   VOLUME   XXX11                              JUNE   1,  1956-  GRAKJ   RAPIDS,   MICHIGAN                              NUMBER  17

                                                                           And especially, when He told them, how  the rulers would
          MEDITATI0.N                                                  take Him, crucify Him, and kill Him.
                                                                         Oh yes, they were `troubled in their hearts.                  .
                                                                           But now look at them at the day of Pentecost!
              ANOTHER COMFORTER                                            They are with  bne accord in one place. They are filled
                                                                       with- the Holy Ghost. They .are ful!, of the quietness and the
           "And I will pray the Father, and He shall  give you         confidence of faith. And they prophesy. Oh, how they
           another Comforter, that He may abide with you               prophesy !
           forever." John  14:16                                           Wiihin  the space,of less than `two months they understand
           "And when `the day of Pentecost was fully come,             the Holy Scriptures. Attend to the sermon of Peter on the
           they were all with one accord in one place. And             New Testament. Pentecostal day.  Everything.is  clear to them.
           suddenly there came a sound  fro,m heaven as of a           They are  .not troubled in their hearts anymore. They are
           rushing mighty wind  and it filled all the house where      thoroughly  coniforted,  although Jesus is departed  from them.
           they were  .sitting. And there appeared unto them               They are thoroughly comforted, even though they must
           cloven tongues like as fire, and it sat upon each of
           them. And they were all filled  wit,h the  IjIoly Ghost,    suffer stripes for Jesus' sake.' Far from being troubled,
           and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit        when they. return from such scourging, they rejoice greatly
           gave them utterance."                        Acts  Z:l-4    that they,are  counted worthy to suffer for the Name of Jesus.

  -There  iS a sharp contrast between. the behaviour  of.                                         *;'  4:  *  *
Christ's disciples before and after Pedtecost.                             No, Jesus is not with them anymore. He comforted their
   Before Pentecost, and especially the last night of Jesus' hearts while He was among them. .:-
presence among them, their hearts are troubled.                            But another Comforter had come: the Holy Ghost.
   And it is not difficult to know the reason why their hearts             And He had cotne as the fulfilment of prophecy. Christ'
are troubled.                                                          had promised them in John  14:16:  "And I will pray the
   They looked upon Christ as the God-given Deliverer                  Father,. and He shall give you another Comforter, that He
from the Roman yoke of oppression. Any day now, Jesus                  may abide with you forever."
will take the government upon His should-ers and usher in a                Comforter!  That name is significant. In  the original
reign that shall vie with the reign of King Solomon.                   Greek it means one who is called alongside in order to I
: Btit how disappointing was Jesus' behaviour  that last day           defend: an advocate, a lawyer for the defense.
He was among His disciples !                                               And it tells us in what sense the Holy- Spirit is the Com-
                                                                       forter of God's people.
   Acting like a common slave, He had risen from the
supper, laying aside His garments, took a towel and girded-                Christ is still  ou'r Comforter, but He is in heaven. And
Himself, and pouring water into a basin, He washed the                 there He is our Advocate with the Father. He has entered
disciples' feet. - (A beautiful picture of His subsequent work         in the heavenly tabernacle, behind the veil, and there He
on the Cross !)                                                        applies His great work of redemption.
                                                                           And He does so on the basis of the Cross, His substitu-
   Moreover, He had prophesied that one of their number                tional work of salvation for all those that are the  gi-ven  of
would betray Him ; another would `deny Him ; and all of them           the Father.
would be offended in Him.                                                  But the Ho& Ghost represents the .cause .of God and of
   But most of all, the announcement that He would leave               Christ with us. Christ had said that He would not leave us
them, had troubled their hearts.                                       comfortless, and hence, He had sent the Holy -Spirit in our

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

   hetirts,  so that He could plead the cause of God before the         in the love of God. For does nqt Paul say that hope maketh
   court of our conscience.                                             not ashamed' for that the love of God is spread abroad in our
          Already, in the Old Testament He had done so in the           hearts through the Holy Ghost that is given unto us ?
   objective sense of the word. The entire Old Testament                   And then came  the sign of the cloven tongues as of fire
   Scriptures is the pro'duct  of the Holy Spirit. It is the revela-    which sat upon each of them.
   tion of the Cause of God in Christ. And in the New Testa-               Fire is the sign of cleansing, sanctifying, purifying, but
   ment we find the completed image of Christ through the               also to the consuming wrath of God for the wicked.
   Apostles' testimony.                                                    In th present application it refers to the fact that from
          But the Holy Spirit also does this subjectively in our        hencefor         the Holy Spirit shall inhabit the church universal
   hearts.                                                                          1
                                                                        in order , o sanctify her and make her clean within.
          By nature we never embrack this cause of God in Christ :         And fhey were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
   we are enemies of it.                                                   That was different from the Old Testament tinies.
          But when the Holy Spirit comes with this testimony we            In the Old Testament there were dispensations of the
   needs must submit to it: it is irresistible. And we are re-          Spirit, but only in the manner of drops. But now this
   generated by it; we are recipients of new eyes, ears! under-         Spirit came as a flood. Then there were some prophets,
   standing, in short, we receive spiritual sense organs by             priests and kings who were bathed in that Spirit, while in
   which we are able to lay hold of the entire cause of God in          the New Testament it would bathe the whole constituency
   Christ, and are wonderfully comforted.                               of the Church, including the slaves, the children, the old men
                                                                        and women, and the yciuth.
                               * * *  *                                    And they began to speak with other tongues as the
                                                                        Spirit gave them utterance.
          The Comforter !                                                  Babel is healed. Then the tongues made confusion; now
          How does He comfort us ?                                      these tongues breed unity and harmony. Then they tended
          First, by presenting to our sight the enormity of sin,        to drive men apart; now they unite men in the praises of
   guilt and death.                                                     God.
          Second, by presenting before our wondering eyes the              Praises of God, for we read that the one topic of the
   riches of Christ,-and how those riches fit oix poor and bitter       day is "the wonderful works of God.." Verse 11.
n e e d .                                                                  And what are these works ? They are the work of salva-
          Third, by placing before the eyes of the Church the won-      tion for the elect: they are united in their Head through
   derful victory, where the `very enemies of  the'christian  must      the Holy Spirit; and the rejection of the reprobate: they
   needs help to bring us to everlasting glory in the bosom of          say with a sneer : These men are full of new wine. Horrors !
   .the  F a t h e r .                                                     But the Church is comforted.
          That is the work of the other Comforter: who came on             Through the Hbly Ghost.
   that first New Testament Pentecost.                                                                  *  ** *
                               * *  * *
                                                                           And all this glory came through Jesus who would pray
          All these glories became history on Pentecost.     .          the Father.
          Yes, they were all with one accord in one place. We do           You understand that the human nature, of Christ is
   not know for sure where that place was, and it makes no              placed on the foreground here, for the Son of God never
   difference. It was in Jerusalem, and that was proper. Sal-           prays to the Father.
   vation is from the Jews. Jerqalem  is destined to be broad-             And "Father" here means the  Triune  God, the Son in-
   ened into all the nations of the earth.                              cluded.
          And suddenly there came from heaven the sound as of a-           Well, He prayed to His Father in Heaven, and He
   rushing mighty wind.                                                 heard His prayer.
          How beautifully significant!                            :        Pentecost is the result.
     The Holy Spirit's name is "wind" in the Hebrew. And                   And in and through this Holy Ghost, Christ and His
   Jesus had told His church why the Spirit is likened unto Church are united. He in the bosom of the Father, receiving
   the wind in the night when Nicodemus visited Him. We                 all the benefits and blessings of His labors, but sending
   hear the sound thereof, but we do not know whence He                 them to the church  on"earth through the  ,Holy  Spirit who
   cometh  or whither He goeth. It is the irresistible Force, the       leads us in all the truths of salvation.
   mysterious and the compelling.                                                                 9     *     `* *
          And then that rushing Power!
          When the moment in the counsel came that the Church              And the great purpose of this all is that He, that is, the
   would live henceforth through her Head, God was in a hur-            Father,  may abide with you, that is, the Father, may abide
   ry. He rushed to the earth in order to bathe the Church              with you, that is, the. Church, forever.         -


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                 387

        And that, my dear friends, is the Covenant of God.
.       To abide is a rich term. It  specific's  a place where  you                                T H E   STAN,DARD'  B E A R E R
feel at home, where you may rest and be comfortable.                               Semi-n~outhly,  except  mo~ttkly   duriltg  June, July  a,nd August
        And this is the Gospel of God: He is pleased to make                          Published by the  REFORMED   FREE   PUBLISHING   ASSOCXATION
                                                                                    P. 0. Box  S81, Madison Square  St&ion, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
     our hearts, our souls, our spirits and our bodies a sanctuary                                       Editor  -  REV.  HERMAN   HOEKSEMA
     for His glorious Name. Jehovah with us for evermore.                           Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
        With us.                                                                    H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
        That preposition in the Greek denotes a rich relation-                      All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
     ship. It means to go towards. There always will be that                        G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
wonderful tendency in the Godhead to go towards us,, to                             Announcements and Obituaries  mu& be mailed to the above
                                                                                    address and Will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
     draw near to us, to ever approximate us in the house of God                    RENEWALS:   Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
     with  its many mansions.                                                       ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                                    to continue without the  formalijty of a renewal order.
        Wit/z   specifies harmony and agreement.                                                            Subscription price:  $4.00 per year
     - Do we not say often : "Are you with me ?' And you know
     what depth of thought is in that question ?                                    El&red  as  Seco+ld Class  nzatter at  Grand  Ra,pids, Michigan
        Well, God is with us, dtar `reader.
        Pentecost is the blessed. proof.
        Proof of His rest in our hearts. The enjoyment of the                                                           C 0 N T-E N,T  ,+i
     heavenly, eternal Sabbath.                                                  MEDITATION  -
                                                                    G.V.                   AnoCher   C o m f o r t e r. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . z.385
                                                                                              Rev. G. Vos

                                                                                 &ITORL&  -
                            CALL TO SYNOD                                                  Election and Assurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3%
                                                                                           As To Conscientious Objectorship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .389
                                                                                                                                                                          r
        Pursuant to the decision of the last Synod, the Consistory                                Rev. H. Hoeksema
     of the Protestant  ,Reformed  Church of South Holland,  Il-                 OUR  DOCTRINE   -
                                                                                           The Book of Revelation.. . , . . :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .390
     linois, hereby notifies the churches that the 1956 Synod of                                  Rev. H. Hoeksema                            -_
     the Protestant Reformed Churches will convene on Wednes-
     day,                                                                        THE  DAY  OF SHADOWS  -
              June  6,  D-V., at  9  a. m. in  the above-mentioned church. _,              The Prophecy of  Zechariah..............................393
        The pre-synodical service will be held on Tuesday eve-                        .           Rev. G. M. Ophoff
     ning, June 5, at 7  :30 p. m., in the South `Holland Church:.  FEATURE   ARTICLE-
     The Rev. C. Hanko, president of the previous synod, is                                The Civic Responsibility of the Christian.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .396
                                                                                                                                                      \
     scheduled to preach  at this service.                                                        Rev. E. Emanuel

        Synodical  delegates are requested to gather with the  IN  HIS  FEAR---
     Consistory before the service.                                                        Praying in His Fear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .399
                                                                                                  Rev. J. A. Heys
                                                                                                    ,
                    Consistory of' the Prot. Ref. Church                         CONTENDING  FOR THE  FAITH -
                    of South Holland, Illinois,                                            The  Church and the Sacraments (The Lord's Supper) . . .  .401
                                           H. C. Hoeksema, President                              Rev. H. Veldman
                                          Wm. T. Terpstra, Clerk                 THE   VOICE   OF  OUR   FATHERS-
                                                                                           The Exposition od the Canons of Dordrecht.. . . . . . . . . . . . .403
                                                                                                  Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

                                  NOTICE!                                        DECENCY   AND   ORDER-
                                                                                           The Labors of the Deacons.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . .405
        The Editorial Staff of the Standard Bearer will meet, the                                 Rev. G.  VandenBerg
     Lord willing, in South Holland, Illinois, at the home of Rev.               ALL   AROIJND   Us-
     H. C. Hoeksema, on Thursday evening, June, 7, 1956. The                               The Court and the Church Property.. . . . . . . . . . .`. . . . . . . . .407
     members hf the staff will please view this announcement as                                   Rev. M.  Schipper
     an official notice.
                                         Rev. H. Veldman, Secretary


 388         -                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B.EARER

Ii                                                                       on a general offer of grace and salvation which is, of course.
             .EDITQRIALi                                                conditional, rather than on the application of election by the.
                                                                        Holy Spirit to the hearts of all the elect through the Word
                                                                         of God.
                   Election and Assurance                                   .This is also  -the root of his very unjust and mistaken
                                                                         criticism of my views, to which I will refer later.
      Although Dr. Berkouwer repeatedly' speaks of the  rela-               It stands to reason that, by not consistently teaching the
tion between the truth of election and the assurance of Sal---  ttuth of election, Berkouwer can never lead the people of God
vation,  he never properly explains this relation. Always he            to the full assurance of faith.
makes a false distinction between the doctrine of election and              The Reformed Confessions teach something quite dif-
accepting the promise of God. The preaching of the promise              ferent.
is a general o@er of salvation to all that hetir the gospel, but            The Heidelberg Catechism mentions the doctrine of elec-
the preaching of election stands alongside of, or even  op-             tion expressly only once, but this is in  <the significant con-
posed to, to this offer of the general promise of salvation.            nection with the doctrine of the church and also with the .
The promise of salvation belongs to the things )that  are re-           truth concerning our salvation. We read in question  ancl
vealed to all, the doctrine of election belongs to the hidden           answer 54: "What believest thou concerning the holy cath-
things. This with an appeal to Deut. 29:29.                             olic  church_of Christ? That the Son of God, from the` be-
      . He cannot explain the proper relation between assurance         ginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends, and pre-
and election because he does not understand that also this as-          serves to himself by his Spirit and Word, out of the whole
surance is the fruit of election, the work of God in the elect          human race, a church chosen to everlasting life, agreeing in
wrought in the hearts of the elect through His Spirit and               true faith ; and that I am and forever shall remain a living
Word.                                                                   member thereof."
       In this entire work on God's election he does not once refer         Notice : 1. That in this answer of the Catechism the doc-
to the work of the Holy Spirit as the author of the applica-            trine of election is presented as the "car ecclesiae" the heart
tion of election to the hearts of the elect.                            of the church : the Son of God gathers to himself a church
        This is a fatal mistake,                                        chosen to everlasting life. 2. That the gathering of this
        It may `be true, as  Dr,. Berkouwer repeatedly suggests,        church is sovereignly the work of the Son of God: it is He
that there are so-called Reformed preachers that present a              that forms His  church   a-r&p~eser&s..  her. 3. -That the Son
carr&ature  of the doctrine of election; carricatures  which he         of God, not only gathers, but also defends and preserves His
characterizes as  passivism, determinism, and fatalism. But             elect church by His Spirit and Word. 4. And that is exactly
if so, this can only be true- because those preachers do not            for this reason that the elect Christian may be assured `of
understand that election is not the work of certain Moham-              His salvation : "that I am and forever shall remain a living
medan Allah- but of the triune covenant God. And Dr.                    member thereof."
Berkouwer with his mistaken appeal to Deut. 29  :29, with                   The same note is struck by the Canons I, 12: "The elect
his false contrast between the promise as a general offer of            in due time, though in various degrees and in different meas-
salvation and the truth of election, and with his omission of           ures attain the assurance of this their eternal and unchange-
the work of the Holy Spirit as the -applier of sovereign                able election, not by inquisitively prying into the secret and
grace, presents. another carricature of this doctrine of                deep things of God, but by observing in themselves with a
election which is also prevalent, very prevalent, indeed, in            spiritual joy. and holy pleasure, the infallible fruits of' elec-
.Reformed  churches. I refer to the very prevalent custom of            tion pointed out in the Word of God - such as true faith
not  cowistently   preaching the doctrine of election (even             in Christ, filial fear, godly sorrow for sin, a hungering and
without always mentioning it) and of sovereign grace, but               thirsting after righteousness, etc."
of preaching a dualism, so that, on the one hand, they try to               Note here, too : 1. That the Canons speak of the fruits
present the Reformed truth of election and, on the other                of election that are infallible and which the elect may  ,ob-
hand, preach the Pelagian and Arminian error- of free will              serve within themselves. 2. That these fruits of election are
and salvation for all on condition that they accept the offer.          all spiritual, some of which are mentioned by name. 3. That
l?requeritly,  they-attempt to do this by preaching a Reformed          all these fruits are wrought by the Holy Spirit through the
sermon with an Arminian application.                                    Word of God.
        It is this carricature which Berkouwer presents in his              It is this; and not the accepting of a conditional and gen-
book.                                                                   eral offer of the gospel, that .can lead the elect unto the as-
 His fundamental  terror;  as I have already remarked, is               surance  of- salvation. It is this that belongs to a consistent
.that he does not understand that election is the work of the           preaching of the ,truth  of election. `And-it is this that is lack-
triune covenant God, that he fails to emphasize or even men-            ing in the book of  B:erkouwer.  He does not, consistently
tion that grace is sovereign1.y  applied to the hearts of the elect,    teach the doctrine of election.
and that, therefore, he tries to base the assurance of salvation            This is. also beautifully taught in Canons II, 8 : "For this


