     VOLUME   x x x 1 1                            APRIL  15,  ~~~~-GRAND   RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                      N U M B E R   1 4 '

                                                                                  Yes, I have seen Him too.                  _
               MED'ITATION                                                        His pathway through Hudsonville was about 3 or 4 city
                                                             c,                blocks from my dwelling.
                                                                                                                                                         .
                Visited by Majesty on High                                                              *  *  *  %

               "Come, behold the works of the Lord,  what desola-                 But in it all is a terrible accusation.
               tions He hath made in the earth. Be still, and know                We have paid attention to this little walk of God, a walk
               that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathea,             whose results are still among us` in  many. ways. We have
               I will be exalted  in1 the earth. The Lord of hosts is          paid marked attention to that little walk. Both the good and
               with us;  the God of Jacob  i? our refuge. Selah."
                                             --                                the bad, the saints and the wicked, the church and the world
                                                     P s .   463,  i0,  1 1    have seen  Him, heard Him, and marked His works. The
 Our village received a very special visit by the Lord                         blue-coats of the State Police are still among us, as are the
Christ.             -                                                          members of the State Guard, or National Guard. Life has
    It was a visit of the Majesty on High.                                     still not returned to its normal beat.
    What we really received is a little foretaste of the end of                   Everyone is still talking about that little walk of Jesus
the world.                                                                     through Hudsonville, visiting us. He is constantly among  us.
    Some of us went to heaven in the process of that visit.                    From the time when Zacharias sang his song of salvation
Others are in the hospital because of that visit. Some of us                   until now, Jesus and the God of our salvation has His march
had a brush with death. All of us were deeply impressed by                     among us, and He always speaks, shouts, beckons and calls $Q
that visit.                                                                    us His people.
    God came to us, and He roared : I have never yet heard.                       Zacharias sang : THE DAYSPRING FROM ON HIGH
                                                                               HATH  VISITED   us,
a voice such as we heard around supper time, Tuesday eve-                         And He is still with us.
ning, April 3, 1956. It sounded as though a thousand express
trains were traversing the sky.                                                   He, promised : And Lo, I am with you alway  !
                                                                                  And He kept His word.
    His footsteps were seen ; He walked from the Southwest                        Jesus is constantly walking through Hudsonville.
to the Northeast, skirting our village: everyone was aware
of His august presence.                                                           And He- is constantly singing' His song of the eternal
    And we were afraid: many cowered in the basement of                        Covenant of God's grace.
their homes, while God ravaged their properties ( ?) . He flung                   He sings that song as a lullaby at the cradle of the Cov-
houses and barns far and wide. Such debris was mixed with                      enant babies. He sings and He speaks of the everlasting love
-black muck and the dust of the earth. He snuffed out the                      of God when we are very young and as we gather as little
lives of some of us, broke the bones and the flesh of others : boys and girls in catechism and Christian schools. His speech
they were left moaning in  His- wake.                                          and His works become plainer to us as we grow up. Oh, how
     Oh yes, no one-can dispute it : God walked among us ;                     wonderful is His voice  .from the pulpit Sunday after Sunday,
His Christ paid us a special visit ; He left desolation, death,                year after year.
`pain and misery.                                                                 His song of the Covenant : I love you so much that I died
     But also awe, the awe of the childlike fear. of Jehovah.                  for you on the accursed tree.
     One man said : My Jehovah was beautiful in His raging 1                      And you can hear it in Hudsonville, both in, the home
And that man lost half of his worldly goods,. and his life was                 and from the pulpit.                                          ,
i n   j e o p a r d y .                                                           And His footsteps drop with fatness. He leaves in His

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

wake regeneration, conversion, faith, justification-and sancti-           Yes, I do know that the tornado came so that the wicked
fication. But also glorification when  Hudsonville's  children        will have no excuse in the day of His final coming.
go to heaven.                                                             I know, too, that this tornado came as a sign of His final
       Last Tuesday He left in His wake a picture of the desola-      coming  so that the church might take courage and know that
tion of hell. After I saw it for the first time I grew very           her deliverance is nigh.
still. It was awful.                                                      But I also am persuaded that the tornado came to
       But when Jesus is conducting Business As Usual, He             shake the church awake, to direct us to His more beautiful
leaves in His wake the glories of the Christian, the blessings        Voice of the Gospel, to `remind us of His daily and nightly
<of salvation'and  we are blest.                                      Presence among us.
       Now here is the terrible accusation: we can see Christ in          The church was crowded Sunday morning. And they
His Usual Business day after day and night after night, year          tell me that such was the case in the other churches in'our
after year and life-time after life-time, and we stay calm and        little village.
orderly.                                                                  The tornado calls us  to a rededication, to a reconsecration.
       `<How are things ?"                                                It did that to me.
       "Oh, so so !"                                                      We have given our answer to God's visit in our communal
       After all, His daily and nightly walk through the village      prayer.
is much more beautiful than His special visit last Tuesday,               And we tremble at His presence now.
is it not?                                                                For God~says  : `Be still, and know that I am God : I will
       Everyone -wanted to -get into Hudsonville. It took hun-        be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."
dreds of special blue-coats and guardsmen to keep the crowds              God desires to be exalted. And, let us never forget it, He
from hindering disaster cleanup. Last Sunday afternoon I              will be exalted. Therefore He walked through our town on
had me a time getting out and getting back into my village.           a bias : -on a line from the Southwest to the Northeast. -And
       But we do not need the cops on Sunday!                         even the dogs saw Him and trembled.
       How easily we leave our place empty on Sunday during               And He was exalted. Even by the reprobate, all though
worship of God who is in our very midst day and night ?               they will not admit it.. Some of them took time out to insult
       How easily do we fall asleep during the service, skip the      Him: I saw a headline in  adaily  paper which called it a
reading of God's Word after a meal, and a prayer or two ?             "brutal" tornado! It carries the proof with it that God was
       Tuesday He came and said: "This is the way of My final         exalted. It was the wicked's answer `to His footsteps. When
coming, -when  the heavens and the earth shall be destroyed           God says in their hearts: I am God and there is no other
 by fire, tornado and earthquake, and then the hearts of men          God ; then they say : There is no God !        . .
 shall fail them because.of My terror !"                                  Did you note that the daily papers did not connect the
   We heard it and paid attention. Oh, how we paid atten-             tornado .with God and His Christ 7
 tion !                                                                   But we are still, Father !
       But, every waking and sleeping hour He is in our very              We know that Thou art God.
 midst and says : "I love you with an everlasting love, and all           And we exalt Thee, even while we cower in the South:
 My endeavour is to get you with Me in the new earth and              west corner of our basements.
 the new heaven. I move the heavens and the earth and the
 depth of hell to get you. away from the `world, the devils and                                      *    :k * *
 the powers of sin. I send angels and My Holy Spirit of grace
 Who explains and applies My precious Word so that you                    Yes, we are still.
 may eat and drink spiritually and be satisfied. I am a flaming           And we are going to listen as never before. That is our
 wall of fire around you and your children so that no harm            promise to Thee.
 may come near your dwelling. I suffer no man to do you                   On our plea for grace to keep our promise.
 wrong. I give men for thee and nations for thy salvation.                And we are reassured, for Thou  continuest:  "The Lord
 Oh, I do love you and your seed and I have unutterable sal-          of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge !"
 vation in store for you. Listen to' Me, My people: I, the                God was seen for a few minutes.
 eternal God am thy Refuge. and underneath are the everlast-              He was clothed in black,`the  black swirls of dust, muck,
 ing arms ! "                                                         trees, planks and bodies of men and animals.
    That is what God, what Jesus, what the Spirit sayetli unto            We saw Him for a few minutes such as He will be seen
- the churches.                                                       again in the clouds of darkness of the final tempest, the final
       And do we pay as close attention to it as to last Tuesday's    tornado of the last Day, the YOVX, Jehovah.
 tornado ?                                                                 But He is still with us, even though we have often for-
       There is our accusation.                                       gotten.                   ,
                              * * *  *                                     He is still with us in His dear Son.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B - E A R E R                                                                                    315

   He was in a hurry to come on Pentecost: the sound of
a fiercely driven wind.                                  . .                             T H E   STAND.ARD   B E A R E R
   And He never left us.                                                  S~mh~~o~dzl~~,  except  wzo&ly  dwhg June, July  a,nd  Al&gust
   He is so intimately close to us that the theologians are                 Published by the  REF~R~IED  FREE PUBLISHING  ASSO~UTION
still fighting about the two natures of Christ. Oh, God is                P. 0. Box  S81, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
very close to Man.                                                                           Editor  - REV. HERMAN  H~EKSEMA
    Do you realize that the sentence: "The Lord of Hosts                  Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
is with us" is a name of Jesus ?                                          H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
    Immanuel  means God with us. Well, for the name of God                All matters relative to subscriptions should'be addressed to Mr.
                                                                          G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
in the  sentence,  my text has: The Lord  ,of Hosts.                      Anwancements  and Obituaries  must be mailed to the above
    He came  wellnigh  two thousand years ago, and united                 address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
Himself with man, and henceforth we are Zion, the city of                 RISNEWALS:   Unless a definite request  fomr discontinuance is re-
                                                                          ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
.God.  His finger touched the earth ; it was the greatest Tor-            to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
nado the world has ever seen. It was dark too. It was the                                      Subscription price: $4.00 per year
Son of God dying on the accursed tree. There God embraced                 El&red   as  Secoltd  Class  ?>sattev at  Gram. Rapids,  M&&igan
us with all our sin and guilt.
    And then the Tornadoes of God began to howl. It was
an eternal Tornado of wrath of Almighty and Holy God.
    And when the tornado was over; it became still.                                                     C  0-N. T E N T  S
    It was very still in the garden of Joseph.                          MEDITATION  -
    The stillness of the peace of God that stole over and with-               Visited by Majesty on High. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .313
in the church of God.                                                               Rev. G. Vos
    That stillness shall last through all eternity.                     EDITORIALS  -
    That is our Refuge.                                                     The Apostates of 1953 and the Three Points.. . . . . . . . . . . . .316
                                                                                   Rev. H.  Hoekseina
    The papers say: get to the basement. They even say and
specify the exact corner which is safest: the Southwest. Or             As  TO  BOOKS-
under a table or a bed if you have no basement. I have no                     De verkiezing Gods, by G. L. Berkhouwer.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .317
quarrel with the scientist. We must use the means.                            The Seven Deadly Sins, by Billy Graham.. . . . . . . . ; . . . . . . . .315
                                                                                   `Rev. H. Hoeksema
    But there is a Refuge that is better, far better.
    We hide in the shadow of the Cross of our Jesus.                    OUR DOCTRINE  -
    And all is well. Amen. Hallelujah!                                        The Triple Knowledge (Part III- Of Thankfulness). . .  .318
                                                                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                                                G.V.
                                                                        FROM HOLY  WIUT-
                                                                              Exposition of I Corinthians 1-4 -( 13) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .321
                                                                              Rev. G. Lubbers
                      Announcements                                     IN  HIS  FEAR-
                                                                              The Sabbath in His Fear (7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .323
                Eastern Ladies' League                                              Rev. J. A. Heys
    The Eastern Ladies'. League meeting will be held in the             CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH  -
First Protestant Reformed Church on Thursday, April 26,                       The Church and the Saoraments (Baptism 3). . . . . . . . . . . . .325
at 8 p.m. Our speaker for the evening will be Rev. G.                               Rev. H.  Veldman
Vos, who has chosen for his topic, "A Vision of God." Re-               THE  VOICE   OF OUR  FATHERS -
member the date and be sure to plan on being present for                      The Exposition ,of the Canons of D,ordre&. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .327
`an evening of Christian fellowship and for the edification of                      Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
one another.                                                            DECENCY AND  OFZDEI-
                                  Mrs. Gerrit Pipe, Vice-Seer.                The Office of the Deacon.............................,.329
                                                                                    Rev.  `G.  VandenBerg

                       Men's League                                     ALL AROUND  Us-
                                                                              Rev. Knott's Open Letter.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .331
    The annual meeting  .of our Men's League will be held                           Rev. M. Schipper
April 19 at the' Fourth Church. The speaker will be Rev.                CONTRIBUTIONS  -
H. Hanko. All our men are welcomed to attend this meeting.                    Teaching Citizenship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
                                      Rev. M. Schipper                              Rev. G. M. Ophoff
                                      Jay  Bomer


