    VOLUME  XXX11                               MAY.  15,  1956-GRIND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN          .`.                           NUMBER  16'.

                                                                           We saw Him go` in sulphurous flashes of hellish flames
              M E  D`I T  A`T.1 0 N  .'                                 on Good Friday.
                                                                                                       $  + *  *
                  ASCENSION   THOUGHTS                                     Yes, we saw Him go, clothed in darkness and gloom -of
                                                                        the Crucifixion. .
              "Thou  hast'ascended  on high, Thou hast led captivity       Those three days, part of Friday, all of Saturday, and
              captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for
              the  rebellibus also, that the Lord  Gofd might dwell     part .of Sunday, are strange days. The whole church of Jesus
              among them." Psalm  68:18                                 Christ is weeping. They are as sheep whose shepherd has
                                                                        gone away. They have one solitary theme in all their
    How thoroughly theological is the Word of God  !-.                  thought and conversation : that awful cross !
    The Word of God is a loving letter addressed to the                    But then came the wondrous story of the resurrection!
chosen race of mankind by our Father in heaven.                            The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared unto Simon !
    And in this letter He tells us in many variations of His`              The tears were wiped away ; even Peter's tears, and they
glorious work of salvation.                                             were bitter. I know: I have tasted them.         '
 And throughout this letter of God to us, He emphasizes                    And in their. stead came a joy which shall make the new
over and over-again that it is He which did all the work of             Kingdom of God musical forever.
salvation.                                                                 The Lord arose from death and shame.
    Salvation is of the Lord!                                              And here is the Gospel of the resurrection: the whole
    That is also shown here in Psalm 68, and more in partic-            Church of Jesus Christ arose with Him. Here is not the
ular in the 18th verse.                                                 place to enlarge on this theme.
   .TIaou  hast ascended. . .                                              For forty days the Lord appeared time and again, and at
    Thou hast led captivity captive. . .                                the last such occasion, He gathered them on the slopes of
    Thozt. hast received. gifts for men. . .                            Mount Olivet. He talked to them of the things pertaining to
    And if anyone of us should hesitate and utter his plaint:           the `Kingdom of God ; He gave them instructions as to their
.Lord, depart from me, for I am a despicable sinner, He                 immediate conduct, as well as concerning the life's mission
writes to us :                                                          of the church  ; and then He blessed them. He spread His
    Thou hast received gifts for the rebellious. . .                    holy and loving hands over them, and uttered the blessing.
    How thoroughly theological !                                        Perhaps He said : The Lord bless thee, and keep thee ; the
   ~Look  where you may, you will find no place in the great            Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious to
work of salvation of which you may triumphantly exclaim:                thee ; the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give
Behold, it is mine!                                                     thee peace !
    Indeed you have a place in the scheme of salvation, and                And then, while they beheld, He was taken up into the
that place, is the place of the sinner.                                 highest .heavens.
    You and I appear as the awful, black, filthy spot' that                Ah, yes, we believe in the Ascension of our dear Lord
must be erased.                                                         Jesus.
    We have just one property, and that is sin and guilt.                                        *  4+  *
    And that one property you lose, for God takes it and
dresses Himself with it, is permeated with it in the form of               And of that truth my text speaks in Old Testament lan-
guilt, and departs on His lonely journey to hell and damna-             guage.
tion.                                                                      It is  so beautiful, so clear, so wonderful. It could have

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

          been written in New Testament time. It matches the proph- `with our natural intellect, we say : Depart from me, I have
          ecies of Isaiah in his 53rd chapter.                                    no pleasure in Thy ways !
                 Imagine: this prophet lived hundreds of years before                And this is the beauty of the Ascension, dear reader, God
          Jesus came. But he certainly understood the Incarnation of              opens the shut doors.
          Bethlehem  ; the. Atonement on the Cross ; the glory of the                 He opened the door of heaven when Jesus ascended. You
          Resurrection ; the majesty of the Ascension ; the rich harvest          may read of that in the Old Testament also. Psalm 24 sings
          of the Pentecostal Spirit ;-yes, and even the fulfilment of the         of the command, inspired by God: Ye gates, lift your heads,
          blessed Covenant : God dwelling with men !                              the glad summons obey ! Ye doors everlasting, wide open
                 Beloved reader: in my text you see the counsel of re-            the way !
          demption in its entirety.                                                  And why this command ?.
                 Come, let us look at it.                                            The  King. of all glory shall enter in state f
                                       d: * *  *                                     And this King is .God and man reconciled. This King of
                                                                                  all Glory is God and Jesus with you and me in His arms.
                 Thou hast ascended on high.                                      And-on Ascension Day we celebrate this fact.
                 No, this does not mean the simple Godhead. It is blas-             * Indeed, Thou hast ascended on high !             )
          phemous to say : the Godhead ascends on high, for the simple                                         * *  *  *
          reason that the Godhead always dwelleth on high. Ascend-
          ing presupposes descending into the lowest parts of hell.                  Thou hast led captivity captive!
                 T1iou  here is the Exalted Man Jesus Christ.                        That captivity is the captivity of sin and death, of dam-
                 And in the same breath I must add: and  with,  in this           nation and hell.
          exalted Man is the Godhead of the Son of God. That is the                  These four words are used in God's vocabulary to  kx-
          reason both that Jesus ascended, but also that He was take92            press our natural estate.
          UP.                                                                        `God's elect people are by nature not any different from
                 No, I cannot loiter too long with this mystery, for I do         the poor people whose name is reprobates.
          not comprehend this `truth. Although with equal emphasis I                 We are damnable sinners, guilty unto death and hell.
          must say: nevertheless, I know this truth. I know it, and                  And here is the horror of our captivity: we love it. We
          worship : God, the Son of God, "is gone up with a shout,                are bound in our hearts. In our hearts we cling to sin as our
          the Lord with the sound of the trumpet !" Psalm 47 :5.                  natural element. If anyone would come with the key to our
                 I believe that we must specially emphasis here that Jeszls       prison, we would curse him to his face and say: Leave me
          the &led&or  went up to ,God with a shout of triumph.                   alone ! They sing: Throw out the lifeline! Well, if and
                 The Exalted Man Jesus Christ.                                    when the lifeline reaches us in the breakers of eternal wrath,
                 As such, He returned to the glory which He had with the          we throw it right back. We do not want to be saved.
          Father ere the world was : God out of God, the eternal Word                If there is any fact at all that is sure and steadfast, it is
          who IS before Abraham  was, the Son of the Father, the                  that. When. God came in the garments of the suffering Serv-
          playing Wisdom before the worlds were created.                          ant of Jehovah, and when He explained His mission, we
                 But this God, this Son, this Wisdom had come- down               said : Keep still, or we will kill you ! And kill Him we did.
          from heaven to assume you and me in the very heart of the                  But Jesus came and entered our prison house. He opened
          generations of the elect: Mary's womb. God, clothed with                the door in His Incarnation, and dwelled among us. And
          Man, is our Saviour.                                                    He took upon Himself the whole prison house of death and
                 And this is the first chapter of this book of my ,text : God,    eternal wrath of God.
          clothed with us, ascended ! Thou hast ascended on high ! It                And He suffered our Sentence, to the last second of an'
          is a shout of triumph, .of wondrous victory.                            eternity of dying.
                 Why ?                                                               You say that this is nonsense ?
                 Because there were eternal doors to shut us out from                How else can I express it?             -
          God and heaven.                                                            Does not the Bible teach that Jesus bore the wrath of
                 They are the eternal .doors  of the wrath of God and of          God in His  life&e.  In  33$$ years Jesus emptied the  eter-,
          man.                                                                    nal wrath of God.
                 There is a door that  is. shut in our faces, and' it is the         I cannot help it if I cannot expound the touching point
          door of a righteous and just God. God cannot have us in                 between time and eternity. I might as well attempt to out-
          His holy heaven the way we are by nature.                               line the spot where Divinity and Humanity touch.
                 And this is the horror, that we do .not want to go through          But He  did. He did overcome death and hell, by  .suf-
          that door. There is a door shut unto God in our hard, and               fering- it Himself.
          cruel, our godless and hateful heart. We throw the door of                 And He led that same prison house a captive in His train.
          our heart shut in the face of God. And unto all eternity we                Even death and hell will and doth serve Him in the work
          would never seek for God. If we hear the call- of the Gospel            of salvation.



I                                                                                                                                                     I


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                       363
                                                                       -

       Our prison doors are open, and we "walk at liberty !"
       Glorious ascension !                                                            THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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       Thou hast received gifts for men, even rebellious men!                P.  0. Box  %I, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
       That is the way you must read the text.                                                 Ea%or   - REV. HERMAN H~EKSEMA
       It is not so that Jesus received gifts for a catagory of              Communicatio~ns  relative to coatents  should ,be addressed to Rev.
men in general who were not so very rebellious, and that the                 H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
 Lord as an afterthought meditated on a special catagory of                  All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
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 no, but we are all rebellious. Isaiah says that everyone of us              RENEWALS:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
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       But Jesus received gifts for us, and what gifts !
      -1 will say more- about that the next time, when I must                Ehered  as Second Class  pnattev  at  Graltd   Ra$ids, Michigan
 meditate on Pentecost.
       Just in outline: they are the gifts of  fprgiveness  of sin,
 the right to eternal life, adoption unto children, and -peace                                             CONTE~NTS
 with God.                                                             __
       And the end is glory unspeakable: the Covenant of God           MEDITATION  -
 realized : God dwells among us forever.                                        Ascension Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...361
                                                                                     . Rev. G. Vos
       He doth now dwell among us : we, walk with Him in con-
  sequence.                                                            EDITORIALS -
       And God shall be all and in all everlastingly.                           Election and Assurance. .,.......,,.....................  364
  Glorious Ascension! -Amen.                                                    As To  Conscientio&s-  Objectors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365
                                                             G. V.                    Rev. H. Hoeksema
 z                                                                     OUR DCPCTRINE  -                                                                            $
                                                                                The Triple Knowledge (Part III  - Of Thankfulness) . . .  .366
                                                                                The Book  od Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368
                         CALL  TO SYNOD                                            Rev. H. Hoeksema
      Pursuant to the decision of the last Synod, the Consistory       THE  DAY  OF SHADOWS  -
 of the Protestant Reformed Church of South Holland, Il-                        The  Proplhecy  of Zechariah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370 _      .
  linois, hereby notifies the churches that the 1956 Synod of                         Rev. G. M. Ophoff
  the  ,Protestant  Reformed Churches will convene on Wednes-          F R O M   H O L Y   WIUT~
  day, June .6, D.V., at 9 a. m. in the above-mentioned church.                 Exposition  od I Corinthians l-4 (1.5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3?`3
       The pre-synodical service will be held on `-Tuesday  eve-                      Rev. G. Lubbers
  ning, June 5, at  7:30 p.m., in the South Holland Church.
  The Rev. C. Hanko, president of the previous -synod, is              IN HIS  FFXR-
  scheduled to preach at this service.                                          The Godless "Lucky Number" Craze (2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . `375
                                                                                      Rev. J. A. Heys
       Synodical  delegates are requested to gather with the
  Consistory before the service.                                       CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -
               Consistory of the Prot. Ref. Church                              The Church and the Sacraments (The Lord's Supper) . . . . .377
               of South Holland, Illinois,                                            Rev. H. Veldman
                                      H. C. Hoeksema, President        THE VOICE  `0~   OUR  FATHERS -
                                      Wm. T. Terpstra, Clerk,                   The Exposition of the Canons of Dordrecht.. _. . . . . . . . . . .379
                                                                                      Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

                               NOTICE!                                 DECENCY AND  ORDER-
                                                                                The Office of the. Deacon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
       The Editorial Staff of the Standard Bearer will meet, the                      Rev.  ,G.  VandenBerg
  Lord willing, in South Holland, Illinois, at the home of Rev.
  H. C. Hoeksema, on  .Thursday evening, June 7, 1956. The             ALL  AROUND  Us-
  members of the staff will please view this announcement as                    The Court and Church Property.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .383
                                                                                                                            -
  an official notice.                                                                 Rev. M. Sthipper
                                     Rev. H. Veldman, Secretary


364                                          T&E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

I                                                                       reason to assume this attitude for Pelagianism and  Arminian-
             E D  1~ T 0 R I A  1  So                                   ism run rampant even in churches that claim to be Reformed.
                                                                  II        Dr. Berkhouwer motivates this apologetic attitude by
                                                                        stating that the doctrine of .election stands immediately re-
                   Election   and Assurance                             lated to the question concerning the assurance of salvation.
                                                                        Writes he : "`The most profound questions of human life are
       On the whole, as the reader may have gathered from               here put in order as is clearly evident from the fact that,
my editorial in the last  Standay Bearer,  Dr. Berkhouwer               wherever the doctrine of election is mentioned, directly and
assumes a rather apologetic attitude over against the doc-              inevitably the question about the assurance of salvation fol-
trine of election in his book on "De Verkiezing Gods." He               lows as a shadow. We confront the undeniable fact that,
believes that election in the Reformed sense of the word is the         on the one hand, the doctrine of election is confessed as the
truth according to Scripture ; he also believes that -it ought  to,     deep and untouchable foundation of salvation and, on the
be taught and preached. But repeatedly he warns against                 other hand,. the doctrine of election is being seen as the
over emphasis on this doctrine and that, too, with an appeal            most serious threat to this certainty. Especially this latter
to Deut.  29:29.                                                        always again draws the attention. One cannot escape the
       This apologetic ,attitude is apparent already in the first       impression that especially here all kinds of caricatures have
chapter of the book which I translated as to its heading:               cooperated to lend such a threatening character to the doc-
"The Limits of Reflection:" In this chapter, the author lifts           trine of election in the consciousness of many."
a warning finger against what he calls caricatures of the                   And again: "How frequently has not, in theology and
doctrine of election, but in which he really means to warn              preaching, election been interpreted from the viewpoint of
.against what I would consider to be the proper place of this           a deterministic vision with very serious consequences for the
doctrine not only in the whole of systematic theology but               life of the church with the inevitable result of underestimat-
also in the church. For the truth of election has always been           ing the  ,offense  against the doctrine of election itself. On
,considered the "car ecclesiae," the heart of the church. And           the background of the confession of God's election -and
that heart must certainly beat in all the preaching and teach-          :of the preaching-there then becomes visible a dark con-
ing of the church even when this doctrine is not expressly              ception of God, a conception that has its origin in a mutila-
mentioned.                                                              tion of the biblicaltestimony, however much one may appeal
     In the very beginning of this chapter the author writes            to all kinds of scriptural passages. In a deterministic or even
(I translate) :                                                         in a fatalistic way, the counsel of God is then being treated,
       "When we contemplate the things we are, at the same              so that the congregation must needs draw the conclusions,
time being impressed with our particular responsibility when            the conclusions of passivism, quietism and . . . torturing un-
we do, indeed, intend to treat of God's election. For  even             certainty. Especially this uncertainty always looms up again
though it must be conceded that sthe treatment of every part            and  - this is the crisis of certainty -it is not being seen
of dogmatics carries with it its dangers and, therefore, de-            and pointed out as the fault of a weak faith and unbelief,
mands that we be very careful, in regard to the doctrine of             but as being the inevitable oorrelation of the fact of election,
election this calling to be careful and reverent applies in a           which escapes us and continues to escape us in its absolute
special measure, and one is spontaniously reminded of the               inystery."  p. 9.
word of Scripture: `Put off thy shoes. from off thy feet,                   And again:
for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."'
       There is expressed in these words  a. certain tendency,              "One  -can no longer establish the connection between
the tendency of an apologetic attitude over against the doc-            election and comfort, but only between election and fear
trine of election. Of course, I do not deny that the doctrine           and uncertainty. The tension between election and certainty
of election must be treated with carefulness and reverence.             is. being emphatically put on the foreground and finds its
To this we do not object. But I do deny that this applies to            .way into the depths of the heart. This tension becomes the
this -doctrine in any  specia.1  ~ea~~~re.  Why, for  .instance is      problem of the doctrine of election in the form of the question
this not equally true of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, of the       with its different variations: is not the certainty of salvation
Holy Ghost, of original sin, of the incarnation, of the cross           being threatened and radically attacked by the `hidden elec-
and the resurrection of Christ, or regeneration and the ap-             tion ?' " p. 9.
`plication  of the blessings of salvation to the elect and to all           And once more :                                  *
the other truths revealed in Holy Writ?  -But Berkhouwer                    "How frequently did it `occur that one, as he was called
assumes an apologetic attitude over against the doctrine of             to a believing acception of the promise of God, could hardly
election. This is the reason why he warns us from the                   get rid of the fearful question, whether he had the right to
outset to be careful and reverent in a special measure.                 accept this promise and to apply it to himself as a promise
       By doing so, he weakens his entire position.  Especially         directed personally to him, and whether! he must not first be
in our day and in our own country, there certainly is no                convinced, in another .way (a round about way), of his elec-