                                            T H E .   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              389

was the sovereign counsel, and most gracious will and pur-           for knowledge  :  scientia.1 The term conscience, therefore,
pose of God the Father,. that the quickening and saving              means  a knowing together with  someone  else. The question,
efficacy of the most precious death of his Son should  es-           therefore, is  : with whom together does one that passes moral
tend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the gift        judgment upon any action, whether it is already actually
of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly unto'sal-      accomplished or only conceived in the mind, know that the
vation: that is, it was the will of God, that Christ by the          action is right or wrong ?
blood of the cross, whereby he confirmed the new- covenant,              We must remember that in case of a conscientious ob-
should effectually redeem out of every people, tribe, nation,        jector  *to membership in the union, we deal, not with con-
and language, all those, and those only, who were from               science in general, but with the conscience of a Christian, of
eternity chosen unto salvation, and given to him by the              a believing child of God. To be sure, also the natural man,
Father; that he should confer upon them faith, which to-             according to Scripture, has a conscience. This is evident,
gether with all ,the other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit, he       for instance, from Rom. 2 :14-16: "`For when the gentiles,
purchased for them by his death ; should purge them from             which have not the law, do by nature the things of the law,
all sin, both original and actual, whether committed before          these, having not, the law, are a law unto themselves : Which
or after believing  ; and having faithfully preserved. them          show the work of the law written in their hearts, their con-
.even  to the end, should at last bring  &them free from every       science also bearing witness, and their thoughts meanwhile'
spot and blemish to the enjoyment of glory in his own                accusing or else excusing one another : In the day when God
presence forever.`.!                                                 shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to
    Next time,  D: V., I wiil continue this.                         my~gospel.".  But in their case, the conscience is guided by
                                                          H.  $I.    the remnants of natural light. But we are not dealing here
                                                                     with the natural man but with the conscience of the Christian.
                                                                     And the conscience is always a knowing together with God,
         as to Conscientious Objectorship  i                         definitely and consciously. And how does a, child of God know
    The chief question that concerns us in regard to the             what is the mind and the will of God ? The answer is that
position of a conscientious objector in a union shop or fac- `he knows this, not by any subjective experience or mys-
tory is, evidently, whether he is, in any sense of the word,         tical feeling which is always deceptive, but the objective
a member of the union and regarded as such by the union.             revelation of the Word of God as contained in the Holy Scrip-
If he is he cannot be a member of one of our churches  ; if          tures. Hence, the conscience of the child of God is enlight-
he is not there can be no objection to his membership as             ened and motivated by the desire to live and act according
far as his conscientious objectorship is concerned.      \           to the will of God revealed in Holy Writ.
    This, therefore, is the chief question.                             Now to what does the "conscientious objector" in this
    Now, the very term "conscientious objector" ought to             particular case object? The answer is that he objects and
prove to us that he is not and does not want to be a union-          clearly expresses his objection and lives accordingly to the
member. What is the meaning of this term ?                           ungodly principles and practices of the worldly union. He
    It' means, of course, that one to whom ,this term is ap-         is convinced in, his conscience that the Word of God is op-
plied objects to something for conscience' sake. That to             posed  .to those principles and practices and, therefore, he
which he objects, in the case now under discussion, is mem-          refuses to become a member of the union. By word and deed,
bership in the union.         -                                      therefore, i. `e., by refusing to be a member of the union and
    The conscience in this case. is the conscience of a Chris-       by living and acting accordingly, even though he works in a.
tian.                                                                union shop, he is a living testimony in the midst of the world.
    The term conscience appears several times in Scripture,          He openly proclaims, in' word and deed, that the principles-
thirty times in the New Testament only. And also in the              of  ,the union are ungodly because they are contrary to the
Old Testament, though the word itself does not occur there,          Word of God. He is willing to suffer for conscience's sake. If
the idea is expressed rather frequently.                             he must lose his. position in a certain factory because of his
    The conscience of man is not a separate faculty next to          stand over against the union, he is willing to quit. If, how-
his intellect and will. It is his moral judgment passed upon         gver, he is allowed to keep his job, to which he certainly
his actions as a rational moral creature. The actions are first,     has a right, he is willing to remain, even though he must
whether they are only. conceived in the mind or already ac-          suffer ridicule, shame and reproach from the rest of the
tually accomplished, and the voice of conscience or the moral        workers in the same factory. For it is a well-known fact
judgment.                                                            that the conscientious objector is an object of hatred.
    The word that is  us-&  in the original for conscience, in          But you say,, and correctly so, in an otherwise closed
<the New Testament is significant. It is the word  saAnei&&          shop a conscientious objector may work only on condition
which is rather literally.translated  by our word conscience,        that he signs what is known as the "charity card."
which is derived from the Latin  consciewtia..  It  is  composed       `This is correct. But  #this we hope to discuss in the next
of `the preposition con which means with and the Latin word          issue, the Lord willing.                                   H.H.

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

       I!                                                                    the Old Testament, in direct prophecies as well as in types
                    O U R   D O C T R I N E                                  and shadows, the revelation of Jesus Christ is the main
                                                                        II theme. Centrally we have the revelation of Jesus Christ in
                                                                             the fulness of time; in His incarnation, public ministry, word
                     THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                  and work, death and resu+rrection,  ascension and exaltation
                                                                             at the right hand of  Go$.&he revelation of Jesus Christ, to
                                   CHAPTER  I                                which all the prophets and shadows of .the old dispensation
                                                                             pointed forward, is become an accomplished fact. And it is
                         The Revelation of  Jesus  Christ                    that accomplished revelation- that is interpreted to us by the
                                                                             Spirit of Christ through the authors of the New Testament
              In the first place, we may call attention to the fact, that    Scriptures. And yet, the revelation of Jesus Christ is not
       the expression "revelation of Jesus Christ" usually, if not           finished. He appeared from heaven, came in the flesh, died
       always, has this sense in Scripture. In  Car.. 1  :7 we read :        and rose and departed again to the Father. We saw Him for
        "So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the revela:          a while, but we see Him no more. He dwelled among us,
       tion of,  OUT Lord Jesus  ,Christ"  (R. V. The authorized             performed His work upon the stage of this world,- but He
       version has erroneously "coming" of our Lord Jesus Christ).           disappeared again without changing the stage on which He'
       It is evident- that the meaning here is : "waiting for the day        was revealed and accomplished His work. Although He is
       when our Lord Jesus Christ shall be revealed." The  geni-             with us now by His grace and Spirit, yet He is hid from us.
       tive, therefore, is objective. The same is true of the ex-            His revelation, therefore, is not finished. For, in this world
       pression in  .I1 Thess. 1  :7  :, "At the revelation of the Lord      we see Him not. And yet, even now, even throughout this,
       Jesus.>' (R. V.). The authorized version gives the sense              dispensation He is operating in this world of our present
     correctly : "When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed." And                experience. For, He has all power in heaven ,and on earth,
       again the same expression, and in the same sense, i. e., with         He is even now King of kings and Lord of lords, and He
s      reference to the second coming. of the Lord, occurs in I              controls all things and governs them unto the perfection of
       Pet. 1  :7: "unto praise and  ,honor and glory at the revela-         His Church and His final appearance in glory. Then, in the
       tion (the authorized version has "appearing") of Jesus                day of our Lord . Jesus Christ, when He shall be revealed
       Christ." And even in II Cor.  12:1, where the expression'is           in glory never `to be hid again, when He shall appear never
       somewhat different in form (the plural "revelations" is               to disappear again, shall His revelation be perfected. Of
      . used) the objective sense is by no means impossible. And             this final revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that is.
       this is the meaning of the genitive in similar expressions.           connected with it, all that leads up to it in this dispensation,
       such as "the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,"            this last prophecy of Holy Writ speaks. That is its theme.
       Rom. 2  15; "the revelation of the sons of God" Rom. 8:19 ;           How the Lord is related to the things that come to pass
       "the revelation of the mystery," Rom.  16:25. In all these            throughout this dispensation, how through them He is com-
       instances the genitive can only be understood in the objec-           ing all the time, and how He will ultimately come in all the
       tive sense. The analogy of Scripture, then, is decidedly in           glory the Father hath given unto Him, is disclosed to us in
       favor of the view that also in Rev. 1 :l the expression "rev-         this "revelation of Jesus Christ." This we must remember
       elation of Jesus Christ" must be understood as indicating             in our interpretation of the book. It would show us the
       that in this last book of Scripture Jesus Christ is the One           things that must come to pass in a new light. We can only
       that is revealed. In the second place, not Christ, but God is         perceive them from an earthly viewpoint, as mere "history."
       the Author of all revelation, even though this revelation             And from this viewpoint the picture is rather a gloomy and
       takes place through Jesus Christ and is concentrated in Him.          hopeless one. We see wars and hear of more wars, widen-
       God is' the revealer; Christ is God revealed unto us. In              ing ever in scope and increasing in intensity ; we see vanity
       ,fact, this is even plainly stated in the words of our text : God     and death, earthquakes and destruction, a, creature that is
       gave this revelation unto Christ. And, in the third place,            subject to vanity. But this last book of Scripture would
       this is exactly what we have in this book: a revelation that          show us these same things in the light of the revelation of
       reveals Jesus Christ to  us. The revelation of Jesus Christ           Jesus Christ. We are asked to look at the history of this
       is the central and all important theme of this prophecy. For          dispensation as it were from above. Bearing this in mind. we
     all these reasons, then, we understand the phrase "revelation           will not approach this book with the purpose of satisfying
       of Jesus Christ." in the objective sense.                             our idle curiosity, to inquire just what may be the course of
             Now, this is of importance with a view to the proper            events in the history of this world. Why should we be anx-
       interpretation of the book of revelation. We should con-              ious to know the future course of worldly events ? What
       stantly bear in mind that this prophecy purposes to be a              consolation would there be in such knowledge ? Did not the
       revelation of Jesus Christ. It may be said, of course, that           Lord teach us that we should take no thought even for to-
       all Scripture is a revelation of the Lord. He it is that is           morrow ? Nay, but we shall approach the book of Revela-
       revealed in the protevangel of Gen. 3 :15. And all through            tion in -the expectation that it will instruct us with respect


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE.R                                                        391

 to the, significance of this present history in the light of the      can receive. the words of this prophecy, and that they alone
 revelation of Jesus Christ, and that it will give us an answer        have need of them. Nay mo;e, it is only in the measure that
 to the question : how must all things lead to *the final revela-      we are faithful to the Lord in the midst of the present world
 tion of otir Lord in glory ? And if we succeed in thus inter-         and walk as His `servants, that the light of this Revelation
 preting the book that "we see Jesus" in all the events of this        of Jesus Christ can possibly  brighten our pathway. Then,
 `present <time, we shall not fail to receive the blessing that is     indeed, we shall have tribulation. For, as they have hated
 promised to them that read and  hear  the words of this               -Him, so they will hate His servants. And the servant is not
 prophecy !                                                            greater than his Lord. Then the things that are below and
     In, the light of. the foregoing it will also be possible cor-     the events of this present time shall have no comfort for us,
 rectly to understand the text when it informs us, that God            .until we see all things in the `light of this prophecy.  i3ut
 gave this revelation to Jesus Christ in order to "show unto           seeing them in this light, we shall  be of good cheer, being
 his servants the things which  must* shortly come to pass. "To        confident that our Lord hath overcome the world!
 show" these things  does not merely mean to lift the veil that           Two details we must still consider in connection with
 hides the future from our view. If this were the meaning,             these things that come to pass : they must come to pass ; and
 tthe book of `Revelation would really present us with a his-          they will -come  to.pass  shortly.  It is good for us to know,
 tory of this entire dispensation written beforehand. We               as we look about us in the world, that the things that take
 would then be able to trace the fulfillnient of this prophecy         place ncust come to pass. This m-ustr expresses the necessity -
 step by step in the consecutive events of this present time           of all the events of this present time frdm a twofold aspect.
 more or less accurately, and to determine approximately if            First of all it points us to the eternal and perfect and  all-
 not exactly what time it is on the world-clock.. It would             wist counsel of the Almighty as the ultimate reason and
 follow that'we would also be in a position to predict "the day        ground of this necessity. All things are but the unfolding
 and the hour" of the coming of the! Lord. This view really            of the eternal good pleasure of the Most High.  Thsy are,
 underlies the church-historical method of interpretation of           indeed, determined. All things are determined, large and
 this book. The various visions of this book are directly              small, good and evil. `But they are determined not by cruel
 applied to certain definite historical events that are sup-           fate or blind force, but by the counsel of- the allwise  Creator
posed to be clearly predicted here. The very fact, however,            of all things. When we accept the Word of God and be-
 that interpreters of this class differ widely in their choice of      lieve that all things must come to pass, our hearts find rest,
 the events to which these visions are supposed to refer, is           because they find rest in Him ! And, secondly, this  mat
 sufficient to condemn this method. Besides, as we said be-            points to the end, the tel_os,  the final destination of all things,
 fore, it is not necessary for the believer`thus to be able to         thk perfected kingdom of heaven and its revelation in the                    -
 foretell the future. To be sure, the book of Revelation shows         day of Christ. This second aspect of the wzust  is, of course,
 us in general outlines what will be the course of events in-          inseparably connected with the first. Just because all things
 this dispensation with a view to the coining of the Lord ,and         have their ultimate reason and necessity in the counsel of
 the perfection of His kingdom, but not in the sense that this         God, therefore they must come to pass in order to realize
 prophecy is a history written before hand.  "TO show" the             the divine end of all  #things : the tabernacle of God with             ^
things that must shortly come to pass means to reveal them             men! We tnay express the satne thought thus : all things
 to us in a new light, in their real significance, as a part of        come to pass because Christ is coming! What a glorious
 God's own prograin, as a revelation of the coming Lord !              assurance of hope even in the darkest moments of history !
 We must "see Jesus" even in the events of the present, Let us declare this truth as His witnesses in the midst of a
 world. We must have sufficient light to "hold fast that               crooked and perverse nation! ,
 which we have," even in the midst of the confusion and. dark-            And these things must come to pass  shady.   This ex-
 ness and gloom of the picture presented by the  h&tory  of            pression cannot be used to sustain the view that practically
 the world, and of the church in the wopld. To enable us to            the entire contents of the book of Revelation must be con-
 see the events of this present. time in the light of Christ's         sidered  as being fulfilled with the destruction of the Roman
coming,. -`that is the purpose of this book. Hence, the                empire. For the idea that all things that must become history
 things that must shortly come to pass must be shown to                before the final coming again of the Lord will be realized
 Christ's servants. By the term "servants" is meant, not a             shortly is not at all foreign to the New Testament. "The
 special class or group of believers, such as the apostles; but        night is far spent, the day  `ii at hand," the apostle Paul
 all the  be?evers.  in  #their relation  to. Christ as their Lord,    writes to the church in Rome. Rain. 13 :12. And the apostle.
 They are His servants. They were liberated from the do-               Peter exhorts us : "But the end of all things is at hand : be,
 minion of sin and the. slavery of the devil in order to serve         ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer." I Pe. 4 :7. To the .
 Christ with a new obedience. His Spirit dwells in them. In            `church of Philadelphia the Lord Himself declares: "`Behold,
 Him they are new creatures. His Word they possess and                 I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no one
 love. They are His friends,. because they do whatsoever He            take thy crown." Rev. 3  :ll. And again in Rev. 22  :l we
 commanded them. And let us  note that only His servants               read : "Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth


