    VOLUME   XXX111                         NOVEMBER 15,  1956  - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                 NUMBER  4

                                                                       Leprosy !
             M E D I T A T I O N                                       The fitting picture of sin!
                                                                       That this is so is plain, first, from its rigorous segregation
         THE WONDROUS CURE OF THE LEPER                             and the pronouncement of uncleanness. Second, by Isaiah
                                                                    1:  6 : "From the  soul  of the foot even unto the head there
             "And there came a leper to Him, beseeching Him, and    is no soundness in it : but wounds and  .bruises, and  putrify-
              saying unto Him, If Thou wilt, Thou  canst make       ing sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up,
              me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put       neither mollified with ointment." For even if here is  no
              forth His hand, and touched him, and saith unto       mention of leprosy as such, yet it is a description of physical
              him, I will; be thou clean. And as soon as He had     and loathsome disease, and from the context it is plain that
              spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him,    it is at the same time a description of the sin of Israel. Third,
              and he was cleansed." Mark  1:40-42.                  all miracles are signs. And signs are the use of the earthly,
                                                                    physical and temporal in order to describe the heavenly,
    Leprosy is one of the most dreadful diseases known.             spiritual and eternal, either positively or negatively. Here,
    In appearance, first, the hairs turn white, later also the      of course, the negative aspect of the Kingdom of Heaven is
skin.                                                               stressed: the leprosy of sin.          -
    Still later, the skin of the whole body is covered with            How fitting a sign !
wart-like, filthy nodules, and spots that seem deeper than           . Even as sin, so leprosy attacks the whole man. It follows
the skin.                                                           a process from bad to worse. Its power is putrifying, de-
    In advanced cases there is the appearance of rotteness.         grading, killing. It is the horrible process alluded to by
                                                                    Paul: from death unto death.
    In effect, it is a living death.                                   In it there is a prophecy of second death, of deepest hell:
    The whole physique of man is affected so. that soon the         they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh : Isa. 66  :24b.
joints rot away, the mind becomes diseased also, and the final
results are that the limbs fall off: fingers, toes, forearms,                                  * * *  *
legs.
    Until the vitals are touched and death follows.                    Now let  us  look at this unhappy, and yet so blessed
    This frightful disease proceeds from bad to worse: a            mortal who is denominated here simply as a  leper.
filthy process of a living death.                                      The fame of Jesus had reached him. The winged words
 Usually segregation is  practised,  with respect to the un-        of. Jesus had touched his heart: of that there can be no
happy beings who are prey to this disease, in almost all            doubt at all,
countries. This was certainly the case in Israel. They were            He saw the multitude and must have heard the explana-
judged to be unclean from the moment the priest would dis-          tion: Jesus of Nazareth is passing here.
cover it until the day of their death. Rigorous laws applied           He came to the multitude: you may be sure that a wide
to both leprosy and the lepers. And the unhappy persons             pathway was made for him. He must have been an awful
who had this disease had to enforce solitude themselves. At         spectacle. Luke tells us that he was full of leprosy, and
the approach of a healthy being they had to cry out aloud:          therefore, he had reached the final stage of this living death.
Unclean ! Unclean !                                                 Nothing short of a miracle could save him.
    Pity the leper!                                                    A little while ago I said that this man's heart was touched

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

by the words of Jesus. Of that there can be no doubt. Just               Well, dear reader, that is exactly what God did.. In all
watch him !                                                          our afflictions He was afflicted ! And that`is the cross of our
      He came to Jesus.                                              dear Lord Jesus.       .
                                                                         Proof  ?
      He knelt down and worshipped.
                                                                         Watch Him ! He put. forth His hand and touched him !
      He confessed His Deity : "If Thou wilt  !"                     It is expressly stated by the Holy Ghost. The.Spirit writes
  Let  us learn some practical lessons here.                         here in italics.
      You  leprous sinner  : you must come to Jesus.. For He             It was contrary to all laws : Jesus might not touch him.
is the only resort for the leprosy of sin. And you niust come        If and when He did He was deemed unclean.
to Him just as you  `are : a leper not only, but full of leprosy.        Yes, a thousand times yes, He did touch  us and our
      Second, you-must come to Him as the only leper through         leprosy. And He became the great Leper Himself. Here you
the multitude. And let me add : it is one of the most wonder-.       see the deepest love of God, Himself bore our diseases.
ful earmarks of grace. That is actually so with you when                 I will, be thou clean!
and if grace has touched your hard heart: Then it seems as
though there is only  0,NE  sinner left on the earth, and that           Where is free-will ? Where is the  prom1  Pelagian? Where
ONE is you! Then you say with Paul: I am the CHIEF                   is the man who can do something unto his salvation  ?
of sinners  ! And with the  publican  : Be merciful to me, THE           Let me say it with much emphasis : if nothing happens
sinner !                                                             with you or me, we stay in our frightful estate of spiritual
      Thircl, you must come to Jesus in self-loathing. That          leprosy. And we go to hell.
means that you know the character of your sin, the hideous-              Where is the hater of election  ancl reprobation? Where
ness of your sin, the contagion of your sin: you cry: Un-            are the proud people who will not hear of an eternal
clean! Unclean! Yes, it means that you confess your sin to           predestination  ? Of a God who alone decided who shall  go.
God, and before the face of man.                                     to heaven and who shall  go. to hell  ?
      Fourth, you come to Jesus as unto God: kneeling down,              Let them listen to this one statement, and shudder: I
worshipping God and confessing God. And realizing that               will, be thou clean! Let them attend to the undeniable truth
deep down. deep clown, Jesus is God Himself, you say, casting        that not all lepers were cleansed. Neither are all men elect.
yourself in the arms of God's omnipotence, you say: IF               God knows who are His.
.THOU  WILT !
                            :,: *  *  *                                  Christ Himself taught this truth. Attencl unto His first
                                                                     appearance in Nazareth as the great Gospel Preacher.  He
      Now look strongly on Jesus.                                    pointed to the fact that there were many widows in Israel
      He allows this wretch to kneel unto Him, to worship            at the times of  Elias, but this prophet was sent only to the  i
Him, and to confess His Deity. Let this stop the mouth of            widow of Serepta, a heathen woman. And the same truth is
the horrible people who deny that  Jesus  is God Himself.            alluded to when Jesus  tolcl them of Nazareth about the
Allow me to state, as in an aside, that if we do not believe the.    curing of  Naaman, the Syrian. At that clay the people did
Deity of Jesus, we cannot be saved.                                  not like God's predestination either.
      Look strongly on Jesus: He was moved with compas-                  B,ut watch Jesus and His wondrous works.
sion !                                                                   We read that  iwwzediately   after He spoke His words to
      Dear reader: this is the sweetest note of the everlasting      the leper: I will be thou clean, the leprosy left him. ,
Gospel. God is filled with compassion for  us? His poor                  If you were to speak dogmatically. and `apply this miracle
children.                                                            to its spiritual counterpart, you  would  say : the man was born
      Compassion is love of God for the object of His love in        again, and afterward, he was  convertecl : faith was given him.
the midst of misery.
      There is a faint shadow of this wondrous compassion
among us, sinners.                                                       Kneel to Jesus; worship Him; confess Him as the Son
      Did you ever watch a loving mother, bending over the           of God who came to  LZS with healing in His wings.
crib of her tender infant which  is in the midst of the convul-          And Christ has touched you and will touch you, and will
sions of a dreadful disease ? Did you ever listen to such a          continue to touch  youI until all the leprosy of sin is gone and
mother in such a straight? Yes, you do see tears, but listen         you are cleansed completely in body and soul.
to her groaning, yearning sighs. That is compassion. That
mother would gladly take all the misery of her little darling            But for that final touch we must wait until the last day.
on herself, multiplied ten times.                                     _ Then the Lord Jesus shall touch both heaven and earth,


                                                  ` T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                       75

and all the elect, and then shall be fulfilled that which we
read in Revelation 21  :5 :  `.`Behold,  I  make  all things new  !"                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
    The initial touch is given                                                    Semi-1lw&zly,  except  monhly   dv&g   .TWZO,  July  and August
                                      us  in our rebirth, our regenera-
tion.                                                                               Published by the  RBORMED  FREE  PUBLISKINC   A&OCIAT~~N
                                                                                  P. 0.  B,ox  S81, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
    The continual touch is given  us  in daily conversion: also                                      Editor  - REV. HERMAN  HOEKSEMA
that'&  a work of Jesus, of God.                                                  Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
    That touch cleanses our lives in sanctification' from day                     H. Hoeksema,  1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
to day.                                                                           All matters relative to subscriptions should be address&  t@Mr.
                                                                                  G: Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand  Rapids  7, Michigan.
    But all of the foregoing is but a little  principlk.                          Announcem.ents and Obituaries must  she mailed to the above
                                                                                  address  aud will be published at a  fee.of $1.00 for each notice.
    It  must wait for the final cleansing of the last day of                      RENEWALS:   Unless a definite request for discontinuance is  re.1
Jesus.                                                                            ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                                  to continue  withbut  the -formality of a renewal order.
    The principle is  /so small that the world doubts our                                              Subscription price: $4.00 per year
cleansing, as does the devil and his  kngdom. Yes, it is so
sulall that we ourselves also doubt it sometimes. But that                        Eutcr-ed,_as   Second   Ck.ss  rrlattev   a t   G r a n d   Ra.pids,  Michigarr
is sin.
   The difference is  great.                                                                                    C O N T E N T S
    "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things                  MI~DITATI~N  -                                    d
are passed away  ;  beholcl, all things are become new." II                           The Wondrous Core ocf the Leper.. . . . . . , . . . , . , . . . . , . . . . .73
Cor. 5  :17.             '
                '                                                                          R e v .   G .   V o s
    Oh,  hotv different the world became to this poor leper,                    EUITOR~ALS -
after Jesus had touched  him.                                                         Unbiblical Divorce and Remarriage.. . . . . . . . . . . . .  :. . , . .  .7G
                                                                                      Election and Reprobation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  i  .76
    Oh, how different this wicked world is to  us,  aft&                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema
Jesus has touched  us  and  kade  us  His living church.
    The leper went to his home, rejoicing.                                      As TO BOOKS-
                                                                                      Expositocy Outlines  on the Whole Bible by Charles  S&eon.  .77
    We go to heaven, singing !                                                        Profeten Spiegel  <by Rev. Chr. W. J. Teeuwen. . . . . . . . . . .  .78
                                                                     G.V.             De Filosofie van de Onbekende God by J. M. Spier.. . . . . .  .78
                                                                                            Rev.  H.`Hoeksema
                                  .-                                            OUR DOCTRINE -
                                                                                      The Book of `Revelation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
         LET  A&L EXALT JEHOVAH'S GOODNESS                                                  Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                                                                THE DAY OF  SHADOWS-
                     Let all exalt Jehovah's  gobdness,                               The Prophecy of  Zechariah................................8'2
                     For  most compassionate is He;                                         Rev. G. M. Ophoff
                     His'mercy, excellent in  fulness.                          FROM HOLY  WRIT-
                     Endureth to eternity.         '                                  Exposition of I Corinthians 1-4  i23). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .%I
                                                                                            Rev. G. Lubbers
                     Let Israel praise Jehovah's goodness,
                     And say, Exalt His majesty  ;                              IN HIS  FUR-
                     His mercy, excellent in fulness,                                 Giving in His  Fe+r (3). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .S7
                                                                                            Rev. J. A. Heys
                     Endureth to eternity.
                                                                                CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH  -
                     Jehovah is  my strength and tower,                               Ttie Church and ,the Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ij9
                     He is  my happiness and song  ;                                        Rev. H.  Veldman
                     He saved  me in the trying hour,                           THY  VOICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS-                     -
                     Hence shall  my mouth His praise prolong.                        The Exposition  ,of the Canons of Dordrecht.. . . . . . . . . . . . .  .91                         ,
                     The voice of gladness and salvation                                    Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
                     Is in the tents of righteousness  ;                        ALL AROUND  Us-
                     There do they sing with adoration,                               Accepting Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
                     The Lord's hand is strong to bless.                             "Mission Activity in the  Pro&. Ref. Churches". . . . . . . . . . . . .  .94
                                                                                           ~Rev.  M .   Schipper
                                                                           ,
                                                          Psalm  118:1,  i


