilled in Christ. That would be a little `too ob-
or must do (our act of convkrsidn),  but to all that was done           vious. But it explains that "before such an one can and may
by Christ. And so, reader, whenever you should hear that                lay hold on the claim to the riches of Christ and His King-
you must convert yourself before you can enter the kingdom              dom" the requisites of salvation "must be in the conscious-
of God, you must understand that the meaning of these words             ness of one." I suppose that this is the way in which Bell-
-is : you have to do nothing ; Christ fulfilled all the requisites !    flower attempts to explain the term PREREQUISITE in
                                                                        the second statement of the apostates. The consciousness of
    Which are those requisites which Christ fulfilled,  .or             the believer that all the requisites of salvation are fulfilled in
rather, which God fulfilled in Christ? Briefly, they are ex-            Christ is a prerequisite to lay hold on the claim to the riches
plained in the first part of our Baptism Form. According                of Christ and his Kingdom.
to that Form we are by nature children of wrath "in so much                 Do you understand, dear reader, that `this is the same
that we cannot enter into the kingdom of God, except we                 as our act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter into the
are born again." But the triune God fulfills all the requisites         kingdom of God ?
of our salvation. "For when we are baptized in the name of                  I do not. Nor does anyone. Not even Bellflower.
the Father, God the Father witnesseth and sealeth unto us,                  But more about this next time, the Lord willing.
that he doth make an eternal covenant of grace with us, and
adopts us for his children and heirs, and therefore will pro-                                                                      H. H.
vide us with every good thing, and avert all evil or turn it
to our profit. And when we are baptized in the name of the                 "And whereas he hath heretofore by his sins offended
Son, the Son sealeth unto us, that he doth wash us in his               many, grant that he may, by his conversion, edify many."
blood from. all our sins, incorporating us into his death and                                                  Prayer of Readmittance
resurrection, so that we are freed from all our sins, and
accounted righteous before God. In like manner, when we                    "Grant. also that he may steadfastly walk in thy ways
are baptized.in  the name of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost             to the end: and may we learn from this example, that with
assures us, by this holy sacrament, that he will dwell in us,,          thee is mercy, that thou mayest be feared  ; and that we,
and sanctify us to be -members of Christ, applying unto us              counting him for our brother and co-heir of life eternal, may
that which we have in Christ, namely, the washing away of               jointly serve thee with filial fear and obedience all the days
our sins and the daily renewing of our lives, till we shall             of our life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord . . ."
finally be presented without spot or wrinkle among the as-                                                     Prayer of Readmittance
sembly of the elect in life eternal."                                       "Law and Gospel both are factors in man's conversion ;
    These are the requisites of salvation as they are all               the law points us pedagogically to Christ, but the Gospel
fulfilled in Christ.                                                    also casts its light back upon the Law."
    All, absolutely all that is requisite unto our salvation :                     Bavinck's Dogmatics, page 146, Faith and Conversion


           294                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER

     II                                                                       with temptations in the midst of the world. We realize that
                      O U R   D O C T R I N E1                                we can never escape the evil triumvirate of the devil, the
                                                                              -worlcl,.and our own flesh. We are conscious too of our own
                                                                              weakness. We cannot possibly stand and gain the victory
                         THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE                                 in our own strength. Before we are aware of it, even the
                  AN  EXPOSITION  OF THE  HEIDELBERG  CATBCI-IISM             evil desires arise in our soul, the sinful thought occupies our
                            P                                                 mind. And we feel that we are in constant need of God's
                                 ART   III  -  OF  THANKFULNESS               ,preserving  grace if we are to stand in this bitter fight. And
                                        LORD'S  DAY  52                       surely, our Father in heaven infallibly preserves His people
                                         Chapter Two                          unto salvation and glory, even if they fall. If I may refer
                        God's Sovereignty Over Temptations                    once more to the Canons of Dordrecht,  V, 7,  "For in the
                                                                              first place, in these falls he preserves in them the incor-
              Finally, there is what we may call the foe within the gates,    ruptible seed of regeneration from perishing., or being totally
           our own flesh, which is always inclined to seek the things         lost; and again, by his Word and Spirit, certainly and effec-
           that are below, not the things that are above, and readily         tually renews them .to repentance, to a sincere and godly
           lends an ear to the siren-song of temptation. Oh, yes, the         sorrow for their sins, that they may seek and obtain remission
           believer is indeed regenerated. He has a new heart. And ac-        in the blood of the Mediator, may again experience the favor
           cording to that new heart he loves to walk in the way of the       of a reconciled God, through faith adore- his mercies, and
           Lord and to seek the things that are above. As the Canons          henceforward more diligently work out their own' salvation
           of Dordrecht have it, in V, 1, 2: "Whom God calls, accord-         with fear and trembling." And thus the sixth petition surely
           ing to his purpose, to the communion of his Son, our Lord          means that we turn to the God of our salvation in Christ,
           Jesus Christ, and regenerates by the Holy Spirit, he delivers      the same .that called us out of darkness into His marvellous
           also from the dominion and slavery of sin in this life ; though    light, and pray: "Our Father Who art in heaven, hold Thou
           not altogether from the body of sin, and from the infirmities      my hand. Give Thou me grace.  uphold  Thou me by Thy
           of the flesh, so long as they continue in this world. Hence        almighty power. Give Thou me light and understanding,
           spring daily sins of infirmity, and hence spots adhere to the      that I may always know Thy way ; and always sanctify my
           best works of the saints ; which furnish them with constant        heart by Thy Spirit and Word, in order that I may not suffer
           matter for humiliation before God, and flying for refuge to        defeat, but have the victory in the midst of my enemies."
           Christ crucified."                                                    Still, if we would say no more, we would fail to do jus-
              It is, therefore, quite impossible that we should ever          tice to  t,he terms of this sixth petition.
           escape temptation as long as we are in the flesh and in the           These terms ought to convince us that the conception is
           world. As soon as we open our eyes in the morning, we are          far more positive and bold : "Lead us not into temptation."
           in the midst of temptations. When we walk the streets or              This surely is an acknowledgment of the absolute sov-
_          ride the bus. to our' place of w.ork, we meet with temptations     ereignty of `God even with respect to sin and evil, even over
           everywhere. When we sit down in the evening to read. our           the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh, so that we
           paper, temptations meet our eye. And when we dlose our             cannot be overcome by temptation unless God Himself leads
           eyes in sleep, temptations remain with us in the silent watches    us' into it. It is evident that by these words of the sixth
           of the night, even in our dreams.                                  Ipetition  temptation is considered as a snare into which we
              Nor is it ,the ,will of God that we should make the attempt     are led. `To be sure, into this snare of temptation we are led
           to escape temptations and to withdraw ourselves from the           by'the  devil and his host, by the world, by the lust of our own
           world. Men have tried to do, this, and failed.' Men have           sinful heart, ,and by the pride of life. But the child of God,
           sought the seclusion  ,of the monastic cell and the solitude       praying  .from the depths of his regenerated heart, knows
           of a lone pillar in the desert for their dwelling place  ; but     that above them all, and that too, as their absolute Lord,
           the temptations often were multiplied. But even apart from         stands his Father in  ,heaven.  Who employs the devil, the
           the impossibility of such escape from temptations, it is the       ,world,  and even his own sinful flesh for His adorable, sover-
           will of God that His people should be `right in the midst of       ,eign purpose. In the ultimate sense of the word the believer
           the world, and that they should fight the. good fight of faith,    can never fall into sin, and thus be ensnared in the  tempta-
           that no one take their crown. Surely, then, the sixth petition     tionunless  God, the only Potentate of potentates, leads him
           cannot possibly mean: "Give that we may never meet with            :into it. And deeply conscious of this sovereignty of God with
           temptations."                                                      respect to all temptations, he does not pray that he may
              Nor do we'do justice to the positive and definite form of       aever meet with temptation, nor only that  .in the midst of
           this prayerwhen we interpret it as if it meant nothing more        temptation his Father in heaven may preserve him, but very
           than that God may .preserve  us in the ,midst of temptations.      positively,  "Lead  me not into temptation."
           To. be sure, this is implied. We know that- we must meet              This truth too is confessed by the Reformed churches in


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  295

 the Canons of Dordrecht,  V, 4, although in this article. it     Perhaps we are playing with the fire of worldly .pleasures,
 speaks of God's "righteous permission," rather than of His       and God causes us to burn ourselves badly, that we may
 strict and absolute Lordship in regard to temptations : "Al-     learn  to keep our garments clean. The apostle Peter was
 though the weakness of the flesh cannot prevail against the      inclined to trust in self and to boast in his own strength.
 power of God, who confirms and preserves true believers in       And  .the Lord warned him. But the more he was warned,
 a state `of grace, yet converts are not always so influenced     the more loudly he boasted that he was ready to go with
 and actuated by the Spirit of God, as not in some particular     Jesus into prison and into death, and that he would never be
 instances sinfully to deviate from the guidance of divine        offended. And God prepared all the circumstances for Peter's
 grace, so as to be seduced by, and comply with the lusts of      temptation. He let him climb the full height of his self-con-
 the flesh ; they must, therefore, be constant in watching and    fidence, in order then to withdraw His grace and Spirit from
,prayer,  that they be not led into temptation. When these are    him, though not entirely; and expose his utter lack of
 neglected, they are not only liable to be drawn into great       strength, by leading him into the trap of temptation when
 and heinous sins, by Satan, the world and the flesh, but         he denied his Lord. And thus the Lord sanctifies  ,and re-
 sometimes by the righteous permission of God actually fall       forms His children in a pedagogical way, that they may_ be
into these evils. This, the lamentable fall of David, Peter,      saved. But the sincere child of God is deathly afraid of this
and other saints described in Holy Scripture, demonstrates."      extreme remedy. He dreads it. He hopes that it may never
    There arise, of course, two or three questions here that      be necessary. And therefore he prays : "Lead me not into
must be briefly  sonsidered,  and answered as far as this is      temptation." There is in this prayer, first of all, the expres-
 possible. The first is whether we do not make God the author     sion of a deep abhorrence of all sin and a, sincere desire to
of sin by thus presenting the matter. Our answer is: God          tight against it. He who utters this prayer and then wilfully
 forbid ! For, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am           seeks the temptation' is a hypocrite. There is. in the second
tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, nei-         place, a profound sense of our own weakness and helplessness.
 ther tempteth he any man." Jas. 1  :12. God has no delight       the confession that without the constant help of the grace of
 in sin, but hates it. Even when He leads us into temptation,     God we must needs perish. And there is, finally, the con-
it is our own. sinful flesh that deceives us and that has de-     fidence in that all-sufficient grace of God that is able to up-
light in iniquity. Yet the Bible teaches us plainly that it is    ihold  us in the fight, even unto the end, when we shall have
 He that leads His people even when they stumble and fall.        the perfect victory. Watch, then, and pray: the spirit in-
D.id you never read in the Scriptures that God in His anger       deed is willing, but the flesh is weak.. But when we are
against Israel moved David to number the people? II Sam.          weak, then we are strong. For God perfects His strength in
24 :l. And do not God's people in Isaiah pray : "0 Lord, why      our weakness.
hast thou made us to err .from thy ways, and hardened our                                  Chapter III
hearts from thy fear?' Isa. 63  :17.' And what else could be
the meaning of this sixth petition, "Lead us not into tempta-                   Prayer for Deliverance from Evil
tion," than that God alone ultimately has the power to en-           The second part, of the sixth petition contains the prayer
snare us in our own sinful lusts ? And what else is neces-        for deliverance from evil.
sary for Him to do;in order to lead us into the trap of sin,         The Heidelberg Catechism does not make a sharp dis-
than to control and arrange for all the circumstances of the - tinction between the  fn-st part of this petition and the second,
temptation, cause us to meet them, and then withhold His          except perhaps in the very last clause. It explains :  ". . .
grace from us for a season, or even to move our own sinful        since our mortal'enemies,  the devil, the world, and our own
flesh ? Not He, but we ourselves are the author of our own        flesh, cease not to assault us, do thou therefore preserve and
sin,` even when He so leads us that we fall into sin through      strengthen us by the power of thy Holy Spirit, that we may
the temptation.                                                   not be overcome in this spiritual warfare, but constantly and
 . The second question is this : but why should the Lord          strenuously may resist our foes, till at last we obtain a com-
ever so lead His people that they stumble and fall ? _            plete victory."
    There may be several reasons, but a very common one              Nevertheless, a distinction must be made, as the very
is that He desires to teach us a lesson, that we may be cured     contrast between the two clauses of ~this petition implies.
of our own pride and conceit and self-confidence. Perhaps            We may say that the words, "Deliver us from evil," ex-
we have a deeply rooted personal weakness or sin of.char-         press positively what was implied negatively in the prayer
acter, and God lets us go all the way of that sin, in order       against temptation.  .This we already indicated in the preced-
that. we may learn to abhor it. Perhaps we are proud, and         ing chapters. The meaning of the entire petition may be
God causes us to stumble over our own pride, that we may          paraphrased as follows :. "Lead us not into the snare of
be humbled. Perhaps we are forever walking on the. very           temptation ; but, on the contrary, deliver us from evil." The
edge of the world, and God lets us slip right into the world,     second part of this petition, therefore, implies more than, the
that' we may be-cured of our carelessness, and be sanctified.     first part. To be delivered from evil has a wider significance