                                              TH'E   - S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              365

 tion in order then  and  th,ereztpon  to receive the promise of         We must not have the impression that the question con-
 God as really meant for' him . . . .." p. 11 .                       cerning conscientious objectors to the union and membership
    I expect, to refer to this again.                                 in the union is a purely local matter or that it concerns our -         -
    At this time, however, I wish to point out, that the              Protestant Reformed Churches only. In our country the
 scriptural doctrine of election or the preaching of that doc-        Adventists have taken a strong and well motivated stand
 trine, no matter how strong and consistent such preaching            against union membership and favor the position of the
 may be, never leads to  passivism  nor to uncertainty in  .re-       conscientious objector. And the Dutch Reformed immigrants
 gard to one's personal salvation. It is always Pelagianism           in Canada and Australia face the same problem and favor
 and Arminianism that creates this uncertainty.  ..                   the same stand. And it appears that their mother church in
    This I hope to show next time, D. V.                              the old country approves of this stand.
                                                           H. H.          It may not be considered impossible that, in the near
                                                                      future, our churches will also have to set its seal of approval
                                                                      upon the stand of the conscientious objector as the only
            As  To Conscientious  Objectors                           possible and legitimate stand, unless we want to go out of
    Recently, in  Classis  East, a case was treated that  con-        the world in the literal sense of the word. And the latter
.cerned a "conscientious objector."                                   is not the position of the antithesis but of Anabaptism.
    A conscientious objector, as the reader knows, is one who            As to'the question itself, we can probably best approach
 works in a closed union shop, for conscience sake refuses            it on the basis of the so-called "charity card" which the
 to be or become a member of the union, and is allowed to             conscientious objector is obliged to sign if he would keep his
 continue working in the shop on condition that he signs a            job in a closed union shop.
 "charity card" that stipulates that he pay a certain sum tti            This card reads as follows:
charity equivalent to initiation fees and union dues.                     "I hereby authorize the . . . . corporation to deduct an
    It -can only be regretted that an important question of           equivalent `amount to the current monthly union dues of the
lthis nature usually arises in our churches in connection with        first pay of each month. I further authorize and understand
 "a case",  and that, too, a case of discipline. This distorts the    that the' first payment will-include an amount equal to the
question from the outset. Sides are taken, spirits are aroused,       current monthly dues only, and initiation fee.
those that are involved become so strongly prejudiced that                "The amount of these deductions will be paid to the
it is well-nigh impossible for them to express an objective           union who will pay to the charity I select as follows . . . .
judgment and, besides, all kinds of mistakes are made that            If I do not select a charity the union will pay to a charity
must be corrected even before the question itself can properly        the union selects.
be discussed.                                                            "I fully understand that this contribution does not en-                   -
    How much better would it be if an important and ex-               title me to any union membership privileges.
tremely practical question of this nature would have come                "I submit this authorization and assignment with the
in the. way of an overture from the consistory to classis and         understanding it will be effective and irrevocable for a period    .
from, classis to synod without any case of discipline attached        of one (1) year from this date, or until the termination
to it whatever. Then the case of conscientious objectorship           date of the present agreement between the . . . . of the cor-
could have been placed in the hands of a committee that could         poration and the union, whichever occurs sooner.
have investigated and thoroughly studied the whole matter                "This authorization and assignment shall continue in full
and report to the next synod.                                         force and effect for yearly periods beyond the irrevocable
    Now it is too late for this.                                      period set forth above, and each subsequent yearly period
    Classis  East, at least, already has expressed itself on the      shall be similarly irrevocable unless revoked by me within
whole matter, and was obliged to do so.                               five (5) days immediately- before and revocable period  here-
    Nevertheless, I propose to devote a little space to this          ,of. Revocation shall be effected by written notice to the
question in  The  Standard   Bearer,   not because I wish to.         company and the union within such five (5) day period."
criticise  the position of  Classis East in the matter for I             The above copy of the charity card is taken from a docu-
fully agree with its stand, but because The Standard Bearer           ment presented to Classis  East by one of the parties involved               '
can still discuss the matter objectively, furnish grounds for         in the case.
its stand, and-thus serve the purpose of its very existence:             We will continue this discussion, the Lord willing, next
to shed light on important  .matters especially for our Prot-         time.                                                  H . H .
estant Reformed people, though outsiders may very well
avail themselves of this light also.
    Needless to say that  any:reader  can voice his objection            "The church of the elect, which is partly militant on
against what I write, provided his contributions are written          earth, and partly` triumphant in heaven, resembles a city
in tolerably correct style and evince a proper  spirit:  the          built on both sides of a river. There is but the stream of
 desire to get at the truth of the matter.                            death between grace and glory."'                   - Toplady


 366                                        T H E   STANDARD   BE~ER

                                                                    sand hills. There is a glory of man and a glory of angels.
            O U R   DOCTRINE                                   II But never is the glory of the creature to be acknowledged.
                                                                    For it is all. the radiation of the infinite goodness of God.
                                                                    And the church beholds His glory above all in the face of
                                                                    Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God come into the
              THE  TRIPLE  KNOWLEDGE                                flesh, the central revelation of the, Father; Who was de-
        AN  EXPOS&ON  OF THE HEIDELBERG CATECHISM                   livered for our transgressions and raised for our justification.,
                                                                    and Whom God  bath esalted at His right hand, far above
               PART  III  - OF THANKFULNESS,                        .a11 powers and principalities and every name that is named,
                      L                                             and through Whom the marvellous power and unsearchable
                           ORD'S DAY  52                            wisdom, the unfathomable love and abundant mercy, the
                             Chapter IV                             absolute holiness and unchangeable righteousness, the beauty
              The Doxology of the Lord's Prayer                     of His grace and the blessedness of His life are revealed.
                                                                    And conscious- of all this, the church prostrates itself in wor-
    The power of the golden sunlight and of the gentle rain,        ship and adoration, and concludes her prayers with the
the power that reveals itself in the sprouting grass and in         beautiful ascription of praise: "Thine is the kingdom, and
the blooming flowers, the force of the flashing lightning and       the power, and the glory for ever."
of the roaring thunder and of the howling tempest, the ex-             Now what is the relation between this- doxology and the
plosive power of the bombs that are dropped by the air              rest of the Lord's Prayer? -
forces of the warring nations, the energy of the living crea-          That there is such a definite relation is very evident from
ture, of man and of beast, of angels and demons, their power        the conjunction "for" by which this doxology is introduced,
to think, to will, to speak, and to act, to sing or to lament,      and by which it is connected with the rest of the Lord's
to praise or to curse, to do good or to do evil, - all power is     Prayer. This is also emphasized by the Heidelberg Cate-
of God. There is no creature in heaven and on earth or in           chism, as we have already pointed out. That little word
the abyss that has power in itself. It is all of Him,  Who-         "for" signifies that in this doxology I express a reason for
created all things and Who constantly upholds -them by the          my prayer, a ground for all my petitions. How true it is,
Word of His power. This is what the church expresses in             and how cogent a reason, and how firm a ground for my
this part of the doxology: "Thine is the power." And this is        prayer there is in this closing ascription of praise to God, is`
true forever. It' will not become thus in some future age,          especially evident as soon as we, connect the doxology with
when all power of opposition and resistance to, God's power         the address, as, of course, should be done: "Our Father
shall have been overcome. There never was, there is not now,        Who art in heaven, to Thee I direct my prayer, for Thine
and there never will be any power independently of God, that        is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever:!' In
is able to resist the power of God. Even though the devil and       this doxology, therefore, the child of God motivates his. whole
all the wicked in their vain imagination and unspeakable            prayer. He expresses the reason here, first of all, for the
folly purpose in their heart and attempt to oppose the Most         fact that he prays at all, and that he prays to his Father in
High, and even though they may seem often to be successful          heaven alone. In it he declares : "Our Father,- Who art highly
in their designs to frustrate the work of God, the day of the       exalted above all that is named `creature,' Who lovest  me as
theodicy will reveal clearly that they could only execute the       my Father from before the foundation of the world, Wha
good pleasure of the Almighty. For His is the power forever !       hast revealed Thine unfathomable love to me in the death
    But if all the dominion and authority  -and power and           and resurrection of' Thine only begotten Son : to Thee, and
might is of' God, it follows that His also is all the glory:        to Thee alone I pray. In Thee, and in Thee alone, do I put
"Thine is the glory forever." To ascribe glory to God is to         my confidence. From Thee, and from Thee alone, I do ex-
say that He is good, that He is infinitely good, that He is         pect all good things. To Thee, and to Thee only, I ascribe
the implication of all infinite perfections, of truth and faith-    all honor and praise. For I know that Thou art strong to
fulness, of knowledge and wisdom, of power and might, of            save and willing to help and deliver me, and that Thou
holiness and righteousness, of grace and beauty, of love and        alone art worthy of all adoration: because Thine, 0 Father,
life. And this infinite goodness of God shines forth, is dis-       is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever."
played before our eyes; in all the works of God's hands His         But there is more.
glory shines forth. And also in this connection it must be             This doxology also expresses the reason why the believer
* emphasized that there is no glory anywhere that. it not of        prayed as he did, and why he. presented before the throne
God. There is a glory of the sun and a glory of the moon            of grace the petitions  .of this perfect prayer, and that too,
and a glory of the stars. There is a glory of the heavens and       in the order which, they occur.
a glory of the earth. There is a glory of the woods and  of            What did we ask for in this prayer which the Lord taught
the mountains, of the rivers and of the oceans. There is a          us to pray? Negatively expressed, we did not ask for carnal
glory of the beasts of the field and of the cattle on a thou-       things, for earthly peace and prosperity, for health and abund-


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               367

ante. We did not attempt to impose our will upon the will             face. For then we shall be like Him. Now we see as in a
of the Almighty. We did not criticize  His government of              glass darkly, even when we pray. We obtain a glimpse of His
the world or His direction of our personal lives. We did              `glory; We behold a reflection of His glorious majesty through
not make an attempt to prescribe to Him just how He should            His Word, through His Spirit we have the knowledge of
direct all things. And positively expressed, we prayed for            Him, not only in our heads, but in our hearts. But this
the things that concerned the glory of His name, the coming           glimpse is sufficient to fill our soul with holy awe in His
of His kingdom, the realization of and the obedience to His           presence. And if thus we come before the living `God in the
will, first of all, and subordinated all the rest of our prayer       face of Jesus Christ our Lord, and are really impressed by
.strictly  to these highest and most important matters.- We           His infinite goodness and glorious majesty, we realize that
prayed for bread for one day,, and declared that we would             we can do only one thing : worship ! And 0, what a marvel-
not be anxious for the morrow, even though the bread basket           lous power of grace it is, whereby the rebellious and cursing
were empty tonight. We expressed before His face that we              sinner is so changed that he prostrates himself in humble
were sorry for our sins, and that we could have no rest until         adoration before the throne of the Most High, and cries out:
He gave us the assurance of His blessed forgiveness. We               "Our Father Who art in heaven, thine is the kingdom, and
confessed that we dread the temptations, and earnestly im-            the power, and the glory for ever."
.plored \His preserving grace ; that we hate all evil, and long
for the day of final deliverance from all corruption. For                                      Chapter V
these things we prayed, and there was not a carnal desire                                         Amen
expressed in the whole of our request. One act of worship
our prayer was. And the whole concentrated around the                    If we have prayed thus, that is, in the manner and ac-
living God and His glory. Why ? What is the reason that               cording to the contents as explained in the `preceding' chap-
all true prayer must needs be thus ? And why does the truly           ters in our exposition of the Lord's Prayer, then, and then
praying child of God realize that no other prayer can pos-            only, can we conclude our prayer with the significant word,
sibly be proper and pleasing in the sight of God ? The reason         "Amen."
is expressed in the close of  the prayer, in this beautiful              The Heidelberg Catechism, in Question and Answer 129,
doxology : "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and              explains : " `Amen' signifies, it shall truly and certainly be:
Ithe glory for ever."                                                 for my prayer is more assuredly heard of God, than I feel
   Now we must ask the final question : what spiritual. dis-          in my heart that I desire these things of him."
position of .our heart-and mind is required in order'to utter            -Perhaps in our daily prayers the word "Amen" `means
this doxology in spirit and in truth ? If my prayer is to be          little more than that it is a sign that we have finished our
more than the mechanical saying of my Pater Nester's,  or             petitions and that we have concluded our prayer. But the
the moving of a bead  ; if there is to be harmony between             word has a very profound meaning. And its use at the close
the work of my lips and the inner state of my heart when I            of our prayer is very significant indeed. By it we really
utter this ascription of praise to  IGod, what must be my             affix a seal to our entire prayer. By saying "Amen" we
spiritual .disposition  or attitude ? The answer is, briefly : the    really become very bold, and bind the living God to give us
disposition of true worship. And worship means that I have            just what we asked of Him.
really  .been.  in the sanctuary, that I have felt myself in the         "Amen"  is a Hebrew word. It is derived' from a verb
,preserice  `of God, that I have received a glimpse of. His in-       that means "to establish, to make firm, or to be stedfast and
finite glory and beauty of holiness, and that, realizing my           unmoveable." The word "Amen"  therefore signifies, as the
own nothingness in His glorious presence, I prostrate my-             Catechism explains, "`it shall truly and certainly be," it is
self `before Him and say, "0 my God  !" I said that we re-            established, it is absolutely sure. The Lord Jesus often em-
ceive a  gliv+e  of His infinite glory, for more may not be           ploys-, the word to emphasize the truth and certainty of His
said as long as we are in the present body of this death. We          doctrine and then it is translated in our' English Bible by
do not yet really stand in the presence of God in all its im-         "verily, verily." And  .Christ  Himself is called "the Amen,
plications. And a good thing it is that we do not, Those              the faithful and true witness." Rev. 3 :14. When, therefore,
who ever did were almost consumed by the glory of His holi-           we use the word at the close of our prayers, we say with
ness. Even the seraphim cover their faces in His presence.            reference to them: "It is established ; it is certain and true.
Isaiah, seeing Him in a vision, could only cry out, `Woe                 When, therefore, we thus close our prayers, we `do a
unto me, I am undone." When the glory of Christ's divinity            very serious thing. For then we declare, first of all, before
flashed through His humanity, Peter cried out, "Lord, de-             the face of God that in our prayers we were true, that we
part from me, for I am a sinful man." And we would do                 did not lie when we prayed, that we did not play the hypo-
the same thing if in our present state we would really be             crite, but that we are sure that the things we prayed for are
brought face to face with the infinitely glorious God. But            the objects of the desire of our inmosb heart. 0, it is true,
this is now impossible. When we ourselves are changed,                even in this respect we have but a small beginning of the new
made like unto our glorious Lord, we may see Him face to              obedience. The Heidelberg Catechism recognizes this when