76                                            T-HE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                     The question now is whether this is true.
             E D I T O R I A L S                                       Can we say, on the basis of Scripture, that the bond of
                                                                   marriage can ever be broken and that, in fact, it is broken by
                                                                   the act of adultery by either or by both the parties in
         Unbiblical Divorce and Remarriage                         marriage?
      We must now call attention to the woman that is for-            This is the position taken by the  majority,1 think, in the
saken by her husband or divorced, not on the ground of             church, also in the Christian Reformed Church, that do not
adultery May she remarry ?                                         agree with the stand taken by its last synod. Adultery is the
      According to the committee that reported to the Synod        breaking of the marriage tie and, therefore, the innocent
of the Christian Reformed Church in 1932, she may only             party may marry again.
after her first husband has remarried, for then he committed          Formerly, this was my stand also.
adultery and the woman is free to marry again. She com-               However, further study of Holy Writ convinced me that
mits no adultery when she does so.                                 this is not true. Scripture, to my opinion, teaches rather
      This really  ~touches the heart of the matter.               plainly that the marriage tie can never be broken, not even
                                                                   by the act of adultery.  m Separation, even before the civil  law:
      For this concerns the question whether the innocent part     may be possible and allowable in the case of adultery. But
may remarry.                                                       even if before the civil law the marriage bond is broken so
      This was not the question as long as the man that had        that the divorced parties may marry again, before God this
forsaken his wife that was not guilty of adultery was the          can never be the case. Adultery is certainly a violation  .of
object of the discussion, He was guilty of an unbiblical           the sacred bond of marriage, but it is not the breaking of
divorce to begin with.  And*the committee of 1932 advised,         the tie, according to Scripture.
that `he could not remarry unless the wife that was thus              This is my conviction.                       <" .-
divorce> would remarry first. For then, according to the              And the reasons and grounds for this conviction I hope,
committee, she committed adultery, and by this act the first       the Lord willing, to set forth next time:
husband, even though he was the original guilty  party,< be-                                                                  H . H .
came free to marry again. This, therefore, did not raise
the, question in its pure form whether the innocent party
may marry again, for the man was guilty in the first place
of an unbiblical divorce, whether or not he married again.                       Election and Reprobation
      But, in the case of the divorced woman this is different.       Do the passages of Scripture to which Berkouwer. refers
      She did not commit the, sin of adultery. She did not com-    in connection with the question of man's self-hardening and
mit the sin of unbiblical divorce  ; her husband did. She is,      God's hardening his heart have nothing to do with election
therefore, wholly innocent as far as the divorce is concerned.     and reprobation, as Berkouwer would have it?
May she, then, not remarry ?                                         Is it true, according to Scripture, that man's self-hardening
 According, to the committee mentioned above, she may not          is first and that God's hardening of his heart follows and is
remarry as long as her first husband did not marry  again-         simply a judgment of God on this self-hardening on the part
Only when he is married again may the innocent woman               of man?
also remarry for, in that case, he added the sin of adultery          Let us examine these passages a little more closely.
to that of merely forsaking his wife.                                 To the case of Pharaoh it is not necessary to call attention
      There is one good element in this proposition of the com-    at great length since I referred to this before: I only wish
mittee regarding the remarriage of the innocent party or, at       to remind the reader that: 1.. Scripture speaks  much- more
least of the innocent woman. It is this, that, evidently, they     frequently of God's -hardening Pharaoh's heart than of
proceed from the standpoint that only adultery can break           Pharaoh hardening his own heart, and 2. It speaks of God's
the marriage tie. In this respect, the Synod of the Christian      hardening the king's heart  firs?. When Moses was called to
Reformed Church of 1956 proceeded far beyond the com-              deliver Israel out of the house of bondage, some time before
mittee of 1932. They simply threw the doors wide open.             he returns to Egypt and reaches Pharaoh, the Lord said
Any divorced party, guilty of adultery or not, that. is re-        unto him: "When thou goest to return into Egypt, see. that
married, is `legally married, not only before the laws of the      thou doest all these wonders before Pharaoh, which  I have
state, but also before the face of God. Any legal divorce,         put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall
according to the last synod, breaks the marriage tie before        not  let. the people  go." Ex.  4:21.  It is true, of course,
God so that, if the party divorced remarries, he or she does       that Pharaoh also hardens his own heart, but it is  no?&-ue
not commit adultery. But this, evidently, was not the stand        that, according to Scripture, the king was first. God is
of the committee of 1932. They-proceeded on the basis of the       sovereign. He is always first, even in the hardening of the
principle that adultery, and this only, can and does break         sinner's heart. How otherwise would Berkouwer  explain-
the marriage tie.                                                  Rom. 9 :15-18 : "For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                77

whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on              ing to all Scripture (cf., for instance, Rom. 9) does not
whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that         proceed from' God's eternal counsel of reprobation.
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth                4.    But there is still more. Not only does it plainly follow
mercy. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for from the above quoted passage that the reference is to the
this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew         wicked and reprobate shell of the people of Israel, and that
my power in thee, and that my name might be declared               God would never allow His efficacious Word to have this
throughout  all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom         hardening and damning effect upon anyone else than the
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." This           reprobate, but the context also rather plainly refers to the
passage, I noticed, Berkouwer scrupulously avoided, but I          remnant according to election in distinction from the re-
would like to see his interpretation of it.                        probate shell. For when Isaiah, in evident consternation
   The other passages to which Berkouwer refers are Isa.           asks "How long, Lord," the Lord answered: "Until the
6:9, 10; Matt. 13 :lO-17; Mark  4:10-12;  John  12:37-40.          cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without
   The passage in Isa. 6 reads as follows : "And he said, Go,      man, and the land be utterly desolate. And the Lord have
$and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and     removed men far away, and there be .a great forsaking in
see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this            the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes,        shall return, and shall be eaten  ; as a teil tree, and as an oak,
lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and -whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves : so
understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed."          the holy seed shall be the substance thereof."
  Berkouwer does not exegete this passage. He merely finds               This certainly refers to election and to the remnant ac-
it incomprehensible how anyone can find in these words a           cording to the election of grace. Not all of Israel shall
reference to election and reprobation or a description of the      perish, although they shall be removed faraway. A remnant
hardening of the sinner according to the eternal counsel of        shall return, a tenth. And if this tenth shall be subject to, the
reprobation. I, on the other hand, find it incomprehensible        destruction of the enemy, yet, as a tree whose root remains
how a Reformed dogmatician can find anything else in these         alive in the ground, so the people of Israel shall never en-
words. Note :                                                      tirely perish. This is impossible because "the holy seed" is
   1.    That in these words we have the powerful Word of          the substance of that nation. That holy seed  is,  as we know,
God. It is God who gives this injunction to his prophet.           centrally the Christ and with Him all that the Father has
The injunction is that he must tell the people that they must;     given Him, i.e. the elect.
hear and see without understanding and perceiving  ; that he             .Although,  therefore, it may be granted Berkouwer that
must make the heart of the people fat, their ears heavy and        the  passage.of  Isa. 6 does not mention election and reproba-
close their eyes. All this must be done through the preaching      tion, yet I maintain that the whole text is, nevertheless, in
of Isaiah. We understand, however, that this can never be          the light of all Scripture, based upon the truth of God's
accomplished through the word of mere  -man. If this is the        eternal predestination.
effect of the Word of Isaiah, it is only because God speaks              And I confess that, even as it is incomprehensible to him
through His Word. And the powerful Word of God is                  how anyone can elicit the doctrine of reprobation from the
either unto salvation or unto damnation, unto the softening        text in Isa. 6, so I fail to understand how any Reformed
of the heart or unto his hardening. And this softening or          dogmatician and exegete can fail to `find that this truth,
hardening  ,is not in man's power. Man, even though he is          nevertheless, lies at the very basis of this passage.
responsible and receives the -Word of God as a rational  and.                                                                    H.H.
moral being, does not have the power either to soften or to
harden his own heart. This is effected by the Word of God.
   2. That God's purpose it is, through the preaching of           I/                    AS i0 BOOKS                                 -II
Isaiah, by His powerful Word, to harden and not to soften
the hearts of the people to whom reference is made in the
passage. He, Isaiah, in the service of the powerful Word of              Erfios-itory Outlines  opt  the Whole Bible,  by Charles
-God, must make their hearts fat, shut their ears and close        Simeon. Published by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand
their eyes, that thus their hearts may be hardened.                Rapids,  Mich. Price per volume $3.95. Ten dollars less for
   3. And the ultimate purpose of this preaching and of            the whole set if ordered before December 31, 1956.
this always powerful arid efficacious Word of God is that                We perused the volumes on Proverbs and Isaiah-Malachi.
they do not turn, be converted and healed. This is Scrip-          The remarks I made on this work before still apply. In
ture. Now, although it is true that the term reprobation and       general, I have great respect for the work of Simeon and I
reprobate is not used, I like to ask Berkouwer whether, in         recommend it to our readers. Simeon tries to adhere to the
the light of all Scripture, this language could ever be applied    text which he exegetes which is one of the chief virtues of
to anyone else. And I also would like to ask him whether           the exegete of Scripture. Besides, he offers many doctrinal
this hardening effect of the efficacious Word of God,  accord-     and practical remarks which are, generally quite sound and