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

than merely to be preserved from temptation. The praying               ture is preponderantly in favor of the rendering "the evil
child of Gad has not fully disemburdened his heart before              one." This is evidently the meaning of the word in Matt.
his Father in heaven as far as his relation to the dominion            5 :37 : "But let your communication be, Yea, yea ; Nay, nay :
and power of sin is concerned by the prayer for preservation           for whatsoever is more than these cometh  of the evil one."
against the temptations that encompass him on all sides in             It certainly is the meaning in Matt. 13 :19, where the same
this world. He must say more. Preservation can only be a               word is used in the original as in our prayer: "When any
temporary measure. It is not final. It does not lead him to            one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it
the goal for which he strives. `The shipwrecked sailor cer-            not, then cdmeth `the wicked one, and catcheth away that
tainly appreciates the life preserver or raft to which he              which is sown in his heart." And the same is true in vs. 38
clings' on the storm-tossed ocean, because it saves his life           of the same chapter: "The field is the world ; the good seed
for the time' being. Yet, to him that life-belt  ' or raft can         are the children of the kingdom ; but the tares are the chil-
never be more than a temporary means to keep him from                  dren of the wicked one." The words of Jesus' sacerdotal
drowning. And constantly he is on the lookout for a ship               prayer in John 17  :15 should properly be translated in the
or cruiser that will bring him to the safe harbor, or for the          same way: "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out
shore on which he may land. The soldier realizes that he               of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the
must .be fully equipped for defensive and offensive warfare.           evil one." The same is evidently true of I John 2  :13, 14 :
He needs his entire armor. Yet, he looks forward to the                "I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that
time  that'he can put down his armor because the battle is             is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, be-
won,' and he can return home in peace. The same is true                cause ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you,
of the militant! Christian in the midst of this present world.         little children, because ye have known the Father. I `have
Through a strange and hostilecountry, in which all kinds of            written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that
dangers threaten him constantly, and always the  enemy.seeks           is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men,
to destroy him, he travels .to the perfection of the city that         because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you,
hath foundations, -whose builder and maker is God. And                 and ye have overcome the wicked one." Here the wicked
therefore he needs. pr%ection. He puts on' the whole armor             one evidently cannot refer to any other than the devil himself:
of God and seeks the grace of God to preserve him in the               To the devil also refers Eph.  6:16:  "Above all, taking the
midst of temptations. But he cannot be satisfied until the             shield of faith, whereby ye shall be able to quench all the
final goal is reached. He longs for the day when his enemies           fiery darts of the wicked." And once more, in I John 3  :12
shall be  `no. more, the dangers of sin and death no longer            we read: "Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and
threaten him, the day of, complete salvation and perfect vic-          slew his brother." Also here the word "wicked one" refers
tory. To that final state of perfection he looks forward when          evidently to Satan himself. We may consider too the close
he prays, "Deliever me from evil." Essentially, therefore,             relation between this prayer and the petition against temp-
this last part of the sixth petition is eschatological.                tation, together with the consideration that the devil is the
   A question may be raised, and is raised, as to the proper           great tempter from the beginning, which leads to the same
rendering of the text. Should we read, "Deliver us from                conclusion.
evil," or,' "Deliver us from the `evil one," that is, the devil?          We come, therefore, to the conclusion that the proper
The original does not help us because it can be translated             translation of the last part of the sixth petition is: "Deliver
both ways.  tozt  poneerou  may be the genitive either of  ton         us from the evil one." However, this does not limit the
poneeJ*on,  the evil, or of ho popzect,os,  the evil one. Our Auth-    prayer, but rather makes it more comprehensive.- While
orized Version prefers the former, and so do the Latin, Ger-           asking for deliverance from the devil and his power, and
man, and French translations of the text. But the Holland              therefore mindful of the fact that the sinner is a slave of the
translation reads : "lferlos ons  `v&z den  booze,  Deliver us         evil one, the believing Christian in this prayer is, neverthe-
from the evil one." And the same translation is found in the           less, taught to pray for deliverance from the power of all sin
Revised Version of our English Bible. If we adopt.0 the                and corruption and evil. For only by being sanctified him-
rendering, "Deliver us from evil," there is still another              self and by being cleansed from all the pollution of sin is the
question. Is the reference only to moral evil, to sin and              child of God set free from the dominion of the devil. And
corruption, or is physical evil, suffering and death, also in-         although this refers emphatically to liberation from sin, moral,
cluded ? The original word may imply both : it may mean                ethical corruption, yet it should be evident that this does not
bad or evil in a physical sense, or it may refer to evil in the        exclude, but rather include, evil of every kind, also suf-
moral, ethical sense of the word.                                      fering, sickness, sorrow, and death. For the latter are surely
   Now as far as the form of the original word for "evil"              the wages of sin. In its comprehensive sense, therefore, the
in this prayer is concerned, it may be translated either by            prayer looks forward to the state of final perfection ,in the
"the evil one" or by "evil." But the consultation of several           new heavens and the new earth; where there will be not night,
passages of Holy Writ leads us to the conclusion that Scrip-           and God shall -wipe away all tears from our eyes.       -:I H.H.




                                   a


                                                T i$E s-  T- A:N D A R'D  - B:E ,AR;E R _,                                               297
                                                                                                                     .-

                                                                         view, the reference is in the first instance to the people of
         THE DAY OF SHADOWS                                              Israel as to a headstone rejected by the heathen but chosen
                                                                         of God and precious. A better view is, that the psalmist is
                                                                         speaking directly of Christ, foretelling his crucifixion and
             The -Prophecy of Zechariah                                  death at the hands of the leaders in Israel and His exaltation
   7.  Who  ast thou,  0  great  mounttiin  L The reference is           to the position of head of the foundation of God's spiritual
to a lofty mountain outside of Judea  in contradistinction. to           temple. Thus though rejected by the builders, He became the
Mt. Zion that in comparison with it was but a little hill. But           head of the corner. This, in the words of the psalmist, is the
on Mt. Zion dwelt Jehovah in His holy temple. Hence, Mt.                 Lord's doing ; it is marvelous in our eyes. The headstone then
Zion was emblematic of the church and the great mountain                 is Christ. So in Isaiah xxviii. 16, "Behold it is I who have
symbolized the mighty world-power the final appearance of                laid in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious
which will be the anti-Christian  world-state, the Babylon of            cornerstone of a sure foundation - He who believes shall
the book of Revelation. At the time of our prophet this world-           not be confounded." And so in  Zech. iv. 7, "And he shall
power had taken on `flesh and blood in the persons of the                bring forth the headstone thereof." Here; too, the headstone
kings of Persia. To this world-power Zerubbabel and his                  is the corner-stone, that is Christ, and not, as some have it:
despised little flock - Zion - was in bondage. The state-                the gable stone, that is the top stone completing and crown-
ment "who art thou, 0 great mountain" is more of an ex-                  ing the building: Appearing in this verse is a Hebrew word
clamation than a question. It means : Who dost thou imagine              for head that is the same as that occurring in the other
thyself to be, 0 great mountain, 0 world-power, that thou                passages quoted above, so that as joined to stone it must
exaltest thyself against Zion, my people, Zerubbabel, in the             denote the same stone, namely the corner-stone. And this
final instance Christ. The boasting of the world-power is                stone is Christ (I Peter ii. 6, 7). If so, the pronoun he
foolishness. It is too ridiculous for words. In the language             denotes Jehovah and not Zerubbabel. Jehovah will bring
of Ps. 2, "He that sitteth in the heavens laughs." Yes, Jeho-            forth the Christ. (On this idea see iii.  8).  ~V&?L  slzoutirzgs,
vah laughs. The reason is stated in the succeeding sentence              Grace., gra.ce - Jehovah graced Him with His Spirit with-
(of our prophecy).  Before  Zerubbnbel   tlzou  shalt become a           out measure. Beholding His glory, the glory, of the only be-
@in - Before the governor of the covenant people, that is                gotten of the Father, full of grace and truth,  .His people
before Christ whom he typified,  the, world-power shall be               shouted, Grace, grace. And unto them was now, grace and
overthrown over and over through the ages to come and                    salvation because of His having been brought forth. And as
this by terrible revelations of God's might and power m all              the Spirit-filled headstone He removed all iniquities of His
manner of dreadful plagues `including war. In the meantime               people on the great day of atonement at Golgotha, swallow-
Christ will gather His church not by power nor by might                  ing up unto victory all their enemies. And therefore the
but by His Spirit and His word. With the church gathered,                great -mountain shall surely be made a plain before Zerub-
the  wofld-power  will be made to pass away forever. And                 babel.
there will be new heavens and a new earth on which shall
dwell righteousness.                                                                 New message of encouragement, 8-14.
   This, of course, is not a new promise in the sense that                  S. Moveover'the word of Jehovah ca.w unto me, saying,
it had not before been proclaimed. It had been proclaimed                   9.  The hands  if  Zmcbbabel   lzazw   laid the  fozcvzda.tion  of
over and over only not in this form and by these types                   ~1zi.s  house; his  hands  shall also  j%sh it; and thou shalt know
and symbols. In substance it had already been published                  tlmt the  Lord of hosts  bath sent  vxe  ,unto  YOU.
right after the fall. For essentially there is but one promise.
   But there .is more to the promise as here proclaimed to                 10.  For  who   bath despised the day of  small things? for
Zerubbabel.. And he &all bring forth the headstone thereof               they shall rejoice, and shll `see the phvvmet ivt `the hand cj
.witla  shozttings, @ace,  grace  unto YOU. - This scripture can         Zev-ubba.bel even those sezlen; they aye the eyes of the Lord,
best be understood when placed alongside of the other pas-               which  run  toI and  f~o  throztglz the whole  eat&k.
sages in Holy Writ where mention is made of the headstone.                 11.  Tken  a.nszvered  1 and  said  unto  him, What are these
Ps. cxviii. 22, "The stone which the builders refused is be-             two  olive  trees  ztpon the right side of the candlestick and
come the head of the corner," that is the headstone. Is the              upovi the left side thereof?
reference here in the first instance to Zerubbabel's temple ?
That is, is the psalmist speaking of a stone that became the               12. And  I  a.nswered again,  a,nd said  unto  laiw~, What  be
head of the foundation of Zerubbabel's temple, despite its               these  tzvo  ol,ive branches  which  throu.ggh the golden pipes
                                                                                               .~
being rejected by the  -builders                                         evtzpty the golden  o,il  out of  thevmelves?
                                    ? It is not likely that the head-
stone of Zerubbabel's temple (nor of Solomon's for that                    13.  And  he  answered  ytte  and said,  Knowest thou not
matter) went through such a history. According to another                z&at these be? And I said, No,  yizy Lord.