 392                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
              -
 the sayings of the prophecy of this book;" and in vs.  12 of        this particular revelation was given to Christ after His
 the same- chapter : "And, behold, .I come quickly ; and my          exaltation. It is wholly in harmony with His position at
 reward is with me, to give every man according as his work the right hand of God, according to which He has all power
 shall be." In the last three passages the word translated           in heaven  &d on earth, stands at the very pinnacle of all
 "quickly" is the same as that which is rendered "shortly" in       creation, that God gave this revelation to Him. For,  to  a
 1  :l. And this is, indeed, the meaning. The Lord comes            position.of supreme power and authority belongs the posses-
 quickly. He does not tarry. He is not slack concerning the         sion of all knowledge and wisdom. Later in the book of
 promise. And this implies that the things which must come          Revelation (ch. V) somewhat the same thought is presented
 to pass before that final coming and in the  proces?  of that      symbolically in the vision of Christ's taking the book with its
coming must also come to pass shortly or quickly. This may          seven seals from the hand of Him that sitteth on the throne.
not appear so to us. Centuries have  &lapsed  since these           But this we hope .to explain iti the proper place.
 words were written,  an-d still they have not been fulfilled.
Nineteen centuries to us  se&s a long  time, hardly to be               Having received this  .revelation  from God, Christ com-
denoted by the term "shortly." But we must remember, not            municated it to His servants. He did so by "signifying" it to
only that God's measure of time differs from ours, but -also        His servant John through the mediation of "his angel." The
that tremendous things must  c&e to pass before the end             original is somewhat difficult to translate.  Instead of:  `(and
shall be. The whole church must be gathered, the fulness            he sent and signified it by his angel," we read : "and he signi-
                                                              of
the Gentiles and of the Jews; the measure of iniquity must          fied, sending or having sent through an angel." The  aorist:
be filled; Antichrist must reach his culmination and have his       participle  (apbsteih)   of the Greek verb for "to send" is
day; God and Magog must play their own part in the things           used, and for this we have no exact equivalent in the English
that must. come to pass. If we consider the nature of the           language. Let me just say this about it, that the aorist  in
things-that must come to pass, we begin to see that they do,        Greek stresses the act.Bs such rather than any time element.
indeed, occur with astounding rapidity, especially  iri our own     The idea, therefore, is plain enough. The  text emphasizes
day. However this may be, the Scriptures teach that all             two elements. In the  .first place, it gives us to understand
things come to pass quickly ; there is no delay ; so that also      that when Christ communicated the revelation He received
the view that God restrains- the progress of sin is contrary        from God to His servant John, He "signified" it. This means
to this Scriptural teaching. All things  h_asten unto the end!      that He cast it into the form of signs and symbols derived
    This revelation, then, of which Jesus Christ Himself- is        from our earthly life and experience. The book of Revelation
the object, God gave unto Him,, the te,xt informs us. Of all        is a book of visions, full of signs and symbols. And this
revelation, and therefore also of this part of it, God is the       "signifying" must have been necessary. It seems to -imply
sole  Author. We must think here, of course, of the Triune          that the form in which Christ imparted this revelation to
God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and not merely of the              .His servant John differs from the form in which Christ
Father as the first Person of the Holy Trinity. We must             Himself received it from God. Christ is heavenly, the Lord
make a distinction, therefore, between God  ahd Christ as           of heaven,. the resurrected Lord in glory. He is able to
the Mediator in His human nature. Scripture, although               receive the revelation of heavenly things directly, in heavenly
clearly teaching that Christ is the eternal  Son .of God, very      form. But we are still  e&-thy,   in~our  humiliated body. And
God, equal with the Father and the Holy Ghost, nevertheless         we cannot receive the revelation of heavenly things in other
makes this distinction. This-is`very evident from those pas-        than earthly forms, signs and symbols. This, then, is one of
sages that speak of God as "the God and Father of our Lord          the truths that must constantly be born in mind if we would
Jesus Christ." God is the God also of Christ, the Mediator          interpret the book of Revelation, though it is also one of the
according to His human nature. And'this God is the Author           principles of interpretation that is very frequently violated by
of all revelation. Hence, we read here: "which God gave             many commentators. Christ "signified" the revelation He had
unto him." It is a thoroughly Biblical conception that also         received from God, to His servant John. And this significa-
Christ in His bullian  nature receives all revelation from God.     tion took place through the meditation of "his angel."  It
In proof of this we refer you to the texts mentioned in the         appears from the rest of the book, that different angels were
exegetical notes preceding this chapter. There is, of course,       employed to bring these visions to the perception and mind
                                                                                L-.
a difference between Christ and us with respect to the way in       of John. Yet, it is .not improbable that one particular angel
which God's revelation is received. We can receive the rev-         served as the "interpreting angel," and the reference here is
elation `of God only indirectly, through Christ, through the        to this angel particularly. It is Christ's angel, because the
"apostles and prophets," through the Scriptures  ; while            Lord is exalted far above all powers and principalities, and
Christ, because He is the Son of God in human nature, re-           above every  name that is named. The angels, too, are His
ceived that revelation directly and immediately, without the .messengers,  sent  put in His service.  -Nor is it strange that
intermediation of other agencies. But this does not alter the       an- angel here mediates to communicate and signify this rev-
fact as Such that also Christ receives all revelation  frob His elation to Jdhn.
"God and Father." God gave this revelation to Him. And                                                                        H.H.


                                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       393
                                                                                                                                         - - -
II                                                                                              they abode in Babylon, their hearts were with God's people
                 THE DAY OF SHADOWS                                                        II in Jerusalem, and went out to the God of Israel who dwelt
                                                                                                in His holy temple in process of being built. As this section
                                                                                                discloses, they were wont to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem
                       The Prophecy of Zechariah                                                to learn about her welfare, and, to worship in the temple.
               THE `CROWN UPON JOSHUA'S HEAD                                                    And they came not empty handed but as supplied with silverD
                                                                                                and gold for the Lord's house.
                              - Chapter 6 :9-15.                                                     To this people - believers in voluntary exile - Cheldai
          9. And the word  of.Jehova,h  came to  `yMe saying,  10.  Take                        and his two companions belonged. For they came from
      ~FO'YM   t h e   e x i l e s ,   fro-&   Chelda,i,   fy.0~~   .Tobijah,   a n d   from    Babylon their permanent place of residence. They were in
      Jedaiah, and  .go  thou on the  same day, go thou into the                                Jerusaleni only on a visit. They were come as supplied with
      house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah  whither  they  have come' silver and gold for God's house. Perhaps a good share of
from  Ba.bylon;   11.  and take  silver  and gold  a,nd  make  crowm,                           this treasure had been donated by the like-minded brethren
      and set them upon  she head of Joshua, the -son of Josedech,                              of  <their  community in Babylon and that by these brethren
      the high  pr,iest;  12.  and speak to him,  saying,  Thus speaketh                        they had been commissioned. The visitors received from the
      Jehovah  .of hosts,  saying,  Behold a. man,  *Branch his  nauuze;                        prophet as the organ of Jehovah a wonderful revelation re-
      crnd  from his  pla.ce  he shall  grow up, and  build the temple of                       garding Branch; for their benefit a new light was shed upon
      Jehovah. 13.  Everz he shall build the temple  sf Jehovah;                                the promise. It shows that they were living by the promise
      and  ,Iw  shall bear glory,  -and  shall sit and rule  upoti,  his                        as looking forward to its fulfilment. It shows, in -a word,
      throne;  and he  sha.11  be a. priest upon his throne, and the                            that they were true worshippers. On  the  sa,me   da.y   -On
      counsel of pence shall be between them both. 14. And the                                  the very day that the revelation came. On this day the,
      Crowns shall be to  Helem,~   und  to  Tobijah;  and to  Jedaiah,                         prophet was sent to the house of one Josiah the son of
      and to  Heya tlae  son  of  Zephaniala,  foli a memorial  in  the                         Zephaniah, where the visitors were lodging. -Here the
      temple of  Jehotiala.  1.5. And  t\Ley  that are  f,a.r  off  s!aall come                 prophet was to meet them.
      and build  in  the temple of Jehovah,  a"nd ye shall know that                                 11.
      Jehozula of hosts has sent me to  joa,. And it  shill come to                                         Take silver and gold  - The prophet was' to take  ~.
                                                                                                from the visitors the gifts of silver and gold which they had
~  pass,  if  ye diligently obey the voice of Jehovah your God.                                 .brought  and cause to be made of these metals  crowns. Since
          9. And the word of Jehovah  cake  to  me- What is                                     only one person is  crdwned,  the plural indicates that the
      here related is not a vision. How the Lord communicated                                   crowns were to be composed of two circlets, one of gold and
      this His word to the prophet is n@ explained. With Moses                                  one of silver, so as to form one piece or crown. This was to
      the Lord spake mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not                                   be;placed upon the head of Joshua, the son of Josedech, the
      in dark speeches. Hini the Lord knew face to face, and the                                highpriest. By this action with the crown Joshua was not
      likeness of the Lord he beheld. But Moses was an exception                                made king. The action rather implied that he was king,
      in this respect. To the other prophets the Lord made Him-                                 ruler; as priest. It must be remembered that in Israel the
      self known in a-vision  or spoke to them in a dream, Num-                                 rule was divided between the civil ruler and the highpriest.
      bers 12 :6-S.                                                                             The latter only had adstody over the temple and over all
          10. The exiles  -Ezra used this term as a name for the -things in it including the people in their capacity of  wor-
      returned captives (6 :l, 6  :19). But in this section the refer-                          shippers in the temple. -It is, therefore, proper to speak also
      ence is to the exiles who at the time were still residing in                              of the throne of the highpriest. This being true, Joshua
      Babylon. To the great majority of these Jews, which of                                    could be made to typify Christ also in  His kingly office with-
      course was also the case with the returned exiles, Babylon                                out replacing Zerubbabel as governor over the post-exilic
      was  the land of their nativity. Here, with the exception of                              community. That the crown was placed upon the head of
      the very aged among them, they had been born. Here their                                  Joshua creates no problem therefore.
      fathers had lived and died, at least the most of them. Here                                   There is another explanation of the action with the crown.
      in Babylon,. during the seventy years, they had acquired a                                It is this, namely, that with the crown resting upon his
      name and a place, and in this place ,they were established                                head Joshua for  <the moment resembled both a king and a
      and not doing too badly in a material sense. All this can                                 priest and- that, therefore, as to his outward appearance he
      explain why so few of them, comparatively speaking, had                                   ,for the moment typified Christ both in His kingly and priestly
      responded to the exhortation of Cyrus that they return to                                 office.
      Jerusalem to build the Lord a temple. Why go to Jerusalem,                                     12.  And speak to  h&h_saying-  The prophet must ex-
      a city in ruins, if they `had it so good in Babylon.                                      plain the action not alone to the: highpriest but in the hear-
          Yet also among these Jews, of course, God had  His                                    ing of the visitors as well. For they were lodged in the
      people. Despite the fact that for some carnal reason or other,                            grouse to which the prophet was sent. The message,  there-