 316                                        T H E   STAND.ARD   B E A R E R

                                                                         Let us examine this interpretation.
             E D I  T.0 R I A L S                                        Remember that this is supposed to be an interpretation of
                                                                     the statement "our act of conversion is a prerequisite to
                                                                     enter into the kingdom of God."
  The Apostates of 1953 and the Three Points                             The crux of the whole matter is in that one term PRE-
    The second statement to which the apostates subscribe, let       REQUISITE.
us remember, is : "Our act of conversion is a prerequisite to            And this term is the predicate of the first term: OUR
enter into the kingdom of God."                                      ACT OF CONVERSION.`                                       .I
    According to explanation by Bellflower ,( Doezema) , this            The question, therefore, is : what is first?
may mean to the consciousness of the believer that all the               Are we in the kingdom first or do we convert ourselves
requisites of salvation are fulfilled in Christ is a prerequisite    before we enter into the kingdom ? Do we repent and turn
to enter into the kingdom of God or to lay hold on the claim         away from sin to righteousness, before we are in the king-
to the riches of Christ.                                             dom of God, or do we convert ourselves and repent in the.
    In other words, before (pre-requisite) we enter into the         kingdom of God ? Or, to use the language of Bellflower,d  do
kingdom of God, we must live in the consciousness that all-          we fulfill our calling "to a godly walk, and to run the race
the blessings of salvation are in Christ and are fulfilled in        set before us, to turn from self to Christ," before we enter
H i m .                                          0                   the kingdom of God even "progressively" or can we fulfill
    I will admit that this is implied in the second statement.       this calling only in the kingdom of God ? Or, to express it
Only, it makes it much worse.                                        in still different words : are we, after we once are regenerated,
    It is Reformed and Scriptural, according to the Baptism          and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son, ever
Form, "that we cannot enter into the kingdom-of God, except          outside of that kingdom ? Is, in our act of conversion, man
we are born again."                                                  ever first, or is God always the author?
    This means, of course:                                              We say: once regenerated is always regenerated: re-
    1. That before we enter into the kingdom of God we               generation can never be lost. Once ingrafted into Christ is
are unregenerate, in the darkness of sin and death.                  always to remain in Him: the principle of faith can never be
    2. In that darkness *we cannot, will not, and cannot will        lost. Once in the kingdom of God is always to be in the
to, enter into the kingdom of God. Nor can we fulfill any            kingdom of God: there are never any prerequisites to enter
prerequisites to enter into that kingdom. If God should re-          into the kingdom of God. Our act of conversion is always,
quire of us any good works at all in order to enter into His         even progressiveiy and repeatedly, the fruit of God's grace
kingdom. the case would be absolutely hopeless.                      of conversion. God is always first.
    3. That before we can possibly enter the kingdom of                 To be sure, the believer may, for a time, lose the con-
God, not we, but God must do something: He must regener-             sciousness of being regenerated and of being in the kingdom
ate us. And regeneration is absolutely a work of God, with-          of God because of his sin, because, for a time, he lives
out our aid or cooperation.                                          according to the old man rather than according to the new.
   But,  ac,cording to Bellflower, we must not only convert             Our Reformed fathers were well aware of this as is evi-
ourselves before we enter the kingdom of God, but we must            dent from the Canons of  Dordreclit,  ch. V. There we read
live in the consciousness that Christ has fulfilled all the re-      in Art. 4:
quisites of salvation. That, of course, is the consciousness of         "Although` the weakness of the flesh cannot prevail
Faith. In other words, while we are outside of the kingdom           against the power of God, who. confirms and preserves true
of God, unregenerate, lying in the darkness of sin and death,        believers in a state of grace, yet converts are not always so
we must live in that consciousness which is the consciousness,       influenced and actuated by the Spirit of God, as not in some
of faith!                                                            particular instances sinfully to deviate from the guidance of
This is worse than the statement itself. In fact, `it is             divine grace, so as to be seduced by and comply with the
sheer nonsense.                                                      lusts of the flesh; they must;therefore, be constant in watch-
   To my mind, it merely proves that this second statement           ing and prayer, that they be not led into temptation. When
to which the apostates subscribe cannot be interpreted in a          these are neglected, they are not only liable to be drawn
sound sense and that they themselves realize it very well.           into great and heinous sins, by Satan, the world; and the
   However, Bellflower does not positively state that this is        flesh, but sometimes by the righteous permission of God
the'interpretation. It  may  be. But it also may means  some-        actually fall into these- evils. This, the lamentable fall of
things. else. In `fact, Bellflower offers another possible ex-       David, Peter and other' saints described in the Holy Scrip-
planation. It is this: "Such a statement may refer also to           ture, demonstrates."
the progressive entering the kingdom as we are called  `to              Again, in Art. 5 of the same chapter we read :
a godly walk, and to run the race set before  us,  to turn              "By such enormous sins, however, they highly offend
from self to Christ."                                                God, incur a deadly guilt, grieve the Holy Spirit, interupt


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 317'

the exercise of faith, very grieviously wound their consciences;    stages, is never a- prerequisite to enter into the kingdom of
and sometimes lose the sense of God's favor, for a time, until      God. It is always as being regenerated and, therefore, as
on their returning to the right  way by serious repentance,         being in the kingdom of God, that we perform our act of
the light of God's fatherly countenance again shines upon           conversion and walk in a new and holy life.
them.."                                                                   Bellflower  (Doezemaj  is in error.
   The question that concerns us here is whether this "re-                And all the apostates who subscribe to this second state-
turning unto the right way by serious repentance" is a pre-         ment  are also in error.
quisite to enter into the kingdom of God ? Is, in this act of             Principally, the trouble is, that they depart from the
conversion, God first or man ? This question is also ans-           Reformed truth of God's sovereign grace.
wered by the Canons. In V, 6, we read:                                    That-was the error of the Christian .Reformed  Synod of
    "But God, who is rich  .in mercy, according to his un-          Kalamazoo in 1924, when they adopted the theory of com-
changeable purpose of election; does not wholly withdraw the        mon grace in the Arminian sense of the word, especially              .
Holy Spirit from his own people: even in their melancholy           when they adopted the error that the preaching of the gospel
falls; nor suffers them to proceed so far as to lose the grace      is a well-meant offer of salvation, on the part of God, to all
of adoption, or to commit the sin unto death ; nor does he          that hear the gospel.
permit them to be totally deserted, and to plunge themselves              And that is, principally, the error of the two statements
into everlasting destruction."                                      which the apostates maintain and because of which they
    And in V, 7:                                                    caused schism in the Protestant Reformed Churches.
    "For in the first place, in these falls he preserves in them          The attempt is always to make man do something in re-
the incorruptible seed of regeneration from perishing or being      spect to his salvation. This is the error of all  Arminianism.
totally lost; and again by his Word and Spirit, certainly and       Usually, on the part of those that are in the Reformed
effectually renews them to repentance, to a sincere and godly       Churches, and intend to .remain  members of them and even
sorrow for their sins, that they may seek and obtain remis-         ministers in them, this attempt is camouflaged. Terms are
sion in the blood of the Mediator, may again experience the         employed that are doubtful and ambiguous. This was the case
favor of a reconciled God, through faith adore his mercies,         ,with regard to the Arminians of the seventeenth century. At
and henceforward more diligently work out their own  salva-
           m                                                        ,that time, when the Remonstrance was published, many
tion with fear and trembling."                                      people in the Reformed Churches in the- Netherlands, could
    And once more, V, 8:                                            not understand what was wrong with the followers of dr-
    liThus it is not in consequence of their own merits, or         minius.  This is no less true of the two statements to which
strength, but of God's free mercy, that they do not totally         the apostates subscribe. And Bellflower (Doezema) camou-
fall from.faith and grace, nor continue and perish finally in       flages the statements still further by their attempted inter-
their  backslidings   ; which, with respect. to themselves, is      pretation.
not only possible, but would undoubtedly happen ; but with                We may be glad and are thankful to the Lord that He
respect to God, it is utterly impossible, since his counsel can-    opened the eyes of our churches in time and that the apostates
not be changed, nor his promise fail, neither can the call ac-      revealed themselves when they did.
cording to his purpose be revoked, nor the merit, intercession,           May the Lord give us grace to remain faithful !      H.H.
and preservation of Christ be rendered ineffectual, nor the
sealing of the Holy Spirit be frustrated or obliterated."
    What do these passages teach ?                                  II                  AS  T(J BOOKS  - II
    1. That believers, by following the lusts of the flesh, cer-
tainly may, for a time, lose the sense of the favor of God and,           De  Ycrkie&g  Gods (God's Election), by G.  C:  Berk-
therefore, the consciousness that they are in the kingdom of        houwer. Published by J. H. Kok, N.V., Kampen, the Nether-
God.                                                                lands. Price  f 11.75.
    2. That, nevertheless, even then, they are not outside of             This book belongs to the series "Dogmatical Studies." In
but in the kingdom of God, for they are still regenerated, and      it Dr. Berkhouwer discusses the doctrine of election from
the incorruptible seed of regeneration can never be lost.           various viewpoints. After an introductory chapter on the
    3. That the fact-that they come to repentance is not due        limit of reflection, the author discusses his subject from a
to any merit or effort of their own for, as far as they are con-    dogma-historical viewpoint, then .discusses  : election and &rbi-
cerned, they would surely perish ; but is due only to God's         trariness, election and mystery, election in Christ, election
sovereign grace, who preserves in them the seed of regenera-        and reprobation, election and preaching, supra- and  infra-
tion according to his eternal counsel of election.                  lapsarianism, election and assurance of salvation, and then
    The conclusion of it all is that our act of conversion,          has a final chapter on what the author calls the great mis-
whether in its initial sense or in its repeated and progressive      understanding.


 `318                                          T H E   STANDARb   B E A R E R

         I intend to discuss this book at some length in The Stand-
 ayd  Bea.yef;  not exactly because Berkhouwer discusses my            II- O U R   DOCT'RINE /I
 view at' great length and presents a  carricature  of it, but
 .because of the importance of the subject and'-also because,
 to a large extend, I do not agree with the author's presenta-                     THE TRIPLE KNOWLEDGE
 tion of the material. Although there is much that is com-
 mendable in the book, and I certainly recommend it to our                 AN  EXPOSITION OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM
 ministers and students, I do not like the approach and the                          PART   III-  OF THANKFULNESS
 general tendency of the book. Hence, I consider it worthy
 of a more elaborate discussion than can be accomplished in                                   LORD'S DAY  52
 a mere book report.
         I just wish to make a remark or two now.                                              .Chapter   I I I
         On p. 159, the author refers to Calvin when he writes that                 Prayer for Deliverance from Evil
 "God reconciles. himself because He loved. us." And the
 same is repeated on p. `160: `<God is reconciled in Christ."             The question may be asked whether it is necessary for
 I checked this reference in Calvin's Institutes, and he does,         the Christian constantly to utter this second part of the
 indeed, write this:  donec  reconciliatus  est  .in  Christo. But     petition, throughout his entire life. There are those that
 this is a serious error, nevertheless, and Berkhouwer should          deny this. They are called perfectionists. According to
 have called attention to it. God is not reconciled to us, but         them, he that utters this prayer confesses that he is not yet
 we are reconciled to God.                                             completely delivered from the dominion of the devil and from
         On p. 252, Berkhouwer makes the error, and that, too,         the power of his evil nature. And therefore these pople
 three times, of finding the statement about Pharaoh's harden-         claim that the believing, redeemed, regenerated, sanctified
 ing his heart in Genesis instead of in Exodus.                        Christian cannot properly take this prayer upon his own lips,
         For the rest, see future Standard Bearers.           H.H.     at least not always, and not throughout his entire life. `This
                                                                       may be a very suitable prayer for the unconverted or for the
         The Seven Deadly  .%ns, by Billy Graham. Published by         partially unconverted, who is not under grace but under sin,
 Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids,  Mich. Price                but not for the believer. It is true that the Christian cer-
 $2.00.                                                                tainly must pray for constant grace of God to fight the battle
                                                                       against the devil and all sin ; for he realizes that he cannot
         The term "seven deadly sins" originates, as you may read      stand without the grace of his Father in heaven. But to pray
 in an introduction to this book by the well-known Billy               for deliverance from the dominion and power of the devil
 Graham, from pope Gregory the Great in the sixth century.             and of sin would be a denial of the work of grace accom-
 These are the sins of pride, anger, envy, impurity, gluttony,         plished in Christ Jesus,and  applied to him by the Holy Spirit.
 avarice, and slothfulness. Why these sins are more deadly             The believer, they emphasize, is already delivered from evil,
 than others is difficult to see. I think that I could possibly        and therefore cannot properly pray this petition, at least not
 add seven others to them.                                             every day and during his entire life.
         This book contains seven messages of Billy Graham de-           According to this doctrine, which is defended by all that
 livered in different places. They are not profound ex-                make salvation dependent on the free will of man, it is pos-
 positions, but popular sermons, as we might expect from
 him. They present interesting reading material of a light             sible for the child of God in this world to attain to perfec-
                                                                       tion and to walk without sin. And of course, they appeal
n a t u r e .                                                          for this teaching to the Word of God. In the first place, they
         Besides, as we may also expect from Billy Graham, he          appeal to those passages of Holy Writ that command
 does not preach the truth of sovereign grace, but is thoroughly       the child of God to walk holy and to be holy as God is.
 Arminian : "open your heart to the regenerating grace of              holy. Cf. Matt. 5  :48: II Cor.  7:l; I Pe. 1  :15. Secondly,
 Christ . . . ask the Holy-Spirit to come into your heart . . .        they point out that the Word of God calls the church holy.
 you can have complete.and unqualified victory by surrender-           Cf. I Cor.  2:6; II Cor.  5:17,-.etc.  In the third place, they
 ing, completely to Christ . . . if you will bring your life to        appeal to the examples of perfection and holiness of the saints
 Jesus Christ, God will forgive every sin you have ever com-           on earth, such as Enoch  and Noah, who walked with God.
 mitted . . . eternal life is within the reach of every one of         And finally, they appeal to passages that apparently teach
 you . . , the Saviour is as near as your yielded will, or He is       perfection in the child of God, as, for instance, I John  3.:9
 as far away as you want Him to be," etc. etc.                         and I John 5  :lS. There are many other passages of Holy
         No wonder mere men like `to hear Billy Graham. But            Writ to which they appeal. Scripture teaches, for instance,
 this is not the truth.                                      H.H.      in Rom.  6:14: "For sin shall not have dominion over you:


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                    313
                                                                                     I:
for ye are not under the law, but under grace.`; And : "But           therefore, from `a spiritual point of view perfectionism is a
God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye               very serious error.
have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine that was                In this connection we need not in detail go into the refu-
delivered you. Beirig then made free from sin, ye became              tation of the Scriptural arguments of the perfectionist. We
the servants of righteousness." Rom. G: 17, 18. And again:            of course readily grant that the Lord God demands holiness
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:             in life and conversation of His people. In fact, we emphasize
old things are passed away; behold all things are become              this demand with far more seriousness and in a far deepe;
new." II Cor. 5 :17. And once more: "For we are his work-             sense than the perfectionist. But from this demand of God
manship,  created  in Christ Jesus  -u&o good works, which            does not follow the possibility that the Christian can live
`God  Lath before ordained that we should walk in them."              perfectly according to that demand, and without sin. It may
Eph. `2 :lO. And we are admonished : "Let nbt sin therefore           also be granted that the church of Christ in the world is
reign in your mortal body; that ye should obey it in the lust         called holy, and that she is `actually holy in Christ Jesus.
thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of              But it is true at the same time that the church possesses
unrighteousness .unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God as           that holiness in Christ only in principle. In the same epistles
those that are alive from the dead, and your members as               in which the church and  tile saints are called holy in the
instruments of righteousness unto God." Rom.  6:12, 13.               Lord the believers are rebuked because of all kinds of sins
How then is it possible for that Christian, that is thus de-          and corruptions. And as far as the texts are concerned that
livered from all the dominion of sin and the devil, to pray,          apparently teach perfection in this life, it is very evident
"Deliver us from evil ?"                                              from other parts of the same epistles in which those expres-
                                                                      sions occur that they mean perfection only in principle. Truly,
  This view of the perfectionist is spiritually very  shallow         in I John 3  :9 we read that he that is born of  `God cannot
and superficial. Reformed people usually have a much pro-             sin,' because His seed remaineth in him. But in the same
founder insight into Holy Writ, and at the same time a more           epistle, in I John 1  18, we also read that if we say that we
sober view of  thti reality of the life of the  child_of  God in      have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
the world.. They take the reality of sin over against the             And as far as examples in Holy Writ are concerned, that
righteousness and holiness of God far more seriously than             are supposed to teach that the saints can and do walk in
the perfectionist. A theory that'claims that the child of God         perfection before God in this world, we may certainly remark
is  abie to live perfectly in this world, and that he can act-        that in the entire cloud of witnesses in the old dispensation
ually attain  tb perfection, must necessarily lower the criterion,    there never was one'that  lived without sin before God.
or standard, of perfection. He who takes sin seriously, and
-has any idea of the righteousness and holiness of God, cer-             Besides, we may remark that only he that is regenerated
tainly cannot be satisfied with the outward keeping of some           and that is a new creature in Christ Jesus can and will pray
of the commandments of God: ;But he understands that God              the petition, "Deliver us from evil." The natural man is
demands truth in the inward parts. And the child of God               dead in trespasses and'sins. He is not free. He is enslaved
who knows himself and gains an ever deeper insight from .a            to sin. Sin has dominion over him. And this dominion of,
spiritual, ethical point of view into his own sinful heart and        sin does not signify that the sinner is outwardly shackled,
existence will not easily be tempted to imagine that his walk-        and compelled to sin against his will and against the desires.
is perfect before the Lord. He is too vividly conscious of            of his inmost heart, but that he is bound from .within.  His
the very opposite. Those that claim that the child of God             heart is corrupt. His will is perverse. His mind is dark-
is able to attain to. perfection usually speaks in a very super-      ened, so that he can heither  truly discern nor will that which
ficial way  ibout their conversion to God. They  commbnly             is good. He is motivated by enmity against the living God.
speak of  &me  very gross sins in which they used to walk             For : "The carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is not
and from which now they are delivered. Formerly they                  subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom.
were drunkards, or lived in adultery ; but since they were            8  ~7. He agrees with sin. He loves darkness rather than
converted, they live soberly and in chastity. Little they speak       light. How then could such a man ever begin to long `for
of the inner fountain of the heart, out of which are the issues       and to cry out for deliverance from evil ? True, the  ,wages
df life. Lack of proper self-knowledge is the basis of  theii-        which sin pays even in this life may sometinies be too bitter
imagination that they can walk perfectly before God. Sin is           for him, so that he could long for deliverance from certain
excused, and the life of sanctification consists in the external      sinful habits, in order to escape their bitter consequences.
walking in some of the commandments of God. The teaching              But sin as such, sin as it is transgression of the law, he can-
of the perfectionist, moreover, leads to a neglect in regard          not possibly hate. Nor does he feel the dominion of sin as
to watching and prayer. Of a daily seeking refuge in the              a yoke from which he would fain be delivered. The prayer,
cross of Jesus Christ, in order there to  find forgiveness of         "Deliver us from evil," therefore, is the cry that is pressed
sins and peace of mind and heart, they have no need. And              from the  regene'rated  heart. Yes, indeed, the believer in


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   Christ is a new creature. He is born of God. He is  repen-        lust of the eye and the pride of life. And his life is a con-
   erated.  And this does not mean merely, that he has reformed      tinual battle. Always again he must hear the truth as it  is,
  himself, that he has been cured from some bad habits, so           in Jesus, "to put off concerning the former conversation the
. that he used to be a drunkard, but drinks no more, or used to      old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
  commit adultery, but now leads a clean life, or used to            and be renewed in the spirit of (your) his mind." The Chris-
  swear, but now utters no more profanity. But it means that         tian in this world has- a small beginning, a principle, of the
  his inmost heart has been radically changed. In his inmost         new obedience. But there is still the old flesh, that hankers
  heart, whence are the issues of life, he has received a new        after sin.
  life, the resurrection-life of our Lord Jesus Christ. And in           Duiing  his whole `life; therefore, the Christian must fight
  that inmost heart Christ, through His Spirit, has taken up         the battle of faith against the devil, the world, and his own
  his abode, and will never, even for a moment, leave it again.      flesh. And ;h that battle, looking forward to the final victory,
  The Christian, therefore, is no longer  a, slave of sin. He is     he always must pray, "Deliver, us from  eyil." Perhaps you
  free from the dominion of the evil one. He is'changed from         remark that in the way of watching and praying and of
  death to life, from darkness to light. Old things have passed      constant battle the believer can overcome and gain the final
  away ; behold all things are become new !                          and perfect victory over sin in this life, so that he reaches
      But does this mean that the believer, regenerated and          a state in which he sins no more. Or; you reason that the
  called out of darkness into light is completely perfected, so      Spirit does not only regenerate .God's elect, but also sancti-
  that- there is no sin left in him whatsoever? There  is per-       fies them, and that in the process of sanctification the be-
  haps no one who, in the-face of the testimony of Scripture         liever is gradually delivered from his old nature and reaches
  to the contrary; and in the face of reality and every-day ex-      :perfection.   Btit neither of these'two views is correct in the
  perience, would dare to make such a claim. 0, indeed, the          light of Holy Writ. As to the latter, sanctification consists
  Word of God teaches us that he that is born of God cannot          so little of a gradual regeneration of our whole nature, body
  sin, which means that exactly in as far as he is born of God,      and soul, that, on the contrary, in .the way of and through
  or in the capacity of one that is born of God, he cannot           the work of sanctification the' Christian is not delivered from
  commit sin. But the same Scripture,  aS we have already            his old carnal nature whatsoever, not even in the smallest:
  quoted, teaches but too clearly that this does not imply that      degree: Always he has but a  small beginning of the new
  the! believer as he is in this world is completely free from       obedience, a small principle of the new life, no matter how
  all the pollution of sin. In fact, "If we say that we have not     old he becomes or how truly he is sanctified by the Spirit of
  sinned, we make him a liar, and- his word is not in us." H         God. Sanctification simply does not consist in a gradual
  John 1  :lO. And the- apostle Paul gives us an inspired picture    shedding of our old nature. That old sinful nature always
  of his own experience in Rom. 7:15, ff. ; and it is quite im-      remains, and goes with us to the grave. Only in and through
  possible to apply this to his state before he was regenerated      death are we`delivered from the body of this death, not be-
  and converted: "For that which I do I allow not: for what          fore. By sanctification we  do grow in the knowledge  and,
  I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then        grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are strengthened in our
  I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it        faith. We become more fervent in love, are confirmed in
  is good. Now then it is no more I' that do it, but sin that        hope, receive more light and understanding of the perfect way,
  dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh)       more strength to fight the battle and to subject the body of
  dwelleth no good thing : for to will is present with me ; but      this death to the service of righteousness. But the old na-
  how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good         ture, with its carnal lusts, remains until we breathe our
  that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that        last. And it is exactly those Christians that are spiritually
  I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that           most sensitive and that have advanced farthest on the way
  do it,  but sin that dwelleth in me.' I  iind then a law, that,    of sanctification that will most deeply bemoan their imperfect
  when I would do good,  evii is present with me. For I de-          state, and confess that they have but a small beginning of
  light in the law of-God after the inward man: But I see an-        the new obedience. It is they that feel the need of the constant!
  other law in my members, warring against the  lath of my           prayer, "Deliver us from evil."
  mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which         And as to the former statement, that we even with our
  is in my members. 0 wretched man that I am! who shall              sinful nature always presknt can so fight and watch and pray
  deliver me from the `body of this death?' Such is the testi-       that it is possible to live sinlessly, one has but to take sin
  mony of  Holy  Writ. Such is also the daily experience of          seriously, and then cast a look into his own inner life, in
  every Christian that takes the trouble.to  examine himself be-     order to know how thoroughly untrue such a statement is.
  fore the face of God. He has a new heart. And in that in-                                                                     H.H.
  most heart of his he is united with Christ. But he has an             "The sovereignty of God, no matter how beautifully con-
  old nature. And in that old nature there are the old mo-           fessed, when belied in practice, can never be a  scource of  -
 tions and ruts of sin, motions of the lust of the flesh and the     comfort."                                             - H H K .


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 321

                                                                          all, yet, not I, but the grace of God which  w&s with me!
          FROM HOLY.  WR.lT                                               I Cor. 15 :lO.
                                                                             Practica,lly  Paui says in these verses : What are you that
                                                                          you are not by IGod's grace in Christ? And what have you
            Expositibn of I Corinthians l-4                               that you have not received ?
                                 13.                                        . Principly-theologically he "makes" this practical point
                                                                          clear by showing how all our understandirig of the Mysteries
    We now come to the very beautiful and instructive pas-                of the Kingdom of heaven is  g&n us to understand. It is
 sage in I Corinthians 2 :lO-16, which teaches us the underly-            all  gift from God. .However, it is such a gift of God that it
 ing and secret reason why, we, the church, understand the                is His sovereignly free gift. He  gives it to whom He  &ills.
 Mystery of God in Christ, and why it is that the world does              It is not of him that willeth,  not of him that runneth, but of
 not understand these same Mysteries of faith.                            God that giveth mercy!
    The reason: God has  pevea.led  it unto  US by His Spirit                That God has made a distinction between men and men,
 and He hath hid these same things from the wise and prudent.             between the church and the world is stated by -Paul  in the
                                                        "Bid 
    Thus we read in the verses lo-11 as follows:                 God      very first sentence' in verse 10. This is particularly  notice-
 hatlz  retiealed  them  z&nto  US by  H,is  Spirit: for  the  SpiTit     able in the original Greek. The "unto  US" (eemin) is  em-
 searches  a,ll  thin.gs of God. For what  man  knoweth the               phatic. It is placed in the emphatic position in the sentence.
 things of a man, save  the spirit of  man which is in  him? even         Literally we read  "Unto  US for revealed God  through the
 so  the things of God  kn.owetk   no man,  but the Spirit of God."       Spirit." It is true that Paul certainly emphatically teaches
    Why does Paul stop to give this instruction to the church             that God has revealed this "hidden wisdom in Mystery."
 at Corinth ? Is it that the. church may begin to boast of a              He alone `could reveal it and He could reveal it only through
 certain superior knowledge ; must she begin to glory in her              His Holy Spirit. However, that is not the emphasis here.
 `knowledge!  ? Of course, such can never be the case. Had                Paul is waging a polemic against party-strife and schism in
 Paul' not, clearly made this understood when he calls our                the congregation, and the congregation must learn to see the
 attention to the manner of our calling in Chapter 1 :2G-31?              implication of the gift of knowledge so that she may cease
 Is not the sole' reason  of all salvation such that we boast in          boasting in the flesh. And, therefore, we must see that God
 the Lord, saying, 0 the depths both of the wisdom and of                 made a distinction between us and the world in that He
 the knowledge of God! Hoti unsearchable are His ways and                 revealed it unto us and not to the world!
 His paths past finding out ! Out of Him, through Him and                     Here is a marvelous matter to note. The very  instruc-
 unto Him are all things. To Him be the glory both now and                tion which takes away all our boasting in the flesh and caus-
 forever more ?                                                           ing us to  glory  alone in the Lord is interpreted by  unbe-
                                                                          lievers and all moralists as causing men to be careless and
     Such is the clear design of God in all things in creation            profane. But that is not because such are the facts, but simply
 and in recreation. And, therefore, surely Paul does not give             because this Mystery of lowliness of mind and godliness has
 this instruction concerning the reason why we understand                 not been revealed unto them.
 and the princes of this world  do not, that the Christian                    That one, to whom  .this  mystery  of God, all that is in
 should boast in the flesh.                                               Christ, has been "revealed," cannot possibly boast in man,
     Rather this instruction is given in order that we may                is not only clear from .the content and manner of the grace
 truly learn to say: For what maketh us to differ from  an-               of God itself, (foregiveneess of sins, hungering for righteous-
 other ? And what have we that we have not received ? And,                ness, etc.) but also follows from the truth of God's  revela-
if we have received it, why should we glory as if we had not              tion through the Holy Spirit.
 received it ? (See I Cor. 4 :7)                                              This will become clear from just a cursory study of the
     And surely such instruction was necessary for  .the church           term  c+evea~~  in  Scripture.
 at Corinth where the consciousness of having received all by                 The  terrri employed by Paul in verse 10 is "apokaluptein,"
 grace was so very sadly lacking. And, lest we exalt  our-                a word which is commonly translated by the english term,
selves and be deceived by our own lusts, we hasten to add                 "td reveal" and not by the term "to make manifest." The
 that we too need this instruction! Also in this respect we               latter is generally the translation of the Greek verb "Phane-
 too often learn from painful experience how we have not                  roin."
 yet profoundly learned this lesson: that, by nature, we are                  It is of interest to read what Thayer in his Greek-English
 thoroughly Pelagian and Arminian, so that, even though it                Lexicon (Dictionary) has to say about the term  "apokalup-
 is our earnest confession that all salvation is of the Lord,             tein,"' to reveal. He writes the following about this verb:
 we nevertheless find that according to the flesh we boast in             "It is a disclosure of  .truth,  instruction, concerning Divine
  our own superiority and accomplishinent above others.                  _ things before unknown -`especially those relating to Chris-
     Paul learns to say: I labored more abundantly that they              tian salvation-given to the soul by God Himself, or by the