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      14.  Then  sui2 he,  Thes'e  a:ye the  tzvo  anointe,d  ones, that     not be despised. For it will surely be followed by a day of
      sta.nd bjr the Lord of the whole earth.                                big things. Jehovah has said it. But the trouble with these
              8.  Molreovep  - In addition to  the.,promise  contained in    sceptics  was that they had not the faith to live by His prom-
                                 .~
      v e r s e   7:.                       .!    ;    7,                    ises. So, looking at the day of these little things, they de-
                                                                             spised it in their hearts. The real trouble with these people  -
              9; Shall  al& finish  *it  - The same hands  - those of        was that they despised the day of big things. With the temple
      Zerubbabel  - that began the building enterprise  -shall surely        completed, Jehovah will again be dwelling in the midst of
      bring it to completion. The fulfillment of this promise is             His people. Everywhere- is distress, but when Jehovah has
      recorded in Ezra vi. 15, "And the house was finished on the            returned to His holy temple the whole land and every place
      third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year'of            in it shall be filled to overflowing with goodnesses all the
      the-reign of Darius the king." That such is here the promise           fountains of which are in Him, i. 17). As towns without
      plainly shows, it seems to me, that the hea.dstone of the pre-         walls shall Jerusalem be inhabited for the multitude of men
      ceding verse is not the top most stone completing and crown-           and cattle therein. And Jehovah will be  fo her a wall of
      ing the building and that, therefore, the idea also of this            fire round about, and will be to the glory in the -midst of
      verse is that Zerubabbel shall bring it forth, that is carry to        her (ii:4, 5. See there). Yes, there is a day of big things
      completion the building enterprise. For then the prophet so            coming, - a day to be ushered in by the appearing of the
      good .as literally repeats himself in this 8th verse,' which is        church with Christ in glory, and a day in which God's taber-
      not the case. The prefatory verse "Moreover the word of                nacle will be with men forever. But it has no appeal for
      Jehovah came unto me" indicates that the succeeding two                unbelieving. men. This explains their despising the day of
      verses (9 and 10) contain an additional promise.                       small things, not really small, I repeat, but small in the eyes
              Thou shalt knozv - The completion of the temple shall          of unbelieving men.
      constitute the undeniable evidence that the prophet was sent              Yet in a certain point of view this day, this present dis-
      `of Jehovah and spake as His organ the word that He put                pensation of the world is a day of small things truly - small,
      in his ,mouth.        ;                                                insignificant, apparently without promise, seemingly doomed
         10.  For  who  hatlz  despised  the  day  of  st%all  things?  -    to come to nought. There came forth a shoot out of the
      The  donstruction  here is much disputed. What will help us            stump of Jesse. That shoot was Christ. Men cut Him away.
      to arrive at clarity here is our first determining what is to          He died on a crucifix. That apparently was His finish. But in
      be understood by the "day of small things." First to be                reality it was His victory, the beginning for Him and His
      considered is the word "day." It denotes in the first instance         people of a day of big things. Set for an ensign of the people
      the dispensation of grace that had' set in with the turning of         the Gentiles now seek. after Him.. And His rest is glorious
      Judah'sbcaptivity.  The "small things" are what Jehovah had            (Isa.  ii.. 10). The mustard seed is indeed the least of all
      already wrought in that day. As moved by His Spirit  -                 seeds. So the kingdom of heaven in this day of small things.
      for not by might; nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith                It is the least of all kingdoms. But, there is a big day in
      Jehovah of hosts - the remnant that He had preserved for               store for it. `For, like the mustard seed, when it is grown,
--    Himself in Babylon had returned to Jerusalem. And the                  it is the greatest among herbs, and becomes a tree, so that
      temple was in process of being rebuilt. These were the                 the birds of the air come and lodge among its branches (Matt.
      `small things of that day. Indeed, were these things not so            xiii. 31). The church-in the world is only a little flock, de-
      small as to be hardly worth mentioning  &hen compared with             spised and persecuted like her Saviour in His state of hu-
      what still had to be done before, it could be said that this           miliation. But a day of big things is in store for her. She
      post-exilic community had been delivered out of all its                shall be given the kingdom. The holiest of men have in this
      troubles ? Jerusalem was still in a state as sad as ever what          life but a small beginning of true obedience. But the day
      with her walls still broken down, her gates burnt, and most            is coming when the righteousness of Zion shall go forth as
      of her dwellings rubble. Yes, the Lord had turned their                brightness, and.,the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth
      captivity. But comparatively speaking only a' handful had              (Isa. lxii. 1). Yet considering of what- big things these
      returned. And they formed but a small community, poverty-              small things are in the beginning, this day of small things
      stricken and beset on all sides.by hostile powers. Yes, it was         is at once a day of big things.
      `a day `of  sm.all things.                                                The succeeding clause is a promise that the day of big
              "But who will despise this day of small things ?" There        things shall surely come and that therefore the man that
      can be no valid reason why the statement may not be main-              despiseth the day of small things can have no dawn, unless
      tained as a- question. It is not unlikely that there were those        he repents and changes his attitude. For they shall rejoice
      `in the community, unbelieving men, who were guilty of this            and  see the plztvnvv~et~in  the hand of Zerztbbabel even those
      very thing, and that the question, therefore, must be taken            seven; the.& are the eyes of Jehovah, zvhich htn to and fi:o
      as a rebuke and as a call to repentance. For, surely, the day          through the earth.  The thought may be clarified by a free
      of small things - small from a human standpoint - must                 rendering : "For these- seven eyes of Jehovah, which run to


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                2       9    9

 and fro through the whole. earth, shall rejoice when they           this is not so good. The Hebrew as literally translated reads :
 see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. Those seven -            "What are the two branches, which by the hand of the two
 The reference is to the seven eyes of the stone (iii. 9. See        golden spouts, are emptying from upon themselves the golden
 there).  Tjzese  - Also this demonstrative looks back to the        (oil)  ? Whet be the cwo ojive  brcvrtches? - The word trans-
 eyes of the stone. The thought conveyed then is that the            lated "branches" is used elsewhere  .for ears of corn. The
 eyes of the stone are the eyes of Jehovah, that is, they sym-       selection perhaps is owing. to the shape of the branches.                     .
 bolize His eyes. But they are at once the eyes of Christ, see-      Which through the two goldert spoztts - The last word oc-
 ing that, as was explained, the stone symbolizes Him. So,           curs only here in the Qld Testament, and its, meaning is un-
 the seven eyes are ascribed both'to Christ and to Jehovah.          certain.  Spozbts  (R. V.) is probably correct; pipes (A.  V.)
 Also in Rev. v. 6 these eyes are spoken of as belonging to          is not so good, a different word is used in verse' 2. Doubt-
 the Lamb, that is to Christ and to  IGod. For the verse in          less it denotes the receptacle and channel which received the
 Revelation goes on to explain that the eyes are the seven           oil from the branches and .transmitted  it to the bowl ; perhaps
 Spirits of God sent forth in all the earth. The seven Spirits       funnel-like cups, one'conne&ed  with -each branch. Evv@tying
 are the one Spirit that Christ merited for. His people. This        the oil out  of  themselves  - This is then the picture: The
 then is the correct paraphrase of the `truth set forth: The         means of connection between branches and bowl were the
 triune Jehovah through Christ in His Spirit, closely observ-        spouts. By the latter the oil was received from the branches
 ing, as He does, all that takes place on this earth, and im-        and transmitted to the bowl. `The means of connection be-
 plying that He works all things according to the counsel of         tween the bowl and the seven lamps were the 49 golden
 His will, rejoices at seeing the plummet in the hand of             pipes. By the latter the oil was received from the bowl and
 Zerubbabel, that is in the hand of Christ, whom Zerubbabel          transmitted to the lamps.
 typified.  Plummet  - Literally stone of tin. Indicated is  a          13.  And he  answerid me and said,  h'nowest  thozt not
 weight of tin, attached to a line and-used by builders `to de-      what these be -This verse is identical to verse 5 (see there).
 note a vertical direction. The plummet in the hand is com-
 monly taken as indicating the work in which Zerubbabel was             14.  Then  snid he,  ,These are the two  ano,inted ones  -
 engaged, namely in that of building the temple. But a better        Literally,  the  two sons of  the  oil. The last word has the
 ,view is that what it: indicated is not his being addressed to      article in Hebrew, indicating that it denotes the well-known
 the task of building the temple but of measuring the temple         oil, namely the oil used in officially anointing. The answer
 as built (see on ii. 2 j. In the final instance the message then    `of the interpreting angel may be regarded as applying to the
 is this: Jehovah shall behold what He has accomplished -- `two trees as well.                0
 through Christ in His Spirit He has gathered His church -              The symbols of this vision set forth the same truths as
 and He shall be refreshed. Implied is the thought that the          those of the discourse of Christ in' which He declares him-
 church shall surely be gathered, that thus the day of big           self to be the true vine and His people the branches and His
 things shall certainly dawn for God's redeemed people, and          Father the husbandman. Corresponding to the vine `are the
 that therefore the day of small things must not be despised;        two branches (including the trees) of our prophet's vision.
                                                                     The pipes and the lamps answer to the branches of the vine,
 11  - 14: The prophet's request for an explanation of the           and the light of the candlesticks to the fruit that the branches
 two olive trees.                                                    bear. If Christ is the vine, then also in the final instance `He
  11.  Answered  - see  on I. 10.  What are these two, olive         is the olive trees and the branches of the vision, that is the
 trees?-  Said to be standing upon the right and the left of         channel of grace. And if His people are the branches of the
 the candlestick. In verse 3 they are located beside the bowl        vine, then also they are the golden pipes of the vision in-
 because it serves for receiving and containing the oil.             cluding the lamps. Should the branches become separated
     12. Without waiting for a reply to his first question he        from the vine, they could do nothing. They could bear no
 addresses a second one to his companion. But looking away           fruit. They would wither and die. So, too, the pipes and
 from the olive trees he now concentrates on the two branches.       the lamps in the vision. Should they become separated from
 The reason is not stated. It is doubtful whether it was ow-         the olive trees, they would go out. So, too, the church,
ing to the fact that they were the only branches bearing             should she become separated from Christ. For the seat and
 fruit ; or that in some other respect they were different from      channel of the life of the church is not the church, is not
 the rest. A sufficiently plausible explanation is that it was       the branches, is not  .the golden pipes and the lamps but
 through the two branches that the trees were connected with         Christ. But the fountain of Her life is Christ's Father, the
 the candlestick and that, therefore, it need not be assumed         triune  J.ehovah. The fulness of the Godhead that dwells in
 that the prophet was distinguishing between the two branches        Christ is the Father's. The Father fills Him in order that
 and the trees. There is another translation of 12b: "What           He may urge the Father's life in Him into His branches.
 are the two olive branches, which are beside the two golden         "Abide in me," says Christ, therefore, to His people. "For
 spouts, that empty the golden -oil out of. themselves ?" But                           -  (Cowtiwed   on  fmge  301)


       300                                          T H E   STANDA'RD   B E A R E R

       II                                                                   But all these attempts do not simply end in failure, but they
                    FROM HOLY WRIT                                     II are a failure in their very essence and nature. Think of all
                                                                            the attempts of .the world for the settlement of the world's
                                                                            ills, as it bleeds out of a thousand wounds. Wars and rumors
                      Exposition of I Corinthians 1-4                       of wars are the order of the day  ; all is vanity, and all is
                                                                            perishing.
II                                      12.
                                                                                Could Paul possibly preach such wisdom ?
              Let us continue in our exposition of I Cor. 2 :6-9 in this        On the contrary he speaks wisdom amongst the perfect.
       essay. In our former article we might discuss, rather in de-         And it is a wisdom which the world does not know.
       tail, the "pedagogical approach" of Paul here in this polemic            It never is the controlling directive in their life.
       with the church of God at Corinth. We shall not repeat.,                 For what is wisdom ?
       Nor shall we lose sight of this implicit pedagogy of Paul in            Wisdom is more than theory. It is more than intellectual
       this letter.                                                         knowledge and pursuit. Wisdom is practical and it always
              On the contrary, we shall constantly keep in mind that        views life, its problems, its solutions from the viewpoint of
       Paul is addressing those who are "sanctified in Christ" and          the best means to. the highest end. Such is wisdom in the
       that they are such since they are "called saints" who have           world as they don't understand the Word of the Cross. And
       been called into the fellowship of His Son. (`Chap. 1 :1-g).         such is also the wisdom in those who live by the .Word of
       Neither shall we overlook the fact, that Paul here makes a           the Cross and in its saving power through the Holy Spirit.
       contrast between the church and the world in our text, that             The wisdom of,the Cross, the wisdom of God in Mystery,
       is, between those who are "perfect," having. the mind of             that is, a wisdom only known by God's revelation, both ob-
       Christ, and those who are "the rulers of this world" and who         jectively in the coming of Christ and subjectively by the
       do not know the wisdom of God in the Mystery of godliness            illumination of the Holy Spirit, is never known by the rulers'
       that is great !                                                      of this world. They serve Satan, and, therefore, receive this
              This building upon this contrast between the church and       power  tct rule. He is the prince of  tkis  world.  John  14:30.
      the world is the only sound pedagogy ; it is the pedagogy of          Under this ruler of this world the rulers of this world are
       Scripture  .which says : "since ye are the perfect in Christ -       "inspired" unto a walk of the false prophet. They cannot
       walk as such saints !" Do I still hear someone mutter under          see the plan of God unfolding while they see it being unfolded
       his breath : "Condition !" I reply; speak  up,  don't whisper. by God before their very eyes. It is hid from them. Not that
       and mutter and weep, but just try to-make this: prerequidte.         the Gospel is not clearly proclaimed by Christ, the Apostles
       a.ct!  Then the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, will           and all the faithful witnesses of the Word of the Cross. Nay,
       cut off your evil machinations by the very roots! Try to             this worldly wisdom is his since God's wisdom is not "re-
       speak this "wisdom" in the godless world unto their sanc-            vealed" unto them in the "inner man," enlightening the eyes,
       tification, and try to find a fit pedagogical motive for this in     of their hearts !
       Scripture and in the Reformed Confessions ! It simply cannot            Here is Divine drama. Here is infinite tragedy that can-
       be done. Wherefore let,us not attempt to be wiser than God           not ever be turned into a "Divine Comedy"! Here a Dante
       with..whom  is understanding from the days of yore!                  must be quiet and certainly be brought to nought! Ah, here
              ,Howbeit, Paul says: we speak wisdom amongst the per-         Schopenhauer  must speak in the midst of the ruins of
       fect !                                                               civilization of the "Vanity of vanities," without saying with
               In this passage three matters still claim our attention.     the Preacher : the sum of the whole matter is this ; fear God
             In the first place, we should further notice what the text     and keep, His commandments, for such is the whole duty of
       here emphasizes. Paul does not at all spea,k the language of         man ! All he can say in the bitterness of his spirit: I cannot
       the rulers of this world. These rulers of this world speak the       agree with Leibnitz that this is "the best possible world"!
       language of those who are the victims of the Vanity of zmni-             Shall we glorify all this "wisdom of this world"?
       ties, which the Preacher sought out and set in writing in the           God forbid !
       Book of Ecclesiastes. They go in circles in their wisdom, the           Nay, we shall try to see with sanctified eyes that God's
       "vicious circle" of all things and, therefore, must surely in        ways are in the Holy Place, even when evil men fail to see
       their wisdom constantly be destroyed. Such is the import of          this way of God, which is veiled in "Mystery," and which
       the passive, `present participle : foon ka.targoztmenoon  . They     can only be known by those to whom it is revealed!
       are everlastingly engaged in the battle of earthly, natural and         Does not Paul say in his great sermon, recorded to us in
       demonical consideration. Their vision and activities are             Acts 13, and spoken in Antioch of Pisidia in the Jewish syn-
       limited to the earthly. They have no eye for the Lord of             agogue, that "they,that  dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers,
       glory, a new heaven and a new earth. Such is, the principle          because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the proph-
       of all the Kingdoms. of,this world. Hence, they -are engaged         ets which are read `every sabbath day, they have fulfilled
       in the pursuit of making this wor1d.a better place to live in.       them in conde%&ng Him, and though they found no cause