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

fore, also was meant for their ears.  Ths sayeth`Jeho.vah  of       church: The sprig, the shoot that came forth from the root
hosts, Behold, a  vvtan-Here  the word  behold  is not a verb       of Jesse grew up.
-look at, center your gaze upon-but an interjection                   From His place He grew up. That place was the low
equivalent in meaning to Lo !  -Lo, a man. This man is              level of existence at which He was born, and lived and
Christ and not Joshua. The latter, as crowned, typified Him,        wrought. That place was the root in the dry ground from
presented Him to view.  Branch  is  His  name  - The name           which He came forth. That place was the stable in  whic!l
becomes Him. For Branch He is, not a sturdy branch,grow-            He was born, and the house of that obscure carpenter in
ing from the trunk of a stately tree firmly rooted in the           which He dwelt as a youth. That place was Gethsemane
ground, but a shoot, a tender sprig coming forth out of the         where His soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death.
root of a fallen tree and this root embedded in a dry ground        That place was  Herod's courtroom where He was mocked by
(Isaiah 2  :l, 53  :l). The shoot,  sprig-is Christ. The imagery    Herod's men. That place was the palace of the highpriest
here sets Him forth as a wonder of God. This first of all.          where He was spit on, and buffeted and where the servants
For the root-the root of Jesse, by which is to be under-            of the highpriest struck Him with the palms of their hand,
stood the virgin Mary- was in a dry ground. From a                  saying to Him, prophecy. That place was the judgment hall
human standpoint, therefore, Christ could not be born, there        of Pilate where they scourged Him and delivered Him to be
being for the virgin no man. But the virgin was with child          crucified. That place was the cross `on which He laid down
nevertheless. For `the Holy Ghost came upon her, and she            His life for His sheep. That place was the grave wherein
was overshadowed by the power of the Almighty. And  SO              He lay that He might sanctify it for His own.. These were
the shoot came forth. Christ was born.                              the places - His place 1 from'which He grew up.
    But there is more to say. A shoot is a tender and un-              And  He  shall  b,wild:  the  temple  -As grown up from
sightly creature. It has no beauty. So, too, Christ. Not that       His place He shall build the temple - the spiritual temple
Christ was physically ugly and repulsive. On the contrary,          that was always before God as graved in the palms of His
also physically He was well-favored, strong and vital and           hands-the hands of Jehovah. For the temple is His. This
appealing. Not once do we read of him being physically              temple the Branch builds, now that He is grown up from
sick, or of His being derided by His enemies because of             His place.
physical deformities. For He had none. Yet  the.Scriptures
say of Him that He had no form nor comeliness, that when               13.  Even He  shll build the  temple  of  Jehovah-  This
men saw Him there was no beauty that they should desire             is repeated for emphasis. He, Branch, builds the temple, He
Him (Isaiah 53  :l). But this can only mean  ,that He did           and none -other. This can be explained. It was in Him that
not belong to the great ones of the earth, was not born in          its lively stones were chosen unto life everlasting before the
purple, was without worldly rank, power, glory, fame. In-           foundations of the world. He is its chief corner stone. For
deed He was born in a cow stable and He who was held to             its lively stones it was He who `laid down His life. By His
be His father-Joseph -was an obscure carpenter in the               blood they were, raised up together and made to sit together
city of Nazareth, a place of which men were saying that             in heavenly places in Him that in the ages to come, He, the
nothing of good was known ever to have come from- it. He            Father, might shew the exceeding riches of His kindness to-
was not a priest or a ruler in Israel. He was not even a            ward them in Him, Branch. He is their sanctification, justifi-
scribe. And so men despised and rejected Him, for in their          cation and redemption. The .fulness of the Godhead dwells
sight He was but a sprig, which `if found growing from the          in Him bodily, wherefore He is their true bread. Over all
root of a tree in a man's garden, the axman comes and cuts          things in this temple He was given to be the head. He, and
it away.  ,But in the sight of God He was the beloved Son           He only, is mighty to save. For to Him,, and to Him only,
whose meat and drink it was to do the will of His Father.           was given all power in heaven and on earth. And so, reigning,
And from his place lze shall grow up - This is doubtless the        as He does, in the midst of His enemies, He and He alone is
meaning of:the expression that literally reads, "And he shall       qualified to build and preserve the temple. And therefore
grow up from under him." Sprigs never amount to any-                the temple shall be build, so that,' when it shall have appeared
thing to speak of. They never attain to a normal size. They         with Him in glory, not one lively stone shall be missing.
do not grow up. As trees they are failures. And in the                 According to some there is no warrant anywhere for
eyes of unbelieving men, Chrjst  was a failure, dying, as He        making this temple the spiritual temple, the kingdom of God,
did, on a cross. But actually He was a wonderful success.           as distinguished from the temple in Jerusalem, in the build-
He grew up indeed. For His death was His victory, It                ing of which  Haggai  and Zedhariah are so deeply interested.
pleased the Lord to bruise Him, and to put Him to grief.            But this is an absurd stand to take. Were this true, the
But when He had made His soul an offering for sin, He               message of our prophet is devoid of Gospel. What real com-
saw His seed. He arose unto life in glory, and was set with         fort could God's believing people .of that day, or of any other
His people in the highest heavens. He sat down at the right         day, derive from the promises as here proclaimed, were it
hand of the throne., He was given all power in heaven and           true that they bear only on Zerubbabel's temple. That eventu-
on earth and given to be the head over all things in the            ally also Zerubbabel's temple was destroyed, shows that for


                                                        T H E   STAN.DARD   B E A R E R                                                        395

           the time being it was but a shadow, a prophetic type of the           are the same persons named in verse 11, to wit, the three
           heavenly. This is all the proof that is needed for the incor-         visitors from Babylon and the Israelite with whom they were
           rectness of this view. To conceive of the promises of our             lodging.  Helen1  stands for Heldiah-and Hen, the Hebrew
           prophet in this fashion,. is to destroy them completely as a          word for  grace,  favor,  stands for Josiah. Hen, as a proper
           glad tiding of salvation. And if we take this view of the             name and as born by Josiah, may record, if he was not al-
           promises as proclaimed by our prophet, -what is there to              ready being called also by this name, that the Lord was
     _     prevent us from adopting an identical view regarding the              pleased with him for the kindly hospitality that he was show-
           promises as proclaimed by the rest of the prophets.                   ing the visitors from Babylon.
                And He shall bear  the  glory -The glory that Branch                 The crowns were to-be to the host and his three guests
           shall bear is the fulness of the Godhead -the fulness of bles-        for  a  memorial in the  te+q!$e.   -  Here is where the crowns
           sings that He shall merit for His people and of which the             had to serve this purpose -in the temple. Here, therefore,
           Father shall be the overflowing fountain- that shall dwell            is where they had to be deposited. It shows, for one thing,
           in Him bodily and shine in His and all His people's faces.            that they were not the personal possession of the highpriest,
          And he shall sit  and  rule  a@on  his  throne  -A throne upon         that their being placed on his head was not a coronation in-
           which He shall be seated at the Father's right hand. Indeed           dicating that he had been .vested ,with an office that hitherto
           He shall be highly exalted. -The name that shall be given             he had not held.
           Him shall be above every name, and at which every knee                    The crowns were to be  for' a memorial to the four Is-
           shall bow. And He shall rule upon His throne - rule also              raelites named and `of course to all God's believing people
           in the midst of His enemies,. implying that, though they              both in Judea and in the dispersion.
          mean it not so, they shall be serving His counsel. And when
          He has done with them, He shall dash them in pieces like                _ They shall be for a memorial, that is, they were intended
          a potter's vessel. But for His people His. rule shall spell            to preserve the memory of something. The memory of whom
          salvation.  (For) He' sha.11 be priest  upon  His throne-              or of what ? `According to one view, the memory of the
          Priest shall He be, priest upon His throne, priest unto God.           liberality of the visitors from Babylon. According to an-
          Through Adam's transgression, we by nature are priests un-             other view the memory of their visit. According to this view,
          to  satan,  dedicated to his lie, "Thou shalt be as God," and          the purpose. of depositing the crowns in the temple was to
          doing his works, he being our father.  Rut Branch shall be             extend the typical significance of the proceeding to the three
          priest unto God, the idea of which spells perfect devotion to          visitors in order that thereby they might be made to typify
          God, loving Him with all the heart, mind, will and strength.           the many who would one day come from heathen lands and
          Of this idea Branch shall be the perfect expression. He shall          help to build the temple of the Lord. But we should con-
          offer Himself for sin in perfect consecration to God. By His           sider that the crowns in the temple pointed not to the
          own blood He shall enter the holy place,, having obtained              visitors from Babylon but to Branch, to the fact that He
          eternal redemption, there to rule upon His throne as priest,           was to sit and rule .upon  His throne and that He was to be
          praying for and blessing His people, imparting unto. them              a priest in  His throne. This is the Gospel that was im-
          His life, and ruling them by His Spirit and His Word. And              posed upon these crowns. Doubtless, therefore, it is better
          the,  counsel   of peace shall be between  thevvt  both  -Both, not    to say that the crowns in the temple were intended to pre-
          Branch and Jehovah, but the king and the priest, who sit               serve the memory of Branch as He stands out in the prom-
          upon one throne united in the. person of Branch. And the               ises of this section, all the promises, also the promise, not
          counsel shall be between them, that is, they shall mind, will,         `to be overlooked, contained in the last verse of this section
          desire and `be dedicated to the same deliberate purpose,               and to which we have still to attend.
          namely the destruction of the adversary and the salvation of              It is not difficult to see why the .crowns  had to be- de-
          the church, that is, the erection and completion of the temple         posited in the temple. `Here is where God's people from near
          of Jehovah and its ultimate appearance in glory to the                 and far congregated.' Seeing the crowns the worshippers
          everlasting praise of the Father. And the counsel is `one of           would say, What meaneth these crowns. And the priests
          peace. It proclaims peace and as executed results in peace  -          would explain, preaching to them B.ranch,  the Christ as He
          peace toward God, the peace of God that passeth all under-             stands out in this' revelation.
          standing, the peace of Jerusalem that one day shall reign                 15. And they  tlmt  arel  afar  of  slmll come  a.nd build  $1
          on the earth when the tabernacle of God will be with men.              the  temple  of  Jehovah.  -A prediction of the calling of the
          This counsel, of course, shall have to be identified with the          Gentiles. The temple is the spiritual house of God. A2 called
          counsel of God. For it cannot very well be that Branch in              of God by the Gospel of Christ the Gentiles shall come.
-         the throne contemplates one thing and the triune Jehovah               Through all the good works that they perform as new
          a n o t h e r .                                                        creatures in Christ, others shall be drawn. So shall they
               14.  And the crowns  shail be  to  Hslem   and  to Tobijah        build in the temple, yet `not they but Christ through their
          and to Jedaiah  and to Hen the son of Zephania~  - Indicated                               (Co&wed   otb page 398)


396                                         T H E   STANDA.RD   B E A R E R

         THE CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY OF THE                             but a Christian first. That means his citizenship is in heaven
                          C H R I S T I A N                           (Philip. 3 :20) and therefore he is a citizen of the Heavenly
                                                                     Iiingdbm  and subject to the Most High God,  first.
       So extensive, far-reaching and comprehensive are the
implications of embracing a world and life view, that there              Yet, in the midst of the world in which the Lord had
is virtually no subject that can be discussed,  no field  6f         given him a name and a `place, and through which he must
study entered upon, nor any opinion and judgment rendered            pass as a spiritual pilgrim, he is also a citizen of a particular
without reflecting such  x world and life view.                      earthly country. Thus, iti this capacity, recognizing and con-
    Here too, we again observe the practical application and         fessing that,  rrthere  ,is no power  but: of God: the powers that
the implications of what it means to be a Christian- a child         be are  ol*dained  of God" (Rom. 13  :l), he  subj:cts  himself
of, God in the sphere of "civics."                                   "unto the higher  powfxs." He submits  "to every ordinance
                                                                     of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be the king, as
    Too often,  ~a11 manner of compromise is conveniently            supreme;  or  atnto  governors, as  itnto them that are sent by
made in the sphere of "civics" without even being aware of           him for the  pamis!auvLent  of evil doers, and for the  praise of
the fact that when such compromise is made, `significant and         tlaem  that  do well." (I Peter 2 :13-14). He is-subject to prin-
fundamental truths of Scripture are belied. Perhaps this is          cipalities and powers, obeys magistrates and is  "ready to
due to the fact (in part, at least  j  that one is  apt to con-      evel'y good work." (Titus 3 :l ) And, he renders unto Caesar
clude, the civic responsibility of the Christian is comparatively    "the things which are  Ceasar's,   a.vzd  a&o  God the things that
simple and clear-cut, since to present this matter, is to an-        are  God's." (Mt. 22  :21)                 I
swer it. However, the truth is that once considered, it can
be quite complex ; complex that is, if you do, not proceed               It is stherefore  the civic responsibility of such a one that
from the fundaniental  approach of the Scriptures. Therefore,        must be determined; the civic responsibility of the heavenly
to determine the civic responsibility of the Christian, it           citizevt   who must sojourn in the midst of this world, for a
stands `to reason sthat we must define these terms.                  season. That we identify the Christian, you see, is important
    In the first place, what do we mean when we speak of             because this enables us to get the  p&per  prospective- to
"civic responsibility ?" Civic is that which has to do with the      see the relation of civic responsibility to the "Christian and
citizen. The science of civics' has to do with the citizen and       therefore ask: What must this Christian do with these
with the rights and the duties of that citizen. However, the         "rights ?" What is his duty, as a citizen of this world?
reference is not to the rights and the duties of the citizen as          Without any fear of contradiction, I dare say, this "cry"
they concern the national, but as they concern the local scene       of "civic responsibility" has many-a-time been used as a
-the community. Hence, when one speaks of. civics, he                "cloak' by Christians to simply justify their participation in
speaks of that which "surveys lo&l community life within             these so-called civic affairs. But the error of this will be
the nation." In the final analysis, you understand, whatever         established, as we consider a number of significant questions.
happens on the local level, determines what shall happen on              What is the calling of a Christian?  .What is the calling
the national level because, as one writer states : "The whole        of that one whoin God has called from the darkness into His
machinery of government  -  t.he wheels within wheels  -             m&velous light? For what purpose did God work in the
pivot on the man with the ballot. He is the government."             heart of His child, by the irresistible operation of His Holy
Of course, while this is certainly contrary to the Scriptures,       Spirit? To save him from his sins and -misery and lead him
it is the presupposition upon which this country functions.          unto everlasting. glory? Yes, but of even more significance
Ifi other words, the theory of democracy is founded on the           is the truth that he whom the Lord delivers  "shoatld  be to
activity of the -individual.                                         the praise  of  His glory,  who first  tratsted in  Christ."  (Eph.
   Civic responsibility, then, in light of what we have said,        1 :12) That His child, -exalted and seated "together in heav-
would have to do with the responsil&ty or the obligation of          enly places  in  Christ  Jesus,"  might forevermore sing the
the citizen, in connection with whatever rights and duties           Song of Moses and worship Him who, alone, is worthy of
he possesses as a citizen. .How  must the citizen, then, walk?       worship, saying : "Thoah  a:rt worthy, 0 Lord, to receive
But now, remember, this article is concerned with the civic          glory and  hon0ai.u  and power  : for  thoat  hast created-all things,
responsibility of the Christian. Hence, in the second place, let     and for tlay pleasatre  they are and were created." (Rev. 4 :11 j
us ask : Who is the Christian ?                                      This, the Lord purposed to realize in His people, as they con-
   When we speak of the Christian, this is not to be under-          tinue through the earthly pilgrimage -fighting the good
stood as though the average "church-go&-"  is  meant.  The           fight of faith and earnestly contending for the faith which was
         n
reference is not to the "nominal" church member who re-              delivered unto them.
veals an interest (regardless of degree) in everyday civic               Therefore, you see, in determining' the civic responsibility
affairs. On the contrary, the  title of this  atricle has to do      of the Christian, it is very right and proper to inquire-to
with the Covenant child ; that one who professes to walk in          ask concerning the motives that  .prompt  one to be "sensitive"
the sphere of God's Covenant, as manifested in the midst of          to his "civic responsibility." Underlying all this civic in-
this world. We speak of that one who is a Christian citizen,         terest, what is it that gives. rise to this activity ?