II 3 2 2                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   ,BEARER                                                        -
    ascended Christ, especially by the operation of the Holy             ..     Such is the implication of the term also in Rom.  16:25
    Spirit (I  Car. 2  :lO)- and so to be distinguished from other. and other passages of Holy Writ.
    methods of instruction."                                                   The above interpretation is corroborated by a study
        In this term of revelation we do not simply deal with the        of the use of the term which in the New Testament is tram+
    outward manifestation and confrontation with God's revela-           lated `Zo make manifest."
    tion in creation and in ,the written Word, but we here also                It is rather important to notice that the noun "manifesta-
    come face to face with inward illumination of the                    tion,"
                                                            mind  and               in Greek ; ,phaneroosis,  is only employed twice in the
    lzeavt  of man, that is, of the Christian! It is an impartation,     entire New Testament. Both times it is used by Paul.
    of the knowledge of God's wisdom in the Cross, imparting                   A very interesting usage of the term we find in I Corin-
    this knowledge to the "soul" of man, so that he is not merely        thians 12:7 where we read, "But unto each has been given
    a psychical creature but so that he is  constituted  a  `fspirit-    the  wtanifestatiogz  (ee phaneroosis) of the Spirit unto which
    ual man."                                                            it is profitable for the members."
       That such is the notion of "revelation" in Scripture is                 In this entire passage Paul is not speaking of God's
    certainly convincingly and clearly taught in the well-known          revelation of the Mysteries to us, enlightening our eyes, but
    Scripture passage of Matthew 11  :25, "At that time Jesus            is speaking of the manifestation'of  the Spirit in and through
    answered and said, I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven            us; in each member of the body the Holy Spirit is manifested
    and earth, because Thou has hid these things from: the wise          in the body. Here we see the multiformity of the gifts of the
    and prudent, and hast  revealed  them unto babes."                   Spirit in the one body of Christ, the living members of the
       In this text in Matthew 11 the "hiding' spoken of cer-            church.
                                                                               Here Paul would  scarely have employed the term "re-
    tainly is not to be understood in the sense that the Gospel          vealed."
    was `not made manifest to them. They had clearly understood
    the Gospel with their natural understanding. However, it                   Surely, surely, what is "revealed" (apokaluptien)  is here
    was not with an understanding of faith and hope in God. The          implied and presupposed, but what is revealed unto us .by the
    latter was not given to them. And so, while they clearly             Spirit of God is manifested through the self-same Spirit.
    understood, they did not understand, and, while they empha-                Bishop Trench writes about the term "apokalupsis" (to
    tically heard the Word proclaimed, yet did they not see it as        reveal) the following ,note-worthy observation, "Joined with
    the Word of life. It was a hard doctrine.! Hence, the                (optasia) appearance it is by Theophylact ; distinguished
    "hiding" here must be understood in the sense that it was            from it in this,  that~ the  optasia  (appearance) is not `more
    hid from them spiritually. They only heard it as "natural,"          than the thing shown or seen, the sight or vision, which might
    as psychical men !                                                   quite possibly be seen without being understood ; while the
                                                                         (apokalupsis) revelation includes not merely the thing shown
       However, as soon as the eyes of the heart are enlightened         and seen, but also the interpretation or unveiling of the same;"
    by the Holy Spirit and knowledge is given to the eyes of the         Paragraph XCIV, page 331, Syn. of N. T.
    mind, then the mind of Christ is given. And that is "revela-               While of the term (phaneroosis ) manifestation,' Trench
    tion," the uncovering of the mysteries of the Kingdom as they        writes in the same paragraph that the honor of revealing
    are "revealed out of faith unto faith."                              either the second or the- first coming of Christ has not been
       Such is also clearly taught in Ephesians 1 :17, 18, where         accorded to this term.
    Paul informs the congregation of his .prayer  for her that she             From all this it is very evident that Paul in our passage
    may have and enjoy a richer, fuller and more mature under-           in I Corinthians 2  :lO, 11 certainly has more in mind with
    standing of all that is of God in Christ for the church. We          the term "revealed" than simply the objective manifestation,
    read there "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the                and that he wills the congregation to understand and confess
    Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and          that their very knowledge and believing acceptance of the-
    ,yevelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of yoztr ztubder-      truth is also from God in Christ.
    standing being enlightened . . . . .`*                                     It would lead us too far afield to demonstrate how this
       It is quite evident that the Spirit of revelation (apokalup-      very evident truth is transgressed by the "first point" of
    sis) is a Spirit which is "revelational" in that it "enlightens"     1924. However, the following syllogism will demonstrate
    the eyes of the heart. Thus also Paul has a great knowledge          why the categorical question "what grace do the reprobate
    in the Mysteries of God, as it has not been made known to            receive in the preaching  ?" was indeed to the point and
    other generations, by virtue of and according  to  revelation!       rooted in sound exegesis, and not in rationalistic preconcep-
    God%has revealed His Son in Paul. And thus the scales of             tions :
    unbelief and misunderstanding no longer blind his eyes. He                 1. Grace and "revelation" (apokalupsis) are essentially
    can see because it has been revealed unto him.in such a way          one and the same.
    that the seeing eye and the hearing ear has been given unto                2. Nothing is "revealed" to the world; it is only  re-
    him.                                                                                         (Coufiimed   on  Page  324)


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  323
                                                         -'
                                                                    filled with spiritual exercises. Let the young people then
             I-N  H I S   F E A R                                   prepare, and let's capitalize that, PREPARE for their society
                                                                    discussion. They will always receive  .benefit  from the dis-
                                                                    cussion  in the measure that they prepare to derive benefit
              The Sabbath in His Fear                               from the discussion. We live in an age wherein these things
                                                                    are shoved aside so easily and wherein so little interest is
                              (7)                                   shown by the youth of the church in studying God's word
    Services of divine worship are over.                            that we feel constrained to write boldly and state that this is
   We frequented the house of God.                                  not the Sabbath in His fear.
   There still remain many hours left on the Sabbath.                  The parents are to a great extent to `blame for this situa-
   But our observance of that day is no longer required             tion themselves. Father and mother sit there reading the
   By whose rule and consent?                                       Reader's Digest or sad to say some utterly worldly novel in
   You will find nothing in Holy Writ that declares that the        a magazine that never claims to seek, the spiritual wellbeing
day consists in only one and one half to three hours.  YOU          of its readers or of some current novel that is gripping for
will not `find that the Church is presented in Holy Writ as         the senses and entertaining to the flesh' but utterly void of
seeking the minimum of that which is recorded in the Heidel-        the fear of God ! Even .worse  are those situations in homes
berg Catechism. And there is so much activity that ought to         where the movies of yesteryear and their present day suc-
be performed uponthat day that he who conscientiously looks         cessors are witnessed by father and mother on the television
to the day will find it too short for all the spiritual activity    screen. We do not hesitate to say: The fear of God is not
for which that day calls.                                           in it! Such things are definitely in the category which we
   To begin with there are our young people who must be             listed'before of things that choke the word that has been sown.
considered. The Sabbath is given also for them and ought to         The fear of God is not in anyone of those things. And such
be used by them in spiritual exercises. We cannot approve           activity is not keeping the Sabbath in His fear.
of their wasting a Sunday afternoon in chasing here and there          No better time either, for father and mother to study
is their cars to make a holiday out of that part of the Sabbath.    God's Word and prepare for their society meeting. The ac-
And where afternoon services are held instead of evening the        tivity of the youth often is a very accurate. mirror of what
same thing holds true for the `evening. Our young people            goes on in the home. Father and mother who never set the
should have something spiritual to do on the day of rest as         example for their children by having the word of God in their
well as the adult.                                                  hands for anything more than a hurried. reading of it at the
   We do not hesitate to state that the Sabbath rather .than        table after meals are revealed as a rule by children who come
some night in the week is the ideal time for our young              to society in total ignorance even. of what part of Holy Writ
people's societies to meet. Indeed, it means another trip for       it is in which their lesson is to be found. Excellent helps are       _
those who live a distance from church, bxt is that any dif-         provided for them. Sets of prearranged questions are there
ferent when they have their society during the week ? It            for them to study that they may find the answers. And they
still is another trip. And we ought to have insight enough          have not so much as looked at.these helps and questions. Nor
to see and understand that it is a trip that is worthwhile.         has father and mother even insisted on it. Instead father and
The argument of "another trip" is simply an excuse which            mother defend the child and maintain that he has to have
we fail to use when it is for material, carnal reason that re-      some recreation, etc., etc. But let it be remembered that the
quire our going back to the vicinity of our place of worship        Sabbath must be kept in HIS fear and that is the One Whom
(`or perhaps much farther). Besides, they spend the whole           we will have to satisfy with our excuses and not man.
afternoon or evening going some other place and lose all idea          The Sabbath also is a wonderful time to begin, at least,
even that it is the Sabbath. Late in the afternoon the thought      with the instruction to the children of their catechism lessons.
might forcefully present itself to them that they have to hurry     Read to them the story out of the Bible so that they know
home for supper because they  ,must get ready to go to              the story on which their questions and answers are based.
church again. Or if all services of divine worship are over         Teach them early in life the significance of the Sabbath and
by three-thirty or four o'clock in the afternoon, the rest of       that God has prepared a part for them also.
the whole Sabbath is turned into a weekly holiday for doing           It makes your Sabbath busy.
the things of the flesh. These things ought not so to be.              Who would want or dare to- deny that?
   Let us be charitable in this respect and assume that there          But for what else has God given it?                    7
is some good reason for having a young people's society on             He  gavt? that Sabbath. He made it for man and did not
another night during the week. For the sake of presenting           make man for it. And- therefore it is sinful when we take it
this matter, let us assume that a place of meeting cannot be        for our flesh. We may not take it away from the reason for
secured for the afternoon or evening for this reason or for         which He has given it. Then we take it in vain. That Sab-
that; the  fact-  remains that the Sabbath is there for being       bath we may not take in vain anymore than we may take His

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

name in vain. For remember that His name is in all His               ually lazy and spiritually disinterested. But as the angels in
works. And to take the day which speaks of His work of               heaven are ceaselessly active in the worship and service of
salvation for carnal persuits and fleshly pleasures is to take       God, so shall all those for whom this rest remains be active
that day in vain and is to sin against the living ~God.              there. And they will begin thus to live in this life.
       The same holds true for those whom God has detained
home through illness, tending the sick or by inclement weather                                      8  *  *  *
or the like. In the measure that we are able to turn to God's           In the February 1 issue of  The Standard  Bea.rr we
Word on the Sabbath, meditate upon it, read good spiritual           wrote the following, "It is not a day given us to forsake and
literature, in that measure we ought to fill the day likewise.       leave divine services behind and to fly by the fastest plane
Father goes to church in the morning while mother tends the          across more than half of our country, from the West Coast
little babe. Well, she is usually kept so busy getting that noon     to the Great Lakes region, to try to cast our illegal vote at
time meal ready that the more important things of the soul           a consistory meeting where we intend to defend heresy."
and of spiritual life must be relegated to the background. The          The brother involved wrote us -and ~assured  us that this
Sabbath behaviour often can be. paraphrased thus : Seek ye           never took place. He did attend divine services twice that
first the things of this life, food and drink, ease and comfort ;    particular Sabbath ; and we are glad to make the correction
and all these spiritual things' will be added." We actually          after receiving this word from him.
live and reveal on the Sabbath that we so think.  Seeking               We are glad to do this for two reasons.
the kingdom of God is of far less importance than the seeking           First of all we have,no  interest or delight in misrepresent-
of the things of this life. Father stays home in the afternoon ;     ing anyone or of accusing anyone falsely of anything. We
and while baby sleeps he takes his nap also or else wiles his.       had been misinformed by one whom we considered in a posi-
time away with worldly books and avocations. Let him read            tion to know the facts and who would have no reason for
spiritual material. Let him study his society lesson. Let            misrepresenting them. Since the facts are otherwise we gladly
him instruct the other children that stay home with him in           say so at this time.
their catechism work.                                                   In the second place we are glad to make this correction
       Sure, that is work for him.                                   because, although in a series of articles such as we have be-
       The flesh rebels against it.                                  gun and now have concluded, it  is  necessary to mention
       But can we honestly  say. before God that He has not          specific acts that are not to be practiced, we are happy when
given us the day exactly for such things ?       .                   we hear of instances that reveal that the Sabbath has been
       Youwant to visit the bedridden and sick in the hospitals      kept in His fear.
on Sunday afternoon or night.                                                                                                 J . A . H .
       Nothing wrong with that.
   Jesus, in connection with visiting the sick in Matthew
25  134, says that to visit the sick is to visit Him and that
such are blessed of HisFather  and inherit the kingdom.                                       FROM  HOUY  W&IT
       But make it a Sabbath visit then in His fear.                                         (Continued  from  page  322)
       Give the sick the benefit of the Word of God which you        vealed to us by God's Spirit.
might hear and might.enjoy. Do not make your visit one on               3. No grace is given in the preaching to the "unbeliev-
the same carnal sphere and level that the world practices.           ing" reprobate world in the preaching.
If you plan to go to visit the sick think of them when you go           Does this make a Reformed Christian proud and boastful?
to church in the morning and make a mental note of the               Such has always been the contention of the world of unbe-
things that you hear that you also intend to bring to their          lievers and Arminians !
attention. You will find more joy in listening to the Word              But Paul says : Thus it is, indeed, that  -no flesh. might
yourself that morning or afternoon.                                  glory before  ,God, but that he, who glorieth, may glory in
       It means work, this keeping of the Sabbath in His fear.       the Lord.
       And if it is done properly it is going to keep you busy,                                (To be Continued)
so busy in fact that you will see the foolishness of asking:
may I do this and may I do that today ? You will not find
time-for these, nor will you care for them.
       We speak of the Sabbath as being a foretaste of the              "A Christian too conversant with people of  th,e world,
Eternal Sabbath. Such it is for the child of God who keeps           resembles a bright piece of plate too much exposed to the air ;
it in His fear. For that Eternal Sabbath will indeed be an           which, though in reality it continues plate. still, yet grows
everlasting day of work, of praising and glorifying God in           tarnished, and loses its fine burnish, and needs a fresh cleans-
word and in deed.                                                    ing and. rubbing up."
       There is no room in that eternal Sabbath for the spirit-                                                              - Topladg
                                                                                   k