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    `78                                            T H E   STANDA.R-D   B E A R E R

    valuable.' Hence, I certainly may recommend this work to                study, and, moreover,  f&r those that like to study problems of
    the reader.                                                             philosophy and are somewhat acquainted with recent  philo-
           In closing, I wish to make  tzc remarks which, I believe,        sophy in Germany.
    I have made before.                                                        We know that the Rev. Spier has interested himself from
           1. The work of Simeon is not a complete commentary               the start in the philosophy of  Dooyetieerd.  He is also  rathe;
    in the sense that he  e,xplains  every verse of the book or             interested in Barth and in the recent development in  Ger-
    passage he exegetes. Many texts and portions he omits. Yet,             many. In this book he discusses the philosophy of Karl
    on the whole the reader will  find sufficient, material in these        Jaspers. He first offers, in several chapters, a presentation
    volumes to help him in his study of Scripture.                          of the ideas of this philosopher in order then, in the last
           2. When I write that I recommend this work, this must            chapter to  express  the judgment of others as well as of  him-
    not be understood to mean that I agree with every part  of              self and close with a critical conclusion.
    the interpretation Simeon offers. In the first place, to say               The Rev. Spier appears to be thoroughly aquainted with
    t'his I would have  to, have made a detailed  study of the              his subject, he writes clearly and from' a Scriptural and
    work, which is quite impossible in regard to a work of this             Christian viewpoint. As such, I recommend the book to all
    nature. And, secondly, I do not agree with every item of                that are interested in  problems  of the nature mentioned
    Sirneon's  interpretation, as I remarked before. Thus,  fdr  above.                                                                 H.H,
                                                                                                                                        -,. ; . .
    instance, when Simeon writes on Daniel VII on  `Yhe   destruc-                                                            `n-1-`-
    tion- of popery" and when he makes of the "little horn"
    mentioned in this chapter, the papal- hierarchy, I do not                       Report of the Ladies' League meeting
    agree.                                                                           held Oct. 25, 1956, at First Prot. Ref. Church.
           All this, however, does not detract from my respect for
    the work of Simeon and from my readiness to recommend                      Mrs. Tom Van Eenanam played the piano  .prelude  and
    it to our readers.                                                      also for the group singing. We  -sang Psalter  N~...`151   +nd
                                                                  H.H.      Dutch Psalm No. 42 verse 1.
                                                                               Our President, Mrs. Harbin read I Peter Chapter 2 and
           Pf;oofeten   Sp,iege2,  by the Rev. Chr. W. J. Teeuwen.  Pub-    led the meeting in prayer. She gave word of welcome to all
    lished by J. H. Kok, Kampen, the Netherlands. Price f 3.75.             the ladies present. We were favored-with a musical  number-
           In  this book we find a brief description of the prophets        entitled "I  K&W   Whom I Have Believed" by a double trio
    of Scripture  .from Moses to Malachi. It is very interesting,           from Fourth Church.
    to say the least, and I gladly recommend this  ,work of                    Our speaker for the evening, student A. Mulder was
    Teeuwen to all that  dre still able to read and enjoy the               introduced and he spoke to us  .oti The Implication of Our
    Holland language. There are some expressions in the book                Personal Confession, quote "I believe" unquote. This was
    which. I would consider almost slang, but I suppose this is             based on Heb. 11. He told us that the place of woman
    the way of "modern Dutch." Nevertheless, I feel that they               was subordinate to the man but the women has  an active
    do not belong in a book of this nature.                                 place in ecclesiastical order and with the new man can say as
                                                                                                                                               .,
           In  an introduction  the  Rev.  Teeuwen  explains  the  oc- loudly and clearly as man, "I believe."  His  mOtiW  In
    casion and origin of his writing this particular book. It  ap-          choosing this subject was to make the woman know that
    pears that some young people from families outside of the               when she professes, "I believe" it is  fret< the  lieart. It is
    church and that "lived on the edge of the church" were                  also important that we say this at all times, even in times of
    studying Scripture and, evidently, especially the prophets              unrest as we have just experienced. After this introduction
    mentioned in this book. They invited Teeuwen to put this                he divided his topic in three points.
    instruction in book form. The purpose of the  boo15 is to                  The Idea with its Implication.
    picture the prophet and to translate the actuality of his  mes-            This Earnest "I believe" with its  Obj,ect.
    sage in the language of our time.                                          This Expression with its Obligations.
           In this respect Teeuwen has, to my mind, succeeded  ad-             In the first place it implies spiritual consciousness which
    mirably.  I gladly recommend this book to our  Putch  readers.          includes  spiritual  delight and astonishment when God  im-
                                                                  H.H.      plants new life in the heart.
                                                                               In the second place it implies harmony. When the heart
           De Filosofie van de Onbekende God (The' Philosophy               thinks, it thinks the thoughts of God. Only the elect can
    of the Unknown God), by J.  -M. Spier. Published by J. H.               say "I believe" and the reprobate, "I believe in the devil."
    Kok, Kampen, the Netherlands. Price f 6.75.                             Our whole walk is in complete harmony with the will of
           This is a book of an entirely different nature than the one      God.
    discussed in the  preceeding  review. The former is popular                Thirdly it implies direction. I  beiieve in God. Our heart
    and can be read by anyone that can read Dutch, this is en-              confides in him because he is perfectly trustworthy.
    tirely the opposite. It is only-for those who are accustomed to                               (Cowtimed  on page 95)


                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             `79
                                                                                                                  .-

II                                                                      that  hati&   beeti  iti special tribulation, that have not loved
              O U R   D O C T R I N - E                                 their lives even unto death, that have been faithful even unto        .
                                                                        death in  th.e most literal sense of the word. More than
                                                                        others they shall appear as victors, and occupy a victor's
                  THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                place of honor in the new creation.
                             C                                              Finally, the Lord closes also this letter to the church of
                                  H A P T E R   V                       Smyrna with a general admonition and promise: "He that                             '
                          Revel&ion 2  :8-l 1                           overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death." We all
             T                                                          are in the midst of the battle of faith. We may not all be
                  HE CHURCH STRONG IN TRIBULATION                       called to sacrifice our lives upon the altar of faithful con-
        In times of prosperity it is not so difficult to confess        fession. We surely must all fight. And in the battle against
Christ as their King. When He scores victory upon victory,              sin, the world, and the devil and his whole dominion, we
it is an honor to belong to His honor. Our faithfulness is              must overcome. Not in our own strength, not by sword  and<
not manifest. But when because  of His name we are subject              cannon, but spiritually, in the power of  o&r Lord Jesus
to persecution, the objects of the mockery and reproach of               Christ, must we overcome. And to him that thus  overcometli,
the world, when the confession of His name is the cause                  the Lord promises that he shall not be hurt of the second
of trouble and much tribulation, then to confess that name               death.  Flom our point of view, the first death is the separa-
is faithfulness. The church in Smyrna was in tribulation,               tion of body and soul, or physical death. The Lord does not
could expect a still more severe  f&-m of persecution in the            promise His church  that they shall not be hurt of it. Surely,
future. Yea, according to this very admonition, they might               also His people die that death, and often die it violently. But             -
expect that their lives would be demanded as a toll for their            though they may experience temporal suffering and want,
fziithful confession. And therefore, to them comes the ex-               though they may be called upon voluntarily to descend into
hortation : "Be thou faithful unto death . .  ." For this last           the-valley of death for the Word of God and the testimony
phrase does not merely exhort to a faithfulness unto the hour            of Jesus, they shall nbt be hurt in the real sense of the word.
 bf. death. It is not merely a phrase denoting the extent in             The second death does not touch them. And therefore  the.
time.  But it  vindicates a causal relation between faithfulness         first death is merely transition to everlasting life. This second
and death. Be faithful even if confession of my name should              death is eternal death, absolute separation from the Fount of
cause physical death.                                                    all good in everlasting woe. `Of that death the fornicators
      As we have already suggested, history informs us that              and the unfaithful shall be hurt. But he that overcometh
 this exhortation  was literally heeded by the grayhaired angel          shall pass through the first death into glory everlasting.
 of the `church in Smyrna. He was placed before the.very                    "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
 alternative of denying the Lord, or to be put .to death. And            unto the churches." What doth the Spirit  s&y? Be faithful
 placed before this definite choice, he answered: "Eighty-six            unto death. Seek not the things of this world. For the
-years have I known and confessed my Master, and He has                  things of the world pass away, and behind them lurks the                  ---.
 never done me any harm. Shall I then now deny Him?                      second death. Be faithful, 0 church of God, in the midst of
 Never  !" And he died the  maytyr's  death: History speaks              the world, no matter what happens. In serious times  we are
 also  of,  thotisands upon thousands that have followed old             living, indeed : serious, because we hear `of wars and rumors
 Polycarp in this path of martyrdom. But they have become                of war as never before  ; but serious still more, because of the
 partakers of the beautiful promise the Lord adds to this                rather general apostasy from the truth and  frbm the God of
 eshortation : "And I will give thee a crown  .of life."                 our salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. And therefore, be
        By crown in this connection you must not think of the            faithful, and confess Him that is your King. And if the
 royal diadem: for the original indicates that a wreath of               struggle should become hard, and the battle well-nigh im-
 victory is meant. Evideptly the meaning is: I will give thee            possible to be endured, then look upon Him that walketh in
 eternal  life as a crown of victory. And do not imagine now             the midst of the golden candlesticks, Who is your guard and                       .
 that this is merely a meaningless form of expression. Surely,           protector at all-times. He is the first and the last, Who was
 we all shall inherit eternal life. Nor is the relation such that        dead and He  live?. And He holds the keys of death and.
 we shall merit that eternal life in our own strength or even            of hades forevermore. Be therefore faithful unto death, and
 by our own faithfulness. It is because of Christ's obedience            receive the promise, I will give you the q-own of life.
 that this eternal life is ours. But if once we shall stand in
 glory among  tlie  c;ne burdred  forty-four thousands of  the                                    CHAPTER  VI
 elect of God, we shall notice that the glory of that throng                          THE CHURCH  LAX  IN  DIXIPLINE
 is varied according to the different degrees of reward each
 shall receive. And among them shall also be those that wear                                   Revelation 2 :12-17
 the crown of life, those whom eternal life adorns- as -a crown              "And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write . .  ."
 of victory in a special sense of  the word. They are the ones           For the term "angel" we may  .refer you  tq our explanation