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

  it explains : ". . . for my prayer is more assuredly heard of        And I am assured that Thou wilt grant unto me exactly the
  God, than I feel in my heart that I desire these things of           contents of my petitions."
  him." The flesh even influences the highest expression of               In the light of all this, we certainly are inclined to hesi-
  gratitude to God. But even though `it was with much im-              tate to close our prayers with the word "Amen."
  perfection, in the word "Amen" we nevertheless express                  .Conscious,  therefore, of our weakness and imperfection
  that principally in the uprightness of our heart we desired
exactly what we prayed for in the Lord's Prayer.  /By that             and of our inclination to pray according to the flesh, rather
  word we express that we feel in our hearts that we desire            than according to the will of God, we may well close our
  not carnal things, not honor and power and money and carnal          series of meditations on the Lords Prayer with the petition:
  lusts and pleasure. For these `things are absolutely excluded        "Lord, so teach me to pray according to Thy will, that I
  in the petitions of the Lord's Prayer. By that little word we        may be.able  to say `Amen,' that I may be assured in my heart
  express that we honestly and sincerely asked for and desired,        that Thou wilt grant all my requests." Then the peace of
  in the first place, the things concerning God : the glory of His     God that passeth all understanding shall keep our hearts and
  name, the coming of His kingdom, grace that I may do His             minds through Christ Jesus.
  will and walk in His way. By that closing word we express                                       FINISH
  that we are sure that we are quite satisfied with bread for
  today, that we long for the forgiveness- of sins and that we
  earnestly desire to forgive one another. By "Amen" we
  express that we dread the temptations, certainly do not de-                        THE  BOOK  OF  REVELATION'
  liberately` seek them, that we desire  to. be delivered from                                  CH'APTER   I
evil, and long for final perfection. In other words, "Amen"
  signifies that I uttered my prayer in true faith. For he that                        The  Revelation of  Jesus Ckrist
  does not pray in faith is like a wave of the sea, double-hearted        "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words
  and tossed to and fro, as James has it in his epistle, 158:          of. this prophecy, and keep those things which are written
  "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth          therein: for the time is at hand." These words should be
  to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given      sufficient justification of the attempt to  .expo.und  this last
  him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he              book of Holy Writ, if, indeed, the earnest- endeavor by a
  that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind         minister of the Word of God to deliver God's message to
  and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive         the  C.hurch  of Christ in the world from any part of the
  any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in            Scriptures ever requires an apology. A satisfactory exposi-
  all his ways." This is expressed by the closing word of our          tion of the book of Revelation is considered impossible by
  prayers, "Amen."                                                     many. The book is so full of symbols and allegories, its true
     Once more, it is true, as the Heidelberg Catechism ex-            meaning is couched in such mysterious language, that one
  plains, that "my prayer is more assuredly heard of God, than         can never feel sure that he discovered its real sense. And
  I feel in my heart that I desire these things of him.' ' But this    the history of the interpretation of this book of the Bible
  only expresses still more fully the certainty implied in the         apparently     corroborates this opinion. Many a com-
  term "Amen." For with regard to my desire.1 feel my imper-           mentary has been written on the book of Revelation,
  fection, but with regard to God's faithfulness I am absolutely       numerous treatises have been published on individual parts of
  sure. He will grant me that which I asked for. This. must            it, and the explanations offered are as numerous and diver-
  be emphasized. "Amen" does not mean that God will give               gent as the scholars that attempted to expound the book.
  me something, though it may be the very opposite from what           Thus it is alleged. And the conclusion is drawn that it is
  I asked of Him. Thus it is often explained.  Manyc  people           better to refrain from any attempt at explanation, or, at
  even seem to consider it a mark of piety to say that even            least, to wait until "the things that  must shortly come to
  though God does not give us what we asked for, He will               pass" are being realized. If, then' an apology would seem to
  surely give us some good thing. But this is not the meaning          be in order for offering our own interpretation, we would
  of the word "Amen." Nor it is pious. For this usually means          appeal to the last verse of the passage treated in this chapter.
 that we take'no  pains to pray according to the will of God,          The book is intended to convey a blessing to them that en-
  but that we ask for all kinds of carnal things. And then the         deavor to acquaint `themselves with the contents of it, and
  Lord does not hear, and does not give us what we ask of              that `keep the words of this prophecy. It must be possible,
  Him. But when we pray anything acc.ording to His will, we            then, "to read and to hear," to understand "what the- Spirit
know that He surely hears us, and that He gives unto us                saith  unto the churches" through, this part of the Word of
  all that we ask of Him abundantly. Hence, at the close of            God. It may not be possible to satisfy the spirit of curiosity
  our prayer we say: "Amen. 0 Father Who knowest the                   in which many approach this last book of Holy Writ; but one
  hearts and provest the reins, Thou knowest that my prayer            may surely so understand the "meaning of the Spirit," that
  was in truth, and that I earnestly desire these things of Thee.      he receives the blessing that is here promised. And to obtain


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B&4RER                                                        369

this blessing will be more than sufficient reward for our en-..' called the superscription to the whole book of Revelation. It
deavors.                                                              annotinces  the contents of the book: it is a revelation of
   It is quite customary to preface the exposition of ,the book       Jesus Christ and throws light on the things that must shortly
of Revelation by a discourse on extraneous matters, such as           come to pass. It informs us how this revelation was received :
questions concerning the author of Revelation, `the time of           it was given by God, through Christ, through the instrument-
its composition, and the proper method of  interpretation'khat        ality of an angel, to His servant John, and by John to
must be followed. We shall  not try  to, add anything to all          Christ's  seivants.  And it closes with the  begtitude  to which
that `has been written on these questions, neither shall we           we already called attention: "Blessed is he that readeth, and
determine upon a definite-method of exposition at this stage.         they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the
NIuch  has  beeti written about the authorship of the book.           things yhich are written therein: for the time is at hand."
I presume that all the internal and external  kvidence that              The book, then, presents itself as "revelation of Jesus
can throw light upon this question has beep presented. And            Christ." The original word for  "revelatiofi"  is  @ocalztpsis,
the opinions are still divided : some claim that the author is        from which our "Apocalypse" is derived. It denotes the act
the apostle John, while others argue that the John that is            of uncovering something that is hid, as, for instance the un-
mentioned as the author in the book itself cannot possibly            veiling of a statue.  In the biblical sense it denotes that act
have been  the apostle "whom Jesus loved." It would be quite          of God whereby He makes known to us the things concerning
useless to repeat the arguments employed in favor of the one          Himself and the kingdom of heaven, "the mysteries" of the
or of the other view. One who is interested in the question           kingdom of God. For, these things are not of this world.
may consult any commentary on this  bobk. And I do not                They cannot be perceived by our natural senses. Nor can
consider the question of any importance. The canonicity of            they be conceived by the natural understanding. They be-
the book does not depend on the apostolic authorship, and             long to another world than ours, to the spiritual and heavenly
the -correct understanding of its contents is not contingent          order of things "which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,               -
upon the proper solution of this question: if it were, Scrip-         neither have entered into the heart of man" (I Cor.  2.:9).
ture would surely have given us definite4nformation  on this          They cannot  be apprehended, therefore, unless God reveals
point. And this also applies to the question concerning the           them to us, "unveils" them ; and unless there be a spirituai
time when this book was written. Here, too, opinions are di-          eye to see, a spiritual ear to hear, a spiritual mind to under-
vided between an earlier and a later date. Although, therefore,       stand them. The word revelation, then, denotes. that act of.
it is our personal conviction that the  author  is the apostle        God whereby He discloses to us that other world, the things
John, and that the book was written about the year 95 A. n.,          of His heavenly kingdom and eternal covenant.
we do not consider the matter of sufficient importance to add            Now, the text speaks of a "revelation of Jesus Christ."
to the mass of material that was already written on these             In the original the name "Jesus Christ" stands in the genitive.
questions.      ~-                                                    case (apokalupsis Jeesou  Christou), and the question is,
   As to the proper  method  of interpretation, we would              whether this is to be regarded as an objective or subjective
rather let the text speak for itself #and let it become' apparent     ,genitive. If the latter is correct, the meaning is that Jesus
from our interpretation which method tie prefer, than an-             Christ is the subject or author of this revelation, that  Heis the.
nounce such a method beforehand. Several methods have                 revealer of the things contained in this prophecy  ; if  the
been applied, and the weakness of them all is exactly that            former is the true interpretation of this genitive, the expres-
they are methods, and that they have been implied too                 sion denotes that Jesus Christ is the object of this revelation,
stringently .often, so that the contents of the book of Rev&la-       that He is the One that is "unveiled,' revealed in this book.
ion were forced into their scheme. This is especially true of         The common interpretation takes the genitive in the sub-
the church-histdrical method, according to which the various          jective sense: the revelation which Jesus Christ gave, of
visions of the book are more or less clearly and definitely           which He is the author. In fact, practically all commentators
traced in the history of new dispensation. But also the futur-        take this sense for granted, and hardly allow for the pos-
ist and the praeterist method of interpretation must plead            sibility of taking the genitive in the objective sense. Yet, we
guilty of this. According to the former almost the entire             believe that! there are important objections against this view,
contents of Revelation must be considered as referring to,            so weighty that we prefer to understand the expression in the
the distant future, the  titie immediately  pi-eceding  the second    objective sense, so that it mean's t&at Jesus Christ is revealed
coming of the Lord ; the latter regards most of, the prophecy         to us in this last book of Scripture.
of this book to have been fulfilled in the past, particularly                                                                     H.H.
in the fall of the mighty Roman empire. What must be con-
sidered the correct method of interpretation must be deter-              "Good works cannot go before regeneration. Effectual
minde by the contents of the book itself, and what method             grace.is thatwhich builds the soul into an habitation of God.
we prefer will become apparent in the course of our ex-               `Holy tempers and holy obedience are the furniture of the
planation.                                                            house. And a house must be built before it can be furnished."
    The first three verses of chapter I .conta.in  what may be                                                              - Toplady


370                                            T H E 'S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    -

                                                                         every direction. Of course, they were drawn by horses, and
11 THE DAY OF SHADOWS  11 the succeeding verses suggest that they also were manned by
                                                                         charioteers. And they c~a.me from between the two mountuins
                                                                         - The Hebrew has the article, the two mountains. In view
                The  Prophecy  of  Zechariah                             of the fact that the mountains were of brass, it is doubtful
                                                                         whether the prophet had before his mind two well-known
                             Chapter vi.                                 mountains, either Mount Zion and Mountain Moriah or
       Vision viii - the four chariots drawn by horses of dif-           Mount Zion and Mount Olives. The two mountains `sym-
ferent colors, 1-8.                                                      bolize the Lord's faithfulness and righteousness, fast and
       1. And I turned .and lifted ufl my eyes, ,and saw;-and be-        majestically lofty. Indeed, His faithfulness reaches unto. the
hold,  four charigts came from between the two mountains,                clouds, and His righteousness is like the great mountains,
and the mountains were vxozmtains of brass. 2. In the first              Ps. xxxvi. 6, 7. In the glitter of their brass, that must have
chariot (were) red  homes, and'in  the second  ckariot  black            been terrible to behold, they stood there as symbols of His
lzorses. 3. And in the third cjtariot white horses, and in the           anger and judgment, did these mountains.
foztrth  ckariot  horses speckled and strong. 4. And I  ans-                 2, 3. The horses that drew the chariots were of different
wered and said to the angel that talked with me, What are                colors. Red . . . black .-. . white . . . speckled. Of the spec-
these  my Lord. 5. And  the  a.ngel  answered and said  unto             kled it is said that they were strong. But according to verse
me, These are  the  fozt.~ winds of the  heavens, coupLing  forth        7 strength characterized all of them. So, horses and chariots
fi-om standing before tlzs Lord of all the earth. 6. The black           including the charioteers signified powers. What these pow-
k0y.se.s which are tlaerein go forth into the land of the north,         ers were is indicated by the colors. The red horses `symbol-
and the white go behind them, and the speckled go forth to               ize the powers of war, bloodshed and destruction ; the black
the la89td of ihe so,uth. 7. And the strong went' forth, and de-         of scarcity, hunger and distress ; the speckled (the pale
sire'd to go that they might pass to and fro tkmugh the earth.           horses of Revelation vi.  8) of death and the grave. The
Jo.  tl?ey walked to and fro  tkro~uglz the earth." 8. And  he           white horses symbolize the Angel of the Lord, the second
called me msd spake  to me, sa.ying, Behold, these that go forth-        person in the Godhead, the same divine person that in the
into the la,nd of t?ae north have caused my Spilt to rest ,upon          New Testament Scriptures is presented to us as the incar-
the land of the north.                                                   nate Word. For in  John's. vision (Rev. xix. 11-16) He
                                                                         that sat upon the white horse was called Faithful and True,
       This vision terminates the series of eight revelations. It        and in righteousness He judges and makes war. And He
indicates the complete fulfillment of what had been promised             has' on His-thigh a name written, King of Kings and. Lord
by the first vision, to wit, the destruction of the Lord's' and          of Lords. Here the rider on the white horse plainly sym-
His people's, enemies.                                                   bolizes Christ Himself. And on this earth we see Him in the
       In the eighth and last vision the prophet sees coming             power of His Word and Spirit by which He gathers His
from between two mountains four chariots drawn by horses                 church. It is the power in which on this earth is seen the
of different colors. Two go toward the north and one to-                 white horses of Zechariah's vision.
ward the south. The fourth desires and receives permission                   We see also the other horses, see them on this earth but
`to go to and fro through the earth. The chariots that enter             not as horses of the Lord coming from between the two
the land of, the north act in this region and thereby cause the          mountains, but as powers of war, bloodshed, destruction,
Spirit of Jehovah to rest upon the land thereof.                         famine, death and the grave. To say, therefore, that they are
       This is the vision. It is not a return to the first vision,       horses of the Lord is to give expression to an article of faith.
though at first glance it may seem that it is, seeing that- it           For it cannot be proved. For this is their appearance only in
employs imagery much like that of the first: horses of dif-              the vision, not on this earth. What is more, here they ap-
ferent colors and riders. But there is a difference. Here the            pear as the powers of the violent of the earth, of the  Pha-
horses appear as hitched to chariots. The first vision  dis-             roahs, the  Nebuchadnezzars  and the Alexander-s, the Caesars
closes no chariots. Here horses and chariots go forth. There             and the Napoleons.
the riders upon chariots stand among myrtles. The last                       4, And I mswered the angel tha.t talked with me. What
vision. There the riders report on conditions on the earth as            iare these . .  .?  i Failing  to- understand the vision,  ,the
they had observed them implying that they had walked to                  prophet appeals to his companion, who supplies the desired
and fro through the earth merely as exploring scouts.                    i n f o r m a t i o n .
       1.  .And I  turpaed and -lifted  UP  ++~y  eyes  - This is the         5. And the amgel answered . . . These are the fdur winds
prophet's usual way of saying that another vision engages his            of the Izea.ven. - The reply of the angel really identifies the
attention. And,  belaold,  four chariots  - It is  .a mistake to         four horses, including the white horse, with the four winds.
identify the chariots with four empires, that isj world pow-             Doubtless by these four winds is to be understood, there-
ers. The reason that their number was set  at- four is that              fore, the Spirit of God or rather direct and indirect influence
they were sent to the four points of the compass, that is, in            of the Spirit. By the Spirit as operative through the Word