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE.R                                                              397

      This is a very important question for the child of God be-      are given some position on a committee and work to perform.
  cause it is no different than asking him: "Is the glory of God       At any rate, they become so "wra.pjed-up"  and enthused over
  the moving impulse  fov the concern over your civic  YeFponsi-      their "civic responsibility"  that  they lose their identity as a
  bility?" Important, too, because  &ha.tever   the Christian does     Christian-as  they mingle together with the ungodly, and
  must be motivated by the glory of God's Name.                        "spend"  themselves  in the cause of "civic responsibility."
      You can see that what we have done thus far, is to                   One often wonders what would happen if these Christians
  prepare the ground for now inquiring into motives, desires,         would exert as much faithful and conscientious effort in con-
  purposes, and the like. This, we have done by raising some          tending for the truth of God's Word, as they so often do in
  questions, and also by setting forth some fundamental prin-         connection with  <these  other mundane affairs. Strange as it
 ciples of Scripture which, in turn, can be developed.                may seem, these- same Christians are at no. loss for words to
      By way of illustrating the matter of- civic responsibility,     express themselves and "fight" for their views when they
 it must be readily admitted that we cannot possibly examine          are in. the sphere of "civic activity," but how different it is
 all the activities toward which one is ordinarily considered         when the matter of spiritual subjects arise.
 to have some responsibility -whether by personal and direct              But now, what about these Christians who join hand-in-
 participation, or by indirect participation, such as donations       hand with the world ? What about that one who professes
and contributions. Furthermore, it is not necessary to exam-          to be a child of God and can yet "hob-nob?  with the ungod-
 ine such civic activities in order to determine the Christian's      ly, in civic- affairs? What must be the reason for this kind
 responsibility.                                                      of conduct? Is it truly because one's "civic responsibility" is
     The Christian, you see, proceeds from the Word of God.           SO  keenly felt? Or, is it just a matter of "self"  - where
 He knows his calling and his responsibility ; not only in the        such a one sees an opportunity for a little recognition ? Per-
 sphere of "civics" but in every sphere, throughout his whole         haps, it could even be that he who professes to be a Chris-
 life and walk.- The fact that he does not always walk in the         tian is afraid to bear the reproaches of Christ and hence,
 light of that calling, is another matter. But we must not            conveniently avoids them under the guise of "civic responsi-
 assume that the Christian is ignorant of his calling- before         bility" - gaining the well-wishes of the world.
 God and in the midst of this world.                                      How can such a one ever explain the truth that God's
     Therefore, it is only necessary to simply state this calling.    people are a separated and an isolated people ; a people who
 For in this calling is also embodied all the Christian's motives,    are pilgrims and strangers? That,. because of their very dis-
 desires, and purposes; and-thus, it will readily be seen as to       tinctiveness, while they are in the world, they are surely not
 how he differs from the world.                                       of the world and therefore, they are isolated in the spiritual
     Remember, it is  the world  tka.t cries loudest  aboatt civic    sense of the word. ,As far as the world and the ungodly of
 responsibility.  It is the world that always points to "civic        that world  are. concerned, they are :  "to come out from
 pride" and reminds the citizen of his "civic" and "patriotic"        ambng  them,  a,nd  be separate . . . and touch not the unclean
 duty.  Therefore, it is  -the world, too, that. urges the citizen    thing . . . to have no fellowship with the  unfruitful  works of
 to enter politics and vote, and calls upon him to support            :darkness,   rather reprove  them."               -,  _
 one "worthy" cause, and another. But why? Is the world                 Actually,, then, what is the calling of the Christian regard-
 motivated by the glory of God's Name  ? Does the world               ing "civic responsibility ?" Is it not simply that he should be
 purpose that all things redound to the praise and the glory          a living epistle, read of all men ? Does not the "civic respon-
 of the Most High God  ? To ask this question, is to answer           sibility" of the Christian, as, does  a.11  his responsibility  arLd   hzs
 it. Of course not ! The world purposes improvement, better-          callivtg; does it not resolve itself in this : That he walk
 ment, and reform. The ungodly cannot see and therefore,              antithetically in the midst of this world ? Isn't that what we,
 do not acknowledge that the world and "the faslzion  of this         as Protestant Reformed people, have always maintained?
 world  pusseth away"  (I- Cor.  7:31)  hence, they exert all         That, as the people of God, we walk from the new principle
 their efforts and endeavours in trying to reform and advance         of regeneration, and that we reveal ourselves as belonging'
 this world in which they live. And furthermore, they expect          to #the household of faith d in `every sphere of life? So that,
 all to join hands and take part in their so-called "united",         we oppose the Light of God's Word to all darkness - the
 efforts.                                                             Truth to all falsehood and that which is Righteous and Holy
     And the sad part of this commentary on the ungodly and           to all corruption.
 their civic activities is the fact that they have convinced many      The  antithesis,  then, is preserved in the whole life and
 professing. Christians of their "civic responsibility;" Hence,       walk of the child of God. What does this imply ? It implies
 from time to time, during the course of a year, these .Chris-        that declaring. God's truth, without any apology, all sin, evil,
 tians  become all "wrapped-up" in their "civic  responsibility."     and corruption is exposed and denounced. That means, too,
 It may be during an .election  year ,or perhaps a. time `when        the motives and purposes which are often clearly revealed as
 one of those "worthy" causes is being promoted, and they             one begins to move about in those circles that are so  con-


     398                                        T H E ,   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
      _-              -  _  _..  -

     cerned  with performing civic duties; these, too, must be con-                              THE DAY OF SHADOWS                 _
     demned.                                                                                    (Coutirczted   from  #age 395)
            If that is your purpose for engaging in all manner of civic      good confession. For He and He alone builds the temple.
     labours   - to expose the corruption -which you know is                 The visitors from Babylon should be ashamed. The gentiles
     found therein and to call men to repentance by  declarcng               shall come from afar, far from beyond Babylon, even from
     God's  `truth  and thus, maintain the antithesis, no one can find       the ends of the earth to build the temple, and therefore to
     fault with such purposes. However, we know  this is not pas-            abide in God's house, but these visitors continue in Babylon.
     sible. Declare this to be your purpose unto those with whom             And they are Jews.         -
     you intend to labour  En civic affairs and rest assured, you
     will  nevbr have an opportunity to fulfill your so-called                     And  ye shall know  that  Jehovah of  hosts sent  me to  you
     "civic responsibility."                                                 - The fulfilment of the promises as our prophet proclaimed
            Furthermore, it isn't necessary that you  "bob-nob"   and        them will prove that he spake as Jehovah's organ.  And  ,it
     mingle with the ungodly in these so-called civic affairs.  .That        shll   COWI+  to pass, if ye  d,ilig'ently  obey the voice of Jeho-
     isn't necessary to maintain the antithesis and let your light           vah -Literally, It shall be if  ye  obey  . . . The suppressed
     shine. As we said, very often that is just an excuse to. enjoy          clause must be, (It shall be if ye obey . .  .) ye shall share
     some of the ple&ures  of this world.        ,                           in all the blessings that Branch shall secure for the obedient.
            You don't fulfill your "civic responsibility" by exercising                                                                  G.M.O.
     every one of your "rights" and "duties." You don't, for
     instance, fulfill your "civic responsibility" by voting for a
     candidate, even though you are certain he is not suited, but                 AS THIRSTS THE HART FOR WATER BROOKS
     is nevertheless the "best" choice of the candidates for the
     office. There is no laze that says you must vote, even though                     As thirsts the hart for water brooks,
     you are. convinced in your  sdul that there is no candidate                          So thirsts my soul, 0 God, for Thee  -
-who purposes to serve the Cause of God's Kingdom. `As a                                It seeks for God, and ever looks
     child of God, how can you vote under such circumstances ?                            And longs the living God- to see.
     You don't .fulfill  your calling by "voting" or by participat-
     ing in the sphere of civics, but by walking in the way of the                      Far from the courts of God, my tears
     antithesis, and this way is the way of the Covenant.                                 Have been my food by night and day,
       Of course, no one can deny that the people of God are                           While. constantly with bitter sneers,
to support all civic enterprises and projects that are rooted                             Where is thy God ? the scoffers say.
     a.nd  grounded in the  tvr.atth   and thus, proceed  flop%  the fear
of God. BUT, where are there such projects  ? Where is                                 With grief I think of days gone by,
there such civic activity ? Common Grace is able to find them                             When oft I trod the hallowed way
everywhere. Yes, but look at the fruit Common Grace is                                 To Zion, praising God on high
bearing.                                                                                  With throngs who kept the holy day.
        Don't you  see how far-reaching are the implications of
naming the. Name of Christ and confessing that you are one                             0 why art thou cast down, my soul,
Kith Him ? And since this does not seelq  to be the concern                               And why so troubled shouldst thou be ?
over which  the Christian outside of our own circles need be                           Hope thou in God, and Him extol,
alarmed,   don'f                                                                          Who gives His saving help to me.
                       you  see the implications of  ,being  Protestant
R e f o r m e d   ?   .                                                                Since, 0 my God, my soul,  is bowed,
Q       Remember, the ungodly and the wicked serve God's peo-                             In exile far, with bitter grief,
ple.  *he reprobate serve the elect, as is clearly `seen in the                        I turn my thoughts to Thy abode
sphere of civics too. It is the -Lord who raises up these                             For consolation and relief,
things, by  His Mighty Hand. So that, the wicked in their
wickedness, strive to assure the nation of "Life, Liberty,,and                         With mighty voice deep calls to deep,
the Pursuit of Happiness" and of the "Four Freedoms."
                :                                                                         While raging storms Thy judgments tell ;
And  thuds,  desiring these things for  thevmelves  and as ave-                        The angry billows o'er. me leap,
nues for the free expression of their wickedness, they secure                l            The waves of sorrow near me swell.
them  .for all. But actually, under the Mighty hand of God,
in this way they opaly  cov$tivtue  to fill their measure of  iniquitj.                Though troubles surge, yet through the day
        But God's, people live alone, and living alone  they  fill                       The Lord His gracious help will give,
the&,   vvz&asure  of blessing.  :  They are in the  wq-ld  and yet,                   And  in the night my heart shall pray
not of it. They walk antithetically  -  even   ifi  the  sphere   of                     And sing to Him in whom I live.
civic  affairs.  J                _`.                   .E. Emanuel                                                               Psalm 42 :l-7
                                                                                                                                          \


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       399

                                                                            holes." Indeed there were-! The cries of those whqse lives
              I N   H I S   F E A R                                         had been spent-in blasphemy of all the holy things, who had
                                                                            used His name in vain in their very liberal cursing `and
                                                                            swearing almost to the moment of their dreadful peril amid .
                      Praying-in His Fear                                   the screaming shells and death dealing bombs are not to be
    That, of course,, is the only way to pray.                              classed as prayers. They lacked the`fear of God. They were
    A desire expressed in any other way than in the way of                  born out of an awful fear of the shell, the bullet, the b.omb,
His fear is not a prayer to God.                                            the death that seemed imminent. But the fear of the Lord
                                                                            which  is faith in Him and a reverent awe for His majesty
    Any supplication uttered in any other way than-in His                   as the God of our salvation was not  in it. And in hell that
fear will neper be heaid  by the Living God.                                "prayer" will be held against them ae a testimony that they
    There is so much that goes under the name of prayer
today that is anything but prayer.  Thei-e  iS so much that                 knew there was a God and soon forgot him<after  the peril of
eoes under the name of prayer that is never  heard because                  that death was past!
it is no prayer.                                                               In spite of all the distorted and unscriptural id&as of God,.
    Let us not be deceived by all that which is presented to-               as the God of love, it simply is a fact clearly taught in Holy
day as prayer. Let us understand that if the fear of the Lord               Writ that those seeking help of God must recognize Him as
is not in it, it is not prayer regardless  qf what men call it.             the Majesty on high and that only in that way will they ever
Let us understand that unless we approach the Majesty on                    be heard.
high in His fear, we will not be heard and our "prayer" is an                  He is a jealdus God; and He loves Himself.
abomination unto- Him.                                                         He will not play the part of a handyman who will quick-
    We read, the other day, in the May issue of the Reader"s                ly run  td your assistance when from the lofty heights of
Digest of an incident in the life of the first president of                 human pride atid conceit you seek to make Him become your
                                                                oui
land, George Washington,: `that illustrates the point at hand.              servant.
-We will re$nt it to show you what we have in mind.                            "For Jesus' sake, Amen."                           .I
    "During the last days of the Revolutionary War, an aide            -       Yes, "For Jesus' sake" He will hear. and  -fill your  rc--
to  `*British General Howe arrived at George Washington's                   quest.
headquarters  urider  a flag of truce, bearing a message ad-                   But when you come in that way, you come in His fear.
dressed to `Mr. Washington.`, Washington tqok one look at                      Then you recognize Him as God and confess your own
the envelope, stuffed it in his pocket unopened and said :                  unworthiness. Then you do not ask Him to abdicate and
`This is addressed to a "Mr. Washington," a Virginia planter                turn the course of history for your sake. Then you come.
I know  well. I will  give it to him when the war is over.                  with the only reason why He will ever do anything.
Advise your commander that the battle will be resumed at                       A man may react to the approaches of another as Wash-
once.                                                                       ington did ; recognize the pride, the insult in that approach.
    "The rebuff seryed its purpose. Soon another message                    Rest assured that the `Living God, The Majesty on high, tlie
arrived from Howe, addressed to `His Excellency, General               Thrice Holy God surely will do likewise.
.-Washington.' "                                                               A God of love He is.
    No one thinks ill of Washington for his action.                            Yea, The God of- Love He is.
    Yet when we insist that one must approach the Majesty                      But He is also the-Thrice Holy One.
on high, as God is called in Hebrews 1  ~3, in His fear and                    Therefore His love is a Holy Love! He is holy in His
that all cries for help and expressions of desires are not heard       lbve. In His holiness He cannot love that which is sinful.
and that some are loathsome in,His sight, there will be those               In His holiness He cannot save and bless everyone who cries-
who will object violently that we believe in a God who is a            in his terror for help. In His favor He cannot save the life
monster rather than the God of love-that they wish to present.         and  .prosper the way of one wicked man over against that
    Indeed, He is a-God of love !                                      of another wicked doer.
 ' But, then, let us not fail to put the proper emphasis upon                  "For Jesus' sake" He can and will do so for those who
the fact that he is the GOD of love. His love does not make            we;e chosen in Him. For in Jesus, the Son of His love, He
Him abdicate His majestic position of being .God ! He Him-             has made His people to be holy. In Him and for His sake
self testifies to us in Hi"; law that He is a jealous God visit-            He  Will bless  and help while remaining the Thrice Holy
ing the iniquities upon those that hate Him. He does not                    One.. .That: is, after all, the only way that He will bless and
love all men. He is not pleased with `the. prayers of those            help anyone.
that -hate Him and run to Him only when they get into                          However; it is the testimony of `Holy Writ that this
desperate trouble.                                                          Jesus has not mad&  all men to be holy and thati this Thrice
    It surely is a carnal, wholly unscriptural observation that. Holy God does not want Him to make all men holy. The
was made in the la& war: "There are no atheists in the fox--                whole Old Testament is one undeniable testimony of the fact