80                     _                      T H E   STAN.DARD   B E A R E R

of chapter one, verse 20. In this particular letter of the Lord         Pergamos. In general it is true of this entire dispensation
to the church in the world we have a picture of the church              that the  w`orld  is under the dominion of the prince of dark-
that differs considerably from that of the two churches we              ness. The whole world, John tells us, lies in the evil one  ;
have already discussed. The church of Ephesus was char-                 .and the kingdoms of this world belong to his dominion. But
acterized by many good features, but also by a falling away             it is also true that in one place this dominion of the devil
from its first love, so that it was in grave danger of ultimately       becomes more clearly manifest  -than in another. In our own
seeing its candlestick removed out of its place. The church             time, it is generally evident that  `in the larger cities, like
in Smyrna presents the picture of the church faithful in                London and Paris, New York, Chicago,  and San Francisco,
tribulation: poor and despised, yet rich in all the spiritual           sin comes to a higher and bolder form of development, the
blessings of grace in Christ Jesus. Also the church. in                 devil exercises more absolute and undisputed sway than in
Pergamos occupies a dangerous position in the midst of the              the smaller towns or rural communities. At any rate, of
world: for the text tells us that Pergamos is the place                 Pergamos it might be asserted that in a  spedial sense it was
where Satan dwells, and where the very throne of Satan is               the throne of Satan. He dwelled there. While in other
established.. But that church in Pergamds has one char-                 places he also manifested his presence occasionally,  Perga-
acteristic that distinguishes it from the former two congrega-          mos was his  con$nual  abode. If he would go out as a roaring
tions we have already discussed. It is that it bears with evil          lion, seeking whom he might devour, he would  glways  return
men, and therefore is the church that is growing lax in,                to Pergamos. There you could always find him at home.
discipline.                                                             There he had his. headquarters. There was his permanent
      It is evident from the outset that in this letter to the,         abode. There was the center and seat of his authority and
church of Pergamos all the emphasis is placed upon tha                  power.
position which that church occupies in the midst of the world.
It is  the church that is `situated where Satan dwells, and                If we inquire more especially, and ask the question. in
where  he has established his throne in a very special sense            what sense this dubious prerogative could be claimed for the
of- the:  woTd:-Pergamos  was a rather large city, situated  some-      city of Pergamos, the text does not supply the answer. But
wh+ farther north from Smyrna than the latter was distant               from history we know two things. First of all, we are in-
from  Ephesus..  If Smyrna was the competitor of Ephesus,               formed that among other forms of idolatry practiced in the
Pergamos emulated both the former in striving for the honor             town, Pergamos was famous for its worship of Aesculapius
of  b_eing   ihe -foremost city of Asia Minor. Commerce and             as its chief god. Characteristic of this god was that its
industry `found in Pergamos a center. Science and art found             chief symbol, representing him, was that of the serpent, the
their  hyu]e there. Also in this city the church of Christ,             symbol also of the devil. The special power attributed to
which certainly is not called to  retreat into the smaller towns        this god  was that he could save people from the miserable
and villages, or to hide in the outskirts of the larger cities,         effects of sin, from disease and sicknesses of all kinds.
had come to manifestation, and was established.                         People from the city and from all the surrounding country
      Judging by the contents of this letter, addressed to them         flocked to his temple for help and recovery. And because of
by the Lord, it had a very difficult time of it. The city is            this imaginary power of this god, he was generally known as
called the throne of Satan, and the very dwelling place of the          Soter,  that'&, Savior. Thus we obtain indeed a striking sym-
devil. What is meant  by'-these,  expressions in the general            bolism of the power of Antichrist and the `dominion of Satan,
sense of the word is not difficult to understand. A throne              consisting ultimately of this, that the serpent, the symbol  3f
in the book of Revelation occurs frequently as the symbol               the devil, was hailed as the savior of  men and was worshipped
of dominion, as the center whence the authority of the king             as  s&h. And in the second place, we are informed too that
emanates throughout his entire kingdom. Satan. is the ad-               the city of Pergamos was one of the first centers of wbrship
versary of God, and the great opponent of our Lord Jesus                of the Caesars, the emperors of Rome. As we may know,
Christ and  of.His kingdom in the world. He is for evermore             the emperors of Rome had themselves deified and worshipped
endeavoring.  t6 organize and to bring to development the               as gods. And in the city of Pergamos `there was a temple
power of opposition against  God's- Anointed in  the world,             erected in honor of Caesar, and dedicated to his worship.
and therefore against His church. Throughout this dispensa-.            In short, it may be said that in ~Pergamos we meet with  a
tion he is the instigator of all  oppositions  that manifests itself    rather striking manifestation of the Antichristian power and
against the church of Christ. And therefore, if we read in              dominion, -not indeed in the same form as Antichrist rules
this letter that Pergamos was a place in which Satan had                today, or as he shall come in his manifestation in the future;
his throne, the city is pictured to us a being domipated by             but nevertheless, the similarity is striking. Satan, the serpent,
this  power  of opposition, as being dominated by the prince            is honored and worshipped as the savior of men instead of
of darkness, as being a stronghold of the devil, where he               Christ; and Caesar, man, is worshipped as lord of all  instead
could have full and undisputed sway except for the little bul-          of Him to Whom all power is given in heaven and on earth.
wark of Christ that  had been built in the city.                        Truly, Pergamos was the throne of Satan, the place where
      This must be taken with special. emphasis in regard  to           the prince of darkness had his permanent abode.,


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    81

   Of course, in principle the position of the church  ifi            out of  that wicked city, where the devil had his throne and
Pergamos in relation to that city is the position of the church       dwelling place. It might be more safe for it in other cities
of all ages in relation to the world. As we have remarked,            in the vicinity. But that is not the message John must deliver
the prince of darkness is the ruler of this age. And he still         to the church. Nor is it the attitude of  Sci-ipture in general.
exercises dominion over the kingdoms of the world. He is,             Mark, we are dealing with the church as a whole, not with
in principle, hailed as the savior wherever the Christ is re-         the individual Christian. The Word of God does not approve
jected; and the divinity of man is proclaimed wherever the            of the dangerous worldly-mindedness of many a Christian,
divinity of  the Son of Man is not acknowledged.                      who  fo; material advantages and gain separates himself from
   But this relation to the world is not always equally vivid.        the communion of saints and lives in isolation from the
Nor does it manifest itself in the  same form in every period         church of Christ in the midst of the world. Much rather does
of history. During the period of the  e&rly church Rome,              it call our attention to the sad history of Lot's family in such
with its emperors, raging against the little flock of the Good        cases. On the other hand, the Scriptures never tell us that
Shepherd, was no doubt, the throne of Satan; and  hi2"abode.          the church of Christ as such must emigrate from the  wdrld,
In the age of the Reformation the Roman Catholic church               and live in literal and local isolation. This were indeed im-
might suitably be designated as the throne of Satan, -more            possible. No  ; in the world, though not of the world, is the
specifically so, the seat of the pope, and all connected there-       rule that holds for the church of all ages. And therefore,
with. And when finally the Reformation was initiated, it              the church of Pergamos is not commanded to leave its wicked
soon become evident that the little church of  Protestantism          and devilish surroundings, but rather to be faithful to the
dwelled where Satan had his abode.                                    name of its King and Savior. And faithful the church had
   But again, a sad and fatal mistake we would make, if               been in the past. It had kept  ;he faith, and held fast the
we would imagine that also today the center  -of Satan's              name of Jesus.
authority must be sought in the Roman Catholic Church, as                Naturally, this must be understood in contrast with the
some interpreters have  if. It would blind us to the tremend-         environments of the little church. In the city the  nam6 of
ous movement of Modernism, of Humanism, of Man-worship,               Jesus was not honored and confessed. It  &was the name of
!hat is sweeping over the world `of Christendom and  develop-         Aesculapius and of Caesar that was on the lips of all. And
mg with astounding rapidity. Today man is his own savior.             in the midst of these idolatrous surroundings they held fast
Man is the savior of humanity. Man is today his own god,              to the only name that is given under heaven for salvation:
-not indeed because he worships any particular human                  ,they confessed the name of Jesus Christ, they kept the faith.
being, be it Caesar or king, but because he has generalized           They were not seduced. They were not shaken in their faith
his worship of man in the worship of humanity.                        and hope an love, but they clung to the name of Him  that-
   Also today Satan has his throne and dwelling place. He             walketh in the midst of the golden candlesticks.
has it in many a school and college and university, where                Still more the Lord witnesses of them in their favor. They
Christ is humanized and man is deified, where the worship             were not only a believing church, but they also publicly con-
,of humanity is preached and taught in its boldest and rankest        fessed the name  o? their King and Lord. It were conceiv-
aspect, and the blood of Christ is trampled under foot. Nay,          able that `they kept the faith, and clung to the name of Jesus,
still stronger, the devil has succeeded in ousting the true           but that they kept it all for themselves, that they lived in
S&ior `from many a Christian church. The revelation of                seclusion, and that they carefully avoided an open clash with
Christ is proclaimed and maintained from many a modern                their wicked environment. But "once more, this is not the
pulpit no more. Or, if it is, its  feat&-es  are so distorted that    calling of the church of Christ. Christ does not establish His
you can recognized the Christ no more. Surely, also today             church in the world `in order that it should exist in oblivion,
the prince of darkness has his throne and dwelling place.             hiding itself in some secluded little corner of the world, or
He has them' in the midst of the Christian world, and he              seeking,refuge  on some solitary little island, far from society.
has succeeded' in charming the minds and the imagination of           It is in the world to let its light shine, to witness of the grace
men by upholding before them the image of the modern                  and the glory of its King. It may not hold its peace even
Aesculapius, called Humanity. Also today the church is                when the world threatens with devilish fury. The church
established where Satan has his throne  ; and its relation to         must confess. And not to confess is to deny. And also in
the world is not so much different from that of the church            this respect the church of Pergamos had been faithful. For
in Pergamos. May she also- be found faithful, as that con-            the Lord testifies of it:  ". . . and hast not denied my name."
gregation of the early church.                                        They therefore confessed; they were not silent. How could
    Fof this may be said of  that little church in Pergamos, in       they  be? There they lived in the midst of an environment
.the  fir& place : she was faithful. We read : "And thou holdest      that proclainied a false god as savior, and a man as their lord
fast my name." Such is the testimony Jesus gives of the               and god. Would it not have been unfaithful of the church,
church in this particular letter. The question might be  raised       had they been silent and kept their peace ?
whether it were not advisable for the little church to  migrate                                                                   H . H .

                                                        .