     I                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       371
          the kingdom of Christ is established in men's hearts, the                 angel calls to the prophet and speaks to him saying, Behold,
          men of His good will. Also by the Spirit evil men are given               tjaese that go forth into the  qaorth  -  -Bayblonia  -  h&e
          up to all manner of wickedness through the lust of their own `caused way Spirit to rest upport  the land of the north - Baby--
          heart - given up to unrighteousness, covetousness, mali-                  Ion shall fall. -And God with His people shall enter into His
          ciousness, murder,, debate, deceit, Rom. 1 :24-29. Also war               rest there in Babylon and not only there but on the whole
          among the nations is owing to this influence. And the result              earth, then when all the kingdoms of this world shall have
          is the overturning of thrones and the' rise and fall of the               become the kingdoms of Christ. Then nations shall not lift
          kingdoms of the nations.                                                  up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any-
               Coming  forth  f~owa  standing  before  the  Lord of all  the        more. And there shall be no more death,, neither sorrow, nor
          earth  - The four Spirits, that is, the four horses thus in--             crying, neither shall there be any more pain ; for the former
          fluenced by the Spirit, go forth to do their work, the three              things shall then have passed away. And the tabernacle of
          horses - the red, the black and the speckled - seen on this               God will be with men, and He shall dwell with them, and
          earth as powers of war, destruction and death. They go forth              they shall be His people.
          from standing before the Lord, meaning that they are His                                                                             ,G. M. 0.
          servants and do His bidding even as powers of the violent                                               *  * *  i
          of the earth, kings and rulers that take counsel together,
          against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let                    T H E   U N I F Y I N G   I D E A   O F   T H E   S C R I P T U R E S
                                                                             US
          break their bands asunder, and cast away their chords from                    What is this unifying idea ? In bringing it clearly to the
          us. But God laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. And                  fore I must begin with calling attention to the following.
          with reason. They exist by His power. In Him they live and                  1. First to the protevangel.of Gen. chap. 2, that. is, to the
          move and have their being, so that in all their ethical opposi-           promise of the Gospel as first proclaimed and by the very
          tion to Him they serve His counsel as well as the horses                  voice of Christ. The vast importance of this promise must
          that stand before the Lord's face. as well as war to which                be perceived. It is verily the seed, so to speak, of all the
          these violent men take recourse to establish themselves upon              promises thereafter spoken through the centuries of the for-
          the earth.                                                                mation of the Canon of the Scriptures, which is to say that
          `    6. The black horses go  fortla into  tlie  `land  of the north  -    the latter are but the unfolding and development of the Gos-
          The north country, Babylonia, pre-eminently the land of the               pel contained in the former.
          anti-Christian world-power. Here Satan had fixed himself                      Students. of Scripture rightly speak of a history of rev-
          down. Here was found the devil's headquarters.  And  the                  elation. But what is this "history of revelation"' but the his-
          z&ite homes go behind them  -The white horses seen on                     tory of the unfolding and development of the Gospel of the
          this earth in the power of the Gospel.  And the speckled                  protevangel - an unfolding of this Gospel .in and through`
          horses  go  i&o the  la&  of  t&e  so@lz  - Here was found                the discourses of  .Israel's  divinely inspired prophets. There
          Egypt, the long time enemy of the people of,God.                          is therefore but one promise essentially. Yet the Bible speaks           '
               7. And tlae stfpong  zverat for@ and desired to go that they         of,promises.  But this cannot mean that the "promises" hold
          might  pass  to  and  fro  though the  .eartk   - doubtless the ref-      forth a Gospel that differs from the Gospel of the  Protev-
          erence is to all the horses  - the red, black, white and                  angel or that is not as to its substance-contained in it. What
          speckled. For they all were strong. This accounts for it that             is meant is simply that `the salvation that the protevangel
          no mention is made in this verse of the. red horses. Thus                 holds is that many-sided and includes a variety of riches -
          also the black and the speckled horses, that the text here                riches of His grace - so wonderful that, if it was to be fully
          limits to Babylon and Egypt, go through all the earth.                    comprehended by God's believing people more and always
          Every land, worldly kingdom is thus visited by all the pow-               more light had to be shed upon it. And this light was not
          ers symbolized - the power of war, of bloodshed .and de-                  withheld. It was given in all the promises thereafter spoken.
          struction, the power of scarcity and want, the power of death                2. Now in shedding this needed light, in unfolding the
          and the grave. And the result is the continuous rise and fall             gospel of the protevangel, the Lord availed Himself of def-
          of the world's kingdoms. So is the way being paved contin-                inite vehicles of thought.
          uously for the white horse seen in the power of the Gospel.                  The question is now: what was the character of these
          For the white horses go after them.                                       vehicles ? Through the ages of the Old Dispensation this
               And the horses still go forth - the horses, the power of             character was typical-symbolical. That is to say, through the
          war, of death and the grave, - go forth over the whole earth.             ages of the Old Covenant the Lord shed the required light
          And they are strong, and they become always stronger, more                through the vehicle of a typical-symbolical. language,  typical-
          violent, destructive. We think now of the destruction                     symbolical institutions such as the sacrifices, and third typ-
          wrought by the last world war, of how the nations of the                  ical-symbolical mighty works of His such as the deluge and
          world rained death upon each other from the air with the                  the deliverance of the people of Israel from Egyptian bondage.
          result that whole cities were reduced to ruble.                             Now the line of thought here presented is in full accord
               8. But it shall not always be thus. For once more the                with the answer to the 19th question of the Heidelberg                        .




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I                                                                                                                                                                      I

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

               -Catechism. The question reads : "From whence knowest                  made to `flower, if the church was to see the divine thought-
               thou this ?" and the answer: "From the Holy Gospel, which              structure contained, concealed in it: As was stated, tlne Lord
                God himself first revealed in paradise ; and afterwards pub-. God did make this seed-truth to unfold also through Israel's
               lished by the patriarchs and prophets, and represented by              typical symbolical history, and typical-symbolical penjonages,
               the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; and lastly has         as well, as through Israel's ceremonial laws, through Israel's
               fulfilled it by His only  b.egotten  Son."               -             typical-symbolical history, that is, as has already been  ex-
                 As was just stated, God shed this required light  also)              plained,  through a series of prophetic types or  pict:ures or
               through mighty works of His. It means that also the history            `typical epochs of this history.                             G.M.O.
                of the people of Israel is typical-prophetical. To deny this is
                to deny the unique character of Israel's history, it is to place            Report  `of  the  Eastern  Ladies'  Leagl:le
               this history in the category of ordinary history. Also by                 On  the. evening of April  26, 1956, the Springmeeting
                Israel's history the required light was shed.                         of the League of Ladies' Societies of the.Prot. Ref. Churches
                   We must now concentrate on this history, this typical,             was held. We were privileged to meet in the audito rium of
                prophetical history of the people of Israel. Examining this           the First Prot. Ref. Church of Grand Rapids.
               history we discover that'it divides in a number of parts or             - Our meeting was opened by singing Psalter No. :$86 A-5,
                epochs or dispensations of grace. We discover further that            and Psalm 105 :5. Our president, Mrs. F. Harbin re;ad from
                each part is completed by itself and that it constitutes in           Heb. 11 :l-16, led us in prayer, and welcomed all the ladies
                contradistinction to each of the other parts or epochs a              present. Our next number was a vocal duet, beautifu
                complete type of the salvation heldforth by the protevangel.          dered by our Grand Haven ladies, and well received
                We discover finally that in each succeeding picture or type           audience. Rev. G. Vos, our scheduled speaker, notif
               of the series, the features of this salvation stand out in al-         president the day before our meeting that he would
                ways holder relief. Herein each succeeding type differs from          able to speak for us because of his physical condition
                the one immediately preceding.                                            Rev. G. Ophoff, our alternate speaker, kindly cc
                       3. Let us now shed the necessary light on these state-         to help us out, and read to us from one of his artick
                ments.                                                                promise of God is only to `the elect, historically the be
                       The first picture is that epoch of sacred history that be-     This follows from : 1. The content of the promise. -
                gins with the fall of man into sin and that ends with Noah            ally there is but one promise, which was first  rev1
               and, his family leaving the ark after the deluge and his being         Paradise, immediately after the fall of man, and is
                blessed by the Lord God.                                              as the Protevangel. Gen.  .3  :15. The promise is  tl
                       Let us now examine this picture. The first thing that          which is Christ. All the subsequent promises are
                must be said of it is that it is a prophetic type of Christ and       folding .of the promise. God spoke through patriar
                the salvation `that He was to work. Second, that as such a
     .                                                                                prophets, through symbols and types, until Christ, v
                type it sheds in conjunction with God's communications to             the fulfillment of the promise.
                Noah, the first great light on the promise of the protevangel,            2. The character of the promise. The promise i:
                on the salvation held forth by this promise.                          ditional, since it is God's promise and not man',
          -     Let us-get the events of this epoch or dispensation be-               being a creature, is limited on every hand, in countle:
                fore us,                                                              God's power is unlimited. He does all His good  1
                       The first man Adam left the hands of God his Maker a           He has mercy on whom He will, and whom He  v
                sinless man, for in His own image  Gods created him. But              hardens. To say that God's promise is conditional is
                Adam subjected himself `to sin. He thereby corrupted his              God down to the level of His creature.
                whole nature and thus became wicked and preverse in all                   3. What the people of God are. They are the
                his ways potentially in himself and actually in his reprobated        God. All that they are and ever will be by reason
               g e n e r a t i o n s .                                                election, they are by reason of the promise, so  thai
                       Immediately after the fall the Lord brought in His Gos-        they are children of the promise, is to say they are I
                pel. Said the Lord to our elect first parents and thus- to the        dren of election. They are the justified ones, not
                church of the elect of all ages. "And I will put enmity be-           ground of their own works, for they have none, but
                tween thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her' ground of the satisfaction and righteousness of C
                seed  ; he shall bruise (better, crush) thy head, and thou            imputed unto them. All their sin, the mountain of. c
                shalt bruise his heel." This is the promise as first proclaimed       been blotted out, covered by the. blood of Christ, a
                by the Lord God Himself, and being what it is-the promise             are pronounced guiltless and righteous in Him. .Th
                as first proclaimed, also called the protevangel, it is infinitely    eousness of Christ  is'the  meritorial basis of their j
               rich in meaning. For it is the seed-thought of the Gospel ; it         tion, and they. and they alone have the right to all 1
                thus contains in itself all the promises thereafter spoken, the       sings of salvation, and therefore they have the rig1
                entire divine thought-structure bearing on our salvation.             promise.
.               Like any seed it therefore had to be developed, unfolded, be                               (Cosrtimed   on page  374)




                                      . .