                                              TH,E  S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                        301
   -             -         -___-
  of death in Him, yet desired they Pilate that He should be          to the end, only to be called out itit0 the night in which Jesus
  slain . .  ." Acts 13  ~27. And, again, do we not hear Jesus        is betrayed.- And Pilate will not be able to not condemn  an
  stop the mouth of the Sadducees, three days before His              innocent man to death, and crucify the Lord of glory, ,in spite
  crucifixion, telling them that they know neither the Scrip-         of the pleadings of his wife that he have nothing to do with
  tures nor the power of ,God .? And were these Sadducees not         this man.
  "rulers of the world," enemies of the Cross of Christ and               Oh, had these known it their "wicked hands" would not
  of His. glorious resurrection, and thus ignorant of God's           have crucified our Lord.
  wisdom in the Lord of glory ?                                          Yes, the wisdom in mystery neve'r entered into the heart
        But there is more in Scripture which clearly casts much       of  man. It ent&red really into the heart of no one. Not even
  light on this ignorance of the rulers of this world.                into the heart of the disciples nearest to Him. Peter will.
     Is there anything that quite shows the Divine irony in           defend Him, and then, when this is not permitted by Jesus,
  taking men in their own craftiness like the speech of Caia-         he will deny Him thrice. And it did not enter into the heart
phas ? This high-priest in Israel, after the order of Aaron,          .of any flesh and blood. Only when it is revealed, and to whom
  unwittingly utters the full wisdom of God, without realizing        it is revealed, is this Myst&y.known.  And.the  rest continue
  it, when he says, "Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that        in their worldly wisdom and,  iherefore,   are perishing.
  it is expedient for us,  tha.t one ?yzan should die for tke peo-      These latter receive  no grace under the `preaching. It  is
  ple,  a,nd that the whole nation  pe&h  n.ot."  Remarkable          hid from them. They still do not understand the "Mysteries
  utterance of Caiaphas ! It reminds us of the utterances of          of the Kingdom." Where is the  @minian "common grace"
  Balaam when Israel is in the desert of Sinai. For the Holy          which a certain church in 1924 tried to combine with the
  Spirit in John tells us, "And this spake he not of himself:         Kuyperian  theory df "general grace  ?" It too perishes !
  but being high priest  that year, he prophesied that Jesus            Nay, says Patil, "we speak wisdom amongst the perfect."
  should die for that nation. And not for, that nation only, but         And we?
  that also he should gather together in one the children of             We shall say it with Paul. We shall speak the Word
  God that were scattered abroad." And to make the. Divine            of the Cross. It defies all  human~abnbeZiez6ng  logic, while it
  Wisdom all the more. majestic, according to the determinate         is the highest Logic of faith itself.
  c&ms'el  and foreknowledge of God they make a formal reso-             Arid thus we will glory in the Lord, believing that the
  lution on this meeting where Caiaphas spoke, that all  at-          Lord bf glory will lay all the unbelievers low, and will crush
  telilpts  will be  inade   td put Jesus to death, albeit not the    them with the Majesty of .Hi& rod of iron.                 .G. L.
  death of the Cross. See verse 53 idem.
     And to the bitter end we may see this wisdom of men                               T.HE  D A Y   6F  S H A D O W S
  and the Wisdom of God in their interrelation and interplay.            ._                (Contimed   Tram  page 299)
  Think of the short notice in John 18:31, 32, where we read,         without me,  ybu  can do nothing," and in the  wo:ds of our
  "Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him and  judge him             prophet, "Not by power, nor by might, but by my Spirit,
  according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It         saith the Lord of hosts." That stand by JdLovak`of all the
  is unlawful for us to  put any man to death." And now               whole  earth.  That is where Christ stands everlastingly as
  notice carefully what the Divine record says here : "That the       Mediator of God and tian - He stands before His Father,
  saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which he spake, signifying       the Jehovah of the whole earth.
  what death he  shotild die."                                           But there is finally this question, `namely tihether -in the
     Here we see that the rulers of this world do not know            first instance the two  bran&es symbolize Joshua the  high-
  the Wisdom of God in Mystery, as the Christ in this                 priest, and Zerubbabel the prince. This is the prevalent
  Wisdom is the embodiment of all the power and grace of              view amorig the commentators. It all depends on iYhether  it
  God. He becomes unto us from God wisdom, righteousness,             can be said that each in his official capacity was in a sense
  sanctification and complete redemption ! And while this is          serving as a channel of  thik  Spirit,~  that is of grace. Per-
  being realized they do not understand the Scriptures nor            haps in a sense they did, seeing that each typified Christ in
  the power of God.                                                   his own way and seeing that Jehovah through them as His
     Had they understood they would not have crucified the            organs instructed, blessed and ruled His .people.
  Lord of Glory.                                                                                                            G .   M .   0 .
     But now it never entered into the heart of man the things
  God was performing on the Cross for His own. Caiaphas                             No; let the world cast but our name,
  laid dbwn  his head that night and smiled in the thought that                       And vile account us if it will ;
  he had influenced the Sanhedrin to a decision in regard to                        -If to confess our Lord be shame,
  this-man who was a danger  to the nation, bringing down the                         Oh, then would we be viler still.
 wrath of the  Remans  upon their heads. He did not under-                          For thee, 0 Lord, we all resign,
  stand.- And, the entire Sanhedrin will push their program                    .    Content that Thou dost call US Thine.

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

         SHOULD ELDERS BE PERMANENTLY IN                                 27 of the C.  0.. the Reformed churches actually discard
                               OFFICE                                    the conception of permanent eldership ai having no norm-
                                                                         ative or regulatory value, regardless of its historical pre-
         In the sphere of Presbyterian church government there           cedence.
   exist chiefly two conceptions as to the length of `time  PO             In this light the question, Should elders be permanently in
   which an elder is elected to serve .in the office. On the one         office  ? evolves into the more concrete question, Is term eldey-
 hand, there are those who maintain that an election to the              ship to be maintained, to the exclusion of permanent elder-
   office of elder constitutes a permanent appointment. Under            ship, as normative and regulatory for the church of Christ
   this conception one elected to the office of elder remains an         in the world ? And in answering the question in this form
   elder for life, or until such a time when he ceases to be a mem-      we take a more positive approach to the Reformed concep-
   ber of that particular denomination. Even the inability to ex-        tion and practice, and, if possible, can thus better re-affirm
   ercise the duties of oKice  due to age or other circumstances, or     our position over against that of those maintaining permanent
   transfer of membership from one  con&egation  to another, eldership.                                                        .
   does not terminate his eldership. Hence, a member of that                To the question, Is term eldership normative and regula-
   particular denomination, if once elected to the office of elder,      tory for the church in the world ? the Presbyterian Church
is an office-bearer for life. This conception is generally re-           in the U.S.A., as officially maintaining permanent, eldership,
   ferred to as permanent eldership.                                     g&es a negative answer. For she positively asserts that,
         The other conception existing in the sphere of Presbyte-        -whereas Scripture is definitely silent on this matter, while at
   rian church government iS commonly called term eldership.             the same time the early church practised permanent elder-
   According to this conception elders are elected to office for         ship, and -that under the guidance of the apostles, permanent
   a limited time only, tit the expiration of which those elected        eldership thus is both normative and regulatory for the
   cease to hold office, and after which they must be re-elected         church. Term eldership, therefore, has neither the sanction
   in order to hold office once again. According to this con-            of Scripture nor the apostles, nor of the early church by way
   ception then, an election does not constitute a permanent ap-         of precedent; permanent eldership, on the other hand having
   pointment,  put rather a limited one, which terminated ac-            at least the sanction of the apostles as well as that of the
   cording to rules and regulations `existing at the time and            early church, and is therefore, according to them, the rule
   place of election to the office.                                      that must be followed.
         The former of these two views is-perhaps the most an-               Our fathers, however, interpreted the silence of Scrip-
   cient, probably existing, in practise at least, since the days        ture, as well as the silent sanction of the apostles with respect
   of the apostolic church. Permanent' eldership, although in a          to the practise of the early church, in a different light. Ac-
   modified form, was most likely  pradtised  from the days of           cording to them a modified form of permanent eldership was
   the early church until such a time, when, prior to the Re-            practised with a view td prevailing circumstances. Few were
   formation,  >he office of elder literally disappeared under the       the men, who only recently converted from Judaism and
   Roman Catholic hierarchy. And then again, after the Re-               heathenism, were capable of exercising the office and duties of
   formation, when the office of elder once more received its            elder. Hence, for the good of the early church, these men
   rightful place in the church, the practise of permanent elder-        were retained in their office. Hence also, the practise of per-
   ship also re-asserted itself in the Protestant church. Historic-      manent eldership need not be the norm for the church.
   ally, therefore, this view has the pre-eminence.                          Then too, our fathers, still smarting from the painful
         For, term eldership has its historical birth recorded for us    bondage of the Roman Catholic hierarchy from which they
   on the pages of' the Reformation. At this time, especially            were only recently delivered, too clearly understood that
   through the instrumentality of Calvin, the. re-institution of         because .of following the precedent set by the early chui-ch,
   the office of elder to its rightful place in the church is  ac-       the church of pi-e-Reformation days had literally lost the
   conipanied by the first appearance of the practice of term            office of elder altogether, and therefore, also her liberty. For,
   eldership. Term eldership, therefore, is of comparatively re-         in. subjecting the office of elder to the precedent of-permanent
   cent beginnings,  -while permanent eldership was  practisea           eldership, she in turn had allowed herself to be brought under
   from the time that-the office was in the church.                      the subjection of willfully wicked men. And under this sub-
         Hvwkver,  in spite of its comparative youth, term elder-        jection she lost all her liberty, as well as the ability to carry
   ship is still maintained exclusively in the Reformed churches,        out her calling as church, namely, to. continuously subject
   in our country as well as in Europe. Fact is, that under the          herself to her Lord, and that as antithetically opposed to all
   influence of Calvin, the Reformed churches maintain term              wickedness and powers of darkness. Permanent eldership had
   eldership to  the extent of incorporating this conception, as         proved itself, not only as void of  norma'tive value, but as
   normative and regulatory for the churches, in the  Churcll            detrimental to the church in the world.
   Order of Dort (161%19))  Article 27:. Moreover, in maintain-              Through the practise of permanent eldership men were
   ing term elderShip  practically, and in harmony with Article          elected to the office of elder until  .such a time when they