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

  that God's blessings are not meant  for all men head for head         cannot pierce; you will stand before a securely locked door
  and soul' for soul. Psalm  "147  :19, 20 states, "He showeth          that your supplication will not open. Praying on any other
  His wqrd unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Is-            basis than "Jesus' sake" you might just as well pray to the
  rael. He  bath  not dealt so with any nation: and as for His          devil that `he lead you not in temptation and that he make
  judgments, they have not know them. Praise ye the Lord.",             you holy. You will be just as successful.
  Jesus Himself declares, f`1 am not sent but unto the lost                 Why is it praying in His fear to pray in the name of the
  she&p  of the house of Israel," Matthew 15  24. And again             Son of God in our flesh ?
  He declared, "I lay down my life for the sheep," John lo:15               Because such a prayer recognizes God as the Majesty on
  and,  ."I pray not for the world, bvt for *them which Thou            h i g h .
  hast given me ; for they are thine,"  John 17 : 9. J&us Him-              That is absolutely essential fo.r every petition or suppli-
  self prays not for everyone and shall we then maintain that           cation if it is to be a prayer to God!
  if these for whoni  He will not pray utter their desires to the 1         Washington stuffed the message in his. pocket and said,
  Thrice Holy God that He will hear them ? And that He will             "The battle will be resumed at once." The Almighty Thrice
  `do this for Jesus' sake, the Jesus who will not pray for them        Holy. God will do far more. He will cast this audacious and
  because they have not been given unto Him ?                           haughty petitioner i$o the everlasting ,torments  of hell and
         The "atheist" in the foxhole who cries out for God to          declare to him, "The fury of M.y w;ath and the heat of the
  help him and to save him and knows not nor believes in this           battle is not diminished one iota by your cries, the curse of
  Jesus of the Scriptures does not'pray to the Majesty on high          My'holy wrath remains upon you." The only hope of turn-
  but to some god of his own imagination. He confesses no               ing  away the fury of that wrath and of peace with God is
  sin, sees no atonement upon the cross and rules out the .whole        exactly "Jesus' s&e."
  meaning of "Jesus' sake." .For it .is for the sake of that cross          There  is, no fear of the Lord' in a request that is made
  of Jesus that there is any blessedness and salvation for any-         before the Thrice Hqly God which asks, these things for our
  one.                                                                  sakes. To do so is to deny God His majesty. To do so is to
         Thkse words, " yI+or Jesus' sake," are not some password       call Him a liar and an unholy benefactor of man-kind!
  or magical formula for getting things done and to induce the              You think that such an indictment is too severe ?
  Thrice Holy God to condescend and change His mind and                     Then return in your thoughts to the point where man
  works for those who utter these  woids. "For Jesus' sake"             first departed from the fear of the Lord ! When the Holy
  means because of and for the sake of the fact that Jesus has          God said that man would die in the day that he ate of the
  already merited these things for which we ask and already             forbidden fruit, Satan deceived us into thinking that this
  has them in His possession to deal out to us according to             ivould not be the case. And the curse and death came. All
  the eternal counsel of the Almighty God.                              the things for which we pray for deliverance, all the woes,
         For nothing may we ask. that is not merited by Christ.         the pain, the death from which we seek escape in prayer did
  Apart from Him we have no basis for our request; and                  come by our works and because of our works. Ask God to
  apart froin Him God has no reason for giving us any blessed-          do anything for our sakes and we behave as though He can
  ness.                                                                 easily forget His word, make Himself to be a liar in regard
   y Thus, praying in His fear surely means to approach God             to what happens when we sin against Him and ask Him to
in Jesus Christ His Son as the sole basis for our receiving             bless us in an unholy way.
  anything. Approach Him as a God .of love :Who has love to                 Are we to be blessed by God ; are we to receive anything
  the creature apart from Jesus Christ His Son and you are              good from Him  ; are we to enjoy any benefit of salvation
  not praying. Lift up your voice to Him on the basis of  ti            from Him it will have to be given us in a way wherein He
love  <that He has apart from Christ and He will not hear               remains the Holy God that He is.
  you. What is even more, lift up your voice to Him claiming                Praying  in'His  fear means that we come to Him acknowl-
  His love apart from Christ and He will hate you for it. He            edging that He is a holy God Who can bless us only in a
  loves His Son and as the Thrice Holy One hates all those              holy way.,
  Who hate His Son. Solomon correctly declares, "The sac-
  rifice of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord  ; but               Therefore it means coming to Him in the name of His
  the. prayer  of the upright is His delight," Proverbs 15  :8.         Son Who satisfied His justice by fulfilling the law for us and
  And then this also is true: The prayer of the wicked is an            by suffering the punishment of our sins.
  abomination unto the Lord: but the sacrifice of the upright               Praying in His fear, indeed, is praying "for Jesus' sake."
  is His delight. And it is positively wicked to try to  a@-                Praying In His fear is coming to the Thrice Holy God
                                                                                                 ._
  preach God outside of Christ and apart from. Him. I                  - t;hrough the door of the righteousness of Christ.
         Let that point stand, then: praying in His fear means              For then, and then only, do we by our prayers say that
  playing  in His Son's name and for His sake. De otherwise             He is GOD.
  and you will come up against a stone wall that your crying                                                                  J. A. H.


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   - B E A R E R                                                   401
 n                                                                         since the personal nature of fellowship with God here finds
         z Contending For The Faith                                     II due recognition. It is to be observed, further, that in the
                                                                           view of Augustine, Christ is, indeed, omnipresent according
                                                                           to his divine nature, but according to his human nature he
           The Church and the Sacraments                                   is in one place in heaven. In this again  .we see the model
                                                                           after which the-medieval theories  wer'e  patterned. The genius
      VIEWS DURING THE SECOND PERIOD  (300-750  A.D.)                      of Augustine is manifest in his interpretation of the sacrifice
                                                                           of the mass : the sanctified congregation presents itself to
                                  I

                       THE LORD'S SUPPER                                   God in good works, under its head, Christ. "This is the
                                                                           sacrifice of Christians : Many one body in Christ." Of which
      Continuing with our article in the previous' issue of the            thing (the sacrifice of Christ) he wished the sacrifice of the
 Standard Bearer, to the effect that the doctrine of transub-              church (which, since it is the b6dy of Him, the Head, teaches
 stantiation was not the accepted doctrine of the Church dur-              that it  oilers  itself through him) to be a daily sacrament
 ing this particular period of the history of the Church, we               (symbolical imitation)  ."  - en& of quote.
 concluded with the remark that we would quote from Rein-                  .The idea of sacrifice.
 hold Seeberg  as he has written on Augustine's view df the
 sacrament of the Lord's Supper. We quote him as follows:                      The idea of sacrifice, is still emphasized in  cQnnecfion
 "The peculiarities of the separate sacraments may be briefly              with the sacrament of the Lord's Supper during this second
 stated. Baptism, as the sacru?pbentztm  reYtzissioni.s  peccatorzm,       period even as it received emphasis during the first period
 works the forgiveness of sins, primarily the forgiveness of               of the Church in the New Dispensation. However, the term
 the guilt of original concupiscence ; in this consists its chief          does not convey the same -meaning in this period which the
 efficacy. Augustine frequently speaks of a blotting out of sin            Roman Catholic Church attaches to it. It was rather con-
 (e. g., by baptism . . . sins are destroyed `. . .). Discrimina-          ceived of as a thankoffering, consisting in prayers, alms, etc.
 tion is to be made between this forgiveness once granted and              This appears from the quotation from `Augustine which ap-
 the recurring of daily sins in response to the fifth petition             peared in our previous article in which the eminent church
 of the Lord's Prayer. Augustine, however, made the latter                 father declares that the sanctified congregation presents it-
 dependent upon the former: "by that which is given once                   self  to God in good works under its Head, Christ, adding:
 ?t comes to pass that pardon of any sins whatsoever, not                  "This is the sacrifice of Christians : Many one body in Christ."
 dnly before but. also afterward, is granted to believers."                Toward the end of this period, however, Gregory the Great
 Prayer, alms, and good works would bring no forgiveness                   speaks of the eucharist as a sacrifice which we offer.
 to the Christian if he were not baptized. But this idea was                  Of interest is. the vikw of the eucharist as set forth by
 obscured by the penitential. discipline land by the relatively            John of Damascus. John of Damascus was the  last great
`unimportant place of the forgiveness of sins in the conscious-            theologian of the Eastern Church. He,, the last of the Greek
 ness of Augustine. In contradistinction `from Ambrose (e. g.,             Fathers and the most authoritative theologian for the whole
. "through the mystery of the sacred prayer they are trans-                Eastern Church, was born presumably in Damascus before
 figured into flesh and blood"), the symbolical character of               700 A. D.  and in all probability died shortly before 754.
 the sacraments comes in Augustine into distinct prominence:               Reading this lengthy quotation from John of Damascus the
 "the Lord did not hesitate to say, `This is my body,' when                readers should have no difficulty recognizing a striking simi-
 He gave the sign of His body. The blessing; or gift, of the               larity between the view as set forth by this last Eastern
 sacrament is conceived in harmony with this. The body oi                  theologian and the idea of the Popish Mass in the Roman
 the Lord is the mystic body,, or the church : "hence he wishes            Catholic Church.
the food and drink to be understood as the fellowship of His
 body and of His members, which is the holy church (or,                           The  Eucharist  liy  John  of  Dawmscus.
 this is, therefore, to eat that food and to drink that drink -               God, Who is  good and altogether goob and more than
to remain in Christ and to have Him remaining in us  j.                    good, Who is goodness throughout, by reason of the exceed-
Augustine can even say that the eating of the body of the                  ing riches of His goodness did not suffer `Himself, that is
 Lord is `fdelightfully  and profitably tb store away in memory            His nature,  .only to be good, with no other to participate
that his flesh was wounded and crucified for us." It is true,              therein, but because of this He made first the spiritual and
 there are not wanting passages in which Augustine expresses               heavenly powers : next the visible and sensible universe : next
 himself differently and more fully, speaking of the reception             man with his spiritual and sentient nature. All things, there-
 of the body of Christ; but his real thought is even' here not             fore, which he  `made, share in His goodness in respect of
 that which the words seem to convey, although he still has in             their existence. For He  Himself  is existence to all, since  a!1
mind the bestowal and reception of a real gift. Thus Augus-                things that are, are in Him, not only because it was He that
 tine's theory of the Lord's Supper has more of a really re-               brought them out of nothing  int'o being, but because His
 ligious character through his doctrines of baptism -and grace,            energy `preserves and maintains all that He made ; and in


         402                               -           THE.STAN?ARD   B E A R E R
          - -
         especial the living creatures. `For both in that they exist and       Saying,  D&k ye all of it: for `this is My blood, the blood
         in that they enjoy life they share in His goodness. But in            of  the.New  Testament which is shed for you for the remis-
         truth those of them that  have,   rkaion have a still greater         sion of  sins.  This do ye  ,in remembrance of Me. For as often
         share in that, both  bec$us& of what has been already' said           as ye eat this bread and  d&k  this  cue, ye do shew the  deajh
         and also because of the very reason which they possess. For           of the  Son of  `yMan  and confess  His resurrection until He
         they are somehow more clearly  akiti to Him, even though He           come.
         is incomparably higher than' they:                                         If then the Word of God is quick and -energizing, and the
                Man?   hpwevey,  being  endowed `with the reason  ancl free    Lord did all that He willed  ; if He said, Let there be light
         will, received. the power of continuous  imion with God               and there was light, let there be a firmament and there was
         through his own choice, if indeed he should abide in good-            a firmament ; if. the heavens w&e established by the Word
         ness, that is in obedience to .his Maker. Since, however, he          of the Lord and all the host of them by the breath of' His
       transgressed the command of his Creator and became liable               mouth; if the heaven and the earth, water and fire and air
         to death and `corruption, the Creator and Maker of ou; race,          and the whole glory of these, and, in sooth, thisi most noble
         because of His bowels of -co&passion, took on our likeness,           creature, man, were perfected by the Word of the Lord ; if
         becoming man in all things. but without sin, and was united           God. the Word of His own will became man apd the pure
         to .our nature. ,For since He-bestowed `on us His own image           and undefiled. blood of the holy and evervirginal One made
         and His `dwn spirit and we did not keep them safe, He took            His. flesh without the aid of seed, can He not then make the
         Himself a share in our poor and weak nature, in order that            bread His  body, apd the wine and water His blood? He
         He might. cleanse us and make us incorruptible, and estab-            said in the beginning,  Let the earth bring forth grass,  and
         lish  US once more  a3, partakers of His divinity.                    even until this present day, when the rain comes it, brings
                For it  .was fitting' that not only the first-fruits of our    forth its proper fruits, urged  on`and strengthened by the
         nature should  partike in the higher good but every man               divine command. God said,  T,`zis is  &Iy  body,  and  This is
         who v2shed  it, and that a second birth should take place and         My blood, and this do ye in  reqxembrance   of  Me,  And so
         that the nourishment should be new and suitable to the birth,         it is at His omnipotent command until He come: for it was
         alid thus the measure of perfection be attained. Through His          in this sense that  He. said  until  He  come : and the over-
         birth, that is, His incarnation, and baptism and passion and          shadowing power of the Holy Spirit becomes through the
         restirrectitin,  He delivered our nature from  .the sin of our        itivocation  the rain to this new tillage.  For just as God made
         first parent and death and corruption, and became the first-          all that He made by the energy of the Holy Spirit, so also
                                                                                                          __     -
         fruits of the resurrection, and made Himself the way and              now  `the  energy  of the  Spirit performs those things that
         image and pattern, in order .that we, too, following in His           are supernatural and which it is not pqssible  to comprehend'
         footst&ps,  may becove sons and heirs of God and joint heirs          unless  by faith albne. How shaJ1  this be, said the holy Virgin,
         with Him. He gave ui *herefore, as I said, a second birth in          seeing  I know  not  a  qtzan? And the archangel Gabriel  an-
         brder  that,  just as we who are born of Adam are in his              sweied her:  The Holy  Spivit shall come upon thee, and the
         imagk and are the heirs of the curse and corruption, so also          power of the Highest shall  overshadoti  thee.  And now you
       . being  b&-n of Him- we may be in His likeness and heirs -of           ask, how the bread became Chri.st's body. and the wine and .
         His incorruption and blessing and glory.                              water Christ's blood. And I say unto thee, "The Holy Spirit
~^       .,.                                                                   is present and does those things which surpass reason and
                Now' seeing that this Adam is spiritual, it was meet that      thought.."                                      *
         both the birth and likewise the food should be spiritual too.
         but since tie are of a dotible `and compound nature, it is meet            Further, bread and wine are employed: for God  know-
         that both the birth should be double and likewise the food            eth man's infirmity: for in general man turns away d&con-
         compound. We were therefore given a birth by water and                tentedly   -from what is not well-worn by custom : and, so
        Spirit: I mean, `by  the holy baptism: and the food is the             with His usual indulgence He performs. His supernatural
         very bread of life, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who came down              works. through familiar objects: and just as, in the case
         from heaven. For when He was about to take on Himself                 of baptism, since it  is man's custom to wash himself with
         a: voluntary death for our sakes, on the night on which He            water and anoint himself with oil, He connected the grace
         gaye Himself up, He laid a new covenant on His holy dis-              of the Spirit with the  .oil and the water and made it the
         ciples and ,apostles,  and through them on all who believe on         water of regeneration, in like manner since it is man's custom
         Him. In the upper chamber, then, of holy and illustrious              to eat and to drink water and wine, He connected His divinity,
         Sion, after He had eaten the ancient Passover with His                with these and made *them His body and blood in order that..
         disciples and had fulfilled the ancient covenant, He washed           we may rise to what is supernatural through  what  is familiar
         His disciples' feet in -token of the holy baptism. Then having        a n d   n a t u r a l .
         broken  bread,He gave it to them saying,  T&c, eat,  this  is             The Lord willing, we will  ~continue  with this quotation
         My body broken  fo>  yozt for the remission of sins.  Likewise        from John of Damascus in our following article.
         also He took the cup of wine and water and gave. it to them                                                                      k.V.