                                               T H E   .STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                       ;73

.I/                                                                     one illuminated by the Holy Spirit, understands all things,
            F R O M   HOLY WRIT -.  / I since he has the v,zind of Christ!
                                                                            Let  ,us atteinpt  to understand each of these proPositions
                                                                        a bit bettkr.
                 Exposition   of  I  Corinthians   1-4                      In `verse 12 Paul literally  writks :  "Noze,  we have not
                                                                        received the spiht of the wolrld, but the Spir;it which is out of
                                  15.                                   God, in order that we might know the things which  are
       In this rather profound section of I Corinthians 2, Paul         jreely paced to us of God."
 is still dealing with the questions of schism-and party-strife             It is of the. greatest importance not only to -know the
 in the church of God.                                                  things of God by faith, but also to know whence we have
       This schism is very sinful, contrary to all the newness of       ~eceivcd them. Only when we know the latter shall we
 life in Christ Jesus and must, therefore, be  eradicated  root         truly and really be able to give the Lord proper recognition
 and branch. Not one bit of *he old leaven of sin may remain            of His "gifts," and also walk humbly and thankfully because
 in their lives. Theirs is to be a life  .of truthfulness and           pf them. That they come to us from the Holy Spirit is a
                                                                  of
 sincerity. And to this Paul calls  theIn by exhortation and            wonderfully comforting knowledge; However, that even our
 instruction.                                                           knowledge, and reception of them too, is solely of thk Holy
       To see the rock-bottom reason for this walk of upright-          Spirit is  a,lso tremendously sobering.' It genders the con-
 ness, Paul calls attention to what we have become by means             sciousness : what have I that I have not received !
 of the Holy Spirit. He does this especially in  .view  of the              When Paul here speaks in the text of  our having  `Ye-
 fact that they are speaking and boasting as if they had re-            ceived"  the Holy Spirit he evidently has in mind that fact
 ceived the spirit of man's wisdom, boasting in mental acute-           that Christ has shed His Spirit abroad  in- the church upon
 ness', rather than in the fact that all that we know is ours           the day of `Pentecost, so that He would never depart from
 simply because Christ, or God in Christ, has revealed it               us, but would  constaritly  take all out of Christ and  give,  it
 unto us by His Spirit.                                                 unto us, the elect church. The verb.here  is not the same in
       And surely  the Holy Spirit of God is fully capable of           the Greek as  t&t employed by Paul in verse 14 where he
 leading ipto all the truth ; He can fully reveal all the secrets<      writes : "Now the natural man ddes not receive the .things
 of God to us ; He searches all things, yka, the deep things of         of the Spirit of God." In  the latter passage the verb in the
 God'!                                                                  Greek is  dechop&  (to accept), not reject. Here the term,
       And now-  Paul drives the point home once and for all !          in the light of the entire context, means : Conscious and ready
       He has established the matter  objectivel_v  of the "point       and happy acceptance. In the case of verse 12, now under
of contact" with  the congregation. We are enlightened.                 consideration, the verb in  `Greek is  lambanein,  to receive
 Hence, we should also walk as such.                                    what is given, by the very fact that it is givers.
       Furthermore,  zve have once and for all received the Spirit,         This is not simply. a distinction upon which theologians
 as the church of God. We are the temple of the Holy Ghost.             like to speculate, nor is it simply a dogmatical  f`hair-split-
 And, therefore, a peculiar walk should also be ours.                   ting" distinction, but it is. rather a distinction which spells
                                                                        the very salvation of the church and thus the glory of God
       Paul draws a rather remarkable contrast here in  the             in the saints. Hence, this is a distinction constituting the
 verses 12-16. It is once more the contrast between the church          very warp and woof of salvation, and one which no Armin-
 and the world. This time these two groups are designated               ian has ever rightly seen, for the-very. evident reason, that
 with the terms "Us" and  "We" in distinction from "the                 he cannot propeily  put spiritual ideas land distinctions with s
 natural man." This fact indicates the following:                       spiritual realities.
       1. That Paul is here not speaking simply in the abstract            Rut we have received  the Spirit of God.
 about the "spiritual  ma%"  and the "natural man," but                     The Holy Spirit came into our hearts and minds. He did
 rather  .very concretely  to  the church!  Paul does  not. here        not  come  irt because we welcomed him, gave him a  recep-
 speak of the "natural man" and his behavior except as this             tion. We received Him because He came into our hearts
 relates to clarify the singular position of the Church, who            as the wind blowing where He listeth. He regenerated us,
have received the Spirit. These believers must understand `He called us, He justified us and sanctified us and, princi-
 themselv.es  and the behavior that is, therefore,  comefy  to          ply, glorified us. He came working irresistibly in our hearts.
 them as saints.                                                            And He is` not the Spirit of this world. The spirit of
       2. That ip this passage Paul teaches most emphatically           this  world is that of delusion, of, the lie and of the Devil.
 that the believers have  "recei+ed  the Spirit of God" and,            Such a spirit cannot possibly search the depths of God, and
 therefore, they also "receive" all of the things of the Spirit         therefore cannot possibly  enlighten  our minds. Beelzebub
 of God. (More of this presently).                                      cannot drive out himself. Hence, such a spirit cannot en-
       3. That the  naiural man is not able to judge, his will          lighten. But, thanks be to. God, such is not the Spirit whom
 and heart are perverse and blind, while the spiritual man,             we have "received." He is the Spirit whose origin is in

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

  God. He  is-o&of God. And' since we have such a Spirit               `and, yet, does not perceive. His hearing is never mingled
  dwelling in our hearts, we surely should only attribute all          with faith. He is like Israel according to the flesh, the  '
  knowledge to him, and walk as such. who have this unique             greater part of whom are not well-pleasing to God.
  understanding amongst all the sons of men. For the Spirit                Such realities concerning the "natural man" should cause
  always shows us the things that are "freely graced upon  US.`~       us to take notice. We should note that only the grace of God
  Ali is of grace. .The Holy Spirit never teaches us anything          distinguishes us. And; it is  Ahis grace of God, which also
  else. . We know that forgiveness of sins, righteousness in           gives us the power to distinguish. Why all the boasting in
  Christ, the holiness of walk and conduct ir,.Christ, that they       man ? Who is Peter, Paul, Apollos, or any mortal for that
  are ours as mere gift, sovereign free gift.                          matter, but ministers of God. All is of the Holy Spirit, who
         For that. very purpose He was given  unto us, did He          is  out  of God.
  once and for all come to dwell in our hearts, that we might              And so it remains supremely true: "The spiritual man
  know  these things. Apart from this reception of the Spirit          discerns all things, yet, he himself is discerned of none."
  no one knows and none understand. Hence, we do not have               The natural man does not understand himself nor does
  the. ludicrous circle-reasoning of the Arminian  preachei-,          he understand the believer. Yet, the believer, the spiritual
  -when' he tries to convince his audience that salvation is foi       man understands himself and also the plight of the natural
  every one. They say the Holy. Spirit is given and received           man. If such be the case, and it is, then surely we ought to
  only by those who ask for Him. Fact is, that superficial             walk as a wise and a discerning people in the earth. For
  reading of the Heidelberg Catechism has -also caused many            `wisdom is always justified of her children.
thus to read  .the Catechism. I refer, of course, to Question              The deep thoughts of God for our peace and glory we
  and answer 116, which reads :- "Why is prayer necessary for          understand, we know them. We have the mind of Christ.
  Christians  ?, Because it is the chief part of  thankfulne>s             Well, then, let it be evident in our walk of life.  Let us
  which God requires of us ; and because God will give His             not walk as fools but as wise, redeeming the time.                    G. L.
  grace and Spirit only to those who  ea,mestly  and  without
  ceasing ask them `of Him, and render thanks unto H,im for.                 REPORT OF `THE EASTERN LADIES' @AGUE
                                                                                                (Co&wed' from  fioge  372)
  tl"&n.~~                                                                 4. Objections that are raised against this doctrine. The
         .However;  this question and answer, as is also our text      gospel can not be preached if the promise is only for the
  under consideration, is a far cry from that of the Arminian          -elect since we do not know who the elect are. This objection
  circle-reasoning. Th& position .is such that no one .hai the         iS not valid, since we do know who the elect are. They are
  Spirit except those who  ask for it. It is conceded by them          the poor in spirit, they that hunger and thirst after right-
  that without the help of the Spirit one cannot ask for it. Aid       eousness, the pure in  heart, etc. They are not hidden, but
  yet we must .do initially what one cannot do.                        are conspicuous. Although the human proclamator does not
         Such is not  qur text. Nor is  such the Heidelberg Cate-      know infallibly who the, elect are, Christ who is the true
  chism teaching.                                                      preacher, does know, since they were given Him by the
         In both our text and in the Heidelberg Catechism we are       Father, and for them He laid  down His life. The  go@&
  dealing with the renewed Christian. And the renewed Chris-           must be preached to all, the promise is limited to the elect,
  tian, receives the gifts of the, Spirit consciously by means of      historically the believers. The Liberated object, and say that
  faith, which expresses its longing in prayer.                        -the promise is for all on condition of faith. If this view is
         This latter the "natural man" cannot `possibly do. Writes     -maintained, questions arise and multiply and one  must
  Paul in verse 14: "Now the natural man does not receive              necessarily end in' Arminianism.
  the things of the Spirit -of ;God ; for they are foolishness to          After hearing this paper read we were reminded anew
  them, and he is  not  .able  to know, for they  .are foolishness     of our wonderful heritage, and of the gratitude we should
  unto him, because they are spiritually -discerned."                  constantly  i-ender  to God for raising up men to lead us in
    The blind cannot see colors  tid the deaf cannot hear              the way of the truth which we as churches confess.  td be
  soun$. And a moron cannot understand advanced arith-                 the true` and perfect doctrine of salvation. May God give
  metic.  He cannot put together what belongs together. So             us grace never to depart from this truth, which, though not
  also the natural man cannot  put together spiritual words with       desired by the natural man, is indeed a source of comfort
  spiritual realities. Love, mercy, joy, peace, wisdom, under-         and `peace  $0 His child.
  standing as these are prepared for us in the suffering and               A collection was taken for The Staprtdard Bea.ref, for our
  ,death of Christ are so  n&h folly to them. Why? Because             Hope and Adams St. Prot. Ref. Schools. Minutes of the
  it is not revealed to them. God did not give them the Holy           previous league and delegate board meetings were read, and
  Spirit; He does not dwell in their hearts. His love ,is not          the treasurer's rep:pdrt  was given, after which we might again
  shed abroad in their hearts. They cannot discern.                    listen to the singing of our Grand Haven  d&t. A Psalter
         Hence, tlie"natural  man will never be able to receive the    number was sung, and Mrs. H.  Hoeksema closed with
  good Word of. God under the preaching. Hearing he. hears             prayer. Refreshments were served in the basement.
  ahd  .do&s` not understand, and seeing he  emphatically   sees                                          M r s .   D .   Jonker,  R e p o r t e r .

                                                                                           .


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B 'E A R E R                                              375

                                                                  - it and say that He did it in His fear? Read the whole verse
      .I  N, H I S F E A  R'                                       and -you will have  your,  answer. "The Son of man indeed
                                                                    goeth as. has been determined : but woe unto that man by
                                                                    whom He is betrayed !"
       This Godless -"Lucky Nu&ber" Craze                               Indeed God will guide the hand that picks the ticket with
                             (2)                               .' the number held by him who is called .the "winner" ; but that
                                                                    does' not make it a godly- deed on his part or on the part of
    "In God we trust."                                              the sponsor.
    This beautiful motto or slogan  tias stamped on` every              Such things do not proceed from true faith and are not
penny in circulation in these United States of America.             done to the glory of God and according to His law.
   If only all those who handle these pennies actually be-              The world admits that, makes no attempt to claim that
haved according to that motto what a different world this,          it is for the glory of God and that one can thereby exercise
would be wherein we pass our earthly sojourn.                       his faith in the Living God. Can children of God, then,
   For one thing, you would never see this Godless "lucky"          participate in it in such a way that they give it a spiritual
number craze practiced as it is so widely carried on today.         content that makes it in His fear,? Can believers by their
    It makes sport of putting trust in Him and of walking. participation in so godless a thing remove the godless ele-
in His fear!                                                        ment ?
  It trusts in "luck" and bows before it in an idolatry no           , There are activities that in themselves have no spiritual
less evil than the evil of Jeroboam who made Israel to sin          content-and receive spiritual content when practiced by the
by advocating' a worship of Jehovah through golden calves !         believers. The child of God can plant his corn, till his ground,
   It seeks possession not in the humble and Godfearing wag         reap his harvest in trust and thankfulness to God and make
of -prayer and of committing one's way and all things to Him.       it a work well pleasing in God's sight. He participates in
Who has all things in His absolute power but seeks them in          the same activities that his godless, reprobate neighbors on
the way of competing with others in a project that trusts in        either side of him practice. His work has spiritual content
"luck" for success in the venture.                                  and is sanctified by the Spirit of Christ in Him and is ihere-
   -The world makes no attempt even to cover up this fact ,fore pleasing in God's sight. But an act that trusts in "luck"
and boldly advertises it as a "lucky number" venture or             instead of in God cannot become or be made good because it
contest.         .                                                  is practiced by those who claim to be the childr.en  of God.
   "You may be the `lucky  winner of this . . ."                       You can pour out of a glass tumbler the poison with
   "Watch our window for the `lucky number' next week."             which it is filled, wash and.rinse  it *thoroughly and then fill
   "The drawing will be held Saturday evening at 9 o'clock          it with milk and do yourself good by drinking that milk. A
`to. determine who it is that holds the `lucky number' and, is      five dollar bill that was used a few days ago to place a bet
the winner of this grand prize."                                    on some race of this kind or of another may show up in your
   These are only a few examples of ,how the world adver-' pay check and be. dropped by you in the collection place on
tjses these "lucky number" projects and calls them by their         Sunday.` You have expressed your thankfulness and grati,
real name. The world boldly and unashamedly acknowl-                tude to God for' the salvation He has given you, you have
edges that it is Godless (less God) and that it all centers         shown your appreciation of the things spiritual `and your
around that idolatrous thing called "luck."                         own spirituality just as much by the use of that five' dollar
    The world would laugh in your face if you would state           bill as you would have had you used a crisp, brand new five
that you drop your ticket in the container because you trust        dollar bill'that came direct to you through the bank where
that God will guide the hand that picks the "lucky" one so          you cashed your check.
that you may obtain that coveted object.                                But you cannot put your trust in "luck" and at the same
    Of course He guides that hand !                                 time and thru this venture also put your trust in God.          ,
    From eternity He has also decreed all these things. Noth-          You cannot call Jehovah "Luck" and have Him approve
ing takes place except according to His providence ; and He         of it!
knows what number shall be picked and who shall be hold-                Therefore leaving off the word "luck" and speaking sim-
ing that particular number before the man who sponsors this         ply of winning a prize at the drawing to be held at such and
`%rcky number" evil is even born !                                  such a time; seeking to be the possessor of an object in this
    That does not change the evil in it and make it a Godly         way of receiving numbered tickets and waiting for a drawing
project.                        :                                   out of' the pile to see who will receive this "prize" still is a
    According to Luke 22 :22 "The Son of man indeed goeth           godless activity.
as has been determined.." God had from eternity singled out             It is not an act that says : "In God we trust" !
Judas to. betray the Christ and that He would go the way of             It is not and cannot be done in His fear!
the cross exactly in the way in which it all took place. But          We only deceive ourselves when we participate in those
does that make it a godly work so that Judas can point to           things which the world boldly calls, by its right name and