                                                   THE.STAND.ARD   -BEARER.                                                              303
__
       could no longer serve or until by reason of death others had         Hence,  her very first calling as church in the world is to
       to be elected to take their place. And, as is always the case        manifest her loving obedience to Christ by appointing faithful
       in the world, the church is continually attacked by the powers       office-bearers.
       of darkness, which, in seeking to gain the rule over the                 Moreover, this calling of the church in the world is a con-
       church, were at the same time seeking her overthrow. And             tinuous -calling. Always and ever, as long as she is in the
       as was the case already in the early church, so also through-        world and in the flesh the church is called, antithetically  over
       out the pre-Reformation days the offices were often attacked         against them, to manifest her loving obedience to her righ!-
      -through fhe instrumentality of wicked men, in order that             ful Lord, and thus to manifest herself as God's peculiar
       through the  bffices the entire church might be brought under        people, His wonder work of grace. Never may she rest from
       the scepter of Satan. In gaining control of the office of elder      this calling. Nor can she. The powers of sin and darkness
       men were able to subject the preaching of the Word to the            and her own flesh unceasingly attack her. Always they wait
       realization of their sinful lust for power and glory. Through        for an opening through which to  gain the rule over the
       the exercise of the office also the congregation could be            church. She cannot cease her vigilance. Nor may she. For
       brought under subjection to their carnal desires. And all this       h&r Lord calls her to continual obedience to Him.
       actually took place, with the result that man, under the                 With a, view to this calling the fathers of the Reforma-
       guise of the authority of Christ, raised up for himself an in-       tion understood that no longer could the church follow a
       fallible pope, whose word became law, and before whom                precedent of the early ,church,  which was  practised in. the
       every knee must bow. Such was the result, inevitably so              light of circumstances. But rather, in harmony with her
       because of sin, of the prtictise  of permanent eldership. And        continuous calling, she must be at liberty to continually ap-
       no wonder, then, that our fathers in experiencing the glorious       point or re-appoint men to. the office of elder, in order that
       liberty of the church of post-Reformation days would not             she would thus  be able to reassure herself that she could
       again subject themselves to a mere precedent.                        subject herself to her Lord. At no time may she regulate her
          Positively, however, the fathers of the Reformation also          affairs here below in a mariner that would hinder her as to
       began  to understand, and at the same time set forth the true        her calling, and thuS also enable the powers of darkness to
       relation of the office to the church, as well as the relation        bring her into bondage. She, the church of Christ, must so
      `between her calling as church and her liberty. to select men         regulate her life in the world. that she maintains the liberty
       for the office of elder, and to determine the length of time         wherewith Christ-has made her free.
       to which they a;e appointed to serve.                                    Therefore, not permanent eldership, but term eldership
          The calling of the church in the world is one according to        is  today normative in the Reformed churches. Such is in
      - which she must, as antithetically opposed to all the powers         harmony with, and conducive to, her calling as the church
       of darkness, the devil and the world, as well as her own             in the world, as well as to her manifestation as the body of
       sinful flesh, subject herself to her rightful .Lord. In the world    Christ.                                              G. Lanting
       then, she is called to be a separate people, distinct from the
       world as it lies in darkness, and thus manifest herself as              "But when God accomplishes his good pleasure in the elect,
       the people of the Living God, as the body of Christ, and as          or works in them true conversion, . he not only cause the
       subject to Him alone. And one aspect of this calling lies in         gospel to be externally preached to them, and powerfully il-
       the fact that to her belongs the task of appointing men to           lumines their mind by his Holy Spirit, that they may rightly
       the office of elder in the church.. That is, in the office the       understand and discern the things of the Spirit of (God ; but
       church has the only channel through which Christ exercises           by the efficacy of the same Spirit, pervades the inmost re-
       His authority and rule over His people. And He has been              cesses of the man  ; he opens the closed- and softens the
       pleased to use men as instruments` to carry out Hjs rule.            hardened heart, and circumcises that which is uncircumcised,
       When, therefore, in appointing men to the office, the church         infuses new qualities into the will, which though heretofore
       chooses faithful men, she by that very deed manifests that           dead, he quickens; from  being  evil, disobedient and re-
       she subjects herself to the rule of her Lord. Fact is, that          fractory, he renders it good, obedient and pliable ; actuates
       when the church faithfully appoints men of her number, who           and strengthens it, that like a good tree, it may bring forth
       manifest themselves as subject to the rule of Christ, she es-        the fruits of good actions."
       sentially fulfills her calling in the world. In' the appointment                                Canons of Dort, III, IV, Article I1
       of God-fearing men capable of ruling her in the name of
        Christ, the church at the same time opposes the powers of                "Give thy blessing to our admonitions, that we may have
       darkness which also seek to rule over her. And if, at any            reason thereby fo rejoice again in him, for whom we must
       time, she fails to  giire. diligence in appointing the proper        now mourn, and that thy holy name may be praised, through
        office-bearers, by that very token she manifests rebellion          our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath taught us to pray . . . . ."
        against her -Lord and subjection to `the powers of _ darkness1                         From Prayer of "Form of Excommunication"

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

                                                                        itself can forfeit the right of administering it. For each is a
            Contending For The Faith                                 II sacrament; and each is given to man by the same consecra-
                                                                        tion -the one when he is baptized, and the other when he is
                                                                        ordained : therefore, in the Catholic church (we again remark
             The Church and the Saciaments                              that this must not be confused with the Roman Catholic
   VIEWS DURING THE SECOND PERIOD  (300-750  A.D.)                      Church of today - H.V.) neither dare be repeated" (c: ep.
                                                                        Parm. ii. 12.  28).  This is explained by the fact that these
                           BAPTISM (2).                                 sacraments  impavt to the  Yecipient  a permanent  character
       We introduced our preceding article with the observation          (I underscore-  H.V.) : "just as baptism, so ordination
that great significance was attached to the sacrament of  Bap-          revtzains   zwhole  in them" (ib). Baptism and ordination im-
tismduring  this second period of the history of the Church             press upon man a fixed "do&&al  character." This military
of God in the New Dispensation. By it both original and                 form of expression implies that, as there is a military brand
actual sins (committed before  baptism) were removed. That               (nota  &ita&  ) whose significance continues through the
this power was ascribed to this sacrament appears from sev-             whole life, so also baptism and ordination have a perpetual
eral quotations. We concluded our preceding article with                and indelible (the term employed by the Middle Ages) force
the promise that we would quote Augustine in connection                 for the recipient  Cc. ep. Parm. ii. 13. 29). There remains in
with his views on this subject. However, before we quote                him something sacred, a sa:nct~m~. The spirit is preserved to
this learned Church Father, let us first of all quote from              him, not in a moral sense, but in the sense of an official equip-
Philip Schaff  who presents the views of Augustine as follows :         ment . . . . . The peculiarities of the separate sacraments may
       "In Augustine we already find all the germs of the schol- .be briefly stated. Baptism, as the  sacmamentzm  rewissionis
astic and Catholic doctrine of baptism, though they hardly              pecca.toruwz   (bapt. V. 21. 29) works the forgiveness of sins,
agree properly with his doctrine of predestination, the ab-             primarily the forgiveness of the guilt of original concupis-
solute sovereignty of divine grace and the perseverance of              cence; in this consists its chief efficacy (cf. p. 314). Augustine`
saints. According to his view, baptism is the sacrament of              frequently speaks of a blotting out of sins (e.g., by bap-
regeneration, which is, negatively, the means of the forgive-           tism . . . sins are destroyed). Discrimination is to be made
ness of sin, that is, both of original sin and of actual sins           between this forgiveness once granted and the recurring for-
committed before baptism (not  ajter  it), and positively,              giveness of daily sins in response to the fifth peiition of the
.the foundation of the new spiritual life of faith through the          Lord's Prayer. Augustine, however, made the latter depen-
impartation of the  gvatia  opemn  and  co-ojerans. The sub-            dent upon the former : "by that which is given once it comes
jective condition of this effect is the worthy receiving, that          to pass that pardon of any sins whatsoever, not only before
is, penitent faith. Since  ,in the child there is no actual sin,        but also afterward, is granted to believers." Prayer, alms,
the effect of baptism in this case is limited to the remission          and good works would bring no forgiveness to the Christian
of the guilt  bf original sin  ; and since the child cannot yet         if he were not baptized . . _ .The first blessing is the forgive-
itself believe, the Christian church (represented by the parents        ngss of sins, which man receives through baptism. With it
and the sponsors) here appears in its behalf, as Augustine              begins renewal (renovatioj, which  .finds here its basis. Sin
likewise supposed,  and,assumes  the responsibility of the edu-         is, therefore, forgiven through baptism. Concupiscence, how-
cation of the baptized child to'christian  majority."-                  ever, yet remains even in the baptized ; but it is no longer
       Reinhold Seeberg,  iti his book : The History of Doctrines,      sin, because God no longer so accounts it . . . Hence, Christ
writes as follows, and we quote : "The opposition between the           died as a sacrifice for sin, as our representative, and He arose
Donatistic and Catholic churches was based upon their dif-              as an evidence of the new life brought to us by Him. We
ferent conceptions of the sacraments.* From the time of the             have a reflection of this in baptism, as we die to sin and live
Council of Arles (A.D. 316-H.V.), the great point of dis-               through the washing  df regeneration (42). All, therefore,
cussion was  whethe;  baptism and ordination administered by            have need of baptism. Children thereby die to original sin,
an unworthy person retained their validity. Augustine's views           and adults also to the further sins actually committed (43).
concerning the sacraments, by an inner necessity, determined            The aim of baptism is the "remission of sins" (44 and 51;
his attitude upon this question. The sacraments are gifts of            cf. supra, pp. 322,  349)." Finally,  Seeberg  quotes the de-
God and the moral condition of the administrator cannot                 crees of Orange, which synod met in 530 or 531 to put an end
detract from the valud  of the gift conveyed: "What he gives            to the Semipelagian controversy: "The leading, ideas of this
is, nevertheless, real (verumj , if he gives not what is his            dqctrinal  decision are as follows : Both Pelagianism  and Semi-
own, but God's" (c. litt. Pet. ii. 30. 69 ; unit. cccl. 2i.  5s).       peligianism are. in conflict with the "rule of Catholic faith."
Only thus is the result certain and salvation dependent upon `By the sin of Adam, he himself and all his posterity were
G.od, not upon men. It is not. the intercession of men, but that        ruined in body and soul. Not only death but sin also, has
of Christ, which helps us (d. litt; Pet. i. 3 ,4.; c. ep. Parm. ii.     through Adam come upon the whole human race (1, 2, 3).
8 .16). `No reason is shown why he who cannot lose baptism              "No one has of himself anything except falsehood and sin"