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                325

                                                                     which ensue, but also for the past, - the guilt of all the sins
          Contending For The Faith                                   which were remitted returning on him, as happens only too
                                                                     frequently in the Church." -end of quote.
                                                                         We have already remarked on this quotation of Augustine
           The Church and the Sacrixrnenti                           in our previous article. First, the eminent Church Father
     VIEWS  DURING THE  SECOND   PERIOD  (300-750   A.D.)            apparently teaches in this quotation, part of which appeared
                                                                     in our preceding article, that a person's sins are removed at
                          BAPTISM  (3)                               the time of baptism but that they return  in consequence
     Continuing our quotation of Augustine, in.connection  with      of his deceit and if he walks in ways of sin and evil. And,
his views on baptism, we quote the following: "For that sins         secondly, he teaches that the benefit' of baptism is only on the
 which have been remitted do return upon a man, where there          condition of repentance and faith. He, does not ascribe ma-
 is no brotherly 10~5, is most clearly taught by our Lord, in        gical power to the water as such of the sacrament.
  the case  .of the servant whom He found owing  Him'*ten                Another lengthy quotation from Augustine, in which he
 thousand talents, and to whom He yet forgave all at  ,his           discusses the penitent thief that was crucified with Jesus is
 entreaty. But when he refused to have pity on his  fellow-          of importance, and we quote it as follows: "But what is the
 servant who owed him a hundred pence, the Lord commanded            precise value of the sanctification of the sacrament (which
 him to pay what He had forgiven him. The time, then, at             that thief did not receive, not from any want of will on his
 which pardon is received through baptism is as it werk the          part, but because it .was unavoidably omitted) and &hat is
 time for rendering accounts, so that all the debts which are        the effect on a man of its material application, it is not easy
 found to be due may be remitted. Yet it was afterwards that         to say. Still, had it not been of the greatest value, the Lord
 the servant lent his fellow-servant the money, `which he had        would not have received the baptism of,a servant.. But since
 so pitilessly exacted when the other was unable to pay it ; but     we must look at it in itself, without entering upon the ques-
 his fellow-servant already owed him the debt, when he him-          tion of the salvation of the recipient, which it is intended to
 self, on rendering his accounts to his master, was excused a        work, it shows clearly enough that both in the bad, and in
 debt of so vast an amount. He had not first excused his             those who renounce the world in word and not in deed, it is
 fellow-servant, and so come to receive forgiveness frdm his         itself complete, .though  they cannot receive salvation unless
 Lord. -This is proved by the words of the fellow-servant:           they amend their lives. But as in the thief, to whom the
 "Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all." Otherwise         material administration of the sacrament was  n&essarily
 he would have said, "You forgave me it before ; why do              wanting, the salvation was complete, because it was spirit-
                                                              you
 again demand it?" This is made more clear by the words of           ually present throug'h  his piety, so, when the sacrament itself
 the Lord Himself. For He says, "But the same servant went           is present, salvation is complete, if what the thief possessed
 out, and found one of his fellow-servants which was owing           be unavoidable wanting. And this is the firm tradition of the-
 him a hundred pence." He does not say, "To whom he had              universal Church, in respect of the baptism of infants, who
 already forgiven a debt of a hundred pence." Since then He          certainly are as yet unable "with the heart to believe unto
 says, "`was owing him," it is clear that he had not forgiven        righteousness, and with the mouth to make confession unto
 him the debt. And indeed  it would have been better, and            salvation," as the thief could do; nay, who even, by crying
 more in accordance with the position of a man who was going         and  moariing when the mystery is performed upon them,
 to render an account of so great a debt, and expected .for-         raise their voices in opposition to the mysterious words, and
 bearance from his Lord, that he should first have forgiven          yet no Christian will say that they are baptized to no purpose.
 his fellow-servant what was due to him, and so have come               And ii any one seek for divine authority in this matter,
 to render the account when there was such need for imploring        though what is held by the whole Church, and that not as in-
 the compassion of his Lord. Yet the fact that he had not yet        stituted by Councils, but .as a matter of invariable custom, is
 forgiven his fellow-servant, did not prevent his Lord froni         rightly held to have been handed down by apostolical author-
 forgiving him all his debts on the occasion of receiving his ac-    ity, still we can form a true conjecture of the value of the
 counts. But what advantage was it to him, since they all            sacrament of baptism in the case of infants, from the parallel
 immediately returned with redoubled force upon his head, in         of  circum&sion,  which was received, by God's earlier people,
 consequence of his persistent want of charity ? So the grace        and before receiving which AbrLham  was justified, as Cor-
 of baptism is not prevented from giving remission of all sins,      nelius also was enriched with the gift of the Holy Spirit be-
even  if he to whom they are forgiven continues to cherish' fore he was baptized. Yet the apostle says of Abraham him-
 hatred towards his brother in his heart. For the guilt of           self,`that  "he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the
 yesterday is remitted, and all that was before it, nay, even        righteousness of the faith," having already believed in his
 the guilt, of the very hour and moment previous to baptism,         heart, so that "it was counted unto -him for righteousness."
 and during baptism itself. But then he immediately begins           Why, therefore, was it commanded him that he should cir-
 again to be responsible, not only for the days, hours, moments      cumcise every male child in order on the eighth day, though


        326                                          T H E         STANDAFD   .BEARER

        it could not yet believe with the heart, that it should be            matizing,  abhorring, and abominating the perversity of heart
        counted unto it for righteousness, because the sacrament in           shown by' heretics; yet it does not follow that they have not
        itself was of great avail ? And this was made manifest by the         the sacranient of the gospel, because they  have not what
        message of an angel in the case of Moses' son ; for when he           makes it of  ,avail. Wherefore, when they come to the true
        was carried by his mother, being yet uncircumcised, it was            faith, and by penitence, seek remission of their sins, we are
        required, by manifest present peril, that he should be circum-        not flattering or deceiving them, .when we instruct them by ^
        cised, and when this was done, the danger of death was                heavenly discipline for the kingdom of heaven, correcting and
        removed. As therefore in Abraham the justification of faith           reforming in them their errors and perverseness, to the in-
        caltie first, and circumcision was added afterwards as the seal       tent that we may by no means do violence to what is sound
        of faith; so in Cdrnelius the spiritual sanctification came first     in them, nor, because of man's fault, declare that anything
        in the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the sacrament of regenera-        which he may have in him from God is either valueless or
        tion was added afterwards in the laver of baptism. And as             faulty." - end of quote.
        in Isaac; who was circumcised on the eighth day after his                In this lenghty quotation we would briefly note the fol-
        birth, the seal of this righteousness of faith was given first,       lowing. First, the statement of Augustine, namely:  "so in
        and afterwards, as he imitated the faith of his father, the           infants, who are baptized, the sacrament of regeneration is
        righteousness itself followed as he grew up, of which the seal        given first, and if they maintain a Christian piety, conversion
        had been given before when he was an infant; so in infants,           also in the heart will follow, of which the mysterious sign
        who  are baptized, the sacrament of regeneration is given             had gone before in the outward body," certainly sounds
        first, and if they maintain a Christian piety, conversion also        strange to us. Did Augustine, who believed  -in unconditional
        in the heart  will follow, of which the mysterious sign had           predestination and in the utter depravity of the human nature,
       gone before in the outward body. And as in the  -thief the             actually believe that a maintaining of a Christian piety must
        gracious goodness of the Almighty supplied what had been              precede the conversion of the heart? This is unthinkable, it
        wanting in the sacrament of baptism, because it had been              seems to me. Or, did he simply mean that the two are in-
        missing not from pride or contempt, but from want of op-              separable ? Secondly, it is stated by some (we have not been
        portunity ; so in infants who die baptized, we must believe           able to verify it) that the thief must have been baptized by
        that the same grace of the Almighty supplies the want, that,          the sprinkling of the blood or by the water from Jesus' side.
        not from perversity of will, but from insufficiency of age, they      We must remember that it was taught that there is no salva-
        can neither believe with the heart unto righteousness,  nof           tion without baptism, and it is evident that the penitent-thief
        make confession with the mouth unto salvation. Therefore,             had not been baptized. In this quotation, however, Augustine
        when others take the vows for them, that the celebration of           makes an exception in the case of  t'le malefactor on the
        the sacrament may be complete in their behalf, it, is unques-         ground that recourse to the administration of the sacrament
       tionably of avail for their dedication to God, because they            could not be had because of the want of time. Thirdly,
        cannot answer for themselves. But if another were to answer           Aug%stine  again affirms that the spiritual benefit of baptism
        .for one who could answer for himself, it would not be of             is only for- those who amend their lives. And, fourthly, the
        the same avail. In accordance with which rule, we find in-the         learned church father has also something to say, in this quota-
        gospel what strikes every one as natural when he reads it,            tion, about the baptism of infants. He declares here that in
        "He is of age, he shall speak for himself."                           the case of infants the faith of the Church, as represented by
               By all these considerations it is proved that the sacrament    the godfathers and godmothers, functions for the child. The
        of baptism is one thing, the conversion of the heart another ;        infant cannot answer for itself; hence, it is unquestionably
        but that man's salvation is made complete through the two             of avail for their dedication to God when others take the
        together. Nor are we to suppose that, if one of these be              vows for them. And we may certainly conclude froni these
        wanting, it necessarily follows that the other is wanting also;       quotations of Augustine that great significance was attached
        because the sacrament may exist in the ,infant  without the           to the sacrament of baptism.                                   H.V.
        conversion of the heart; and this was found to be possible
        without the sacrament' in the case of the thief, God in either
        case filling up what was involuntarily wanting. But when                                     IN MEMORIAM
        either of these requisites is- wanting intentionally, then the           The Ladies' Aid of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
        man is responsible for the omission. And baptism may                  Redlands, California, hereby wishes to express its sincere sym-
                                                                              pathy to the family of, Mr. Herman De Vries, in the loss of
        exist when the conversion of the heart is wanting ; but, with         their Wife, Mother and Grandmother,
. .     respect to such conversion, it may indeed be found when bap-                           MI&.  MARTINA DE VRIES
        tism has not been received, but never when it has been                   May the Lord comfort the family through His Word and
        despised. Nor can there be said in any way to be -a turning           Spirit, and may we rest assured, that our loss is her gain.
        of the heart to God when the sacrament of God is treated                                           Rev. H. H. Kuiper, President
        with contempt. Therefore we are right in censuring, anathe-                                        Mrs. E. Van Voorthusen, Secretary


                                                             T H E   ST-ANDARD   B E A R E R                                                                      327
Ii                                                                                              of the  ;Rejection of Errors in this chapter, it indeed deals  `,
             ihe Voice of Our Fathers. -1 /I with the subject of the death of Christ and redemption in so
                                                                                                far as this doctrine was corrupted by the Arminians. The
                                                                                                Arminian view of atonement, - in connection, let it be added,
                   The Canons of Dordrecht                                                      with their view of predestination, - left it %n open question
                                    PART TWO                                                    (sp'eaking from their point of view, now) whether there
                                                                                                would ever be a church at all, and whether at any given
                     EXPOSITION  OF THE  CANONS                                                 time in history there would be a gathering of believers. That
                      SECOND  HEAD  OF DOCTRINE                                                 all depended, in the Arminian view, on whether there were
                                                                                                any men who would believe in Christ and actually appropri-
         OF  THE   DEATH   OF CHRIST ,  AND  THE  REDEMPTION                                    ate the forgiveness of sins that was obtained by Christ for
                             OF   ME N   T HEREBY                                               all men and  *every man. And it is in this connection that
                                                                                                the fathers here state the necessary consequence of the Re-
               Article 9.  T.his purpose proceeding from everlasting
                love towards the elect, has from the beginning of                               formed and Scriptural view of particular atonement. In the
                the world to this day  b,een powerfully accomplished,                           second place, note once again that you find. in this article
                and will henceforward still continue to be accom-                               the same organic view of the truth that pervaded  the  pre;
                plished,    nothwithstanding   a l l   t h e   i n e f f e c t u a l   o p -    vious article. The truth is one. And though  you  can dis-
                position of the gates of hell, so that the elect in
                due time may be gathered together into one,  aqd                                tinguish that one truth into various. doctrines, - a doctrine
                that there never may be  ,wanting a church composed                             of election, a doctrine of atonement and redemption, a doc-
                of believers, the foundation  o,f which is laid in the                          trine of salvation, of the application of the benefits of Christ to
                blood of Christ, which may steadfastly love, and faith-                         His people, etc.,-you can nevertheless never separate these
                fully serve him as their Savior, who as a bridegroom                            doctrines from each other and still maintain the unity of the
                for his bride, laid down his life for them upon the
                cross, and which may celebrate his praises here and                             truth. And so the fathers again trace the one line.of  the one
                through all eternity.                                                           purpose of God, conceived in eternity, and realized all through
                                                                                                history, even to the day of its final consummation in the new
        Except for the rather inaccurate "the foundation of which                               creation.
is laid in  fhe blood of Christ," which might more  Simply  and                                    As to the contents of this article, let 
correctly be translated by "founded in the blood of Christ,"                                                                                   us  note, first of all,
                                                                                                that by "this purpose" we are referred  .to Article  8: the
the above translation is correct, though we might also add the                                  "purpose" is defined there. According to that article, "this
term "notwithstanding" is commentary rather than transla-                                       purpose" is briefly "the sovereign counsel, and most gracious
tion. The latter' term might have been  @ft out, and the                                        will-and purpose of God the Father, that the quickening and
phrase in which it appears simply translated: "the gates of                                     saving efficacy of the most precious death of his Son should
hell vainly opposing."                                                                          extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the
        This article immediately reminds one of that beautiful                                  gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to
 fifty-fourth answer of the Heidelberg Catechism, concerning                                    salvation. " -Moreover, the article speaks of the fact that this
 the holy catholic church: "That the Son of God from the                                        purpose has  f~o,m the beginning of the world  been power-
 beginning to the end of the world, gathers; defends, and                                       fully-accomplished. Hence, the article teaches that long be-
 preserves to himself by his Spirit and word, out of the whole                                  fore Christ actually died. and atoned for the elect, God was
 human race, a church chosen to `everlasting life, agreeing in                                  powerfully accomplishing His purpose that the "quickening
 true faith . .  ." And certainly, ever since the Synod of                                      and saving efficacy  .of the most precious death of his Son
 Dordrecht, that  Answer  of the  Catechism,  which, of course,                                 should  exterid   to all the elect, . . . . thereby to bring them
 was already the accepted creed of the Reformed Churches at                                     infallibly to salvation."
 the time of the Synod, must necessarily be viewed in the                                           We may note, in the second place, that the article em-
 light of this further explanation of the Cu.nons.                                              phasizes that this purpose proceeds  out of everlasting love
        Before treating in detail the meaning of this article, let                              towards the elect,  Here the fathers clearly take the position,
 us briefly note some of its salient features. In the first place,                              theref'ore, that the atoning death of Christ can only be ex-
 remember that the article fails under the heading of  "the                                     plained out of God's everlasting love towards the elect. This
 death of Christ, and the redemption of men thereby." This                                      is important. It is not thus, that God was filled with
 may seem strange at first glance, but it .is nevertheless true,                                hatred toward us, but that Christ intervened and removed
 and, we may add, quite proper. To be sure, it does not                                         the cause of that hatred, and that only then did God become
 treat the death of Christ and the redemption of men thereby                                    moved with love toward us. But it was ever thus, that  in
 as such. It speaks oi the gathering of the church, and that                                    Christ Jesus God loved His elect from all eternity. And
 too, as the powerful  accbmplishment  of the everlasting                                       that love is therefore sovereign and free. It is not even thus,
      purpose of God's love. But, as becomes evident from a study                               that God's purpose that the saving efficacy of the death  gf