                                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   .                                        403

                                                                                  Let us enter a little more in detail into this aspect of the
 11' The Voice of Our Fathers                                              II Arminian e&r. We may do`this by way of a comparison
                                                                              between the Reformed and the Arminian positions.
                   The Canons of Dordrecht                                     : I` 1'. Reformed truth maintains that Christ with certainty
                                                                              merited salvation for all those whom the Father gave Him
                                   P A R T   T W O                            from before the foundation of the world. Arminianism
                     E X P O S I T I O N   O F   T H E   C A N O N S          teaches that Christ merited salvation for no one.       ,
                     S                                                            2. Reformed truth maintains that by His satisfaction
                       ECOND  HEAD OF  DOCTXNE                                Christ also merited faith for ail the elect, and for them only,
      OF  THE DEATH  0~ CHRIST ,  AND THE REDEMPTION                          so that the elect might through faith become partakers of the
                               OF   MEN   THEREBY                             benefits of salvation obtained by the death of Christ.  Ar-
                          R                                                   minianism teaches that Christ merited faith for no one.
                               EJECTION  OF  E RRORS                              3. Reformed truth maintains, consequently, that. Christ
                Article III. Who teach:  T,hat Christ by his satisfac-        also confers faith and salvation upon all the elect,*  and upon
                tion merited neither  salvctiomn itself for anyone, nor
                faith, whereby this satisfaction of Christ unto salva-        them only. Arminianism necessarily denies this also, since
                tion is effectually appropriated; but that he merited         Christ has merited neither faith nor salvation for anyone.
                for the Father only the authority or the perfect will             This Reformed line of truth, opposed by the Arminian
                to deal again with man, and to prescribe new con-             lie, is plainly stated in Article 8  .of the Second Head of.
                ditions as he might desire, obedience to which, how-          Doctrine.
                ever, depended on the free will of  man, so that it
                therefore might have come to pass that either none                But what is the heart of this Arminian error? The  Ar-
                or all should fulfill these conditions. For these ad-         minian  view concentrates completely around man and his
                judge too  contemptuo'usly  of the death of  C'hrist, do      "free will." In order to maintain his view that everything
                in no wise acknowledge the most important fruit or            depends upon man, rather than God, and upon man's free
                benefit thereby gained, and bring again out of hell           will, which the Arminian conceives of as naturally good and
                the Pelagian error.                                           able to' incline itself toward the good, - in order to maintain
     The translation' "appropriated" will stand, provided it is               this, the Arminian is forced to reject the line of the truth,
  understood as referring to an act of God, not of the believer,              which maintains that Christ through His perfect satisfaction
 as is plain from the passive. verb afiplicetur,  "applied." We               of divine justice, and because His death was the perfect
  may also note that our English version leaves out the Latin                 satisfaction of God's justice with respect to our sin, obtained,
  cede  in the first clause, which should read: "That Christ                  actually purchased, for all the elect all the blessings of salva-
  by his satisfaction certainly (assuredly, undoubtedly) mer-                 tion,, including-the faith whereby these blessings are actually
  ited . . .  ." And finally, the word "obedience" is hardly an               applied  .to us. He must reject this line because it would
  accurate rendering of  pmeshtio,   "fulfilment" (Dutch :  vol-              mean that the elect inevitably come into possession of those
  brenging.)                                                                  blessings, and that too, not through any merit or work of
     As the fathers develop step by step the line of the  Ar-                 their own, but solely through the merit of Christ and the.
  minian  error which sthey reject, the fearful consequences of               work of divine grace.
  this error are with increasing clarity exposed. The reader                      To be sure, the Arminian still speaks of grace,  oft the
  will understand that these articles of the Rejection are not gracious redemption'of Christ, of the operation of the grace
~ unrelated. Each of the errors considered thus far proceeds                  of Christ. That is why it is always necessary to ask care-
  out of that immediately preceding it. The Arminians begin                   fully what he means. And then it becomes evident always
  by denying that the death of Christ is the fulfillment of a                 and again that everything depends upon man, and that. the
  certain and definite decree to save any. Then they teach                     Remonstrant does not mean grace at all, but works.
  that Christ by His death merely acquired for the Father the                     That is exactly the case in this article.
  right to establish any kind of covenant He might wish to                        What did Christ merit, according to the Arminian  ? By
  establish. And in this third article it becomes still plainer                His death Christ made it possible for the Father to deal with
  in which direction the Arminian wants to go. The covenant                    men again in regard to salvation. Notice : Christ made some-
  which God wants to establish is not one of grace, but of                     thing possible for the Father. Did He even so much as
  works. Christ merited for no one either salvation or faith,                  make it possible for the Father  to  give  us salvation? Not
  but oniy the authority and will to prescribe new conditions                  at all ; He made it possible to have dealings with us in regard
  (not the old ones of complete obedience to the law, but new                  to salvation. But further, what was the nature of that  so-
  ones of faith and obedience ; but conditions nevertheless).                  called authority and perfect will to deal again with man,
  And the fulfillment of these' conditions (note. here the im-                 which Christ merited for the Father? According to the
  plied definition of a condition) is dependent on the free will               Arminian conception, God at one time dealt with man, and
  of man. Hence, it is a covenant of conditions, or, a cov-                    had laid down the condition of perfect obedience to the law
  enant of .works;  And all this the fathers reject.                           as the prerequisite of eternal life. However, man had of his

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

     own free wiil rejected that divine dealing, had failed to meet       merited. He even denies that Christ really merited salvation
     that perequisite. Hence, God *could  no more have dealings           for anyone.
     with man. Now Christ makes it possible for God to deal                   And finally, the fathers charge the Arminians with re-
     anew with man. God may now prescribe new` conditions.                calling out of hell the Pelagian error. The Arminian error
     He is no more bound to prescribe the condition of complete           was not a new one. It was essentially but a repetition of
     obedience to the law, but may  also. prescribe other, less           the error  .of Pelagius, against whom the church father
     stringent conditions. He may prescribe- new conditions, 0s           Augustine fought centuries earlier. It was Pelagius already
     He ,tziglzt  desire.  T-his is the celebrated Arminian conception    who promulgated and systematized the error of free willism
     of salvation. This is what the Arminian means when he                and who, denying the depravity of man's nature, and deny-
     mouths the words "salvation" and "grace." Is there any               ing original sin, taught that by virtue of his inherently
     salvation in the conception whatsoever? Does the view give           good will man was able to accomplish his own salvation.
     even a hint of salvation  ? Not at all. For notice that the          It is true, Arminianism presented that error in a new and
     Arminian view once again implies that the fulfillment of             more deceiving garb; but it was the same error.
     these conditions depends on the free will of man. God is
     absolutely helpless to supply anyone with eternal life. If a             Notice that the fathers call it error. This we also must
     man would fulfill the new conditions, he would receive eternal       do. It is not the truth. It is not an "Arminian brand" of
     life and be saved.  But that is entirely up to man. The              the truth, in competition with a "Reformed brand" of the
     question whether any man will actually come into possession          truth. It is not thus, that the Arminians "emphasize one
     of eternal life and salvation is not in  God's.  power at all.       side" of the truth, while the Reformed "emphasize another
     God can only. prescribe the conditions. Man must decide.             aspect" of the truth. It is not true that Arminianism stresses
     Hence, it may. be that all men will fulfill the conditions ; but     human responsibility, while Reformed doctrine stresses divine
     it may also be that no man will fulfill the. conditions. It may      sovereignty. This is the talk of modern day "tolerance."
     be, therefore, that all men obtain eternal life ; it'may also be     Our fathers did not consider the different brands of doctrine
     that no man  .obtains life eternal.                                  as so many presentations of the truth, much as the different
                                                                          brands of soap and detergents. are all good cleansing agents,
            Small wonder it is, in the light of the above; that the       each having its special quality. For them there was but one
     fathers are very severe in their condemnation of this view.          truth, the truth of our Reformed confession, the truth of
            In the first place, they charge the Arminians with judg-      Scripture. All else, whether taught by Arminius or Pelagius,
                                                                          was error, the lie. And we should emulate the fathers of
     ing too contemptuously of the death of Christ. This is the
     charge which the Arminians tried to lay at the door of the           Dordt in this attitude.
     fathers. They said that the Reformed view implied a defect               In. this light it is not difficult to see that the fathers
     in the sacrifice of Christ because all ytzepz  were not saved by     consign that Arminian error to hell. Certainly, error is not
     the death' of Christ. But how foolishly wicked is that               from heaven, from God, from Christ ! Christ is the truth !
     charge of the Arminians when one considers their own                 But the devil is a liar from the beginning, and the father of
     view of Christ's death. According to their view, it might            the lie. And it is through the gates of hell that the devil`and
     have happened that no one would be saved by that death,              his legions proceed to attack. the church. And their main
     and that Christ would actually have died in vain. But notice         weapon is the lie. And that lie always essentially exalts man,
     that this really means that Christ did truly die in vain. For        and that too, sinful man, rather than the living God. Char-
     if it could happen that all were saved or that none were             acteristically hellish, therefore, is the Arminian-Pelagian
     saved, then in very fact  ,the power to save is not in that          error. And if only in our day Reformed people would dare
     death of Christ at all; it resides somewhere else. What  a           to draw a clear line between truth' and error, and would
     defective sacrifice Christ made, then, according to. this view!      bear in mind that the error is not heavenly, but hellish in
                                                                          origin, the churches would be much more fearful of all that
            In the second place. they charge the Arminians with           smacks of Arminianism, would avoid it, and would be much
     denying the primary benefit of that death of Christ. Of              more insistent on being consistently Reformed.
     course, the Arminians deny principally all the benefits of                                                                  H.C.H.
     the death of Christ. But here the fathers speak of the priufiary
     benefit or fruit. What is that benefit? Nothing less than
     salvation itself. The Arminians also deny that Christ merited                             Announcement
     the gift of faith for' anyone. But they deny first of all that
     Christ ever merited salvation for any. And then it is of no            The Free Christian School Society at Edgerton,  Mimi.,
     use to talk about the other benefits. And notice that this           is in need of a. Principal to teach the four upper grades, 5,
                                                                          6, 7, and 8, for the next school term.
     too is actually the case with the Arminian view. The  Ar-                Please send applications to Board of Free Chr. School
     minian  does not simply teach that Christ. merited salvation,        Society, Edgerton, Minn., c/o H.  Miersma, Sec'y, R.R. 1,
     and that it is up to man to `accept the salvation which Christ       B o x   1 1 6 .



,


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   405

                                                                     more- and the contributions for the poor were taken
            DECENCY and ORDER                                        during the services. Further, it was felt that this was more
                                                                     .,proper since alms-giving is not something to be appended
                                                                     but rather belongs to the service. This is obviously also the
              The Lgbors of the Deacons                              position of our  Heideserg  Catechism which speaks of the
     "The office peculiar to the deacons is diligently to collect    proper observance of the Sabbath as consisting not only in
 alms (aalmoezen) and other contributions of charity (andere         "diligently frequenting the church of God to hear His Word,
 armengoederen) , and after mutual counsel; faithfully and           to use the sacraments, and publicly to call upon the Lord,"
 diligently to distribute the same to the poor as their needs        but also, "to contribute to the podr as becomes a Christian."
 may require it; to visit  &d comfort the distressed and  to,            Offerings `for the poor are to be distinquished from the
 exercise care that the alms are not  misdsed; of which they         offerings received for the regular expenses and needs of the
 shall render an account in consistory, and also (if anyone          church. What is contributed for the "budget" is not the same
 desires to be present) to the congregation, at such a time' as contributions for the poor. The latter' are gifts of love
 as  the consistory may see fit." (Art. 25, Church Order)            and need tiot necessarily be. in the form of money. Food and
     "We believe . . . . that there must be deacons . . . . that     clothing are as much needed by the poor as money'and oft
 the pdor and distressed may be relieved and comforted ac-           times -more so. Occasionally legacies of real estate and other
cording to their necessities." (Belgic  ConfeSsion,  Art. 30)        possessions are properly left to the deaconate to be disbursed
     "The deacon's offick is, namely, that they. in the first        to the poor. For this reason such gifts to charity are not
 place collect and preserve with the greatest fidelity and           necessarily given on Sunday or limited to offerings received
 diligence, ,the alms and goods which are given to the poor :        in the services.
 yea, to do their utmost endeavors, that many good means be             The task of the deacons is to  diligently  collect these
, procured for the relief of the poor.                               various contributions. Apparently this is not so  difficult in
     "The second part of their office consists in distribution,      times when there is little need for the poor and when there
 wherein are not only required discretion and prudence to            are great surpluses of goods as in our times. Expenditures
 bestow the alms only on objects of charity, but also cheer-         are' a't a minimum and through periodic collections the bal-
 fulness and simplicity to assist the poor with compassion and       ances in the Charity. Fund reveal continuous increases. Such
 hearty affection ; as the apostle requires, Romans, chapter         a situation, however, does not necessarily reflect diligence
 12; and II Corinthians, chapter 9. For which end it is very' on the part of  the deacons. It may be merely due to pros-
 beneficial, that they do not only administer relief to the          perous economic conditions and the result of many r&tine
 poor and indigent with external gifts, but also with com-           offerings where very little, if any, is disbursed. It may even
 fortable words from Scripture." (Form of Ordination of              be the lack of diligent distribzho~z  that creates these. surpluses.
 Elders and Deacons)                                                 The congregation may simply in routine manner give into
    -In the above quotations the task peculiar to the deacons        a fund and in some instances part of the offering may even
 is rather completely defined. Beautiful but also difficult are      be withheld since there is already a surplus and no immedi-
 the labors of these ministers of mercy. Beautiful they are          ate need. Such collecting, however, is not what is here
 because they are the labors of Christ, the perfect and heaven-      meant,
 ly High-priest and they are difficult labors because they are          Tp diligently collect alms means that the deacons must
 to be performed by sinful men in the midst of a sinful people.      see to it that only legitimate means are used through which
 We may distinquish this work into four parts:                       the needs of the poor are provided. Alms are gifts-of love
                                                                     and, therefore, are not to be gathered through various fund-
          a.  Collecti~ng   Alms   mid Gifts of Charity              raising schemes such as bazaars, suppers, auctions, etc. Nor
     If the task of co,llecting alms consisted merely in passing     should the Deaconate appeal to the government for aid  td
 the offering plate during the services of Divine worship, this      assist  its poor. No doubt it is true that as tax-payers the
 phase of the deacon's labor would be relatively simple. In          people of God are legally entitled to government relief but
 the churches today this has become more or less the estab-          this cannot be construed as a work of mercy. Better it is
 lished custom so that the major percentage. of gifts fo; the that God's people learn to discard their individualism and
 poor are received in this manner. Formerly a large table            cease to "look  .every  man on his own things' SO  that the
 was placed in the church where-upon the various gifts for           bond of unity in Christ may be more consciously felt and
 the poor were placed. Later, `following the Synod bf Dord-          there may be niore  readiness to "bear one another's burdens."
 recht in 1574,  the custom changed. The deacons stood by            The deacons are to use diligence as far as possible so that
 -the  door of the church and received the gifts for the poor        what is received for the poor is indeed the gifts of love and
 as the people departed after the service. Still later this was      if these are insufficient to meet the needs of the poor an
 again changed since as Voetius expressed it-no one could            important second step in this matter of diligence must be
 as conveniently pass it by  .arid the offerings brought in          taken.