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

                                                                                                as  He has turned the captivity of Judah. Or, in the language
             THE DAY OF SH-ADOWS                                                           I of our Scripture-passage (verse  7), the Lord. shall bring
                                                                                                them and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.  abut the
                                                                                                mistake must not be made of limiting the chosen remnant,
                  The Prophecy of Zechariah                                                     the people that God saves of verse 7,. to the Jews. For in
                                                                                                verse 22 this people reappears and here in this verse they
                                   Chapter VIII                                                 are the "strong people and the mighty nations that shall
                          Always  grmter blessings.                                             come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and pray before
                                                                                                His name," all the nations of the earth blessed in Abraham,
       6.    Tlaus  suit/a  the  Lol-d of hosts, because it is  marvellous                      blessed in Christ, the church of the elect that is being -gathered
in the eyes of the rewsnant of this people, shall it be wmrvel1ozr.s                            by the Exalted Christ though all the ages of  this.,G.ospel
in mine eyes also?  saitlz the Lord of hosts. 7.  l3u.s  saitk                                  p e r i o d .
the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will  saw  my people  ~YOPW  the
e,ast  countryt and  from. the  ztiest  co,untry; and they shall  5~                               Becazue   ,it  i s   ~w~arvel1ozt.r   i n   the  e y e s   o f   t h e   r e m n a n t   o f
                                                                                                this  people  - The reference is to the wonders that the` Lord
t o   me  f o r   a   people,  axd I will be   t o   t h e m   f o r   a   G o d   i~t  tmth
and  in  righteo,usness.                                                                        has promised to perform, first of all to the wonders of which
       Rewmant   of                                                                             the verses 4 and 5 make mention but then also to all the
                         the  people-  In this Scripture-passage the
expression denotes what was left of the tribe of Judah after                                    wonders listed in this chapter, and so to the wonder of the
Xhad filled up its measure of iniquity and in consequence,                                      Lord's returning to Zion and His dwelling in the midst of
thereof was overtaken by the  judgmeats  of God. Many                                           Jerusalem through the blood of the atonement, to the wonder
Jews  perishe'd  by the  .sword of the Babylonian world-power                                   that Jerusalem one day shall be called the city of truth, the
and what was left of the tribe, the remnant,  .was exiled to                                    holy mountain, to the wonder that the  inhabi_tants  of  Jerusaf
Babylon. After the seventy years some thousands of them                                         lem shall have endless life, and that the streets of the city
returned to the land of Judah. The rest of them remained in                                     shall be filled with boys and girls, Abraham's seed, a multi,
Babylon where they lived  ogt their lives as -voluntary exiles.                                 tude that no man can number. All are wonders of the Lord.
"The remnant of this people" of this passage included both                                      And they are connected, the one with the other. The one
these voluntary exiles in Babylon and the Jews in the land                                      calls for all the rest and the rest for the one. Wonder, won-
of Judah arid in Jerusalem.                                                                     derful works, achievements of God.
       Howeqer  also in that day the remnant proper was the                                        But why,  one will ask,  single  out certain works of God
re&nknt according to the election of `grace and could, there-                                   and call them  wonders?  Are  not: all God's works wonders,
fore,  n6t include all that was left of the tribe of Judah, but                                 ?&so His works of the six days  of- creation and His works of
`bnly  $he true believers among them. This was properly the                                     providence  ? To be sure they are. Yet there are certain
.?eninant.  It was always and only the true church at any                                       works of God that the Scriptures  single.out'and  call wonders,
oae time in Israel's history, the seven  th$usand  that did not                                 new, unheard of, wonder-inciting. So in  Ex. 33  :lO, where
bow'  :the knee before Baal, the remnant that, the Lord                                         the Lord is reported to be saying to Moses with a view to
preserved  f& Himself in the midst of  apostacy and all the                                     the people of Israel who had made  themsel& gods of gold
troubles besetting the nation. There was always this remnant.                                   and thereby broken the covenant and merited extinction,
And it was the remnant according to the election of `grace,                                     "Behold, I will make a covenant  :. before all  the  people  i will
that is, a remnant that God preserved for Himself because                                       do marvels, such as have not been done  .in all  the earth,
of its being chosen in Christ. It was, therefore, a remnant                                     nor- in any nation : and all the people among which thou. art
that He could not do otherwise but save, seeing that, being                                     shall see the work of the Lord: for it is  a terrible thing
chosen  in Christ, it had the eternal and unchangeable love                                     that I will do with thee." "Who is like unto thee, glorious
of His heart. And so  .also in this day,  Jast hour, there is                                   in holiness, fearful in praise, doing wonders" (Ex. 15  :2),
always the remnant that God preserves for Himself, the                                          thus sang the saints in Israel. They sang of the wonder.
remnant according to the election of grace always surviving                                        What  then is the wonder? The answer may be had
the judgments of  God because, being hidden in Christ, it can-                                  from Ps. 78, in which the generations  to; come are shewn
not perish.                                                                                     the "praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His won-
       This chosen remnant is scattered over the whole earth.                                   derful  \vorks that He hath done." And the works  enunp
Th;s was already the case in our prophet's day, seeing that                                     erated are not the works of the six days of creation, nor
the Lord had whirled Israel, the Israel of the ten tribes,                                      His works of providence, but the marvellous things that
.among  the nations of  *hat  was then the civilized world. The                                 He did in the sight of the fathers in the land of Egypt, in
cho&ti  remnant was found in every country of that world as                                     the field of  Zoan, to  wit. His dividing the Red Sea  and-His
iii. this day it is found in every country of this whole wide                                   causing His people to pass through, and His making the
world.. But the Lord will not  leave them there, His chosen                                     waters  to. stand on an heap, His cleaving the rocks  `of
ones, the remnant. He will turn their captivity as certainly                                    the wilderness that His people might drink as  oilt of the


                                            T H E   STAN'DARD   B E A R E R                                                               8 3

great depth  et?: (ver. 13ff  1). This, then, is the wonder,       cept he should see in Christ's hands the print of the nails,
namely God's delivering His people by His outstretched             and put his finger in the print of- His nails, and thrust his
arm from the bondage of Egypt and His entering  tiith them         hand into Christ's side, He would not believe.
into the rest of Canaan. But this was but type, shadow.                 So it was with the remnant of the people of .our prophet's
The wonder is the reality  signiiied.  It is that work of  Go'd    day. As God's people they were  sceptical. Jerusalem shall
whereby He lifts up this earthly creation  iricluding  man,        be called a city of truth,- Jerusalem, the city that had
mankind, by whom it was originally headed and  tiho  iYas its      become a harlot and was full of murderers shall become a
crown, out of the abyss of the curse into which it was             city with not one murderer in it, a city perfectly consecrated
plunged by man's transgression and leads to its eternal  des-      to God in love  ? It was incredible in their eyes. At the time
titiy which is the glory of the heavenly. This is  the  wonder.    these predictions were uttered; the city must have been
In the Old dispensation it was represented by a series of          sparsely settled. Large parts of the city must have been un-
wonders, great works of God,` including besides the Exo-           inhabited. And in the habitated sections one perhaps could
dus, the Deluge, the deliverance of the people of Israel by        walk the streets for hours without meeting a soul. For only
David, God's king  in Zion, and the turning of Judah's cap-        a tenth part of the number of exiles that had returned to the
tivity.                                                            land of Judah had taken up their abode in Jerusalem. Yet
    This, then, is the wonder. The wonder spells out grace.        the day will come when the streets of the city will swarm
Because of its many-sidedness, the Scriptures speak of God's       with boys and girls? It can only be if their brethren in the
wonders. And the hub of them all, so to speak, is the in-          dispersion experience a  changeof  heart an go by the thousands
carnation of  the.So.n of God. And all things, all the works       to Jerusalem, or if -the remnant in Jerusalem undergo a.
of providence, "working together, as they do, for good  to         phenomenal internal growth. So they must have reasoned. And
them that love God, are in the service of  tbze wonder, the        as neither seemed likely, the prediction that the streets of
salvation of the church.                                           Jerusalem would  be, full of boys and girls one day was in-
                                                                   credible in their eyes.  They were asking, How  can these
    What the Lord said  He  would  do-perform wonders              things be ? Their incredulity was also owing to a lack of un-
-was incredible, impossible in the eyes of the remnant of          derstanding of how the Lord was to realize His  pr&nises,  as
this people- incredible, impossible, it could not come  -tci       was the case with Mary the mother of Jesus, When she was
pass. This is the meaning, of the word marvellous in the'          told of the angel Gabriel that she would conceive  in her
context.  Not. that these people were out and qut unbeliev-        womb, and bring forth a son, she was perplexed  ancls&d,
ers. On the- contrary, they were true children of God.             How shall this be, seeing I know not' a  man?  A&d  .so  the
Doubtless some or even several among them were out and             remnant of this people, How shall this be?  The;t&ing %-in-
out unbelievers. And these men certainly had difficulty with       credible. What they, too, were in need of  is  more;-li&t.  And
the wonder. They did not want it. It can be explained. They        this light the Lord now also will shed. But  I%e  fi& rebukes
would not repent, and for all such the wonder spells judg-         their unbelief.  ISays He to them, "Became in  the eyes of  the
ment and eternal perdition. But the unbelief at  whtih the         pewmant  of  this people it is  wmwelloks,~  that  is,  hard, difficult,
prophet  here strikes must not be limited to the reprobated in
the                                                                is it  also  mwvelloz~s, that  ,is,  i~wpossible  in  mine eyes?"  It
           dommunity.  What God said He would bring to pass was    is right and godly to say that the thing that Gpd  says He will
impossible in the eyes of God's believing people. It was in-       do would never be, if man had to bring  it to  pa!s. For this
credible: They wanted to believe but could not. They were          is the truth. But it is different when  God's  people allow
unwillingly. unbelieving.                                          themselves to imagine  that God can't bring it to pass  either,
    There are more cases of this type of unbelief on the part      that the thing is too hard even` for Him. This  is -the, type
of believers regarding the wonder reported to us in the            of unbelief into which the remnant of this people had fallen.
Scriptures. There was the case of Sarah, Abraham's  ,wife.         They were doubtful whether God was able to make good His
Overhearing  the Lord saying to Abraham that He would              promises, do as He had said, performs wonders. This  is plain
certainly return to him according to the time of life and that     froin what the Lord said to them in rebuke of their unbelief,
Sarah should have a son, she laughed, within herself. For          in substance this,. Is it so that I, the Lord, cannot bring it
she had waxed old and her lord was old also. The thing was         to pass, just because in your eyes the- thing is too difficult                .,-:,.
impossible in her eyes. In that moment she was unbelieving,        even for me  ? They were questioning the  ability of God to
-but unwillingly so. For she derived no pleasure from her          perform His wonders.                                         . .  p
unbelief but only sorrow. For she so much wanted a  sari.          t    It must not be supposed that they. were the only saints
If only in her eyes the word of the Lord could come to pass.       of Bible times capable of this sin.  ,It was one of  the weak-
How she would have laughed, not in bitterness of soul as she       nesses of  `faith with which all of them had daily to strive.
was doing, but from sheer joy.                                     This has already been shown. To the cases mentioned, a few
    Then there's the case of the incredulity of Thomas re-         may be added. There is the case of  Moses: -The -children of
garding the report of the wondkr of Christ's resurrection. Ex-     Israel  were crying for flesh. And the Lord said that He