3 7 6                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D ,   B E A R E R

we practice the same thing under a name that seems to take           tickets into a box to-take a chance with countless numbers of
out the evil sting of godlessness.                                   others  ? Are they following the testimony of the same Heidel-
       You cannot change the name of a sin in order to sanction      berg, Catechism when it explains what God enjoins in the
it and do so in His fear. When you do that you simply look           First commandment?: "That I . . . expect all good things
the other way and try to soothe your conscience while prac-          from Him only . . . so that I renounce and forsake all crea-
ticing a  `thing against which your conscience has already           tures, rather than commit even the least thing contrary to
spoken adversely. Paul says, as instructed by the Living             His will." Is it in the spirit of what that Heidelberg Cate-
God, "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin," Romans 14':23. .It         chism says about the fourth petition on the Lord's Prayer 7 :
is a terrible thing and an extremely dangerous thing to try          ". . . be pleased to provide us with all things necessary for
to stifle the testimony of your conscience by continuing             the body, that we may thereby acknowledge thee to be the
in the thing `your conscience condemns because you have              only fountain of all good, and that neither our care nor in-
changed the name of that sin.. What. a fool a man is whose           dustry, nor even thy gifts. can profit us without thy blessing;
mind tells him that the liquid in the bottle he has in his           `and therefore that we may withdraw our trust from all crea-
hand is a deadly poison, who then removes the label to fix           tures, and place it alone in thee."
upon it the label: "grape juice" and then drinks it because              It is a godless thing, this "lucky number" craze.
it has such a pretty color! How much bigger a fool is that              Who would dare, after .receiping -an object in this "ay,
man who deceives himself by stifling his conscience which            fall on his knees before God? to thank Him as "the only
tells him that a certain project acknowledges the element of         fountain of all good." When one waits for an object which
"luck" in the place of God, gives it a name less obnoxious to        might possibly come his way by the "chance" picking of a
that conscience and then goes ahead and practices it !               ticket bearing the same number as the one he holds, that one
       Your conscience no longer condemns this "lucky num-           does not wait upon God.
ber'? idolatry ?                          .
       Let us look more closely at it then.                            Nor is it -ever in the spirit of the prayer : "Give us this
                                                                     day our daily bread." What man can in His fear come be-
       Indeed, it has been made so simple and'harmless looking       fore the living God and pray that he may be singled' out of
by eliminating the requirement of buying the ticket itself. It       all those who with him covet that object displayed as the
is not in the strictest sense a raffle at which you buy chances.     "prize  ?' And if a man would dare to utter so selfish a
Usually, though, you do have to buy something in the store.          prayer when many poorer residents in his town have far
The tickets are given you when you pay for some purchase             greater need of it then he, is that in the spirit of the words of
you have made. Very often this element is left entirely out
of the advertisement. Sometimes it is in the sense of a "door        Jesus, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto
                                                                     you." That is positive ! Jesus does not simply tell us not to do
prize" which is conducted in the way of giving each one who          unto others what we would not have them do unto us.
enters the store a ticket at the door; and after walking
around without buying a single thing you can walk out again             The whole "lucky number" craze, likewise, depends upon.
after having deposited your ticket on which you base your            the coveteousness,  the greed and selfishness of man. Because
hope for being favored by "luck." Then the whole idea of a           there is so much of it in the- world, this craze can thrive. But
raffle: the buying of "chances" on that "prize," is removed.         because it thrives on these it cannot be in His fear and is
       Yet it cannot be denied that each one who deposits a          definitely a godless thing which God's people will hate and
ticket in the container takes a "chance," or, if it sounds better    avoid.                                         *
to you, accepts and seeks a "chance." Each one who partici-                                                                   J. A. H.
pates in this venture drops his or her ticket with the idea
that by it he or she has a "chance" to win. And he takes a
chance without parting with any of his cold cash. He washes
his hands of the whole idea of gambling with his possessions,         I "Paul often presents the idea that the plan .of redemption
No, he tells himself, I have not gambled with what God en-
trusted to me as-a steward of His goods and as a priest over         was formed from eternity, and is such that no eye could
His creation who is called to dedicate and consecrate all unto       discover, and no heart could conceive, I Cor. 2  17-9, Col.
God.                                                                 1 26."
       Yet he took a "chance" sought or accepted a "chance."                      7 Charles Hodge, Comm. on Romans 16,:25-27
       He simply would not have dropped that ticket through
the slot if it did not mean that he had put himself -in a posi-         "However much the church may be distracted and
tion to have a "chance" at that prize.                               troubled, error and its advocates cannot finally prevail. Satan
       Yet the believer says with the Heidelberg Catechism
"                                                                    is a conquered enemy with a lengthened chain  ; God will
     . . . all things come  not. by- chance, but by His fatherly
hand." Can they, then, with lips say that nothing comes by           ultimately bruise him under the feet of his people."
chance and then enter a practice wherein they drop their                            -Charles Hodge, Comm. on Romans, p. 715


                                            T H E   S,TANDARD   B E A R E R                                                       377

                                                                    the development of all the various views of the Lord's Sup-
 11 Contending For The Faith                                  .[I per that were to be developed.in  a later period.
                                                                       More specifically we may observe, in the first place, that
 Ii                                                           `1    the present Roman Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation
            The Church and the Sacraments                           was entirely unknown in the early period of the Church.
                                                                    We are informed that Pope Gelasius I (492-496) also taught
       VIEWS DURING  THE SECOND PERIOD  (300-750 A.D.)              that "the substance or nature of the bread and wine does not
                                                                    cease to exist." Yet, since the Church generally held that
                       THE LORD'S SUPPER                            somehow the flesh and blood of Christ were received at the
 Introductory Remarks.                                              Lord's Supper and the question as to how these were present
                                                                    is not always clearly answered, it may be said that tendencies
       As far as the early views on the sacrament of the Lord's     can be found that would point in the direction of the Roman
  Supper are concerned, during the first three centuries of the     Catholic doctrine. The views of Ignatius, Justin and  Ire-
  New Dispensation, we may remark that the chief question           naeus remind us of the present Lutheran doctrine. They em-
  concerning this sacrament was not as clearly defined then as      phasize the real presence of the body and blood of the Lord.
  it is today. The chief question concerning the Lord's Sup.per     It must be remembered, however, that also these fathers did
  today is that which is concerned with the proper interpreta-      not clearly define the manner in which the body and blood of
tion of the words of the Saviour spoken by Him at the in-           Christ were present. The North  African  Church, however,
  stitution of this sacrament: "This is My body." The ques-         revealed rather clear tendencies toward what is called the
  tion concerns the relation between the ,sign and the things       Refo'rmed view. Origin inclined toward the Zwinglian con-
  that are obsignated. Four different views have developed          ception, but Clement, Tertullian and Cyprian inclined toward
  and are held at the present time.  .The Roman Catholic            the Calvinistic  ,or sacramental idea.       .
  Church believes in the doctrine of Transubstantiation.  AC-          Continuing with our brief resume of the early views on
  cording to thisview the sign and the thing obsignated are         the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, we would observe that
  identified< The bread and wine are changed into `the body         the sacrifice constitutes an essential element today in the
  and blood of the Lord. The Lutheran view is known as Con-         Roman Catholic view of the mass. The Romish Church dis-
  substantiation. According to this conception the sign and         tinguishes between the Mass and the Eucharist. The Mass
  the thing obsignated `are not identified, but they are objec-     precedes the Eucharist and is, of course,  .necessary   for.  it.1
  tively connected. The body and blood of the Lord are really       There can be no Eucharist, no partaking of the body and
  present in, with, and under the bread, and the wine. A third      blood of Christ and thanksgiving unto God without the
  view is known as .the sacramental or Calvinistic view. This       Mass. The Mass is the sacrifice. Then the bread and wine
  conception views the relation -between the thing obsignated       are actually changed into the body and blood of the Lord. It
  and the sign as purely spiritual. And the fourth view of the      is and should be most interesting to ascertain whether this
  sacrament of the Lord's Supper is known as the-Zwinglian          Roman Catholic conception of the sacrifice was also present
view. This conception of the sacrament is merely symbolical.        in the early Church. We know that the term "sacrifice" was
  It regards the sacrament of the Lord's Supper merely as a         used in connection with the celebration of the sacrament.
  feast of commemoration.                                           But we also know that the term was used by the early
       As might be expected, none of these four views had been      Church in an altogether different sense than it is presently
  distinctly and fully developed in the earliest period of the      used in the Roman Catholic Church. According to this early
  Church. It is readily understandable that the Church, first       view of the Church, not Christ was offered, but the Church
  of all, simply accepted. the sacraments and -observed them        offered itself, its  -prayers and thanksgiving, etc." Cyprian,
  without entering into the deeper significance of them. This,      however, because of his hierarchical tendencies (it was his
  I say, is easily understandable. Standing upon the threshold      basic teaching that the bishop is in the Church, and the
  of the New Dispensation and but recently having made the          Church is in the bishop, and that salvation without the
  transition from the Old to the New Dispensation, the Church       Church and the bishop is impossible) already expresses the
  of God did not enjoy the clear understanding of the Scrip-        idea that not the Church but that the pried offers an imita-
  tures which characterizes the Church of the living God today.     tion of the sacrifice of the Lord.
  This also applied to its understanding of the sacrament of            We would conclude these introductory remarks by refer-.
  the Lord's Supper. It did not give itself immediately a clear     ring our readers to the term, "sacrament." The word, sacra-
  and distinct account of the meaning of this sacrament.  It        ment, is not found in Holy Writ. However, this is not the
  may be observed, however, that also  `to this sacrament  as,      only word which we use dogmatically and is not found in the
- well as to the sacrament of Baptism, a profound significance      Scriptures. Terms such as : providence, trinity, are also for-
  was attached, although it had no clear idea or conception of      eign to the Word of God. The word, sacrament, is derived
  its significance. And, thirdly, we may also remark that by        from the Latin "sacramentum," which originally denoted, a
  various writers of this early period the seeds were sown for      sum of money deposited by parties in litigation, inasmuch as


37s.                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
-    -
the winner's money was returned while the loser's sum was          was the bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, the father of church
forfeited. This seems to have been called a "sacramentum"          history, was born about 275 or 280, died perhaps at Caesarea
because it was intended to be a sort of sacrifice to the gods      most probably May 30, 339) is reportedly to have been
and therefore sacred. The transition of this term to its Chris-    partial to expressions such as the following: "Christians are
tian use may `be sought in two `things. First, the word ap-        admonished to celebrate the remembrance of Christ by the
pears to have been used as a military term, in which it de-        symbols of his body and blood." Notice that this writer, in
noted the oath by which a soldier solemnly pledged obedience       this quotation, speaks of the  syyttbols  of  .Jesus, body and
to his command. A reference to this idea of an oath and            blood. And in his interpretation of John 6 (in this chapter
obedience to our Commander may be discerned in Article             the Lord feeds five thousand men, not counting the women
34 of our Confession of Faith, where we read that "by which        and the children, with five loaves and two fishes and then
we are received into the Church of God and separated from          becomes involved in a heated dispute with the carnal Gali-
all other people and- strange `religions, that we may wholly       leans which leads to their forsaking of Him because they are
belong to him, whose ensign and banner  we bear (we under-         carnal and the Lord and His Kingdom are spiritual), he says
score-H. V.). Secondly, we would refer to the specifically         that we are not to believe that Christ spake of His present
religious sense which the term acquired when the Vulgate           body, or enjoined the drinking of His corporeal and sensuous
(the Latin translation of the Bible) employed it as a ren-         blood ; but the words which He spake are spirit and life, so
dering of the Greek "musterion." It is possible that this          `that His words themselves are His flesh and' blood. In this
Greek term was applied to the sacraments because they bear         expression reputedly attributed to Eusebius, we should notice
a faint resemblance to some of the mysteries of-the Greek          that he is reportedly to have said that Jesus' &ords them-
religion. In the early Church `the word "sacrament" was            selves are His flesh and blood. This is certainly a "far cry"
first used to denote all kinds of doctrine and ordinances.         from the Roman Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation
     Two words were therefore employed in the early period         which advances the theory that the body and blood of the
of the Church to denote the idea of the sacraments : the Latin     Lord are actually imparted to the believing participant, inas-
"sacramenturn" (sacrament) and the Greek "musterion"               much as the bread and wine are actually changed into the
(mystery).. It, must be remembered, however,  %hat these           body and blood of the Lord. Eusebius speaks of the symbols
words were not exclusively used for our sacraments, but            of Jesus' body and blood, and he also declares that the words
that they also had a wider, use'; the sacrament or mystery of      of the Lord themselves are His flesh and blood.
religion;.of  the Trinity, of the Lord's Prayer, etc.                 Gregory Nazianzen called the bread and wine of the sac-
                                                                   rament symbols and antitypes of the body and blood of
The doctvine of Tra.nsubsta.ntia~tion not the accepted doctrine    Christ.  Nilus, a disciple of Chrysostom (John Chrysostom,
                                                                   called "John the Golden-mouthed," was `patriarch of Con-
of the Ckztrcli in this' period.                                   stantinople. He was born at Antioch, probably about 345
     The union of Christ and the signs in the Supper were          or 347, and died in Pontus, Sept. 14,  407),  made a clear
often. compared to the. union of the two natures in Christ.        distinction between the symbols and the thing represented
Corresponding to the mysterious union between the two              by them. And the distinction made by Theodoret between
natures of Christ in one and the same person, was the idea         the sign and the thing signified was intimately connected
of a mystical connection subsisting between the body of            with the `similar distinction which he drew between the hu-
Christ and the bread in the Lord's Supper, and between His         man and the divine natures of Christ.
blood and the wine. The deeply mysterious and often fan-              The Lord willing, we will continue with this in our fol-
tastic rhetoric of the fathers, the mysterious. language in        lowing article and quote from Reinhold  Seeberg  who has
which they expressed themselves, makes it often uncommonly         written on Augustine's view of the Lord's Supper in his
difficult to decide what'dogmatic notions are to be attached       "The History of Doctrine."
to their expressions.  iB,y'. their changing imagery we are
sometimes led to think of an ideal, sometimes of a substantial                                                             H. V.
change ; now of a subjective change on the part of the par-                            ..
ticipant, and again of an objective change in what is re-
ceived ; sometimes it is a wonderful conjunction of the head
and the body of Christ (consubstantiality) ; sometimes  a
total change. of the elements of the Lord's Supper into this          "Inward holiness and eternal glory are the crown with
body (transubstantiation, real transformation). Their writ-        which- God adorns and dignifies His elect. But they are not
ings are not characterized by clarity..                            the cause of election. A king is not made a king, by the
     We may, however, remark that the doctrine of transub-         royal robe he wears; and by the crown that encircles his
stantiation was surely not at this  time'as yet a part of the      brow ; but he therefore wears his robe, and puts on his crown,
accepted doctrine of the Church. Eusebius of Caesarea (he          because he IS the king . . .  ."                   - Toplady