      406                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER
      -
             That second step is to bring before the consciousness of    as these things exist, it will be necessary and very important
      the church the need and nature of gifts of. charity. It has        that the deacons use great diligence.
      been suggested that the deacons, too,, engage in a work similar       As it is the deacons are often  unjust19   criticised  when
      to the work of family visiting performed by the elders. This       they carry out the necessary investigation to rightly exkcute
      would not be improper if kept within its rightful limitation?.     their work. Certainly they must know somewhat of the cir-
      There is much room for instruction in the  spiriiual art of        cumstances before they can properly apportion the gifts
      giving. Another alternative is that the deacons report their       entrusted to their care. Of course, they must confine such
      deficits to the consistory and attention be given to these         investigation to its  .proper limitations and it must always'
      things in the ministry of the Word. It is important that we        be done in *the spirit of Christ as characterized by humility
      understand that our gifts to aid the poor and distressed of        and love. Even then, however, there are always people who
      God's people ought to assume the nature of thankofferings.         expect hand-outs without disclosing any information con-
      Such is the underlying idea of 11 Corinthians 8 and 9. It is       cerning their circumstances and when they are requested to
      only out of gratitude to God for the great gift of His love,       honestly present their needs they become bitter and resentful
      Christ Jesus,- and in Him the fulness of salvation that we         and express the same toward the minis'ters of mercy  .who
      can properly be disposed to assist those that are afflicted and    have come to help them. Such attitudes are not reflections,
      in need. If this were more deeply  .understood there would         of grace but spring either from sinful pride or are an attempt
      be no need for the poor to suffer. The world, as expected,         to hide the truth concerning their real  circumstar,ces.  As
      is moved by humanitarian motives in helping its distressed.        long as such things exist the task of the deacon xvi11 not be
      Such, giving is often abundant but it is without mercy. The        an easy one. He, too, will sow the seeds. of mercy in tears.
      church is moved by Christian love and gratitude in her                Another thing that virtually makes much of this work
      giving and these are far more excellent. Let the deacons           of Christian mercy ol&olete in our day is the economic chatiges
      give diligence that those from whom they receive the gifts         of our advanced age coupled with the proud independence of
      of charity understand this for then it will also be  refle`cted    man and his refusal to recognize the church  as the only
      in the giving.                                                     proper administrator of mercy. In times past when there
                                                                         were seasons of unemployment, sickness, death, etc. in a
                         b.  Distribution of Charity                     family that created hardship and want or when such things
             It is here that the deacons encounter one of the most       as fires, earthquakes, floods, pestilences, drought, tornadoes,
      serious difficulties of their task. They are to be faithful and    etc. occurred, the deacons would stand ready to aid and
      diligent in this work of distribution. On the one hand this        comfort the distressed and the latter felt keenly the need
      means that they are to see to if that the gifts of charity are     of their coming. This, in many instances, is no longer the
      not misused and given where there is no real need. -An gble        case. Today unemployment compensation, insurances of
      bodied man who has opportunity to work and provide bread           countless sorts,, social  securitieq,  etc. tend to replace the
      for his family but who manifests himself as a sluggard ought       deaconate. What formerly would be regarded as a disaster
      not to be fed by the deacons, Yet, his wife and little chil-       is now almost regarded as a blessing in disguise since the
      dren. who suffer in consequence of his evil laziness, ought        victim is able to reap more than he has lost. To the flesh
      not to be neglected. A man who is' able to purchase a new          the  mercies(  ?  ?) of the world prove to be more abundant
      automobile each. year or two, furnish his house with the           than the real mercies of Christ. The latter, reflected in the
      latest in luxury and entertainment but who neglects to pay         deacon&e, are not desired but the former are considered
      his Christian School tuition is no object of charity. That man     indispensable. The poor widows in `Acts 6 could not be
      needs sound instruction in the Word, abundant grace of the         directed to some government agency and their deceased hus-
      Spirit and not more money. So the deacons must be diligent         bands left them no nest-egg in insurance benefits. Their need
      for they, too, must give account of their distribution. On         necessitated. the deaconate but today one wonders whether
      the other hand, they `do not have to wait to bestow help until     it is still "necessary to serve tables" or whether there are
      there are circumstances of dire want and deep suffering.           still "tables left to `serve."
      Aid in smaller quantities in time may often prevent much                                (D.V. to be continued)            G.V.D.B.
.'    greater needs later. But the difficulty for the deacons lies
      in the fact that often those who really have need are the most                             IN MEMORIAM
      reluctant to request it while those who are not in the least         The  Eunice Society  of  First Protestant  Reformed Church of
      entitled to charity are very bold to demand it. Such sinful-       Grand Rapids,  Mich., mourns the loss of one of its members,
      ness, sad to say, is often found in the church and it is this                          MISS  JkNNIE  KUIPER
      factor that makes this labor so difficult and frequently occa-     &ho went to her Eternal Rest April 10.
      sions considerable unjust critic&m. If only greed, selfishness       We express our sympathy to the family.
      and pride could be rooted from the human nature, the work            Hebrews 4 vs. 9: "There remaineth therefore a rest to the
      of  Christian mercy would assume an altogether different people of God."
      character and be met with greater appreciation. But as long                                          Mrs. R. H. Mever. President
                                                                                                           Mrs. George  S$x;yt, Secretary


                                                                  _    ._  -;:  "
                                                                               :'_... <?.i    :.  ..`
                                                                                                   -$A,.    -                      `.     -                   _'

                                                            .

                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                           4 0 7
                                        -

                                                                         sives sent to Rev. A. Cammenga and Mr. Fred  LaGrange
               A L L   A R O U N D   U S                                 I cannot aflirm  or deny because I do not know the particu-
                                                                         lars. But:if you want to talk about a "good conscience" Rev..
                                                                         Howerzyl, my question tq you is : how can one who is no
    The  Court and the  Chawch  PropeTty.                                longer a missionary of the Protestant Reformed  Chur+ea
       In the last issue of the StandaPd'Bewev  we began a quo-          and has -become a schismatic minister of a schismatic group
    tation of an article written by the Rev. J. Howerzyl. in the         of people with good conscience continue to live for nothing
    Reformed  G~ztardian   on the subject noted above. We closed         in a missionary home that belongs not to his people nor to
    our article with a rather lengthy quotation on which we wish         him  ? Who  ever  heard of a Protestant Reformed minister,
    to  make some reflectidns  now. The reader may refer to the          pastor of a Protestant Reformed Church,  liviig   iti- a house            i
    last issue for this quotation.                                      `that belongs to a stranger_ while he offers' not to pay one
       Rev.  Hbwerzyl tells his readers that several court trials        cent of rent and the owner repeatedly asks him to move out?
    are pending, one of which. has to do witli the properties of         Does Rev. Cammenga believe that the group he represents
    the Second Prot. Ref. Church now held by the Blankespodr             suddenly became the owner3 of the house he lives in simply
    group. I am going to pass this part of the quotation up for         because he happened to be living there when he became
    the time being because in a later Refowted  Guardian  (May           schismatic ? That is so ridiculous that there are no wbrds to
    10, 1956) the Rev. Blankespoor also writes about this case.          describe it. And then you get hot and bothered when the
    The next time, the Lord willing, I am going to write about           Rev. Cammenga gets a letter commanding him to get `out ?
    that article and Rev. Howerzyl's article will be answered at         Please don't talk about a. good conscience any more. $i
    the same time.                                                                   Finally, you are correct when you tell your readers that
       He also  w-rites about the case at  Edgerton  where a de-         Redlands and Hull will also be in court. in the near future.
    cision is being appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court.            Ali because you and your group do  not  -have  g good con-
    Concerning this case the Rev. Howerzyl further writes: "I            science. All because you and your. group force this litiga-
    know that compromise and arbitration attempts have been             tion. You write as though the' group initiating all "these law                  -'
    met with flat refusal in the past. We need only cite.the un-         suits finds a certain delight in hanging out a dirty washing
    willingness shown in. the Edgerton  case, where our people          on the line, "the dirty linen of an ecclesiastical family
    leaned over backward, offering the Veldman group a prop-             quarrel." This is the farthest from the truth. The truth is
 ~  erty worth probably  $50,000.00  for some  $12,00@00  if they       that you and your group have lost your conscience of, doing
    preferred, or offering to pay them some $lZ,OOO'if  they wotild     what `is right. Yiju force all .these  litigations by your illegal
    relinquish the claim-they to take the- choice. This, of              seizure of properties that rightly belong to others. And
    course,. was turned down."                                          when it is a question of what is right or wrong. you must not
       I have it on good authority that that "leaning over back-        talk about "compromise" as you do in the remainder of
   ward" was not as far backward as the Rev. Howerzyl would             your article.
    have  his readers think. It does not make for much strain             i t "`Personally we would  -still  suggesj~  a compromise  OS
    on one's back when he tries to make an out-of-court settle-          some kind in all <these  matters. And we ask in all sincerity,
    ment for properties that rightly belong to somebody else. I          `Would not a compromise of some kind on,  ..th&  synodical
    am told that the Articles of Incorporation in Edgerton  speak       and the classical and -the local level be possible even at this
    in clear language whose shall be the property, and a good           late date ?
    conscience' would demand that these articles be enforced.                        "`I know  .that compromise and arbitration attempts have
    Besides, a good conscience would demand that not only               been met with flat refusal in the past . . . . So we know Bisb
Howerzyl but the De Boer group acknowledge several                      that in the case of Hull a compromise offei-  for out-of-court
    things : how by stealth and trickery they confiscated the           settlement was also offered and refused. In  vi&w of these
    properties  ; how, while they were fighting for  the name           `discouragements it would -perhaps  seem futile and foolish to
~. . "Protestant Reformed" in a worldly court, members of their attempt something like this again.
    following expressed open disdain of this name. We are                            "Yet we say : Could not some compromise ysettlement  be
    told that eyen Rev. De Boer at one time said that he was            offered and agreed upon which would take into considera-
    seriously considering joining another church. And how               tion name, archives, impounded money and property both
    about the Protestant Reformed School  iti Edgerton? When            east and west?                                        :
    that project was abandoned by the De Boer group and their                        "Perhaps this suggestion of a compromise how would be
    children sent to a Christian Reformed School, good conscience       hardly fair to our people in Fuller Avenue,  o&ted from
    would dictate  that they admit that they were not Prot-             their property. `But it seems to me that this exactly gives
    estant Reformed and do not intend to be. And then talk              the possibility of a compromise settlement more power at the
    about "leaning over  backward,>' to make a fair settlement          present time. By this I mean that development' which the
    for the property - that's a scream !                                 decision of the Michigan Courts has forced. upon the in-
       Concerriing what Howerzyl writes respecting the  mis-             dividual churches in #the east if. they are *to continue their


                 4      0      8             .&m"..`          T H E   S T A N D A R D   Bti'ky&

                 defense of their properties. That is an appeal to the decision       to do is see to it that we get our properties back. It's as
                 of the broadest gathering: Synod. .Now it must be evident            simple a's that !" The man became so flustered with anger
                 that, just as in this case, no legal body is  really  competent      that he could not remember immediately where he had
                to judge the question and decide which of our divided gather-         parked his car..
                ings was the legal continuation of  fhe Synod of the Protestant           So I would say to Rkv. Howerzyl and all who. are of like
                Reformed' Churches. But in view of the fact that in  the              mind' with him, YOU must never do anything against your
                 Fuller Avenue case the Hoeksema group has won a property             conscience. And if your conscience bothers you so much
       .-       valued probably at some half a million dollars, besides some          that you have to go into court to fight jar the properties, the
                $30,000.00  in cash, a property which is probably more valu-          simple way out is to give %he properties back to us to whom
                able than all the rest of the church property together-the            they rightfully belong.
                possibility of a compromise settlement might look more at-                But a compromise deal is  as. Silly as you can make it.
                tractive.  Fix if  ttie entire matter is once again thrown into       Suppose, Rev. Howerzyl, that some evening when you are
                court and .a defense is made of our Synod being the legal
.                                                                                     sitting in your home with your wife and children that a
                continuing Synod  - then even the victory in the Fuller               man comes walking into the room where you are sitting and
                Avenue case would be jeopardized for the Hoeksema group.              orders you to get out of the house. He informs you that
                 Sb whether or not these items listed here are correct-why            from now on he is going to take over. YOU will have nothing
                not try. Because far more important in the enfire  matter is,         to say about it. Don't you think that you would pick up the
                of course, the fact that this is the way of the Church and the        nearest, chair and hit him over the head if you could ? I think
                way. of Christ.                                                       you would. You would defend your property to the very
                      "Personally, win or lose, I have been sick in my soul and       last. But suppose that. you protested against his threats, and
                tired of church matters in the worldly courts from before the         after a while the man sits down and.say  to you, "well, 1'11
                time they have begun. Others may enjoy parading these                 tell you what  I'll do with you. Let's compromise. You
                things before the worldly courts, may enjoy the mental gym-           take half and I'll take half." Wouldn't you still take up the
                nastics of sparring with lawyers, but I cannot. If necessary          chair and hit him on the head ?' I think you tiould.
                I can do this but I detest the whole business. These matters
                in court are not edifying and, win or l&e, they do not -help             What you people have done to us amounts to the same
                neither serve the cause of Christ. To hang out dirty washing          thing. First, you tell us to get off from our properties. And
                                                                                      i&s we had to do by for&. You locked us out. And now
        : '     on the line, the dirty linen of an ecclesiasitdal  family quarrel,
.,.                                                                                   when we try to get the law to open the locks and let us
`_              causes only the devil and the world to rejoice.
                      "So we say again, would not a compromise settlement             in again you come with this silly compromise thing and say
               - of some kind, on the synodical  and the classical but also on        to us, "Let's settle out-of-court. Let's divide fifty-fifty." Isn't
               -  a local level be possible even at this late date. Personally        that the most ridiculous thing you ever heard of? And then
                we stand open toi< discuss. and enter into such a discussion          talk about your conscience bothering you. I should think it
               ,-aiways.  *                                                           would. But I would like to help you have a good conscience.
                      ,"And to underscore -the whole matter, in the final analysis    So -I `suggest to you that you tell your people all along the
               property in the church of Christ is of lesser significance.            line to give us back our properties, and then let each go his
                We would rather have a free conscience than all the property          own way. If you don't want to do that, I cannot believe
                of the  chuyches. We must at all costs avoid  .the obtaining          that you want a good conscience. Then there is only one
                of property while murdering our consciences to do so."                alternative for us, and that is to hang up your dirty wash
                  When ,I read this I was reminded of a conversation one              so that all the world may see it.
                of  oiu- ministers had recently with an individual of  one. of                                                                    M S .
               -the schismatic groups whom he met in a grocery store. The
                man said to the minister, "So, here we are buying groceries`
                together. in the same store, but we cannot go to the same                                     IN MEMORIAM
                church to&ether, atid .worse yet, now' we will have to go to
                court  to&her." The minister said, "You do not like to go               The Ladies' Aid Society of the Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                                      of Edgerton, Minnesota, hereby' wishes to express its heartfelt
                to court ?" "Oh, no !" said the man, "that's all wrong, that's        sympathy to Mrs. Steve Broekhuis in the death of her Mother
               all wrong  !". "Oh, said  the minister, "so that's all wrong to
                go to court, eh ?' "Oh, yes, yes !" said the man, "that's all                             MRS.  MATTIE  FEIKEMA
                wrong, we should never do that." "Well then," said the                on May 2, 1956.
                minister, "if its wrong to go to court, you must never go               May  obr Heavenly Father comfort the bereaved and may we
               there, man.. But you want us to go there ? You want us to              at all times put our trust in Him.
                do what you think is wrong ? I'll tell you what you must do                                            Rev. H. Veldman, President
                then'that will keep us both of out of court.  411 you have                                          Mrs. J. Brummel, Secretary