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

   would give them flesh; perform a wonder, that the people                  Having thus commanded His people, the Lord now
   might eat.  :But in the eyes of Moses He could not possibly           sheds the fuller light," explains why one day the streets of
  make good His word. "The people among whom I am,"                      the holy city will be full of boys and girls. 7.    Behold, I will
   said he to the Lord, "are six hundred thousand footmen  ; and         save  `my people  from the east  cbuntry  u.nd   from  the west
  thou hast said, I will give them flesh that they may eat a             country; 8. and I will bring them, and they shall dwell  i?z  _thc
  `whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for              midst  of  Jerzuahlem. As has already been pointed out,  the
  them, to suffice them  ? or shall all the fishes of the sea be         saved people of these verses are the  ma,ny people and strong
  gathered together for them, to suffice them  ?" In. Moses'             nations  of verse 22, and not Jews although, of course, the
  eyes the thing couldn't be done. Providing flesh for a mul-            Jews according to the' election are included. And this whole
  titude of people so vast was too difficult for the Lord. He            vast multitude shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, that
  lacked the ability to perform the wonder. That this was                is, dwell with God in His holy temple. For all are His
  Moses' attitude is plain from the Lord's rebuke of his un-             people, a people that He shall save and bring. All shall seek
  belief. Said He to His servant, "Is the Lord's hand waxed              the Lord and pray before Him. And as there could be no
  short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to                room for all these people in the earthly Jerusalem, it is
  pass unto thee" (Nu. 11  :ZOff) . More such cases of unbelief          the heavenly Jerusalem with which we here have to do.
  could be mentioned. Jacob deceived his father Isaac in the                The salvation of this multitude will be solely the work of
  matter of the covenant blessing. Abraham lied about Sarah              Jehovah and not a work that He shares with men, the human
  his wife saying that she was his sister. David despaired of            preachers of the Gospel. For let us take notice, "Thus saith
  his life, saying that he would yet one day perish by the               the Lord of hosts,  I  will save `my people," and, "I  zwill bring
  hand of Saul. And we as believers will go to doubting                  them," and, "they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem," that
  our salvation in the imagining that we are sinners to great            is," dwell with Me in my holy temple," and, "They shall be'
  to be forgiven and saved, or we go to imagining that the               unto  WLe  fo,r a people. True, the gathering is done through
  cause of the truth might yet one day turn out to be a lost             the Gospel as proclaimed by human preachers. But these
  cause in this world and that the gates of hell might still one         preachers are His creations, and the Gospel is the Gospel of
  day prevail against Christ's little  ,flock.  Is  -not the root of     God and it is potent to save only because He lays it upon the
  all such deportments and attitudes on the part of God's                hearts of His people.
  people the carnal fear that God is not able to do what He has
' promised, that the hand of the wonder-working God has                    The versions translate here, "And they shall be my people
  waxed short  ?                                                         and I shall be their God," which, certainly is true. But a
                                                                         better translation of the text at this place is, "And they will
         Let us take notice of the Lord's reply to all such unbelief.    be unto me for a people, and I will be unto them for a God."
  It is this, "Because it is marvellous, difficult, yea, impossible      The idea is that they shall be unto God all that a people
  in the eyes of the remnant of this people, is it, therefore,           saved by His grace  sho~uld, can, and shall be unto Him. They
  also impossible of mine eyes, saith the Lord of hosts  ?' Hard,        shall  Eonsecrate themselves unto Him in love with all that
  impossible in the eyes of the Lord ? Surely, no. How  co~11d           they are and possess and cry out His praises forever. And
  this be? True, His wonders are things that "eye hath not               He will be unto them for a God, that is, be unto them all that
  seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of            He is as God, so that it is Him that they shall possess. As
  any man, the things that God hath prepared for them that               their reward exceeding great He shall give Himself unto,
  love Him" (I Cor. 2  :9). But hard, impossible in His eyes  ?          them without any restraint, so that they shall taste Him, the
  It cannot be, certainly. For, first, the Lord is indeed mighty         only blessed God, in all His infinite goodness.
  all His wonders to perform. Second, it is not so that God
  does not know Himself. On the contrary, as the living God                 So shall it be  ,in  tmth and in righteousness.  For these
  He knows Himself through and through and therefore knows,' saved ones have the truth in their inward parts, love the
  too, that to His power to save there is no limit. How then,            truth,-speak the truth every one with His neighbor and walk
  could it be marvellous, difficult, impossible also in His eyes ?       in the light of the truth. And righteousness clothes them as
  This cannot be.                                                        a garment. And they are righteous both as to the inward
         What does the Lord by this mean to be saying to His             and outward man, for His will is inscribed upon their hearts
  people ? This, precisely, that they lay aside their unbelief and       and wills and minds, and with joy they run the way of His
  all wrong thoughts about Him, that they strive to see and              commands. Truth and righteousness, therefore, is the `very
  know Him as He sees and knows Himself and has revealed                 sphere of their existence, the orb by which they are en-
  Himself to them-in .the face of Christ, and that in this God,          closed as to all the issues of their life. And it is the only
  the God and Father of Christ, the God of their salvation,              and very sphere, orb in which they can be unto Him for a
  the. wonder-working God, the God of the Scriptures, they               people and He unto them for a God. For He is light and in
  put all their confidence. And this they also will do by His            Him there is no darkness at all.
  mercy. For He lays His commandments on their hearts.                                                                             G.M.O.


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER                                                         8.5

Ii                                                                            A battle field !
            F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T II                                    As such it is also a grand  pageant. Nay,  it  is not simply
                                                                          a pageant of child's `play, something which simply has "scenic
                                                                          enrichment  !" It is really the exalted pageant of God's
              Exposition of I Corinthians l-4                             church being the light of the world, and, as such, hated by
                                                                          the children of the Evil  one.  It is really God displaying
                                 23.                                      the handiwork of grace in Christ Jesus in the midst of this
                                                                          present evil world ; He maintains the enmity which He has
                  (I Corinthians 4 :9-13, continued)                      put between the two seeds !
                                                                              Concerning the particulars of this pageant, as given by
      There are times when a minister or elder in Gods                    Paul, in the text, we should notice the following salient points :
church has his fainting spells. He then acts the part of a                    1. That the  stage  of this pageant is none other but the
poor soldier in the fray, and nothing is quite  SO  unseemly in           "world," the entire  "Kosmos," the heaven and earth and -all
a soldier. For it is expected of a good soldier that he  en-              things that are therein.
.dure  hardships.      Without these accompanying  hardship.s                 2. That the  spectators  of this divine display are both
there will be no victory march, when we shall hear from the               angels and men.
lips of our Savior, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant  ;             3. That the characters of this "spectacle," this pageant.
enter into the joy of thy Lord, which is prepared for thee                are the church, but that the chief place among them is as-
from the foundations of the earth."                                       signed to the apostles. They have the place of highest honor
      Paul was not a bad soldier. Presently he will say: I                with God, yet in the eyes of the world they have the most
have run the race, I  haye kept the faith, and for me is  layed           ignoble place.
away the crown of life!                                                       4. That the  director  of this "spectacle" is none  -other but
      How well Paul endures under trials and tribulations we              the Lord of' Lords, who worketh all things according to
hear from his pen in these verses we shall consider today                 His Counsel and Providence.
in this essay,                                                                To the latter we must add, that God makes this display
      It was written not as a vain display of proud boasting,             in the "drama" of history.  `In the all-wise purpose of God,
but as it were by a "father" to his children, that they might             the Devil and all his hellish host must serve the purpose  oi?
learn to imitate his example rather than-that of wicked strife            God in displaying his handiwork.
and vain-glorying, resulting in party-strife and schism.                      Such is the exalted, drama of history in the church in `the
      Although Paul's motive is not to injure or to put the               w o r l d .
Corinthians to shame, he nevertheless "shows up" their sin-                   How far is this not removed from the mockery `in
ful walk and boasting by citing to them his own conduct in                Corinth, which pretends to be some millenium already ar-
the church in general, and particularly at that moment in                 rived' at !
Ephesus.                                                                      With what arresting effect Paul here "shows up" all evil
      Writes he,  "For, I think, God has set forth us the apostles        party-strife, which will not take up the Cross of Christ to
last of all, as men  dooqti,ed  to death:  foli we  me made a.            follow Him !
spectacle unto the world, both to angels and men.  We` are                    Unto what does God "set forth" the apostles in the
fools  for  Christ's sake, but ye are wise in  Ch&;  we  aT:e             arena of the world where angels and men behold  ? Was it for
weak but ye  a,re strong:. ye have glory  bu.t we have dishonor.          a vain strutting in a parade, some scenic enrichment? Nay,
Even  urtto  this present  hoztr  we  both hunger,  and  th,irst,  and    it was that the preciousness of the faith of the saints, and,
are  naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain  dwelling-              in particular, of the apostles, may be unto praise, honor and.
pla,ce; and we toil, working  witli  `our own' hands: being  ie-          glory of God in that day.
viled, we bless: being  defamed  we entreat;  being persecuted                Here we take the shoes from off our feet.                   --
we endure= we are  made as the filth  of  the world, the  of-                 It is the path where saints have trod, do tread  and.`shall
scouring of  all  ,things,  eveu until now."                              walk upon the highway of God. Here is the patience of the
      Let us'notice the following here:                                   saints. Here the Apostles are "appointed unto death  !" They
      In the first place, let us notice, that Paul presents the           sit in death-row! They die daily. Presently they stand upon
place of the church in the world as being  a battle field,  where         the lighted stage in the Church in the world, and the cry
the good fight of faith must be fought and won. The church                will be heard, as the grand finale: to the lions ! And the
in the world labors and toils in much persecution. And, as                church will cry to these Apostles  :  mo&uri   salutavtzzts! -(We
such, Paul and the Apostles with him have a unique place                  salute the dying);
of suffering for righteousness sake. It is given them of grace,               That Paul "deems" is the place in the history of the
to be sure  ; it is nonetheless a place. which causes the heart           world, the history of the church accorded to apostles.
to cry out, and to be of such spiritual temper, that any sham                 For look at Paul in the concrete !                  ,.  `
                                                                                                                                         .
battle is "shown up" for the nothingness that it is!                          Look at him in his relationship to the church; and