  328                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR:ER

  His Son should extend to all the elect is before that love.          the Romish Church ; or one need only study the* history of
  No, the purpose to save proceeds out of that love: And the           the development of doctrine,  incltiding  the very history of
  realization of that purpose proceeds out of that love. The           the Arminian controversy from Dordt to the present, with
  most precious death of His Son, together with all the saving         its repeated cycle- of apostasy from the truth ; or one need
  benefits connected with that death, is a marvellous revelation       only open his eyes to all the temptations and allurements of
  of everlasting divine love.                                          this present world ; and that consistent effort of the gates of
   _ In the third place, notice that the article speaks of in-         hell to destroy the church and to prevent the realization of
  effectual, or vain, opposition,against  that purpose of ,God and     God's purpose becomes very evident.
  its realization. This opposition it denotes by the Scriptural           But always God accomplished His purpose, and the
expression "the gates of hell." The expression undoubtedly             opposition of the gates of hell was vain. Vain was that op;
  stands for all that proceeds through those gates, `all that is       position, in the first place, because no matter how furious it
  of devilish, hellish origin. It includes the devi16and  his host,    was, and no matter how much destruction it seemed to ac-
  and their allies, the world, the children of their father the        complish, God always maintained His cause and preserved,
  devil, .and the very flesh of the elect. And their methods of        His church. But in the second place, the frustration of its
  opposition are.many and manifold. In the battle against the          vanity reaches its peak,-and undoubtedly this is `what moves
  purpose of God they' employ persecution and reproach, suf-           the powers of darkness to foam and froth in fury, -in this,
  fering and death and destruction, fire and sword and im-             that the Lord God, according to His everlasting purpose of
  prisonment, the temptation of false doctrine and the  v&i            love, so directs and. controls that very opposition that it
  philosophy of men, all kinds of attempts toxlsify  the preach-       niust serve the realization of His purpose. Never was that
  ing of the gospel. They make use of the dominion of sin amcl         more clearly revealed than at the cross itself, where indeed
  the power of the flesh. They employ the temptations of the           wicked men nailed. God's precious Son t6 the accursed tree,
  treasures and pleasures of the world. And always their               but all according to His determinate counsel and foreknowl-
  purpose is to destroy the church and to frustrate the realiza-       edge, so that they were but instruments in the realization of
  tion of the purpose of God, namely, that the saving efficacy.        His purpose, "that the saving efficacy of the most precious
  of the most precious death of His Son should extend to all           death of His Son should extend to all the eject." And how
  the elect, and that thus they should be brought infallibly           that very fact infuriated the powers of darkness becomes evi-
  to salvation.                                                        dent in their raging attempt to down the cause of the church
         That  is history.                                             immediately after Pentecost, -an attempt that was again so
         From the beginning of the world God was powerfully ac-        frustratingly vain because it only served the growth of the
  complishing that purpose. And from the beginning .of the             c.hurch  and the spread of the gospel.
  world the gates of hell opposed that purpose.                           And so the -fathers proceed, and say boldly that this
         Thus it was in the old dispensation. Always the gates of      purpose will "henceforward still continue to be accomplish-
  hell tried to destroy the holy line, and, ultimately to preSent      ed." 0, to be sure, this comforting assurance is based upon
  the appearance of the Great Seed of the woman. Before the            past history. But that is not its foundation ultimately. On
  flood already that is evident in the history of Cain and Abel,       the basis of the doctrine of conditional election and condi-
  in the intermingling of the daughters of men with the sons of        tional salvation, the doctrine of free will, this certainty could
  God, in the persecution that preceded the flood until only           never be attained, neither with regard to the individual be-
  Noah and his eight were left. After the flood the  same at-          liever nor with regard to the church as a whole. But on the
  tempt is manifest at Babel, in the history of Israel in Egypt,       basis of past history as it is the divine accow+shme~~t  of the
  in the wilderness, in Canaan, where that holy line was as-           divdne   @ypose  this assurance is absolutely established. The
  saulted from within and without, in the history of the cap-          whole elect church shall be saved most assuredly. Not one
  tivity, in the devilish attempt of Haman,  in the dark period        of them shall perish. For if Jehovah of hosts accomplishes His
  of the 400 years.                                                    own purpose, a purpose proceeding from everlasting love,
         Thus it was in the time of the Savior Himself, from His       who shall ever hinder it?
  birth at Bkthlehem until His death on the cross. Always they            T,he result, therefore, is that the elect are in due time
  tried to destroy Him and t`o prevent Him from accomplish-            gathered together into one, and that there never is wanting
  ing His redeeming purpose. When the gates of hell could              a church composed of believers, founded in the blood of
  not succeed in keeping Him from His purpose to be obedient           Christ. This has reference, first of all, to the present. The
  to the Father's purpose, they attempted finally to destroy Him       Lord takes care that there is always a church on the earth.
  on the cross.                                                        Never is the line of the church broken in history. Always
         Thus it was `all through the new dispensation until the       there are the'7000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal. And
  present time. One need only think of the persecution of the          it has reference, in the second place, to the final. gathering of
  apostles, of the persecution of the early church by the Roman        all the elect, the complete body; in eternal glory. Then all
  emperors, of the many forces of opposition exercised through                             (Coutiwed  on  pa,gc  330)


                                                                                                              i
                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   `B E A R E R                                              3 2 9

                                                                     to render to the church at that time. Others point to the
            DECENCY and ORDER                                        fact that two of the men appointed, Philip and Stephen, also
                                                                     engaged in the ministry of the Word and, consequently, claim
                                                                     that this appointment included both the office of elder and
                The Office of the Deacon                             deacon. It cannot refer to the office as we know it in our
                                                                     circles today since our deacons do not preach. When, how-
                           ARTICLE  24                               ever, the passage in question is considered in the light of
                                                                     later passages such as Philippians 1, I Timothy 3, etc., it
     "The deacons shall be, chosen, approved,and installed in        seems proper to conclude that  .Acts 6 relates the beginning of
 the same manner as was stated concerning the elders:"               a permanent and essential office in the church.
     In Articles 24 to 26 of the Church Order the office and            Upon the decease of the apostles and especially during
 function of the deacons is described. Mention is also made          the second century of the New Testament era, the office of
 of the deacons in Article 37 where it is stated that they may       the deacon underwent a radical change and degradation.
 be added to the consistory by local regulation where the            Originally the church was governed by the Elders or Pres-
 number is small. Article 40 stipulates the time, purpose and        byteries. These became distinguished in two groups. The
 manner in which the periodic Deacon's Meetings shall be             one group assumed the position of Bishops, corresponding
 held. In Article 83 we find another reference to the deacons        somewhat to the oflice of the high-priests in the Old Testa-
 in connection wit-h their assisting the poor who, out of neces-     ment, while the other group of elders became common or
 sity, are compelled to move from .one place to another and          ordinary priests. Thus did the deacons receive a position
 lack the financial means to do so. Finally, Article 30 of the       subordinate to the priest. They were regarded as occupying
 Netherlands Confession mentions the- deacons as forming             a `position similar to that held by the common Levites under
 part of the Council of the church. Although this office is also     the Old Dispensation. Their rank was then inferior to the
 mentioned in other places, these are the main references in         priests, even as these were again inferior to the Bishops and
 our Confessions. To the matters that concern this office we         thus  .birth was given to the  Orders  as maintained by the
 now direct our attention.                                           Romish  Church to the present day.
     In the above quoted article mention is made of the election,       When then in the course of time the primary functions
 approbation and installation of the deacons. The article merely     of the deacons were absorbed by other institutions as the
 states that all of this shall be conducted in the same manner       sick and the poor were placed in hospitals and alms-houses
 as was stipulated concerning the elders in Article 22. Since        and the orphans into orphan asylums, this  oflice was divested
 we have already written about this matter in detail, we shall                                                              .
                                                                     of its sacred rights and assigned other duties of assistmg in
 not reiterate here what was  afore written but will concern         the public worship, especially at baptism and the Lord's
 ourselves with other matters that pertain to this particular        Supper.
 office.                                                                Justin Martyr, one of the earliest church fathers, de-
                                                                     scribes the work of the deacons as follows :
                  A.  Its  01-igin  and History                         "The deacons distributed the bread and wine at the
     The oldest and most generally accepted view of the church       Eucharist after they were blessed by the presiding officers,
 has it that Acts 6:ld.records  the origin of the office of. the     and also carried them to the sick. They arranged the altar,
 deacons in the New Testament church. According to this              presented the offerings of the people, read the Gospel, gave
. passage the office grew out of a special emergency in the con-     the signal for the departure of the unbelievers and  cate-
 gregation ,of Jerusalem, in consequence of the complaint of         chumens,  recited some prayers, and distributed the con-
 the Hellenists, or Greek Jews, against the Hebrews, or              secrated cup (in the absence of the priest, the bread also),
 Palestinian Jews, that. their widows were neglected in the          but were forbidden to offer the sacrifice. Preaching is oc-
 daily ministration at the comOmon  love-feasts. (Agapae) The        casionally mentioned among their privileges, after the ex-
 mere fact that the word "deacon):  is not found in this passage     amples of Stephen and Philip, but very rarely in the West."
 does not conclusively disprove the claim of Mayer and other            Hilary, the Deacon, in his commentary on Ephesians 4  :ll
 of the more authorative `interpreters that, "from this first        says that originally all the faithful preached and baptized,
 regular overseership of alms, the mode of appointment to            but that in his day the deacons did not preach. In some
 which could not but regulate analogically the practice of the       cases they were forbidden, in others authorized to preach.
 church, was gradually developed the dkonate,  which sub-            The Pontificale  Rowtanum, however, defines their duties and
 sequently underwent further elaboration."                           privileges with the words: "It is the duty of the deacon to
     On the matter of the origin of this office there are, as        minister at the altar, to baptize, and to preach."
 may be expected, divergent views. Some hold that Acts  G               At the time of the Reformation of the  1,6th* century,
 speaks of no ecclesiastical office at all but simply mentions       Luther attempted to restore the office of deacon to its right-
 a special service which the men appointed were required             ful place but was unsuccessful. In the Lutheran church, .the


 330                                          T H E   ST'ANDARD   B E A R E R

 office as defined in Scripture, has no place even today. The          more, with `such things as Social Security, Pensions, Govern-
 work of mercy is left to the Civil Government and the term            ment Relief, etc. being as common as they are today, what
 "deacon," when used, is applied to those who act as assistant         has happened to the duty of the deacons to care for the poor?
 ministers or, in some cases, to those who belong to organiza-         If this office of Scripture is to be preserved we shall have to
 tions that are trained for general, unofficial Christian services.    restore it to its proper place and examine carefully those
        Calvin, who regarded the diaconate as one of the in-           things' of our present complex society that threaten. its an-
 dispensable offices of the church, and the care of the poor as        nihilation.
 their proper duty, had more success in restoring this office           With this in mind we will briefly consider, D.V., such
 in the church to its rightful place although the degree of suc-       matters as : (a) The Idea or Nature  of- the Office ; (b) The
 cess was not always the same in all` Reformed Churches.               Qualifications for the Office ; (c) The Functions or Duties of
 In the church of Hesse (1526) it was prescribed that each             It ; (d) The Matter of Deaconesses ; (e) The Deaconate and
 pastor should have at least three deacons as assistants in            the Question of Government Relief; (f) The Deacons and
 the care of the poor. The church of Base1 in 1529 made a              Institutions of Mercy ; etc.              .
 similar provision. In the Dutch and German Reformed                                             (to be continued)
 Churches the deacons are' "to collect and to distribute the                                                                    G . V . d . B .
 alms and other contributions for the relief of the poor, or the
 necessities of the congregation, and .to provide for the sup-
 port of the ministry of the Gospel."                                                   THE  V&GE OF OUR FATHERS
   In Congregational or Independent churches the deacons                                     (Co&wed   from page  328)
 hold a very important office, taking the place equivalent to          who according to sovereign election belong to the body of
 that of the lay elders in the Presbyterian churches. In Metho-        Christ shall be finally gathered together. And the divine
 dist circles -the deacons constitute an order in the ministry,        purpose, and therefore the holy calling, of that church is,
 as also in the Episcopal church. They are ordained by the             both here and to all eternity, to steadfastly love, faithfully
 bishop to administer baptism, solemnize matrim'ony, `assist           serve, and celebrate the praises of Him, Who as a Bride-
 the elder in administering the Lord's Supper and to do all            groom for His bride, laid down His life for them on the
 the duties of a traveling preacher. Traveling deacons must            cross.  Soli  Deo  gloria.!
 exercise `their office for two years before they are eligible                                                                        H.C.H;
 to the office of elder. Local deacons are eligible to the office
 of elder after preaching four years.
        We believe that this last mentioned characteristic of                         Holy Father, -Thou hast taught us
 Methodism is an error that in practice is frequently found                             We would live to Thee alone;
 in a slightly modified form also in our own circles. The con-                        Year by year, Thy hand hath brought us
 ception is not strange that the office of the deacon is `of in-                        On through dangers oft unknown.
 ferior rank and, therefore, a stepping stone to the higher                           When we wandered Thou hast found us,
office of the elder. After one serves a term or two as deacon                           When we doubted, sent us light;
 he may be considered as possible material for the office of                          Still Thine arm hath been around us,
 elder, Without this internship, his prospects of being chosen                          All our paths were in Thy sight.
 as an elder are greatly reduced. `This error has its origin in                       In the world will foes assail 
 a misconception of the nature and distinction of two equally                                                           us,
                                                                                        Craftier, stronger, far than we ;
 important offices of the church. In view, therefore, of the                          And the strife shall never .fail us
 history and the current misconceptions of the office of the                            Till our death shall set us free.        _
 deacon, it may be profitable to carefully re-examine the whole                       Therefore, Lord, we come believing
 matter in the light of Holy Writ. In this way we can perhaps                           Thou canst give the power we need,
 arise to a better understanding of the Biblical import of the                        ,Through the prayer of faith receiving
 office and avoid or eliminate some of the practical abuses                             Strength, the Spirit's strength indeed.
 which are inflicted upon it and so restore it more fully to ,its
 proper place and function in the church. It is indeed lament-                 J      We would trust in Thy protection,
 able when an office that is as spiritual as that of the Deacons                        Wholly rest upon Thine arm,
 is regarded by even those who hold it as no more than                                Follow wholly Thy direction,
 an "administrative function" in the church and who are loath                           Thou our only guard from harm ;
 to engage in any spiritual labor connected with their office but                     Keep us from our own undoing,
 consider. that all such work belongs exclusively with the                              Help us turn to Thee when tried ;
 elders and that their task is completed when they have ac-                           Still our footsteps, Father, viewing,
 counted and disbursed the monies of the church. Further-                               Keep us ever at Thy side.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               331