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                379

II-                                                                       And. now' let us turn to the content of the article itself.
           The Voice of Our Fathers                               I        In order to understand the error that is here exposed by
                                                                       the fathers, let us, first of all, remind ourselves of the truth
                 The Canons of Dordrecht                               -which our Reformed fathers maintained. They taught that
                                                                       Christ died as the head of the covenant and of His covenant
                              PART TWO                                 people, namely,, the elect. From this it followed inevitably
                   E                                                   that Christ through His perfect obedience has actually mer-
                        XPOSITION OF THE CANONS                        ited for all the elect, and for them only, all the benefits of
                   SECOND  HEAD  OF DOCTRINE                           salvation, all the blessings of that covenant. And from
                                                                       thence it follows that these blessings must be and are actu-
        OF  THE DEATH  OP CHRIST,  AND  THE~REDEMPTION                 ally imparted and applied to all the elect, and to them
                          OF  MEN  THEREBY                             only. This is the  .plain teaching especially of Article S of
                         REJECTION   OF ERRORS .                       Ca.nons   II.
              Article II. Who teach: That-it was not the purpose           Notice, in this connection, that the issue at stake here
              of the death of Christ that he should confirm the        is that of the  pzirfiose  of the death of Christ. We must not
              covenant of grace through his blood, but only that       overlook this. This is always again the issue. What is the
              he should acquire for the Father the mere right to       +rpose  of the death of Christ? What is the purpose of God
              establish with man such `a covenant as he might          in the death of His only begotten Son in the flesh? What
              please, whether of grace or of works. For this is
              repugnant to Scripture, which teaches that Christ has    did God want to accomplish ? What did He intend ? Why
              become the Surety and Mediator of a better, that is,     did He ordain Christ? And this is a question which is  in-
              the new covenant, and that a testament is of force       s_parably  connected : for  wholly did God ordain the most
             .where  death as occurred. Heb.  7  :22;  9:$ 17.         precious death of His Son.? Was it for all men  ? Then it
       Before we enter into the teaching of this article as such, was God's purpose that Christ should do something for all
we must comment briefly on a matter connected  with the                men. Was it perhaps, for some unknown persons and some
language of the fathers here. There are those who use the              unknown quantity of persons that God -ordained His Son?,
reference to the "new covenant" to support the contention              Then Christ went to His death ignorantly and purposelessly,
that also the fathers of Dordt believed the error of the  so-          not knowing whom He would save, or, in fact, whether He
called "covenant of works," and that they teach this error -would save any at all. Or did God have a sovereign and
by implication in the above article.' They reason as follows.          most gracious will and purpose in the most precious death
The term "new covenant" necessarily implies that there was             of His Son that concerned all the elect and them only ? This
an old covenant. With this we must surely agree: the new               last is Reformed, and is the plain teaching of our Canons.
covenant presupposes the existence of an old covenant. How-               `But remember that also the Arminians must deal with
ever, they add that since the new covenant, according to               this issue of the  pttrpose of the death of, Christ. And not
this article, is a covenant of grace, confirmed through-Christ's       only so, but they do so admittedly. They admit in their
blood, the old covenant must have been a covenant of                   first article that there is an eternal and unchangeable purpose
works, established with Adam and broken by Adam. And                   of God. What that purpose is, is not now  .the question:
with this we cannot agree. First. of all, the article itself           I merely want to emphasize that they admittedly deal with
says no such thing  ; and it is only by reading our own                the issue of God's purpose. Hence, in their second article,
notion into the article that. we can find that notion back             they  state that "agreeably thereto, Jesus' Christ, the Saviour
and claim to have support for the idea of a covenant of works          of the world, died for all men and for every man." Agree-
in the Canons. In the second place, it is simply a fact that           ably to what? Agreeably "thereto," that is, agreeably to the
this very. article puts the idea of a covenant of works in the         purpose of God. And now observe this, for it tells what
mouth of the .Arminians. The Remonstrants taught that                  kind of purpose God had : it was agreeable to the purpose of
because of the death of Christ God was free to establish a             God  that Christ died for all men and for every man.
covenant of works or of grace with man. And finally, careful              What then ? Are all men saved  7 The Arminian would
study of the idea of the new and old covenants will reveal             and could not accept this contrary-to-fact-consequence.  He
that the old covenant was not a covenant of works established          knew that all men were not saved. Besides, he wanted to
with Adam whatsoever, but that this old covenant, spoken               create a doctrine that was pleasing to sinful flesh, a doc-
of by implication in the term "new covenant," was the                  trine that left things to man instead of to God. How could
covenant of the old dispensation, established at Sinai, char-          the Remonstrant achieve this end and still continue to speak
acterized by the fact that the law was imposed upon the                of the purpose of God and of the death of, Christ agreeable
promise, that it was the covenant of the age of shadows and            to that eternal and unchangeable purpose  ? He had to set
`types, but principally nevertheless the same. covenant of             the entire doctrine of atonement and reconciliation and re-
grace which God always establishes with His people in Christ           .demption,. as the Dutch has it, "op losse schroeven." He
Jesus.                                                                 had to make it all uncertain, .and leave it at loose ends. It


            380                                         T H E   STANDAR'D   B E A R E R

            stands to reason that because also the Arminian himself ad-        covenant of "work-righteousness." But  Goa  m?ght also
            mitted that the purpose of God and the death of .Christ are        establish a so-called covenant of `grace. Ah, but here you
            connected, that therefore he had to begin by  setting that         have another piece of Arminian confusion. Covenant of grace?
            purpose of God "op losse schi-oeven." He had to make the           The grace would then be this, that God would agree to be
            purpose (though, mark you well, he still spoke of an "eternal      satisfied with and  wotild demand only so much as a man
            and unchangeable purpose of God  !,`)  ,T he had to make           could do, partial obedience, if man was willing, and that
            that purpose very vague and indefinite. That is the key            God would be gracious and fill up the lack, or, in effect, forget
            to their entire lie ! And this the fathers exposed in  the         about the rest. Again, the covenant is reduced to a despicable
            preceding article. The Synod rejects the error of those who        agreement. And grace  `is reduced to works. Man must do
            teach : "That God the Father has ordained his Son to the           something, and God will do the rest.
            death of the cross without a certain and definite decree to             .But such is Arminianism ! The fathers exposed it; the
            save any, so that the necessity,  prpfitableness  and worth of     Synod rejects its error;  and. the Reformed Christian today
            what Christ merited by his "death might have existed, and          opposes it !
            might remain in all its parts complete, perfect and intact,              Why must we oppose it? Because the Word of God op-
            even  `;f the merited redemption had  riever in fact been          poses it. And the Word of G6d is binding.
            applied to any person." There you have- the first step of                Her'e  fhe fathers refer to two passages of Hebrews. In
            this diabolical plot of Arminianism against the truth of the       Hebrews 7 22 we read : "By so much (This "so much,' re-
            gospel. And that is why it is so unendingly imperative that        fers to the  o&h of God by  iyhich  Christ was made Priest.
            regardless of the reproach and contempt  that may be heaped        Cf. vs. 21) was Jesus made a surety of a better testament."
            upon us for it we maintain the heart of the gospel, the "coy       And in Hebrews 9 :15, 17 we read: "And for this cause he
            ecclesiae,,  : predestination, - free, sovereign, eternal, un-     is the mediator of the new testament, that by-means of death,
            changeable, certain, definite, personal, unconditional pre-        for the' redemption of the  tr&sgressions  that were under
            destination !                                                      the first testament, they which are called might receive the
                   And the next step follows.                                  promise of eternal inheritance . . . . Far a testament
                   Without that certain and definite decree of election, &e    is bf force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength
      _     h;rminian cannot maintain a certain and definite atonement.        at all while the testator liveth."
            He must teach that Christ died for all men and eveiy man.          .     Hence, Christ is the  Medistor  and Surety of the better,
            But then he cannot possibly teach that Christ actually paid        the. new covenant. And that covenant is a testainent,  a will.
            the debt of guilt for all men and for every man. Then he           The contents of that testament-or will, is the sworn promise
            would have to accept  on?e more the consequence of  uni-           of the eternal inheritance for them that are called, for the
            versalism. And so his next step is to play "hocus-pocus"           heirs of the promise, the elect. And so before the- will. can
            with the meaning of Christ's death.                                be executed, the testator  m&t die. Christ, the Surety of
                   How does he do this ?                                       that new testament dies, and immediately all the provisions
                   This second article of the Rejection of Errors exposes      of that testament are of force, are executed, and go into
            one of the Arminian maneuvers on this score. The Arminian          effect. All the blessings of the covenant through that death
-.          must reduce  salvation from an absolute. certainty to a mere       of Christ have been obtained for all the elect, according
            possibility. Hence, he cannot and will not teach that the          to the Word of God's oath, and they must certainly and
           .purpose  of Christ's death was to confirm, establish, the new      inevitably be bestowed upon the heirs, those named in that
            covenant. of grace. That would mean certainty; and the             testament, namely, the elect.                    1
           -Ai-&nian'wants  no certainty but that which depends on  a                Such is the new and better testament.
           changeable and uncertain condition. Cf.  Ca.nons  I, B, 7.                                                                 H. C. H.
           `Hence,  Christ did not acquire any right for us, but He
           acquired a certain right for the Father by His death. And                 "Whoever  bath  Christ, cannot be poor; whoever wants
           what right did Christ acquire for the Father? Was there             Him, cannot be rich."                                   - Dyer
           anything certain even in that? No, not at; all. He acquired
           the  mei-e right to establish  `fsuch a covenant as he might
           please," that' is, whatever kind of covenant God might want                                 I N   M E M O R I A M
           to establish, "whether of grace or of works." God might,                 .The Ladies' Aid Society of the Prdtestant Reformed Church
           according to the  Arminian,-  because now God and man               of  Edgerton  Minnesota, herewith extends  its sympathy to one
           are reconciled, and God can again deal with. man,- He               of its members, Mrs. Steve Broekhuis in the death of her Father,
           might establish a covenant of works. This covenant, - and                                MR. JOHN FEIKEMA
           note here the corruption- and reduction of "covenant" into               May  dur  HeavenIy  Father comfort the bereaved-and may we
           "contract," -would require then that man would fulfiil              at all times put our trust in Him.
           perfectly all the rightequsness of the law in order to obtain                                         Rev.  8. Veldman, President
           eternal life. It could be that God would establish such a                                             Mrs. Joe Brummel, Secretary


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   381

                                                                         We personally regard these opinions as highly specula-
            DECENCY and ORDER                                         tive to say the least. Neither do we consider this matter
i                                                                / very important but consider it only natural that an appropri-
                                                                      ate number of men were appointed commensurate with the
               The  Office   of  the  Deacon                          particular circumstances and needs of that time. In this
               C.  The  Deacon's Qualifications                       instance it happened to be seven. Every congregaiion  is not
                                                                      by this token required to have seven deacons. That does
     There are especially two passages of Holy Writ that              not follow. Some may need  more.- Others may need less.
speaks of the qualifications of then office of deacons.               Each congregation should appoint an appropriate number of
     In Acts 6:3 we read: "Wherefore, brethren, look ye out           office-bearers in proportion to the size of the congregation
among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy                and the amount of work that is to be done.
Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this busi-                     (2) In  .this passage three `essential qualifications are
n e s s . "                                                           mentioned. A deacon must be: "Of honest report," i.e.,`
     I Timothy 3  $3-13 contains a-more detailed description          men held in repute both within and outside of the church.
and reads as follows: Likewise must the deacons be grave,             They occupy a position of highest responsibility. They must
not double tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of             be men of integrity, trustworthy, and reliable and those
filthy lucre  ; holding the mystery of the faith in a pure            whose character is dubious should not be appointed. "Full
conscience. And let. these also first be proved  ; then let           of the Holy Spirit," i.e., men who not only give evidence of
them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless. Even          the possession of the Spirit in the life of regeneration but
so must  .their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faith-         those who are vested with the gifts of the Holy Spirit
ful in all things.. Let the deacons be the husbands of one            which qualify them for the work of this office. The more
wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For            we analyze all of the qualifications of office-bearers in the
they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to           church, the more we become convinced of the truth that
themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith             there are none who are in themselves capable of these
which is in Christ Jesus."                                            things. Always our sufficiency is of God. His Spirit alone
     From these passages it may easily be ascertained that            qualifies. Without that Spirit we can do nothing. No less
deacons are to be men of strong spiritual stature since the           is this so of the deacons whose task as we before wrote is
requirements of their office are fully as rigid as those of the       to dispense the mercies of Christ. To do that necessitates a
elder. In fact, a'carefui comparison of these passages with           fulness of the Spirit. "Full of wisdom," i.e., men who have
those that speak of the office .of elders will reveal a very          the ability to apply their spiritual gifts to the practical affairs
striking similarity. That there are also some differences             of life. Wisdom is the practical application of spiritual knowl-
is due to the fact that the two offices are distinct and the          edge. It is in itself a gift of the Holy Spirit. Man's wisdom
labors required of the elders are  not. the same. as those            is foolishness. That is alone wisdom which  cometh  down
required of the deacons. Essentially, however, the spiritual          from above and is pure,. peaceable, gentle, and easy to be
requisites for both offices are the same. There are not two           intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality,
separate standards by which men are to be measured for                and without hypocrisy. (James 3 :17)
two separate offices but rather there is one standard for the            Deacons are to be men who give evidence of such things,
one office that is reflected in a three-fold way: Prophetically,      men.of understanding, impartial and of  Xound  discretion. .
Priestly and Kingly. And since we have previously discussed              With regard to the passage of I Timothy 3, we may
these requirements for the office in detail, we will refrain, note that this description is in many ways similar to that of
from entering into an elaborate discussion of the above               the qualifications for elders contained in verses l-7 of the
passages now but will confine ourselves to the following              same. chapter. This similarity is also indicated by the word
sundry remarks :                                                      "likewise" which introduces the section that speaks of the
     With regard to the passage of Acts 6 it is to be noted:          deacons. Likewise, i.e., as was the case with  the'.elders,
(1) Some attach a great deal of significance to the fact that         so also it is with the deacons.
seven deacons were appointed, As to why there were seven,               Secondly, verse 11, which speaks of the "wives of' the-
various answers have been given among which we find the               deacons" is disputed by many interpreters. Ellicott, Robert-
following : (a) to correspond to the seven gifts of the               son,  Alford, The Expositor's Greek New Testament, and
Spirit, Isaiah 11  2, or the seven Spirits of Revelation  1  :4  ;    others claim that this verse speaks of the office of deaconesses
(b) to give representation to the various elements of the             in the church. Calvin explains this-verse as referring to the
church at that time. Hence,,three  Hebrews, three Hellenists,         wives of both the elders and the deacons. Meyer holds that
and one Proselyte were appointed. (c) this number was re-             it refers merely. to the deacon's wives. With this we agree
gulated by the fact that Jerusalem at that time may have              since` verses 8-13 inclusive form an entity in which the
been divided into seven districts ; (d) this number was sug-          apostle discusses the deacon's qualifications with respect to
gested by the sacred Hebrew number -seven  1                          his own person, his marriage and his family.