 86                                          T H E   STANDARL)   B E A R E R

 particulariy   ,in his relationship to the Corinthians ! In a      what he now lives, he lives by the faith of the Son of  God,
 threefold set of contrasts he sets his relationship forth as       who loved him and gave himself for him.
 apostle  t-o this church. Says he:                                    Wherefore, he is indeed "reviled." Unbelieving Jews
       1. We are "fools" because of Christ, and ye are "pru-        and Gentiles rail at him, heap abuse upon him. Yes, simply
 dent" in Christ. This is certainly a piece of irony. Paul is       because he is an apostle, accounted a "fool" for Christ's sake.
 certainly accounted a "fool" in the world, in the esteem and       And when they do this to him he in turn "blesses" them, he
 eyes of wicked men because he preaches the everlasting gos-        speaks well of them. No eye. for eye and tooth for a tooth!
 pel, the Word of the Cross, which is to them that perish           He is "persecuted." He is actually  persued so that he must
 foolishness. However, the Corinthians are "prudent" in             flee-for his very life's sake. When this is his lot he does not
 Christ. Had not the mysteries in Christ been revealed to           murmur; he simply endures it patiently. And when he is
 them through the preaching of Paul. And is it not, therefore,      ill-used, defamed, then he does not repay in like coin, but
 true that Paul's being a "fool", fool in the eyes of the world,    simply entreats them not to do so.
 ,a "spectacle" is the reason for the "prudence" of the  Corin-        May men and angels take notice!
 t.hians  in Christ Jesus. Yes, Paul dies daily that they might        Here is one, who `once was injurous to the church, one
 live. Such is His assigned place of God. It is the principle       who himself persecuted the church of God!
 of his appointment, his being set forth unto death.                   But God set him forth appointed unto death.
       2. "We are weak and ye are strong" writes the apostle!          From this exalted place in the divine pageant Paul can
 Indeed, Paul was very weak in `Corinth. But God supplies           really say in sincerity that he means no injury to the
 His strength through the preaching. And so the faith, the          Corinthians.
 strength of the Corinthians does not rest in the strength of .        From "little people" one has much to fear. But not  front
 Paul (weakness  j  but in the demonstration of the Spirit and      !a Paul, whose life is poured forth as a drink-offering to
 ,of power. Here again is the principle of Paul's being ap-         God. He is in this as a "father" to the Corinthians. They
 pointed of God to death.                                           may have' many teachers, but only one "father." .
       3, Yes, "ye are honorable" and I have dishonor." Surely         Yes, he is accounted as the "offscouring" of the world,
 Paul has -the "dishonor" of preaching Christ, which is to          yea, as the "filth of the world."
 ,-them  that perish foolishness. Yet, by that "dishonor" the
 saints come to honor and glory !  Such, is the lot of all the         Be it so..
 prophets. Thus the children of Jerusalem are gathered. Thus           But in the eyes of the Corinthians he is to be  acknowl-
 Zion is made glorious,; she can put on her beautiful gar-          .edged as a minister of Christ, as one who has brought them
 merits; she can be ready for the wedding  .day  - when it          forth in the faith.
 comes !                                                               And we?
       Yes, even in his relationship to the church Paul is a           Doth not the Scripture say: "Remember them  that-had'-
 "spectacle." And that for the sake of  Christ!  Let it be fully    the rule over you, men that spake unto you the Word of
 understood. Such is the divine pageant!                            God: and considering the issue of their life, imitate `their!
       And look at Paul in his efforts to eke a livelihood from     faith." Hebrews 13  :7.
 toils as a tentmaker. He works with his own hands. 0, the            They run the race to the end. Presently they shall be
 ox that treateth -out the corn should not be muzzled. But          taken up in glory. Then the scene shall change ; God shall
 look at Paul as he treads out the corn of the infinite riches      wipe all tears from their eyes !
 of the Kingdom of heaven! We- thirst  i We hunger! We                                                                          G.L.
 are scantily clothed ! We are beaten with fists, and we never
 know from day to day where our home shall be!
       And what was his  offence, that he should thus fare  ?                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
       Listen  :. he is an apostle!  He is appointed unto death.       It is with thankful hearts that our parents and grandparents.
 Hardly has a place in the world while he is not yet killed.
 You can see that by all the standards of. the -world and the                        MR. and MRS. S. VELTMAN
 flesh in the church he is in death-row !                           hope to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary on November
       Wherefore also the rest is true of Paul. He is in every      26, 1956. God, in His goodness and mercy, has blessed  .them and
 sense a  "theatre',' of God in the world. He walks in the          us together. As they face the future may God continue to lead
 footsteps of Christ his Lord. How he has-learned and learns        them and keep them in His way. They would like to visit with
                                                                    their friends at their Open House, Monday evening, November 26.
 .daily that it, be enough to a servant to be like his master.
 Paul is  .ndt`simply a preacher who has "taken up" the  min-                                       Mr. and Mrs. Sieger Heys      72
                                                                                                    Mr. and Mrs. John  Yeltman
-  istry. He is a chosen vessel to stand before kings and the                                       Mr. and Mrs. John  Bo'venkerk
 gentiles. He is separated unto this' ministry from his  mo-                                     ,' Mr.  .and Mrs. Henry Veltman
 ther's womb. And Christ has been revealed in him; so' that                                        and`15 grandchildren


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E - A R E R                                                87

 II,                                                                  brought  to  the..faith.=  He will say that with a view to who-
                   I N   H I S   F E A R , II ever it may please God to bring to the faith through the
                                                                      support we have given in the maintenance of the gospel.
                                                                          Still there is another side to the matter.
                       Giving In His Fear              --                 We must beware  i&t  we try to measure spiritual values
                                                                      by material things.
                                  (3) .                                  Very often our giving is governed by such an impossible
                                                                      measurement.
        A new Theological School building had  ,been erected.             Let a man try once, if he can before God's face-and
        An impressive dedicatory service had been held in one of      thus in His fear -place a price-tag on the' salvation of an
 its well furnished rooms.                                            individual. Let a man try to' state in dollars and cents the
        Now two who had listened carefully to the dedicatory          value of being redeemed from the curse and made an heir
 sermon were on the way homeward: a father and his son.               of everlasting blessedness and glory before God's face. Peter
        You do not believe that, do you, father] the son asked        `warns us against that when he states, "ye  1mo.w  that ye
 of his father.                                                       were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and
        Believe what, my son  ? was the reply.                        gold . . .  ,But with the precious blood of Christ . .  .", I Peter
        What we were told in that dedicatory sermon that-if only      1:18, 10. And what did this same Peter say to Simon the
 one soul was brought to the faith through the teaching and           Sorcerer who would buy the gift of the Holy Spirit with
 training given in this Theological School, the $100,000 was          money ? "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast
 well spent, the son replied.                                         thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money,"
        The reply of the father was instantaneous.                    Acts 8  :20.
   Yes, I would feel that way if that one soul happened to                Support the cause of God's kingdom with our gold and
 be my son.                                                           silver we must. Maintain the gospel and the schools is our
        That does make a difference, does it not  ?          -        calling before God: But to attach a price to salvation; to
        When we are called upon to give  - of what God en-            complain that it costs too much to maintain the gospel and
 trusted to our care for use to the glory of His name-for             the schools is neither receiving nor giving in His fear.      .
 the maintenance of the gospel, we are very ready to com-                 The same, of course, may and should be said about mis-
 plain that it all costs too much, that the returns and ad-           sionary activity, radio witnessing, the financial support of
-vantages to be obtained do not make the amount of money              ,christian  education to the youth in grade and high school and
to be raised a wise and good investment. But it does make             all other activities that come under the general heading of
 a difference if our flesh  - our sons and daughters -can             maintaining the gospel.
 profit from what others have contributed. 0, we  .appreciate             On the mission field, whether home or foreign, one is
 spiritual things and are thankful for blessings bestowed upon        also inclined to measure the spiritual by the material. The
 us. But we are also quick to call all that which does not bring      expenditure of let us say $25,000 is not too much a year if
 dir&t good and spiritual well-being to us and our loved ones         only we can count a few hundred souls "added" to the church.
 too high a price to pay. It all goes to show that in  allof us       But one or two converts makes it too expensive; and we
 there is to a greater or lesser degree failure to receive things     ought  to.,move  on to richer fields. What, then, do we mean
 in His fear and consequently failure to give in His fear.            by richer fields ? More rewarding for us  ? Bringing in `a
        Then, as with the young man, without thinking it              bigger return for our money ?  M.aking it more worthwhile
 through we cry about the cost of the maintenance of the              for us  ? And we will no longer show interest. in the few
 gospel until it is brought to our attention how much we covet        who had shown interest in the gospel that had been preached?
 the salvation of our own children.                                   Dollars and cents will rule us into deciding to "ditch" these
        That desire to see our children brought to the faith, to      because "it doesn't pay" to work with so few? We have to                 .
 come to the  enjoyment'of  the same salvation which we have          -have bigger returns for our money  ?
 so richly tasted is not sinful, to be sure. That is one of the           Never must we say that it was not worth it;
 joys that it pleases God to give to covenant parents. The                God's word never returns void but always accomplishes
 Apostle John says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that          that unto which He has sent it, Isaiah 55  :l.l. It shall ac-
 my children walk in truth," III John 4. However, John is             complish the thing that pleases Him. That is not always,
 not speaking of his own flesh and blood here but of his               on the mission field, the thing that pleases our flesh  ; and
 spiritual children. `And he who, with John here, speaks of the       therefore we  call-it a waste of time and money (mostly of
 joy of hearing that his children walk in truth will think that        money). Often it pleases Him to use it, as with Pharaoh,
 the money spent to maintain the gospel and  prepare  young            to harden the ungodly.- But that is His good pleasure  ; and
 men to bring it to  these  children is also well  spent  and  `a      the sum we have given to the maintenance of the gospel in
 very good investment.' He will not say that the  large  sum           a  fiel-d where only hardening has occurred must not be looked
  spent is well worth it only when his own flesh and blood are         upon as a waste of `money. It some times pleases God to use