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 305

  `(22a). The free will has been inclined and weakened in such         by his sacrilege his sins were not remitted, yet, when he
  a way that man of himself can neither believe in God nor love        corrects his error, and comes over to the communion and
  Him (25b). If man even before the fall was unable without            unity of the Church, he ought not to, be again baptized: be-
  the help of his Creator to maintain his original integrity,          cause by his very reconciliation to the peace of the Church he
  "how shall he be able without the grace of God to recover            receives this benefit, that the sacrament now begins in unity
  what he has lost?' (19). The grace of God works in  US               to be of avail for the remission of his sins, which could not
  the impulse to call upon God and to strive after purification,       so avail him as received in schism.
  as also faith. ,Grace is an "infusia et operatio" of the Spirit          "But if they should say that in the man who has ap-
  (4). That we believe, and that we will or are able to do             proached the sacrament in deceit, his sins are indeed removed
  these things as we ought, is wrought in- us through. the in-. -by the holy power of so great a sacrament at the moment
  fusion and inspiration of the Holy Spirit (7, cf. ib. : "in con-     when he received it, but return immediately in consequence
  senting to and believing the truth"). The faith thus in-             of his deceit: so that the Holy Spirit has both been present
  spired by God impels us to baptism (25 H., p. 152). It is            with him at his baptism for the removal of his sins, and has
  baptism which renews our will: "the choice of the will,              also fled before his perseverance in deceit so that they should
  weakened in the first man, cannot be repaired except through         return : so that both declarations prove true,  - both, `As
 the grace of baptism" (13)  ." -thus far the quotatidn from           many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on
  Seeberg.                                                             Christ  ;' and also, `The holy spirit of discipline will flee
     In the writings of Augustine against the Donatists we             deceit ;' - that is to say, that both the holiness of baptism .
  quote the following (it is well to remember that Augustine,          clothes him with Christ, and the sinfulness of deceit strips
 iri these quotations, is contending with the Donatists who            hini of Christ: like the case of a man who passes from dark-
 maintained that the sacrament of .baptism  as' administered by        ness through light into darkness again, his eyes being always
 heretics should not be recognized. Cyprian, too, maintained           directed towards darkness, though the light cannot but
 this position. Augustine, `however, did not .favor  rebaptism.        penetrate them as he passes  ; -if they should say this, let
  Nevertheless, in these quotations Augustine gives expression         them understand that this is also the case with those who are
 to his views on the sacrament of baptism- H.V.) : "What               baptized without the  ,pale of the Church, but yet with the
 if he approached baptism itself in deceit? were his sins re-          baptism of the Church, which is holy in itself, wherever it
 mitted, or were they not? Let them choose which they will.            may be; and which  theref0r.e  belongs not to those who
 Whichever they choose will answer our purpose. If they                separate themselves, but to the body from which they are
 say they were remitted, how  then shall `the Holy Spirit of           separated ; while yet it avails even among theni  so far, that
 discipline flee deceit,' if in him who was full of deceit             they pass through its light, back to their own darkness, their
 He worked remission of sins  ? If they say -they were                 sins, which in that moment had been dispelled by the holiness
not remitted, I ask whether, if he should afterwards                   of baptism,  returning immediately upon them, as though it
 confess his sin with contrition of heart and true sorrow,             were the darkness returning which the light had dispelled
 it would be judged that he ought to be baptized again.                while they were passing through it?
 And if it is mere madness to assert this, then let them con-              We will continue with this quotation of the  eminent
 fess that a man can be baptized with the true baptism of              Church Father in our following article. However, we should
 Christ, and that yet his heart, persisting in malice or sacrilege,    notice the following in this quotation, also in that part which
 may not allow remission of sins to be given ; and so let them         we will quote, the Lord willin,,
                                                                                                      m in our following article. First,
 understand that men may be baptized in communions severed             Augustine apparently teaches here that a person's sins are
 from the Church, in which Christ's baptism is given and               removed at the time of baptism but that they return in con-
 received in the said celebration of the sacrament, but that it        sequence of his deceit and if  be walks in ways of sin and
 will only then be of avail for the remission of sins, when the        evil. This certainly appears to be a strange doctrine to  us.
 recipient, being reconciled to the unity of the Church, is            Augustine, however, expresses himself thus because of the
 purged from the sacrilege of deceit, by which his sins were           power which he ascribes to the sacrament of baptism. Sec-
 retained, and their remission prevented. For, as in the case          ondly, the benefit of baptism is only on the condition of
 of him who had approached the sacrament in deceit there is            repentance and faith. He does not ascribe magical power to
 no second baptism, but he is purged by faithful discipline            the water as such of the sacrament.                        H.V.
 and truthful confession, which he could not be without bap-
 tism, so that what was given before becomes then powerful                 "Granted that the sorrow of sin increases proportionately
 to work his salvation, when the former deceit is done away            to the knowledge of sin and growth in grace, yet from its very
 by the truthful confession ; so also in the case of the man           inception such sorrow belongs to conversion, and is an es-
 who, while an enemy to the peace and love of Christ, recei<ed         sential counterpart of the newness of life. Luke 15 :16; 1s :13 :
 in any heresy or schism the baptism of Christ, which the              Acts 2 :37 ; 9 :6 ; 16 :3."
  schismatics  in question had not lost from among them, though               Bavinck's Dogmatics, page 144, Faith and Conversion

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

                                                                             at last we have the Reformed construction of the doctrine
 11         The Voice of Our Fathers /I of Christ's atonement as such. Here Dordt comes directly to
 81                                                             _       4 grips with the statement of Article II of the Remonstrance:
                   The Canons of Dordrecht                                   "That, agreeably thereto, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the
                                                                             world, died for all men and for every man, so that he has
                                PART TWO                                     obtained for them all, by his death on the cross, redemption
                     E XPOSITION  6~  THE  C ANONS                           and the forgiveness of sins; yet that no one actually enjoys
                     SECOND  HEAD  OF  DOCTRINE                              this forgiveness of sins except the believer.",. This' is the
                                                                             doctrine denoted by the name "limited atonement,"  - a
        O F THE  D EATH   OFCHRIST,   A N D THE  R E D E M P T I O N         name which surely may be used, provided we understand
                           O F   M~ti T H E R E B Y                          clearly the  liewitat~ion   of that atonement.
               Article 8. For this was the sovereign counsel, and                And a more beautiful and clear expression of the doctrine
               most gracious will and purpose of God the Father,             `of Christ's atonement it is difficult to find in any other creed.
               that the quickening and saving efficacy of the most           Its first beauty is its conciseness: the fathers speak here
               precious death of his Son should extend to all the
               elect, for bestowing upon them alone the gift of              language that allows but one meaning, and that too, language
               justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to         that anyone can understand. This doctrine is simple and lucid,
               salvation: that is, it was the will of God, that Christ       and finds at once a place in the heart of the simplest believer.
               by the blood of the cross, whereby he confirmed the           Secondly,  its beauty consists  in;the fact that it presents the
               new covenant, should effectually redeem out of every          death of Christ and the redemption of men thereby in its
               people, tribe, nation, and language, all those, and
               those only, who were from eternity chosen to salva-           organic position in the whole scheme of our salvation, as it
               tion, and given to him by  the Father; that he  should        stands unbreakably connected with the fountain and cause of
               confer upon them faith, which together with all the           every saving good, on the one harid,  and, on the othec.  hand,
               other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit, he purchased           with the goal of that salvation, namely, that we are at last
               for them by his death; should purge them from all
               sin, both original and actual, whether committed  ,be-        brought "free from every spot and blemish to the enjoyment
               fore or after believing  ; and having faithfully preserved    of glory in his own presence forever."
               them even to the end, should at last bring them free              Let  us note the elements of this article a little. more in
               from every spot and blemish to the enjoyment of               detail.
               glory in his own presence forever.                                In the first place, the article throws all eniphasis  upon the
       There are in the above version; of this article no serious            sovereign decree of election : "This was the sovereign counsel,
 deviations from the meaning of the original Latin, and the                  and most gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that
few minor departures we will not here note.                                  the. quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death
       It is in this eighth paragraph undoubtedly .that we find              of his Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon
 the very heart of the entire Second Head of Doctrine. Here                  them alonk the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring
 is the key to the understanding of all the other articles of                them infallibly to salvation." And again: "It was the will of
 this'chapter of our Cafzons.  Without this article, it is safe to           God, that Christ by the blood of the cross . . . should'effectu-
 say, it is impossible to maintain any real distinction between              ally redeem . . . all those, and those only, who were from
 the Reformed and the Arminian doctrines concerning "The                     eternity chosen to salvation, and given to  birn by the Father."
 Death of Christ, and the Redemption of Men Thereby."                        Here, therefore, we are concerned with the question: for
 Ignore this article, for example, and you can very easily read              whom did Christ die, and, how was it determined for whom
 an Arminian content into the well-known fifth article, con-                 He should die? Or, theologically stated, the question is:
 cerning the promise of the gospel. Take Article 3 in separa-                what was the will and intention of God in the death of our
 tion from Article 8, and you will readily conclude that also                Lord Jesus  ChriSt?                                             -.
 the fathers of Dordrecht after all believed in general atone-                   The Arminian is usually said to teach general, or uni-
 ment. Read Article 6 out of the context of Article 8, and you               versal, atonement. And this is, to be sure, correct in a sense.
 cannot explain that there is no defect or insufficiency in.the              But if atonement be taken in the sense of "quickening and
 sacrifice offered by Christ-on the cross. Nor, in Article 7,                saving efficacy of the death of Christ," then also the Arminian
 whep taken apart from this eighth article, can you truly main-              limits this atonement. `He does this in devious ways, and by
 tain that those that believe are indebted for their salvation               means of a very involved process of reasoning. But after all,
 solely to the grace of God. And that our fathers intended                   he too must face the facts that not all men are actually saved,
this article to occupy exactly such a key position in relation               and that the Scriptures speak of election and of the fact that
 to the rest `of the chapter is evident from their use of the                Christ laid down  His"`life  for the sheep. And so he limits
 conjunction "for," which indicates that here is the reason, the             atonement  also. But he limits it after God, according to the
 basis, for all the doctrinal constructions of  the' death of Christ         Arminian conception, has made it general. Christ's atone-
 and the redemption of men in the foregoing articles. Here                   ment is limited by the will of the sinner. And so he actually


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R '                                               307

denies both the sovereign counsel and most gracious, will and       are implied in that salvation. The article emphasizes especi-'
purpose of God, and the-quickening and saving efficacy of the       ally the gift of "justifying faith." This is undoubtedly done
death of Christ.                                                    for two reasons:  1) Justification is the primary blessing of
   But we must understand, therefore, just what is meant by         salvation: if we  are.justified, righteous before God, it can
"limited atonement." It means that Christ died, accord&g tq         never fail that He will bless us,with  all the blessings of life
God's intention, for all the elect, and for them alone. It means    eternal. And, 2) The faith whereby we are justified was by
that God never intended anything else than that the quicken-        the Arminian made the condition of salvation, and therefore
ing (life-giving) and saving efficacy (efficacy is actual power     the human limitation of Christ's atonement. But this can
and energy to save and to make alive) should extend to the          never be. Also the justifying faith belongs to the quickening
elect only. And, as would follow from all that the Fathers          and saving efficacy of Christ's death. It belongs to our
have stated already in the First Head of Doctrine, it means         salvation. And it,can  therefore never be a condition of salva-
that this counsel and intention of God; both concerning the         tion. And thus, all the blessings of salvation were acquired
death of Christ and concerning the elect .for whom He died,         for us once and for all time when Christ laid down His life
is sovereign (The Dutch has here  "gans vrije raad," i.e.,          for His sheep. All our salvation is in the blood of the cross,
"most free counsel," which is in harmony with the Latin             in it alone, and in it surely and effectually !
ZibemGmw~ consilizm.)  , most gracious (gracious in the high-          But, in the third place, the article insists on the entire
est conceivable degree, i.e., with no element of works in-          picture of salvation. Lest in any wise it should be imagined
volved whatsoever). Any other conception of election than           that the work of Christ ceases at the cross, and that after the
that which is maintained by the Ca.non,s,  that is, a sovereign,    blessings of salvation have been objectively acquired for us
eternal, unchangeable, definite, personal election, vitiates and    by Christ, the work of men begins, the fathers add that it was
makes null and void any real saving efficacy in the death of        God's "most free counsel, and gracious will and intention"
Christ. And it is worthy of note not only that the Canons           that Christ should "confer upon them (the elect) faith, should
here make the limitation of atonement a divinely sovereign          purge them from all sin, both original and actual, whether
limitation, but that they-literally speak of the purpose of God     committed before or after `believing (which implies that just
in the sense of ,intention. For the English "purpose" in this       as our faith, repentance, works cannot be a condition of our
article is the Latin htentio. God's counsel, His will, and His      salvation, so our sins even after we believe cannot deprive us
intention are identified in the article. There is absolutely no     of our salvation), should faithfully preserve them even to the
room left for another purpose, will, intention, or counsel of       end, and should finally bring them free from every spot and
God according to which He after all desires the salvation of        blemish to the enjoyment of glory in his own present for-
all men.                                                            ever."
   In the second place, the article emphasizes that the atone-          It is all of God in Christ,  .therefore.  Our election,' our
ment of Christ is effectual. The most precious death of His         redemption, the purchase of all the blessings of salvation, the
Son has  pickening  and  saruing  efficacy. It was God's pur-       actual bestowal of those blessings, from faith through justifica-
pose that Christ should  effectztnlly  redeem  His elect. Now,      tion and sanctification and preservation to eternal glory; -
surely a thing is not efficacious if it does not actually ac-       all is sovereignly and effectually bestowed upon us by ,God
complish that which it is designed to accomplish. In fact, it       in Christ.
cannot be called efficacious if it only partly accomplishes what        Two questions force themselves to the foreground:
it is designed to accomplish. If then Christ's death is designed        1. How, in the light of this article, can any Reformed
to accomplish the atonement for and redemption of all men           man dare to maintain the error of a well-meant offer of salva-
and every man, and if, after all, all men and. every man are        tion on the part of God to all men ?
not redeemed, but some men go eternally lost, then Christ's             2. Where in this view of the  Ca.novbs  is there room, not
death is not effectual. And if it is not effectual for the re-      only for the notion of faith as a condition of election, but for
demption of some men, then I cannot be certain that it is           the idea of faith as a condition of anything at all in our
effectual for the redemption of any men ati all. That Christ        s a l v a t i o n   ?                                    H.C.H.
effectually redeems can only mean that He died for certain
men, and that now those men are actually redeemed and                                           Notice
saved to all eternity. But that can only be maintained on               Notice to those eligible to teach, who love our Prot. Ref.
the basis of the truth  : that it was God's intention in the        faith, who feel the need for our covenant youth - The Free
most precious death of His Son to redeem the sovereignly            Christian School Society of Edgerton, Minn., is in need of a
chosen elect, and them only. Further, this effectual redemp-        Principal to teach grades five, six, seven and eight.
tion means, according to the article, that Christ actually ac-          Please send applications to:
,quired' for all the elect, and for them only, all saving gifts.                               Board, Free Chr. School Society
He justified them by paying their debt of guilt, and thereby                                    H. Miersma, Secretary
he purchased their complete salvation, all the blessings that                                   R.R. 1, Box 116, Edgerton,  Mimi.