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        In the followinff  verse the apostle states that' the deacons       `However, it may be'said that "the word (diakonos) does
 must be &e husbands of one wife. This does not mean, as                 not necessarily prove this ; for it is often used to designate
 some contend, thtit a deacon must be married or a man with              generally  d&e who does service and contributes to the help
 a family. Marriage  ,is not a requisite for the office. Rather          and assistance of others." (Calvin's Comm.) If we concede
  it denotes. that those married to more than one woman (as              that the word itself denotes an office, it can also be argued
  was  common  in those days in the heathen world) may not               that Phebe was a Minister (V.D.M.) since, as we showed
 b$ admitted to the office. Only those, as Calvin states,  -             last time, the word "diakonos" is often used in Srcipture
  "satisfied with having. but one wife - shall set an example            with reference to that office. The most that Romans  116:l
  of a chaste and honourable father of a family, and shall keep          proves .is that Phebe was undoubtedly a faithful assistant in
  his children and his whole house under  holy discipline," -            the church but this does not say that her work in any way
 are to be considere&  as qualified  for the office.                     bore an official character. Even so today there is certainly
        Thus we may conclude that office bearers in Christ's             room  and need for -much labor by  faithftil  women in the
 chtirch  must be chosen from among those who lead exemplary             church. Also the wives of the -deacons should remember that
 and irreproachable lives. The dignity of the of&es requires             they can be very helpful `to the latter in their work but this
 it. The importance of the work they are called to perform in            does not give to them an office in the church. That is some-
 the office necessitates it. Further, it is incumbent upon.those         thing elsk, unknown and  even forbidden in Holy Writ. In
 chosen `to the offices always to conduct themselves in all              American `circles this forbidden practice is becoming more
 things `chat they may prove themselves worthy of such great             and more prominent but Reformed Churches have always
 honor. `That the name of Christ-be neve? dishonored, let us             been opposed to it.
  go `continubusly  to .the throne of- grace that we may obtain              There has always been a place for u&official labor and
 help according to our need.                                             assistance by the women of the church. Certainly for the
                                                                         woman was created to be an help. In the Apostolic  Cdn-
                           D       .          Deacsnesses!               stitutions (not composed by the  .Apostles)  we come' upon
        In the Reformed Church& the office 6f deaconesses has            the following statement` describing the functions of those
  ne&r   be& instituted and correctly so. They have held to              women who assisted the deacons:
 !the position  that women should_not  occupy an office in the               "A deaconess is to be ordained for the ministrations
 cl%-ch.-   For.this there is abundant Scriptural support. The           tqward  women. She is called the assistant or minister of
 niattkr `of deaconesses had, however, been considered already           the deacon. She was to be sent to do  cel;tain  services for
 in 1568 when the Wezelian  Convention judged that it might              which it was distinctly ordered that the deacon should not
  be well to appoint worthy women to this office. This did               b e   seat. At' baptism she assisted the presbyter `for the
 not mean that they should be ordained as  deacon&ses but                sake of decency.' The bishop was instructed to anoint only
 it was understood that it might be.  advdntageous  to have              the head of a woman and .the anointing of the other parts
 them appointed to assist the  deacbns. In some instances of             was left to the deaconess . . . Another duty of the deaconesses
 aiding the poor and helping the sick, a woman's hand can' wa? `tb stand at the entrance to the church through which
 be of great benefit. However in 1581 the Synod of Middel-               the women passed to their own place in the auditorium to
 burg, in response to the request of the  Classis  of Wezel,             greet those that entered, to show them seats, and to preserve
 ruled that "it would not be advisable to re-institute the               -order."
 office of deaconesses because of Various inconveniences that                With those customs we are no longer acquainted. In our
 might follow." With this decision we can agree except that              day women serve unofficially in ecclesiastical circles such
 we would like to offer more substantial grounds for it. It `as their Societies, Aid Circles, etc., and in non-ecclesiastical
is our claim that there is no Scriptural basis for the institu-          circles such as hospitals and Christian schools. Such activity
 tion of a  non-existant  office and, therefore, irregardless of         and labor is legitimate and essential.
 conveniences & inconveniences which might follow, it may                                                                            G.V.D.B.
 not be done.
     It cannot be proven from Scripture that so-called dea-                              _  W E D D I N G   A N N I V E R S A R Y
 conesses were actually called and ordained to office -ai the               On May 28, 19.56, our dear parents and grandparents,
 deacons were. Some attempt to show this by appealing. tb,
 Romans  16:l where  Phe'be  is called "a servant (diakonos,                         MR. and MRS. JOHN H. VANDER VENNEN
 masculine) of the church which is at Cenchrea." The Scot-               will celebrate their 30th' Wedding Anniversary. We `are thank-
 tish Presbyterian, John Brown, writes : `.                              ful to God foi- having spared them for each other and us in the
     "But Phebe was not only a Christian, she was an official            years gone by. Our prayer is that God may continue to sustain
 Christian ; she was not only a member, she- was an office-              and bless them in the way thal: lies ahead.
 bearer in- the Christian church.. She was. `a servant' or dea-                                 Mr. and Mrs. Walter Decker
 coness, `of the church at Cenchrea.' " This is also: the view of                                      Mr. and Mrs. Henry Vander Vennen
  Origen and Chrysostom, twd of the early `church fathers.                                             and two Grandchildren


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               353

  II                                                                  involved `made it imp&sible.  not only to appeal but to con-
               A L L   A R O U N D   U S                              tinue to be Prot. Reformed ministers in good standing. Good
                                                                      conscience requires that you speak the truth. Howerzyl con-
                                                                      tinues as follows :
  The  Cow-t and  Chwch  Prop&y.                                         "Many things could be said about this legal opinion of
        Such is the title of an article appearing in the Reformed ' ..the Supreme Court of the State of Michigan which, as Judge
  Gtlardian  of April 10, 1956,  fron, the pen of the Rev. J.         Taylor's opinion, is based upon the legal position that we
  Howerzyl. From the conclusion of, his article it  appears           are under a Presbyterian system of church government, using
  that he has a little "conscience"- trouble. He believes that        as authority the Christian Reformed Church which has the
  it is wrong to go into the courts to settle our church troubles.    same Church Order. We shall refrain from making any com-
  He would rather lose all the church properties a,nd have a          ments on this even though the decision is not even factually
  good conscience. He therefore suggests that a compromise            accurate when  .it speaks of Synod in connection with this
  be made between the group he represent? and us, and that!           casei  . . . . but we shall avoid comment. Except tu say that
  a settlement be made out  of court with respect to the-pro-         we cannot understand how it is possible for any Court of law,.
  perties.          ~                                                 let alone a church group to ignore the plain intention as ex-
        I am going to take the time and space, if necessary of        pressed in articles of incorporation. as was the case in the
  two issues of the Standa,vd  Bea:tvr, to quote piece-meal his       Fuller Avenue matter. When once this grief  is all behind
  entire article  `aid offer my comments -as we so treat it. I        us and we' go on our normal way it will probably be neces-
  certainly believe that Rev. Howerzyl should have a good con-        sary for some kind of a decision, locally, Classically and
  science, and I am going to try to show him how to have it.          Synodicaliy to indicate that we do not interpret the Church.
- And what I have to say applies of course to all the group he        Order with regard to property as does the Christian Re-
  represents as well as to those of our own people who might          formed Church and as does the Rev. H. Hoeksema's group
  be affected by what Rev. Howerzyl wrote. Rev. Howerzyl              (we do not use this terminology disparagingly but for mat-
  begins his article with the following paragraph :                   ters of identification). Under such a decision it will also be
        "By this time, undoubtedly, all of you have heard that,       proper to bring all our .Articles of Incorporation up to date
  as -expected the Supreme Court of the State of Michigan has         and into line, a thing which has been hopelessly confused in
  rendered its decision upholding Judge Taylor in his decision        the past."
  awarding the property and the name bf the First Protestant             It is well that Rev. Howerzyl makes no comment about
  Reformed Church to  the minority which followed Rev. H.             the church-political aspect of the decision of the courts. He
  Hoeksema in the recent split. As you know this minority             knows full well that the church polity they defended in the
  was upheld by the  Classis  East as it was then  constituted,~      trials cannot stand the light of day in. Reformed circles, ex-
  which also resulted  in the refusal to seat the Revs.  Kok,         cept perhaps among the Liberated who have given evidence
  Knott, and Blankespoor, cut off their possibility of appeal,        `of being a law unto themselves. So, by this time, `Rev.
  because they could not conscientiously go. along with this          Howerzyl should have learned his lesson and we hope he
  a&on  of  Classis  East."                                           learned it well.
        I have  just  one  07 two remarks which I make at this           More particularly I am interested in  what  he. writes about
  juncture iqview  of the "good conscience" of which the Rev.         the court and a church group ignoring "the plain intention
  Howerzyl speaks later. First of all, Rev. Howerzyl, a good          as expressed in the Articles of Incorporation-as. was the case
  conscience would demand that you write, not, "As you know           in the  Fullel' Avenue matter." Let me assure the reverend
  this minority was upheld by the Classis  East as it was then        that the Articles of Incorporation were ignored neither by
  constituted,. etc.,"&t  `IAs  you.  know this minority was up-      the courts nor by the church group. Rev. Howerzyl was
  held by the Classis  East as it noq is and always was consti-       undoubtedly present when the matter of incorporation papers
  tuted, ,etc. " "Good conscience" would dictate that you write       was thoroughly entered into before Judge- Taylor's court.
  that the Cl&is kast of the Prot. Ref. Churches which made           His group called in many witnesses to sustain the interpreta-
  decision in October 1953 in the De Wolf vs First Church             tion which the De Wolf faction maintained correctly  ex-
  case was never re-constituted, and that that same Classis  is .plained  these articles, especially Article 7. And, by the way,
  in existence today as it was then when the decision by a            it is simply a fact that Rev. H. Hoeksema never denied what
  great majority vote was taken.                                      the opposition claims to have been the intention of Article 7,     -
        Secondly, a good conscience would dictate that you write,     as Rev. Howerzyl evidently insists and many others with
  not,' "which also resulteh in  ihe refusal to seat the Revs.        him. But the fact of the matter is simply this, that- both
  Kok, `Knott, and  \Blankespoor.,  cut off their possibility of      the Superior Court of Grand Rapids and the State Supreme
  appeal, etc.," but "which also resilted in the refusal to seat      Court righteously read each article in its context. And I
  the Revs.  Kok, Knott, and Blankespoor who refused to               can still clearly see and hear .Judge  Kelly, one of the judges
  abide by the decision of  Classis  and by  sq doing lost all        in the Michigan Supreme Court  ask attorney Tubbs to ex-
  fight  of appeal." Not  Classis  East but the three ministers       plain Article 7. The answer of Mr. Tubbs was apparently


       :                                   .-                              -~-_~~.____-.~-_
38i                                        THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R -                              ~.       ~ ,
                                            .                      1        1
very satisfactory to the court when he replied that Article' 7                   "Also in the case of- Edgerton,  where the property was
must be read and understood in the light .of ,Article  4. And            assigned to Rev. De Boer and his consistory, further action
Article 4 reads as follows: "The members of said church                  has been taken. We understand  that ,Rev. -Veld&m and his
or society shall worship  an,d labor together according  `to             group have appealed the  d&sion  of  Judge-  Flynn  against
the discipline, rtiles and usages of the Protestant Reformed             them to the Supreme Court df.*the State of Minnesota.
Churches in the United States of America as from time .tb                        I`In connection with the above title is also a tricky move
time authorized and declared by the Classis  of said churches ?          made recently against ihe Rev. A. Cammenga who is living
That determined the case of First' Church and so it will be              in the 1Missionary  home. He  was informed by the attorney
with all our other churches who are forced  into litigation. -           that he must vacate within a very short time.-and  must pay
       When Howerzyl writes that when things are back-to                 a large sum of back rent, and all this in the name of the
normal. for his group they will have to re-interpret the                 Mission Committee of the  Fint  ,&otestant  Ref. Churches
Church Order as they see it and not as the Chr. Ref. Church              (italics mine). While the decision of the Supreme Court
and the Hoeksema group sees it, indicates plainly that `they             in this case reaches no  kfarther  than the local First Prot-
are not  Prot.. Reformed and never intended to be. They                  estant Reformed Church. we imagine this is an attempt to
tried to bluff the courts into believing  that Kok's church              broaden it out to include the entire denomination which
polity was Prot. Reformed, but the courts were wise enough               could never be. done without further lawsuits. We under-
to see through their bluff.                                              stand Mr. La Grange our treasurer received a similarly
                                                                         signed letter demanding all moneys.
       And when Howerzyl writes that his group will have
to bring their Articles of Incorporation up to date, he merely                   "Also in Redlands, California and in Hull, Iowa the
sustains what we said above. But I have-a  question for him              matter will -probably be in court in the near future.
at this point. If you intend to change and bring up to date                      "This is the status of the legal maneuvering as far as we
your Articles of Incorporation,  how do you for conscience               are acquainted with it at the present time."
sake dare to go to the courts to seek relief on the basis  df                    Since our; space for this time is about filled, we will have
the present articles? A good conscience, it seems. to me,                to reserve the rest of the quotation of Rev. Howerzyl's article
would demand that when you build your defenCe upon the                   for next time as well as our comments on what Rev. Hower-
basis of the present articles, you speak the truth only when             zyl has written in the above quotation. We shall have much
you believe in  them.  But Rev. Howerzyl has much more                   to say about that:
to say and that too about the Articles  cif Incorporation in                     In closing, however, let me make just one or two remarks.
other cases. He continues as follows:                                    Rev. Howerzyl has been informed correctly about the pros-
       "What the end of this' legal maneuvering  will be we do           pective. litigation re Second Church. And he did not have
not know. In fact, what the entire end of the matter will be             to tell us that the Qlankespoor  group is going to base their
cannot be said at this time. We know, for example, that the              defense on the Articles of Incorporation. We knew this long
Rev. Blankespoor and his consistory have been served with                before Rev. Howerzyl was aware of it. Iq would be foolish
an ultimatum, the last step before a lawsuit, and we assume              of me to divulge to Rev. Howerzyl or anybody else what we
that this will also happen in the case of Holland  and                   intend  fo do about it when the case is aired in court. But
Kalamazoo, although we .do not know the particulars iri these            this I can  say and will say, that it becomes increasingly
cases. Once again the matter of intent as expressed in the               evident how foolish the Blankespoor group, and all  t&e
`Articles of Incorporation of Second Church; which arose                 other schismatic groups for that matter, continue to be when
out of difficulties some years back and which gave the con-              they, like Howerzyl, lfnow before hand what the outcome is
sistory the right to dissolve the congregation and distribute            going to be when all the  litigation is finished. They know
the proceeds qn a pro-rata basis, and which, incidently, (he             that they haven't a leg to stand on, and yet they foolishly go
means.  "incidentally", no doubt- M.S.) were signed by the               on forcitig us to regain our properties, ruthlessly confiscated
Rev.  M.-  Schippers,  (should be  "Schipper"  - M.S.) now               by them, through the judgment of the worldly courts. A
present pastor of the group attempting to obtain the property, .good conscience, it seems to me, would dictate that they
this will probably all be ignored in view of the decision of             stop forcing  `us to fight for every atom of property that
the Supreme Court. There remains, then, as a legal defense,              rightfully belongs to us when they are fully aware that it is
if one is offered, in view `of the position of the Michigan              ours and we will get it eventually.
courts, only the fact that our Synod recognized them as the                 And more important still is the matter of the name, which
legal continuation  of-  Classis  East after having given  the           out of one corner of their mouth they slanderously ridicule
group of Rev. Hoeksema time and opportunity to present                   and out of the other they insist is theirs. A godd consciefice
themselves and appealing to them to return in the way of                 would dictate that they admit that they are not Protestant
brothers. Whether this defense or any deferise  will be offered          Reformed and do not intend to be.
we do not know.                                                                                                                        M S .