                                                                        are not looking for an easy way into the Christian Re-
             A L L   AROUN:D  U S                                       formed Church, nor are we going to sacrifice the position
                                                                        for which we have stood as churches. By that last state-
                                                                        ment .I do not mean to take the attitude that we must be
  Reverend Knott's Open  Lettey.                                        vindicated or that we must have `the satisfaction of know-
     In the  Reformed Guardian  of  March-  25, `1956, the Rev.         ing that we were right'; nor that  I expect the Christian
  E. Knott, former minister of the Protestant Reformed Church         Reformed Church simply to come over to our position.
  of Kalamazoo, writes An Open Letter to the Reverend John              But I do mean that as churches `we are convinced that
  H. Piersma, who also was once a member of the Protestant              we have had, and do have, an understanding of the truth
  Reformed Churches and now minister of the Christian Re-               of the Word of God that cannot and may not be sacrificed
  formed Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The  Opera                simply for the sake of church union.
  Letter  is a reply to  .an article written by the Rev.  Piersma           We appreciate that there are those in the Christian
 `in the torch a.nd;trumpet  of January on which article we also        Reformed Church that now express themselves with re-
  reflected in'the February 1st issue of the Standard Bearer.           spect to the matter of contact with our churches. In the
     The reader' may recall that the Rev.  Piersma  tried to            past this has not been so. We are happy, too, that it has
  answer the question "No Hope for Reunion?' the reunion,               been recognized that we do stand in the Reformed tradi-
  of course, referring to the  schismatics who left us with the         tion and have stood in that position from the. very be-
Christian Reformed Church. What we commented and con-                   ginning. Often we have wondered- whether the Christian
  jectured in our article of February 1st appears now from              Reformed Church was aware of -the testimony of its own
  Knott's  Open Letter  to becoming true. We said then that             Synod. We are thankful that discussion may take place
  he really wants to go. back to the Christian Reformed Church,         between brethren in the Christian Reformed and Prot-
 but he wants the latter church to forget about the Three               estant Reformed Churches on issues that have always
  Points of 1924. He doesn't want to be knocked down by                 separated us in the past. We recognize that the Christian
  those'Three  Points as Van Weelden was, but he wants to go            Reformed Church stands closest to us in tradition, con-
  in standing up.                                                       fession and life."
     Here are a few snatches of what Rev. Knott writes :                From the above quotation it appears that Knott talks out
     "Dear Brother  Piersma  :                              -.       of two sides of his mouth.. Out of the one side he says "as
         Perhaps this isn't the best way to express our feeling      far as I am concerned reunion with the Christian Reformed
     about your comment in the January issue of Torch and            Church is not an impossibility.". Out of the other side he
     Trwmpet.   But in view of the much discussion of the            says it is questionable whether .such a reunion is desirable.
     matter in our cirlles, and perhaps, in a more limited way,      Of course, he does not mean  the. latter. As I see it this is
     in yours, we would like to make a few remarks in re-            just a case of friendly sparring. What he really says is,
     action to your article `No Hope for Reunion  ? praying          "You understand Christian Reformed Church that if  you
     always that the Lord may indicate the direction that we         take us back we will both have to give in a little. You tell
     must go in these days of unsettledness and strife.              us that you really did not mean to be so Arminian in 1924
         It is to be understood, of course,' that what we say        and we will tell you that we believe you. We have a feeling
     expresses only our own viewpoint. I represent no group          that many of your men today do not feel as strongly for
     or faction in our churches ; I am expressing my own con-        the Three Points as your older leaders did. So if you will
     viction only, although we -hope, of course, that we may         be so kind to tell us that in so many words, there should
     all be agreed with respect to this position. I say this so      not be much difficulty in effecting a reunion."
     `that in the event some contact is made and some  dis-             It is also evident from the quotation of Knott that he
   cussion  with the Christian Reformed Church initiated,            is completely finished with us. When he says "We recognize
     my position is not used either as a hindrance or as a           that the Christian Reformed Church stands closest to us in
     wedge to impede or gain the final end: We are only con-         tradition, confession and life," it is clear that he is thinking
     cerned that all such discussions be held openly and under-      only of reunion with the Christian Reformed Church.  .He
     standingly' and that decisions be reached in the proper         has no intention of repenting from his schism and returning
     light of good exegesis of the Word of God.                      to us. Our tradition, confession and life is, not to be con-
         And in order that we may be properly understood, I          sidered. This becomes still more plain in what we quote next.
     wish to state candidly that as far as I am concerned union             "Less than acceptable in this connection is the vindi-
     with the Christian Reformed Church is not an impossi-            cative  position taken by Rev. H. Hoeksema in the  Stawd-
     bility. In that respect we have not changed from the very          ard  Bearer  of March 1, 1956 (Vol. 32, No. 11, pp. 244,
     beginning of our history. But whether union with the               245) in which he presumes to give those whom he calls
     Christian Reformed Church is desirable and workable is             the `apostates' (referring to our churches) the advice to
     another question. It must also be stated plainly that we           quickly return to the Christian Reformed Church as, in

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

         his opinion, they agree with the doctrinal position of that     t grace and the other things that separate us as we have
         church anyway. Rev. Hoeksema is in no. position to give           from the  b,eginning  of our history. Even though it is
         advice to our churches. And his prophecy : `As a separate         true that Rev. Hoeksema may not speak for us any-
         church they will not continue to exist, seeing that they       _ more,@ is not true that we do not speak the same language
         have no principle ground on which to stand as such. They          as before  ; and  that  we do not consider an element of
         will have to be swallowed up by some church,' sounds              .weakness,  but of strength . . . . .
         like an echo of what was said of  us' as churches at the              The matter of the interpretation of the "three points"
         beginning of our history. The consistent misinterpreta-           of the Synod of Kalamazoo has been, and is now again
     tion and suspicion which has been continually raised by               being discussed. And there are those who maintain that
     Rev. Hoeksema and the ecclesiastical destruction wrought              we have misinterpreted the position of the Christian Re-
         by him in the past few years nullifies the confidence we          formed Church, that an acceptable, Reformed explanation
     had in his leadership in past years, and renders him un-              can be given the "three points." Rev. OM. NIonsma is also
         able to speak in our case. And the impossibility of ap-           quoted by Rev. Hoeksema (S.B., March 1,  1956)  as
     proaching us, of which he speaks to the world, is an im-              saying: `And it also remains a fact that most of those
     possibility only in his own mind and conscience, an im-               that left us simply followed a few leaders who read, in
     possiblity of his own making."                                        the declarations of Kalamazoo, things for which the
         It is evident from this quotation that Rev. Knott does            Synod would never have considered itself responsible . .  .'
  not like good advice, and that he doesn't want the Christian                 Can the brethren in the Christian Reformed Church
  Reformed Church to think he is an "apostate." Was that not               make something different of the declarations of the Synod
  good advice which Rev. Hoeksema gave? Is there anything                  now than that which was surely intended then ? . . . Why
  wrong, with telling those `who really belong together that               has the Christian Reformed Church. been silent all these
  they should no longer live apart? This is not only Rev.                  years if what we said had no basis in truth  ? Why the
  Hoeksema's advice, it was also the advice of our  Classis                action of Classis  Sioux Center if this is not the case 7 . _. .
  East in. which Knott and others embraced a doctrine really               Until the Synod speaks again and officially explains its
  no different than that of the Christian Reformed Church. In              declarations of 1924, or repudiates them, the only con-
  fact, Knott et al defended a doctrine which is even stronger             clusion that can be reached on the basis of all the evidence.
  than that of the Christian Reformed Church. The latter                   is that those who were and are critical of these expressions
church said: "God offers salvation to all who hear the                     are correct . . . . It is not a matter of following a few
  gospel." Knott et al say: "God promises salvation to all of              leaders, a matter of accepting interpretations, but a mat-
  you if you believe." The Chr. Ref. Church said: "Due  to,                ter of conviction based on the Word of God and which
 -common grace the reprobate can do works of civic right-                  has been strengthened through the years as the Christian
  eousness." Knott et al say: "The natural man outside of the              Reformed Church has lived with the declarations of Synod
  Kingdom of Heaven must convert himself before he can                     and her confessional life has developed along exactly
  enter." Essentially both. say the same thing only Knott et               those lines and has been reflected in the practical matters
  al are a little stronger. What Knott et al say, may not be               of the church."
  said in the Prot. Ref. Churches. It may be said in the Chr.              After Rev. Knott calls attention to one of these practical
  Ref. Church. Therefore Knott et al belong with those in               matters, namely, the stand of the Chr. Ref. Church re unions  ;
  whose midst they may say what they believe. Therefore                 and then makes a brief -reflection on Piersma's statement that
  Hoeksema and our Classis  East gave them good advice. But             "contact may even bring to light that the Three Points of
  Knott doesn't like this good advice, especially when it comes         1924 are not necessarily a hindrance but an aid to unfettered
  from Rev. Hoeksema. That Knott et al are "apostates,"                 Gospel preaching," in which he says: "The preaching of the
  should be obvious to all who know the difference between              Word of God must be free, guided only by His own revela-
  what is  Arminian'and  Reformed. Since Knott et al once               tion to us. If the ideas expressed in the three points are
  belonged to the Prot. Ref. Churches which are Reformed, and           confessional and Scriptural, no binding is necessary other
  left those churches because he embraced heresy, Knott et al           than that which is laid on  us by the Scripture itself," he
  have no other appellation than "apostates." That Knott et             closes with the following :
  al lost confidence in Hoeksema's leadership is not due to the                "And so I say again : reunion with the Christian Re-
  reason he-gives, but to their refusal to. be subjected to the            formed Church is not impossible, but as I see it, not very
  "proper light of good esegesis of the Word of God" which                 likely. We are Protestant Reformed, standing on the
  he.prates  about in the first part of his letter. But Knott says         same position we have maintained through the years.
  more :                                                                   Whether we keep the properties, or even eventually the
            "But it must also  Abe clearly stated, Rev. Hoeksema           name, there is no one who will be able to take the truth
     notwithstanding, that -we are standing on ,the same prin-             away from us . . . . But we will not compromise, will not
     ciples and the same position with respect to common                   simply be swallowed up, will not cease to exist by  de-


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 333

       fault. I wish to maintain before all the world that we are      to find with this book is that the instruction contained in it
       standing on our historical position and are willing.td  talk    is not Protestant .Reformed, is not rooted in Reformed prin-
       from that basis.                                                ciples of thought. The author's horizon includes only this           -
           Suppose we would approach the Synod of the Chris-           earth. It shuts out the God and Father of Christ. The author
       tian Reformed Church and request discussion of the              failed' to discern the connection between the' earthly. and the
       differences that divide us, or for correspondence as sister     heavenly. What he therefore presents in his volume is not
      , churches, or some form of official contact, what would the     true wisdom. Yet in its way it is a good book on the sub-
       reaction and the answer be  ? . . . . Has the time come         ject. It contains a good deal of useful, information and its
       when those who stand closest together in the Reformed           style is clear. But it's not Protestant Reformed, certainly.
       tradition, but who are separated, may fight. the common n And, therefore it is a good thing that you teachers are pur-
       fight to gether  ? Has the time _ come when personal ani-       posed to write your own textbooks. For that is what we
       mosities and differences can be laid aside and we can sit       need.
       together and discuss the problems ? We hope so - and               But let me get on with my subject. Seeing that this course
       pray that it may be so; but can also understand that            deals with citizenship in the worldly state, it's this state that
       such a way is beset with many obstacles.                        should receive our attention first of all. This entity should
                     Greetings from house to house.                    be defined. A state - the body politic - is a community of
                                               - E. Knott."            persons dwelling together within the limits of territory under
       Knott. says: "We are Protestant Reformed,? but this is          one head or government. It should be made plain that the
deception that will not go down with  us  or the Christian             state is a foundation of God, that this is so seeing that man
Reformed Church. Does'Knott not know that the Chr. Ref.                is His creature, `and that government is His institution. It
Church knows what is Protestant Reformed ? He has to say               must .be made plain that government is not the result of sin,
this in order to make some semblance of .a stand before the            that even though sin had not entered the world, there still
courts of our land to retain the properties he and his group           would have been government, that the parent father and the
have confiscated. For the rest, he does not care for what              parent mother would still have received authority to govern
is Protestant. Reformed in name or substance.                          their children and to instruct them in the ways of God. It
                                                             M.S.      must be made plain that what resulted from the entrance of .
                                                                       sin into the world is the vesting of the rulers with  sword-
II                 CONTRIBUTIONS                                       power for the punishment of evil-doers and for the protection
                                                                       of them that do well.
                                                                          Herewith has also been answered the question whether
                 TEACHING CITIZENSHIP                                  it is sinful to be a citizen of a worldly state. How could this
                                                                       be, if the state is a divine institution, a foundation of God.
       The subject that has been given me is "Teaching citizen-        One may as well ask whether it is sinful to be a member of
ship." Now a citizen is a member of a'state  or nation or let          the family and of the nation into which he was born and to
us say kingdom. Citizenship is the state of being vested with          which he belongs. For what is the body politic but .a family
the rights, privileges and responsibilities of a citizen. I know       of men organized under a single independent government?
that you teachers who gave me this subject do not have in                 These things having been made- plain, I would take up
mind membership in the church but rather citizenship in a              the matter of the relation of the rulers in the state to Christ
worldly state, definitely these United, States of ours, So I           now exalted at the right hand of God. According to the
conclude that what you really want of me is that I shed all-           Scriptures, Christ is the Lord of lords and the King of kings.
the light that I possibly can on this question, namely how             He is the King of every ruler in these our United States, of
must citizenship in this United States of ours be taught by            our chief executive, of the congress, of the judges in our
us, if our instruction on this subject is to merit being  pro;         land, of the governors of our states, of the mayors of our
nounced  truly Protestant Reformed.                                    cities, in short of every one the world over vested with au-
       As I progress with my subject, I shall refer now and then       thority to rule over others. It is Christ who selects them for
to the book on this subject that was placed in my hand and             their places of authority and who seats them in these places.
that is being used here as a textbook. Allow me to say in              Their authority is His authority, that it is He who vests
passing that I have read the book from cover to cover in               them with the power to rule. It is to Him, therefore, that
the few days that it was in my possession. I believe that I            every ruler in the world, in every worldly state, is respon-
have succeeded pretty well in digesting its. content. I know           sible. Without exception all rule not by His grace - except
what is in the book. Of course, the fault that you and I have          they be true children of God, but by His power. In the final
                                                                       judgment day it is to Him that they shall have to give account
                                                                       of how they used their power.
Condensed from an address delivered before the teachers of  .our
Protestant `Reformed Chr. schools (Adams St. and Riverbend)               Christ then is indeed the Potentate of potentates. And He