308 ,                                      TH.E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                     fully kept? Are the children sent to the Christian schobl and
           DECENCY and, ORDER                                        if not, why not? Explain the importance of Christian in-
                                                                     struction and show conclusively from the Word of .Gog that
                                                                     it is the Lord's will that we establish wherever possible
                        Family Visitation                            schools for positive Protestant Reformed instruction. Such is
                                                                     our parental calling without any doubt."
                           ( C o n c l u d e d )                         (Just as I was writing this article I received a phone
                                                                     call, in answer to an objection I had registered, from the
    The interrogation of family visiting must cover every            schoql where. three of my children attend. My objection had
phase of life. In addition to the civil and social sphere, dis-      been to the teaching of the song "Jesus Is Calling" contain-
cussed in our last writing, the following should be consid-          ing the following: "J esus is waiting,  0 come to Him now -
ered :                                                               waiting today, waiting today : . . Jesus is pleading, 0 list tb
    (2)  The  Fa.waily Life: "Dwell on the condition of family       His voice - Hear Him today, hear him today." The prin-
life. Begin with the head of the family and then you might           cipal said to me, "What's wrong with that? We aren't sing-
ask whether family worship is faithfully maintained, family          ing this to those outside but only in the class of covenant
prayers uttered, the Scriptures read at stated times each day        children  ?" I replied to the effect that this made no dif-
with the family and its truths commented upon and con-               ference to me, the point is not in who sings it or to  whom-
sidered. If the answers to these inquiries is negative, there        it is sung but rather in the fact that the song is the lie  -
is room for admonition. Bind upon his heart his calling in           thoroughly Arminian, and I proceeded to tell him that it
this .respect  and encourage him as much as possible to ful-         denies the efficaciousness of the calling and presupposes
fill it." (G. M. 0.)                                                 free-will. The outcome of our conversation was that although
    ln this connection it may be well to  point out the  iv-         he knew that we "Protestants" objected to the song, it need
portance of. true, spiritual family life. The Christian home is      not be barred from the school since he agreed with me that
the center in which the seed of the covenant are to receive          it was consistent with the First Point of `24 ; good Christian '
their basic training. Where this fails, further attempts to          Reformed since Rev. H.  J. Kuiper had also included it in
train by other agencies will generally prove fruitless. Hence,       his hymn book. To this I submit fop what else can I do but
fundamental to the establishing and maintaining of a chris-          I ask, "How much Arminian poison will. they feed our chil-
tian home is the thorough understanding of such' Scriptural          dren before  all  our people awaken to the NECESSITY of
matters as, "Parental Responsibilities" and "The Subjection          schools for Protestant Reformed instruction  ?`I And this is
and Obedience Of Children." The rights and duties of                 but one of many samples that can be easily furnished.)
parents and children must `be defined from the Word of God              "Inquire as to whether the parents cooperate with the
and not according to modern, humanistic philosophy. When             ministry with respect to the catechizing of their children? Do
family relationships are not harmonious with the Word of             they see to it that the children faithfully perform the as-
God, the whole of life grows out of kilter. Family visiting          signed work and do they assist especially the younger ones ?
may serve to bring to remembrance some apparently for-               Point out the importance of such  cooperatioti  and explain
gotten but nevertheless very fundamental truths respecting           the good results that follow when this work is properly done
the  home as further suggested  in, these "Notes" by Rev.            and what may be expected when it is neglected by the
Ophof :                                                              parents ?"
    "Inquire further after the spirit that prevails in the home ?       "Delineate on the fact that religious training must begin
Do the parents put forth the proper effort to make it truly          and end at the home. Explain that of all the teachers a child
Christian ? Do they walk together in true Christian love and `has, the parents. are by far the greatest influence either for
respect for each other, setting an example of love, patience         good or for bad in the child's life ; the reason being that there
and  forebearance  so that it is evident to the children that        are no people whom the children trust so implicitly as their
their parents are in the Lord  ? Are the children taught to          parents and that, therefore, it is especially the parents by
obey their parents for the Lord's sake and is this obedience         whom the children are willing to be led, instructed, admon-
evident in the home ? It may be necessary to explain to the          ished and trained and whom they take as examples. Explain
family group what this means  - obeying parents for the              then how necessary it is that parents walk together in the
Lord's sake and what it means that children are under                light and  in unity of faith before their children and this
father and mother. This matter can also be `put to the chil-         ,matter may properly also be impressed upon the, hearts of
dren. Call attention to and explain the promise fixed to the         the young people of the family who stand at the threshold
commandment."                                                        of marriage."
    "Inquire next after the religious training pf `the children.        And so there are countless matters that, according to
Is the vow that was mkde by the parents at the time of their         varying circumstances, may be considered in relation to the
presenting the children for baptism being properly and  faith-       family  and family life. It is not impossible that the whole


                                             T H E   STANDAR.D   B E A R E R                                                     309

 family visitation be concentrated about this single point. It       they are united by the Spirit through the bonds of faith-to
 is well worth while in our generation which is witnessing           mind the same things. Concerning this Rev. Ophof writes:
 the rapid abolition of the home.                                        `fFurther,inquiry  must be made after church`life. Is faith:
    (3)  Pwsona~l.Spi&ual Life  : Also this matter is of great-      ful use being made of the sacraments and the preaching of
 `est importance and involves so many things that it is impos-       the Word on the meetings of public worship by the church
 sible to enter into detail here. Inquiry must be made into          institute as it functions through the teaching ministry in-
the matter of consciousness and assurance of salvation. If           stituted by Christ for the feeding of His people ? Make plain
 this is lacking further inquiry must be made into the reason        the sin of neglecting this ministry. Emphasize that there is
 or reasons. The whole- matter of the well-being of faith,           no salvation for anyone who forsakes this ministry even
 spiritual growth and daily sanctification should be seriously       though that one may be ever so pious in his own way and
 considered. Do we exercise ourselves consciously day by day         engage in all Bible reading and prayer. The reason being
 in those obligations of the covenant of grace which are             that to forsake the ministry is to forsake Christ and the
                                                               SO
 beautifully expressed in our Baptism Form : "That we cleave         means that Christ has instituted for the feeding of His sheep.
 to this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; that we trust         In this way the great necessity of regular church attendance
 in Him, and love Him with all our hearts, ,with all our souls,      will become apparent. Stress also that regular use of the
 with all our mind, and with all our strength ; that we for-         Lord's Supper must be made. Ask the sheep if they par-
sake the world, crucify our old nature, and walk in a new            ticipate in the church society life ? Do they live along with
 and holy life." What is our personal reaction toward the            the congregation,? Are societies, congregational meetings,
 preaching of the Word and how are we affected by it? Do             etc. well attended ? Explain that it is ,their  duty that mkm-
 we receive spiritual nourishment from the Word so that we           bers in the church, alive to the interest of God's Kingdom,`
 may grow thereby? And in this connection it is well to in-          will attend these meetings."
 quire somewhat into reading habits. Concerning this we                                         F. Conclusion            `.
 quote the following paragraph of Rev. Ophof :
    "What is being read by the family? Is it Christian or               In light of all this one wonders then why family visiting
 worldly  ; edifying or soul-destroying ? Of course, we do           is limited to once a year. &Practical reasons no doubt prevail.
 not tell our people that they-may not or should not read the        Certainly it is advantageous to be stirred up in these things
 daily newspapers but it should be also stated that God's            constantly. Let it bet remembered, too, that all of the above
 people do not turn to the newspaper or any other secular            is only intended as suggestions and directives to follow and
 literature for food for their soul. Explain that the soul of a      by no means as a complete and exhaustive plan of family
 child (individual) can be poisoned by what it reads as well         visiting. To this much more. can easily be added. However,
 as the body can be poisoned by food unfit for human con-            if such a general plan is followed, those performing this work
 sumption. The man of ,Go.d is in need of wholesome spirit-          will have no difficulty remaining with the spiritual purpose
 ual food and this  foocl is Jesus Christ as revealed in the         of their visit. Neither will they suffer from a lack of
 W o r d . "                                                         material but will rather find the time of their visit too short.
                                                                     Furthermore, having investigated the spiritual conditions
    Is the Word then diligently and personally studied  ? And        of the home and having spoken the Word of God with com-
 in connection with it, are such supplements to the Word as          fort, encouragement, exhortation and rebuke, they may profit-
 The Sta,ndayd  Bearer and Beacon Lights faithfully used? If         ably conclude their visit by calling upon God, invoking His
 not,  why-not?                                                      benediction upon the labor performed. And the fruits shall
    But .in our day the eye is no longer devoted -to reading         redound to His eternal glory through the upbuilding and
 and- studying as in former -times but now is engaged in pic-        strengthening of Zion.
 ture-seeing. This, especially since in our day television has                                                      G. VandenBerg
 found a prominent place in. many of our homes. Inquiry
 may be made into the use that is made of that device since
 the godless world itself admits its morally destructive power.
 What is being observed on the screen? Is it conducive to our           "At any rate the Christian knows from experience that,
 growing in spiritual stature ? Is it detracting from other          in the same measure that sin is known the better in its
 activities which positively tend to spiritual growth ? This is      real nature, such sin causes profound pain and sorrow. Up-
 a fine practical matter for an- honest, serious self-analysis in    right, inner confession of sin is not heard from the lips of
 the presence of God!                                                the godless but from those of the pious. Psalmists, prophets
    (4) Chwch Life : In general this sphere includes not             and apostles offer clear and unmistakable evidence of such
 only participation-in the institutional functions of the church     sorrow for sin."
 but also voluntary participation in those spiritual activities                          Bavinck's Dogmatics, page 144, Faith and
 which rise out of the organic life of the people of God  as                             Conversion.


310                                          TH,E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                      have God baffled, to a degree, for, at the same time, He
                                                                      equally wills that the non-elect be saved and He does not
i             A L L   AROUN-D  U S   j will that they be saved. And who has put God into this
                                                                      awkward, baffling position
Nova Scotia Pastor  Undcistands  the  Truttk.                                                       ? Obviously man, by falling into
                                                                      sin (in Adam). This is sheer Arminianism." MacKay `ac-
       This is the third and final article we write on this. sub-     cuses Murray and Stonehouse in their "Conclusions" of sum-
ject in which we continue our quotations from The Contendel;          marizing and adopting the Arminian theory about God. And
a paper edited by the Rev. Malcolm R. MacKay of Nova                  he adds, "However, they also tr; at the same time formally
Scotia, an independent Presbyterian minister. Rev. MacKay,            to maintain the Calvinistic doctrine of the reprobation of the
so we have seen, agrees with the Rev. H. Hoeksema that the            non-elect. Thus we see the two-faced god, Janus, appearing.
Three Points of 1924 on Common Grace is really a. Triple              We may apply a bit of Rev. Hoeksema's criticism of  the,
Breach, that the well-meant offer of grace in the preaching           Kalamazoo declaration as given in A T+le Breach. In The,
of the gospel is the doctrine of Arminius. He contends that           Free Offer of the Gospel, as well as in the Kalamazoo declara-
the doctrine of Common grace not only militates against the           tion Janus turns now and again revealing the Arminian face
truth of Scripture but it also "disparages the righteousness          and the Calvinistic face. However, the face which shows
and justice of God and denies to them their positive and              itself the more frequently is that of Arminius. And when
glorious place in `His character." Rev. MacKay tells us               Janus comes to a full stop; it is the face of Arminius, not
further that "this teaching says, in effect, that the revelation      Calvin, that is looking steadily at us."
of God's justice in the damnation of the non-elect is  rtot a            Rev. MacKay, writing in the November, 1955, issue of
`sweet savor' to God."                                                The  Contendw  under the sub-title "How Reprobation is
       It is especially to this last idea that the Rev. `MacKay       Denied by Reformed Ministers," says: "The ancient Chris-
devotes the major part of the rest of his articles. After a           tian faith (known also since the Reformation as `Calvinism')
rather lengthy quotation from Calvin's Commentary on the              teaches without fear or favour the solemn Biblical truth of
text in II Cor. 2:15, 16, which deals with the truth that the         the eternal reprobation or damnation by God of the  non-
Word of God is both a savor unto death as well as life, the           elect. However, this  -truth is conspicuous in modern times by
Nova Scotia pastor asserts that the disparaging of God's              its absence from the preaching and teaching of even many
justice must of necessity confound the eternal purpose of God.        of those who profess to hold the Calvinistic Reformed faith.
Referring to the well-meant-offer-people, he says "their              It is not surprising that Arminians reject it and pour their
teaching would put God into the position where He actually            denunciation upon it for they are humanists and therefore
is greatly disappointed in, regard to His eternal purpose for         naturalists. But it does seem strange'at first sight that many
mankind . . . . They say that .He ardently desires the salva-         `Calvinists' by their attitude toward and handling of predes-
tion of those whom He does not purpose to save. This would            tination (election - M.S.) and reprobation should be actu-
confound His eternal purpose. What is all this, in reality,           ally advancing the cause of Arminianism. This explains why
but saying that mankind.has  gotten himself into such a com-          these Calvinists are quite acceptable to the Arminians and in
plicated situation that to a certain extent, at least, God is put     good favour with them. An excellent explanation of this
into an awkward, baffling position? He really wills to save all       strange and contradictory attitude of Calvinists toward pre-.
mankind - intensely so - but there. are certain considera-            destination (election- M.S.) and reprobation is found on
tions which have been caused by the fall of man in Adam               page  19  of  P1-edesfiination   which is a booklet containing a
(these considerations being known only to  ,God, they vaguely         number of addresses on this subject given by the Rev. Her-
say) which prevent Him from saving all and make it neces-             man Hoeksema."
sary for Him to damn some. These' considerations, they                   Then follows a quotation from Rev. Hoeksema's booklet
darkly hint, have to do with His justice. His love wills to save      on  Predest,ina.tion  in which the latter asserts among other
all, but His justice wills not to save all. This teaching fails       things. that "this false and ambiguous position (of present-
to present a balanced picture of God's attributes, sovereignty        day so-called Reformed preachers - M.S.) has proved more
and purpose. Obviously, it does despite to both His love and          dangerous to the maintenance of the pure truth of Scripture
His justice . . . . ."                                                concerning  Gods sovereign predestination than professed free
       Rev. MacKay further claims that "the Arminian concep-          willisin. For under the Reformed flag the entire cargo of
tion of God as baffled, to a degree, is found in T/ze Free 0 ff er    Arminian heresy is smuggled into the Church."
of the Gospel by professors Murray and Stonehouse." After                Concerning this quotation MacKay writes, "Certainly in
giving a brief quotation from their writings and a brief criti-       the above quotation Rev. Mr. Hoeksema puts his finger upon
cism of them, the pastor concludes by saying: "As a matter            a radical contradiction in the position of many Presbyterian
of fact, the non-elect are never brought to salvation. If we          and Reformed ministers. It is the same contradiction that
take the professors' words at their' face value, they would           we noticed last month in the Kalamazoo Synod's declaration


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               3 1 1

of the Christian Reformed Church and also in Tlze Free Ofev          Hoeksema (who is in reality only teaching what the Bible
of  the  Gospel by professors Murray and Stonehouse. On              reveals) they assert, being really contradictory! Dr. Van
the one hand it is rightly believed, in accordance with the          Til criticizes Rev. Hoeksema's position in this manner by
Bible and the historic Presbyterian and Reformed doctrinal           saying that Mr. Hoeksema imposes a timeless logic upon
standards, that the love and mercy of God is particular, not         Scripture. In other-words, Van Til is saying that Hoeksema
universal, and is directed only toward the elect. It is also         is resorting to rationalism to explain what cannot  be'.humanly
rightly maintained that since the mercy of God is directed           explained,  - at least not this side  of. eternity, so Van Til
`only toward the elect, the design of the atonement of Christ        contends. We cannot agree with Van Til in this criticism
is likewise particular, not -universal, and is directed toward       of Hoeksema. Van Til claims in effect, that it is rationalism
the elect only. That is to say, God's will, desire; purpose          for Hoeksema to say flatly that God cannot have an attitude
and intention in regard to the atonement is that it applies _ of favour toward the non-elect whom He does not intend to
only to the elect, not universally to all mankind. To sum-           save."
marize, Reformed men are correct in maintaining that the                MacIiay then proceeds to answer the question: "Who is
mind of God is absolutely different all down the line in rela-       Right : Van Til or Hoeksema  ?" He considers Van Til's
tion to the two classes of men into  ,which  His eternal  pur:       position quite contrary to the plain teachings of Scripture.
pose or decree has divided them. However, along with this            And goes on to prove that there is "NO FAVOUR OUT-
revealed truth of ~a&cz~~laris~~,  Reformed men are also hold-       SIDE OF CHRIST." Says he, "The new doctrine of a
ing the false Arminian doctrines of  ,tt&versalisvtz. That is,       favourable attitude in God toward the non-elect runs counter'.
they are teaching that the love and mercy of God are also            to the great truth of revelation that the infinitely righteous
directed toward the non-elect as well as the elect. And they         and holy God cannot show favour to sinful creatures except
are teaching, in line with this universalism,  that God's will,      that His justice be perfectly upheld by the sacrifice of a
desire, purpose and intention is for the salvation of the non-       Mediator to satisfy the requirements of divine justice that
elect as well as the elect. Certainly Professors Murray and          has been violated by man's sin. Scripture thunders forth the
Stonehouse?  for example, teach this in clearest language. This      truth that there is nothing but wrath -no favour- to sin-
would wipe out the eternal distinction which God has made            ful man outside Christ . . . . Yet the common grace theory
between the elect and the non-elect. To summarize, they are          definitely teaches that God looks not only with favour but
teaching that the mind of God is the same in relation to the         with great favour upon those who-are outside Christ, and thus
two categories of men into which His eternal purpose or              have no Mediator. The Bible teaches that the non-elect are
decree has divided them. This alleged sameness or  uni-              not `in Christ', that is, that they are neither in this world nor
versalism in the attitude of God toward all mankind is the           in eternity partakers of the work of the Mediator . . . ."
spirit of Arminianism and is the forerunner of modernism.
It is this, in short, which contradicts the historic Presbyterian       Rev.  iMacKay  concludes his articles with showing up
and Reformed teaching, and many Presbyterian and Reformed            "THREE DEADLY RESULTS  OF'COMMON  GRACE."
men have either wittingly or unwittingly gone over to this           He claims that it: 1. Denies Man's Total Depravity in Sin.
teaching. They say that God universally loves all men, uni-          2. Teaches Morals are Relative, not Absolute. 3. Mingles and
versally desires the salvation of all men, has wrought out a         Unites Church with World.
salvation in Christ's atonement that is suited to the needs of          Since our space is about used up we will not quote what
all men, and is genuinely and sincerely offered by God to all
men. Furthermore, they say that there is nothing to hinder           he has to say on these points.
anyone from accepting it and being saved, except his own
sin. All this is Arminian to the core, and is being taught by           We close `with saying once more that we enjoyed very
these Presbyterian- and -Reformed men. And; as Rev. Hoek-            much what Rev. MacKay  has written on the matter of Com-
sema says, in the quotation above, this universalistic teaching mon Grace and the General Offer. We agree with him
of Arminianism `is emphasized to the exclusion of' the               perfectly on what `he wrote. One naturally desires to know
particularistic teaching of the Biblical and Reformed faith.         more about this writer. Perhaps we will have occasion to
These men have long admitted that the Arminian heresy con-           read more of his writings, and that too on other subjects.
tradicts the  Calvin&tic  position at every point of doctrine.       Taking in consideration our different back-grounds it is re-
However, they are attempting to adhere to both positions             freshing to hear from one outside of our immediate circle
at  the. same time. And they are attempting to justify this          who understands the Scripture as well as he on the matter of
impossible procedure on grounds that are subtle and' ensnar- grace. I, for one, would be interested to know what are his
ing: They say that although this appears to be contradictory,        thoughts on the Covenant and other related doctrines. If Rev.
it is not really contradictory, and that one must hold this ap-      MacKay  reads our comments; maybe he will be so kind to
parently contradictory position in order` to avoid what is           give us this expression.
really contradictory, - the clear-cut, consistent position of                                                                      M.S.


    .                                                                  I.-.~--i--------~---            -`,          -.
   j,;              .                          ..jfff.E        STANDARD                   B-EARE$--Q                          1        ~.          __
                                                                                                 -.                                   .       .
~(  II-  -;-,                                                                  andthat- reprobate element was often very-strong. It is be-
                 ~~ONTRIBUTIONS                                                cause of this fact that the nation as a whole often departed
                                                                 II            from the ways. of the Lord and that Israel "would none of
                                                                               him." vs. 11. Then the Lord gave it over into their own
   Dear Rev. Hoeksema :  `.                                                    heart's lust. This was true of Israel according to its re-
         I am writing you in behalf of the Adult Bible Class of                probate shell, never according to its elect kernel.
   the Protestant Reformed Church in Randolph. They have                           5. Even then the Lord loves His people, .who suffer with
   the'following question for`which they desire some clarification,            the reprobate. -And it is from that love that the words of
   providing your busy schedule permits time for an answer.                    the Lord must always be explained: "Oh that my people had
   If so, feel free to answer directly or in the Standcyd -Bearer.             hearkened unto me . . . . `. I should soon have subdued their
         The question is as follows: "How must we understand                   enemies."                                                                              H.H.
   the words of Psalm 81:12-13 which speak of "my people" in
   connection with what we read in Isaiah  6  :`lO-"this  people"?
   Is the %ny people" of Psalm 81 a reference to ,Israel (spirit-
   ual and carnal` seed alike) ? If not, and it is ,a reference only              "There is often a great misunderstanding concerning the
   to the people of God, to what extent may we conclude did                    time of conversion, and too much significance is attached to
   God give them up "to their own heart's lust?' Do we have                    one's knowing the exact time of his conversion, so that one,
   here an analogy of what we read elsewhere in Scripture                      after a long period of great anguish and fear, is delivered in
   regarding the deliverance of God's people into the hands of                 a special and wonderful way. However, Scripture does not
   the enemy and their captives ?                                              apply such a standard ; it only- demands that there be up-
         We shall appreciate hearing from you -when time per-                  rightness in our inward parts ; sorrow for sin-must be real
   mits, of course.                                                            and genuine. God, who knows the hearts, delights in up-
                            Sincerely yours in Christ,                         rightness."
                                   The Adult Bible Class,                                 Bavinck's Dogmatics, page 145, Faith and Conversion
                                 Randolph Prot. Ref. Church
                                   Randolph, Wisconsin
                              p e r :   E .   E m a n u e l
         Reply: ,                                                                                                         IN  MEMdRIAM
         This particular portion of Scripture. has been, the center              In complying with the wish of our former friend and brother,
                                                                               Mr. Hessel De  .Jong  not to purchase flowers, the Eunice Society
   of our interest and attention more than once since 1924. The                of Second donates the money, $25.00, to the Standard Bearer.
   Christian Reformed Synod of 1924, strange to say, quoted                    May God be near and comfort the relatives of
   this text ,as proof to the so-called restraint of sin.                                                      MR. HESSEL DE JONG
         Let me remark the following :                                                                                                                                   -,
                                                                                                        - MRS. OTTO  HONDEMA-
         1. The term "My people" in Scripture always refers to                    Ps.  6223, "Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your
   the fact  that.God's  people are His peculiar possession accord-            heart before him; God is a refuge for us, Selah."
   ing to the election of grace. This is also -the meaning of the
   words in Ps. 81.                                                                                                                 Rev. M.  Schipper, President
                                                                                                                                    Mrs. Fred Bouwkamp, Secretary
         .2. Secondly, we must understand. that, in the old dis-
   pensation, and from the viewpoint of Ps. 81, this elect people
   of God is the nation of Israel. God had chosen Israel as His                                                           IN ME-MORIAM
                                                                                                               .
   peculiar people; The holy line ran through this nation. He                    The Mission Committee of the Protestant Reformed Churches
   loved Israel as His own. He had redeemed the people with                    extends its sincere sympathies to the bereaved `family of its
   a mighty arm from the- bondage of Egypt. To that reddmp-                   former member
   tion of Israel the psalm refers.                                                                            MR. HESSEL DE JONG
                                                                                   . .
         3. In the third, place, we must understand. that the term            whom the Lord suddenly took out of our midst unto the church
   "My people" never refers to every individual in the nation of              in glory.
                                                                                 May our covenant God comfort the relatives in the hope of
   Israel. Not all were Israelites that were of Israel : the children         His promise, which sustains us unto the perfect day.
   of the promise always were counted for the seed and these                                                              The Mission Committee,
  alone.
                                                                                                                                            `R. Veldman, President
         4. There was also in the nation of Israel a reprobate shell,                                                                       C. Hanko, Secretary