334                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                     -
also actually reigns in the midst of His enemies, of .the god-     the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read there-
less rulers of this world. Necessarily so since it is only by      in all the days of his life ; that he may.learn  to fear the Lord
His power that they exist, live and move and have their            His God, to.keep the words of this law and these statutes, to
being, He being also Son of God as God. Accordingly.               do them ;~that  his heart be not lifted up above his brethren,
in all their wickedness, in all their ethical opposition to His    and that he turn not aside from the commandment to the
will and commandments, they, the godless rulers in the state,      right hand, or to the left, to the end that he may prolong his
are always doing the very thing `that He has determined,           days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Is-
are, in other words,, serving the counsel of His father, which     rael"  (Dem.   17:18-30).  Besides, "He shall not multiply
is also His counsel, He being God, so that the ends of His         horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt,
kingdom are being promoted also through the wickedness of : to the end that he should multiply horses ; forasmuch as the
the godless rulers in the world. How superbly capable He,          Lord hath said unto you,  Ye shall henceforth no more return
therefore, is to gather and protect His church, which is His       that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that
body. I do not pause here to quote the Scripture, seeing that      his heart turn not away. Neither shall he greatly multiply
it is well known among us that the above views are indeed          unto himself silver and gold" (Deut. 17:16, 17).
contained in the Scriptures. I take it that you know how              Israel's kings were not lawgivers at all. The sole lawgiver
to distinguish between the kingdom of Christ's power and           in Israel was Jehovah. And according to His law the kings
the Kingdom of His grace. The former includes also the             judged the people., There were still other limitations on their
reprobated wicked  ; the latter only His elect people.             powers. They might not perform priestly functions. And
       Further, a course in citizenship should next take up the    they could also be criticized, and their sins denounced by
matter of  the,forms of government. According to our text          Israel's prophets, as speaking for  .God. It all shows that
book there are basically but two forms of government, namely       Israel's king was Jehovah, that His will alone was law, and
monarchy or totalitarianism and Democracy. This, of course,        that the rulers in Israel's throne reigned merely as His vicars.
is correct. These two forms of government should be de-            In this point of view the kingdom of Israel was an absolute
fined, explained and compared. It should be made plain             monarchy. This, of course, is true, though not in the same
wherein the two agree and wherein they differ. The text            sense, of every  ru!er of every worldy state.  .This brings
book tells us that they are opposites. This is not true if what    us to the question, what is a democracy ? According to
we are talking about is true, biblical democracy.                  the conception of the world, that is of men in whose
       What is a monarchy ? A monarch is a sole, supreme ruler.    thoughts there is no place for God, a democracy is a govern-
Accordingly, a monarchy is a state ruled over by such a mon-       ment by the people (from dentos the people and kfpatein to
arch. Here the executive, legislative and. judical branches of     rule). The idea is that all the people without exception are
the government converge in the person of one man. His will         rulers and that properly there is no king, monarch, among
alone is the supreme law .of the land, if of course there are      them. It is government in which the supreme power origin-
no constitutional limitations on his power. This is an ab-         nates with the people and is delegated by the people to the
solute monarch.' What to say about this form of government?        rulers. It is a government of the people (of genitive of
If the absolute monarch were Christ, there would be no cause       source) by the people and for the people as the supreme and
for alarm. Fact is that, as the vice-gerent of Jehovah, Christ     ultimate authority. In this conception the people are God
is absolute monarch both in His kingdom of power and in            and the rulers in the state the servants of god the people.
His kingdom of grace. Said He not, "Unto me is given all           Here the distinction between rulers and the ruled, between
power in heaven and on earth." In this point of view the           king and subject cannot exist. For if the people are God
kingdom of heaven is an absolute monarchy. Christ has all          all are rulers.
the power, all authority and might. But earthly rulers, being         Further, a state, body politic, is said to be pure democracy
what they are, `mere men and sinful men, are not trusted           if the people in it exercise their power directly as when; for
with absolute rule. They are so apt to develop into insuffer-      example, the people assemble and by majority vote deter-
able tyrants.                                                      mine what shall be the law of the land. The state is said to
       From the point of view of the power that they were al-      be representative democracy if the people in it exercise their
lowed to exercise, the kings of Israel were not absolute mon-      authority by a system of representation. But, so it is said, in
archs, and the kingdom of Israel was. not an absolute mon-         either case government is-by  the people.
archy. There were limitations on the powers of Israel's               Now this is democracy according to common conception.
kings. They were bound in their rule by the whole of J&o-          But it is a type. of democracy that merits being pronounced
val-i's law - civil and ceremonial as well as moral - that         the lie'. The conception of which `this type of democracy is
He had given to His people through Moses as His organ.             the embodiment had its birth in the minds of the leaders of
"And it shall  .be, when he-the king- sitteth upon the             the French Revolution. It is not certainly a brain-child of
throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of the       John Calvin as some people even of Reformed persuasion'
law in a book `out of all that which is before the priests and     would have us believe. Was John Calvin an athiest 7 That is
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                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 335

what this type of Democracy is. It is deistic, atheistic as to      that the u~nderlying  cause of all the troubles by which a peo-
its character.                                                      ple are afflicted.is  sin and in the final analysis are not owing
   What then is true democracy  ? Is there, can there be,           to its form of government, whatever that form may be. De-
such a thing as true democracy ? There can be and is cer-           mocracy is said to be government by the people. But if that
tainly. To bring out what true democracy is we can do no            people be godless, life in a-democracy can become as  tmbear-
better than to compare it with monarchy. As ought to be             able for the true people of God as in, a totalitarian state like
plain from what thus far has been presented, the difference         that of modern Russia. This should be explained to the
is not that in a monarchy the king rules by divine right, that      pupil. I-t should be made clear that it will not do for us to
is by the power of God and of Christ and that in a democracy        put our trust in democracy.
the magistrates rule by the power of the people. In a democ-           What then is true democracy  ? We could also state
racy as well as in a monarchial  form of government all auth-       the question. thus: What is a safe democracy? What are
ority is Christ and originates with God. And so, the difference     the princi$es of truth in which it is rooted ? The following :
is not this certainly that in a democracy the king is servant          FGst,  that the state, the body politic, is an institution of
of God and that in a democracy the rulers are servants  of' God and not of men.
god the people. In other words the difference  .is not this,           Second, that the state, the body politic, is an organism in
namely, that in a monarchy the authority, right of rule, is a       which each member occupies his own God-ordained place.
thing with which the ruler is vested by God and that in a
democracy `all authority originates with the people and is             Third,  that in this body God has instituted the office of
delegated by the people to their rulers. The difference, there-     rulers, that these offices therefore are the creation of  ,God  '
fore, is not this, namely, that in a monarchy the king is truly     and not of man.
a ruler and that in a democracy the distinction between rulers         Fowth, that God has given for the office of rulers in the
and ruled does not really exist in that here all the people         body politic not. all but some rulers. In this body politic all,
are rulers. And, therefore, in this point of view the differ-       therefore, are not rulers but only some are rulers and the
ence between monarchy and democracy is not, cannot be es-           others are the ruled, that, accordingly, the right of rule is
sential, basic. I speak now, of course, of true democracy. If       gi,ven of God not to all the members in the body politic but
the monarchy is absolute the difference is that in this form of     only to those members given of him for this office or offices.
government all power, right of rule, is concentrated in the            Fifth, that, accordingly, the rulers in the body politic re-
person of one man, while. in democracy authority at least in        ceive their right of rule, that is, authority, not from the ruler
these United States of ours is divided between the president,       but directly froni Christ, the Lord of lords and the King of
the congress formed of many persons, and the judges of the          kings.
Supreme court. Again, if the monarchy is absolute there are            S&h,  that the members of the body politic indicate by
no constitutional limitations on the power of the ruler, while      majority of vote the persons selected by God for the office
in a democracy there are such limitations of the power  oE          of rulers.
the rulers. Also, in a democracy the people have the right             Sevtwtla,  that as in the human body the head serves all
guaranteed by the constitution to indicate by majority of           the rest of the members and the members the head, so in the
vote the persons that Christ has selected for the various places    body politic the ruler serves the ruled and the ruled the rulers
`of authority. In a monarchy the people do not have this right.     and each other.
For here the kingship is hereditary and when the ruling                 Eighth,  that in the body politic the supreme law in the
dynasty becomes extinct  .the succeeding ruler has usually          land is the will of Christ as revealed in His Word.
come to power by force of arms. This is the testimony of               Ninth,  that the body politic, the ruled and the ruler or
history.                                                            rulers must exist for Christ's God to obey and glorify him.
    But let us hear the textbook on the question of the dif-            This is a true body politic, whatever one may wish to
ference between monarchy and democracy. He writes, "In              call it, democracy, monarchy or both. True democracy is an
dictator countries the individual citizen amounts to little or      ideal. It is not found on this earth, .except  in principle with-
nothing. Whatever one man, the dictator wants is law. The           in the sphere of the true church. For true democracy is a
citizen exists merely to serve the government. He is forced         state in which God is all and in all through Christ and in
to serve the army even in times of peace. He can be arrested        which obedience to God, therefore, spells perfect liberty. The
and kept in  jail. or concentration camps without trial. His        true democracy is the kingdom of heaven, Christ's gift unto
home is invaded by "inspectors" and policemen. He can read          His people only, that will one day appear with Christ in
in the paper and hear over the radio only what the govern-          glory.
ments wants him to read and hear. He is not a free and in-              Let us add a word about the duty of God's believing
dependent @son."                                                    people as citizens of a worldly state. ,Their duty is to be in
    A democracy cannot be characterized by such abuses, the         subjection to their rulers in the state. Let  us  quote the
author of these lines meant to say. But we must remember            Scriptures here, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of


                                                                                                                              - .


  33;                          *           .-THE  STANDARD~BEARER  . . --

  nian for the Lord's sake  ; whether it. be to the king as su-        form  oi government of which will in all  lik&ihood  be some
  preme  ; or to the- governors, as unto them that are sent by         kini of democracy,  .life is going `to be  r"ea1  pleasant  for all
  hini for the punishment of evil doers, and for the. praise of        such that .are willing to'bear the mark of the beast. But for
  them that do well. For so is ihe will bf God that with .well-        `the true people of God life in this kingdom is going to be
  doing ye may put. to silence `the ignorance of foolish mea. As       excessively hard, seeing that they will. not be allowed either
  free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness,        to buy or to sell in their unwillingness to bear the mark of
but.as-the  servants of  God:  Hono& all men. Love- the broth-         this kingdom. But this kingdom, when ate the height of $s
  erhdod. Fear, God. Honour the king?  (I Peter'2  :13-17).            glory, is going to be destroyed. And there shall be new
      Of course, when the commands of earthly rulers are in            heavens and a new  earth on which righteousness shall dwell.
  conflict with the will of God as revealed in the Scriptures,         It is to Christ's appearing, therefore, that God's believing .
  God's people must refuse obedience ; for God must" be obeyed         people look forward. It is in Christ's God that .they put all
  more than man. Then  they must endure being punished for             their trust and not in a form of government, whatever that
  their disobedience, in other words suffer for well-doing. `form may be. Also these things must be taught if the course
  Such is the will of Christ, "Servants be subject to your             in citizenship deserves to be pronounced Protestant Re-
  masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but          formed. Only then is the child being truly prepared for citi-
  also to the froward (that is, according  to. the  ,Greek, the        zenship in a worldly state.
i, perverse, the unfair). For this is thank worthy, if a man for           There are still many questions left unanswered. Here are
  conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully"            some of them: 1) what is the relation that obtains between
  (I Peter  2:13ff). Never may. God's people rebel, that is            state and church ? 2) Are the  magistrat$s in the worldly
  make war against their sovereign in the worldly  slate, take         state under necessity of maintaining also the first table of the
  up arms against him in an effort to free themselves from His         law  ? 3)  &&y a believer run for office in the state  ? 4) Are
  tyranny, if he be that kind of a ruler. Scripture forbids rev-       we morally obliged to vote 7 5) May we, believers, cooperate
  olution on the'part of`the believers against their rulers  im the    with the men of this wprld in their effort to solve the world's
  state.                                                               problems  ? If so, to what extent? May we, for example,
      The textbook has much to say about planning  for citizen-        cooperate with `them in their effort to establish world peace ?
  ship by which it means preparing for citizenship. To teach           Can world peace in this sinful world be ever `anything else
  these principles of truth is to prepare the child for citizen-       than a temporary cessation of arms ? Then there is the ques-
  ship., The child in whose heart these principles take root by        tion of the four freedoms - freedom of speech, freeddm of
  the grace of God will turn out to be the ideal citizen.        ,     worship,  freedo?  of want, freedom from fear  - that the
      According to the textbook the;e are many problems that           textbook lauds as- "our ideal of peace," and the question of
 -beset our democracy. This certainly is true. The textbook            the so-called "inalienable rights of man." And so there are
  menfion-s  a few of these problems. There is- the problem of         many more questions that one teaching this course  in.a  Protl
  niaking  a living. There is the problem of conservation of soil,     estant Reformed school  should prepare himself to deal with.
  of our forests,' of fish and game and minerals. There is the                                                                             G .   M .   0 .
  problem of crime, of delinquency, of public health, of na-
  tional debt. There is the problem of distribution of wealth                                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
  and income. Wealtli and happiness are not well distributed,
  says the text book. The text book mentions several more                  On May 3,. 1956, our dear parents,
  problems also the problem of world peace. Preparing for                     MR.  and  MRS. HERMAN MULDER (nee  Boorsma)
  citizenship consists, says the text book, in all the citizens        will celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary.
  thoroughly acquainting themselves  with all the problems and
 in working toward their solution. But as believers we know,               We give thanks to God that he has spared them for one
                                                                       another and us. Our prayer is that Gdd may continue to bless
  of course, that in `this godless world there are no real and         and keep them in all  things.
  abiding solutions for the world's grave prdblems; that, in-                                                         Mr.  and. Mrs. Clarence Mulder
  stead  df being solved, they will only continue to multiply,                                                        Mr.  and' Mrs. Harold Mulder
  and that -this is due on the one hand to sin and on the other                                                       Mr. and Mrs. John Mulder
 hand to the fact that the wrath of God is being revealed                                                             Mr. and Mrs. William Mulder             -
 from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of           G r a n d   R a p i d s ,   M i c h i g a n
 men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, Rom. I :18. Yet
  our textbook is really optimistic. All these problems, it says,
 cari and will .be solved by democratic processes. The optim-                ". . . But I have played for you that your faith fail not ;
 ism of our textbook may in a sense and measure be justifi-            and,, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." -
  ble. Certain it is that in the kingdom of the anti-Christ,  the      Luke 22  :32