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

our money- His money given us to use for  -that  very             to suffer., God has a word of comfort also to those who give
purpose -to realize His good pleasure of hardening. And           in His fear. "Bring your tithes into the storehouse, that!
He will reward us in His grace for. supporting the cause          there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now here-
of the gospel on such an unfruitful field as `well as when it     with, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the
pleases Him to bring hundreds and thousands to  th.e faith.       windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there
If we give in His fear for the maintenance `of the gospel,        shall not be room enough to receive it," Malachi 3  :lO.
we have our reward regardless of what it pleases Him to               Therefore we said a moment ago that when we give in
do with that gospel in the hearts of those who hear: whether      His fear we will be rewarded in God's grace. Men may  for-
unto salvation or to more wickedness and even to the killing      ge.t Men do forget. We ourselves may not recall in detail
of the missionaries. Even then, it is worth every cent that       all the sacrifices we have made for God's cause, the harships
has been spent. For then, too, it  ~has been spent in His         we experienced so that His cause might be maintained by
service and will be rewarded by His- grace.                       the material things which He entrusted to our care and be-
      If we give in His fear, we will be rewarded in His grace    stowed upon us as His stewards. But God will never forget
regardless of what it pleases Him to do with our gift.            them ; and in His grace He will reward every single one
      No, we are not `advocating careless spending.               of them.
      Those to whom the funds for the maintenance of the              He still will pour out blessings on those who give in His
gospel are entrusted-whether the local consistory or the          fear. Note that we said on those who give in His fear. One
classical  orsynodical  assemblies -must also use them in His     who "gives" a few paltry pennies or a huge sum of material
fear. They may not waste the funds and spend them foolishly.      things because he is after a greater measure of earthly goods
To God they must give an account of every penny and must          than before is not  givin g in His fear. He is trying to con-
answer for every part of what was given for the maintenance       duct some business deal with the Living God. He who seeks
of the gospel, must answer as to whether it was all used to       to bribe God to open up the windows of heaven and to give
the last penny for the maintenance of the gospel..                him material things in such abundance that he cannot find
      Nor are we advocating spending fabulous sums on church      room to receive it and considers-these things as such a treas-
property, making God's sanctuary a place of dazzling beauty.      ure and a blessing in themselves is carnal and does not give
The room where the disciples met that day that Jesus came         to the Lord. He is trying to trade a little earthly goods with
forth from His grave was not such an elaborate and ornate         the Living God for an abundance of earthly things. That is
place as the beautiful temple that stood in that same city.       not giving, for it is not giving in His fear.
Yet Jesus met with His disciples in this common-place                 But those who bring their "tithes" into God's house for
"sanctuary" with the  ..tidings of His victory over sin and       the maintenance of the gospel and of the schools will find
death. However, Scripture does not forbid our making them         that the windows of heaven will pour out a blessing of
places of beauty provided it is serviceable beauty and done       spiritual riches.
with a view to His infinite' glory and not for our carnal            And as long as it pleases God to keep His Church here
boasting and gloating.                                            on this earth He will continue to give His people sufficient
      In fact there is a passage of Holy Writ that condemns,      of this earth's goods for their own physical needs and for-the
the practice of inviting Jesus to meet with us in a run-down,     maintenance of His gospel and of the schools.
tumble-down building while we ourselves live in mansions                                                                        J.A.H.
of  covenience,  luxury and beauty. In Haggai  1:2-11, the
Israelites are rebuked for living in "cieled houses" while
God's house lies in ruins. The fact that this was the case
is presented as the reason why  I`. . . he that earneth wages,
earneth wages to put it in a bag with holes . .  ." and                                    IN MEMORIAM
`Because of mine house that is waste and ye run every man            The brethren and sisters in Christ, wish to express their
unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed_      heart-felt  sympathy+0  brother and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Van
from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.  ,And I         Kampen, and their family, in the home-going of their  fathCr,
called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains,                            MR. JACOB VAN KAMPEN
and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the
oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon         May those most beautiful words of Scripture, that John wrote,
men, and upon cattle and upon all the labor `of the hands."       console sorrowing hearts :
      Indeed, Christ will meet with His people in a hovel, in        `And I- heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Write,
a dark and gloomy cave, in ruins and a run-down,  tumble-         Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from  hencefo&i,: Yea,
down dilapidated buildings but not when -we will not give         saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their
in His fear and instead-make our own "cieled houses" at           works do follow them." Rev.  14:13.
the expense of His house and the maintenance of the gospel.                                     The Ladies' Aid Society of Holland
      Nor need we fear that by giving in His fear we are going                                  The Men's Society of Holland


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  89

 I/                                                                        Church councils were held, beginning with what is regarded
             Contending For The Faith                                   II as the most impbrtant of all Cliurch councils, the Council of
                                                                           Nicaea in the year, 325. It was during this period that the
                                                                           Church was compelled to combat the Arian  .heresy of the
              The Church and the Sacraments                                denial of the Godhead of the Christ. The Church repudiated
                                                                           this heresy and established the truth of the Trinity, declar-
       VIEWS DURING THE THIRD  PERIOD   (750-1517 A.D.)                    ing the three Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) to be
                                                                           coeternal and coequal. Later, in 451, the Church declared
                           A  BRIEF RESUME.                                itself on the union of the two natures in the one Divine
                                                                           Person of the Son.  Attentioa  need  not be directed to these
       The doctrine  of the  Ch,~rclz  zcntil his period  (750-1517)       several controversies in detail.
                                                                               The development- of the Church in external power and
        During the `early period of the Church, embracing the              glory can never be divorced from the reign of Constantine,
 first three centuries. and  known as the  `(Heroic Age," the              the Great. One cannot doubt his tremendous influence upon
 Church of God in Christ Jesus. was compelled to Struggle for              this phenomenal growth of  fhe Church of God. To this
 its very life and existence in the midst of the world. This               growth we  have called  attebtion  in preceding articles. More
 is the period of the Church which was characterized by                    and  &ore  the Church  assumed  the form of a kingdom in the
 several bloody persecutions. Desperately the devil attempted              midst of the world. It became an honour to be a member
 to destroy the Church of the Lord in the midst of the world.              of the Church of Christ, and this was a sharp `contrast to
 This period  r.eminds  us very sharply of Rev. 12 :12-17, and             the position of the people of God in the earlier  Her&  Age.
 we quote:  `Yl?herefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell            The Christian name began to be held in high esteem and
 in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea!               .honour.  This name now guaranteed many and great material
 for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath;                  advantages. It had become a passport to political, military
 because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when                and social promotion. The result was that thousands upon
 the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted             thousands of heathens joined the Church. It was a disgrace
 the woman which brought forth the man child. And to                       to be separated from the church.
 the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she                     The second period of the Church (300-750 A.D.) was
 might fly  Pinto  the wilderness, into her place, where she is            also important from the viewpoint of the development of
 nourished for a time, and times,  and, half a time, from the              the doctrine of  the. Church. We will probably recall that
 face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth                this period was characterized by a controversy about the
 water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her                 purity of the Church and the question of Church discipline
 to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the                 between the Donatists (a schismatic party in North Africa)
 woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up                   and the Church Catholic (not to be confused with the present
 the flood which  the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the                day Roman Catholic church), whose view was ably re-
 dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war                     presented and defended by Augustine. The Donatists held
 with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments                 that the Church visible must be pure and advocated a strict
 of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." The Roman                discipline.  The Church must  .exist only of the true, spiritual
 Empire put forth countless efforts to obliterate the Name of              people of God. Augustine. admitted the necessity of Church
 Christ from under heaven. And  the Church of  Gbd was                     discipline, but he maintained that absolute purity cannot be
 compelled to hold fast that which it had in order  that no                 attained for the church in the midst of the-world. According
 man might take its crown. These persecutions came to a                     to him the true distinguishing marks of the Church are:
 close in the years, 311-313. The wicked world had exhausted                Catholicity (the true Church is spread through all lands and
 itself in its wicked  and vain attempt to  destroy the Cause of           peoples)    and apostolic    connections    (connections with
 the living God. The conclusion of this Heroic Age and the                 churches founded by the apostles). Augustine despised
 beginning of the second period (300-750 A.D.) are marked                   schism and therefore opposed the Donatists.
by the reign of Constantine the Great.                                         Relative the importance- of the membership in this true
        The second period' of the Church, (300-750 A.D.) is                 church, it was generally held that membership in this Catholic
 characterized by external growth of the Church. Having                     Church was. strictly necessary unto salvation. Augustine
 successfully withstood the onslaughts of the forces  of. hell              declared that "Whosoever is not in this Church does not
 from without the Church was now compelled to battle for its                now receive the Holy Ghost." And Gregory the Great re-
  life and existence against the attacks of the powers of evil              marked that "heretics are unworthy of life and cannot escape        1
 from within. The period of rest and tranquility which set                  th&wrath-of  God unless they come into the Catholic Church."
 in in the years 311-313 also gave the enemy an opportunity                 The&&bman  Catholic Church of today likes to quote Augus-
 to operate against and undermine the very foundations of                   tine  iri support of its belief that. membership in' the Roman
 the Church of God. From 325 to 451 A.D. several ecumenical                 Catholic  Church is  str?ctly  necessary unto salvation and that

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

    there is no salvation outside of its membership. But we know         .prayers, alms, etc. But this was held to be effective both for
    that Augustine, speaking of `the Catholic Church, does not           the living and for the dead. At the end of this period, how-
    refer to the Roman Catholic Church of today but to the               ever,. Gregory the Great plainly -speaks of the  eucharist as
    Church, of Christ which was strictly Catholic, universal in          a sacrifice which we offer. And we have quoted from others,
    h i s   d a y .                                                      as from John of Damascus, which makes it easy. to under-
          And finally, in connection with the doctrine of the church,    stand why and how the Roman Catholic doctrine of  trans-
    the episcopacy was deemed the principal bond of the Church           substantiation should have been developed and acclaimed as
    and preserving its unit-y. Episcopacy. refers to the  govern-        it is today in the Roman Catholic Church.
    rnent  of the Church by the bishops. The bishop of Rome at                                                                `-
    this time held the leading position  -in  .the entire Church.        The doctrine of  the Church and the  Sacruments  ,in this
    However, he was not considered infallible. As proof of this          third pehod.
    stands the fact that Honorarius I was condemned for heresy              Let us now briefly set forth what awaits  us  in our dis-
    by the sixth ecumenical council.                                     cussion of the Church and the Sacraments in this third
                                                                         period of the history of the Church which we are now about
    The  doctrine  of the Sacraments until now.                          to discuss. First, in connection with the doctrine of the
          Great significance was attached to the sacrament of bap-       Church, the supremacy of the Pope of Rome was strongly
    tism. This was true of the "Heroic Age" of the church, and           asserted, although it is true that this supremacy was some-
    it also characterizes the second period of the Church, (300-         what relinquished towards the end of the period. This
    750' A.D.) By this sacrament both original and actual sins           strengthening of the papacy in the period to which we are
    (the sins committed before the administration of the sacra-          to call the attention of our readers will `occupy us for some
    ment) were removed.. However, this power to remove sin               time. A greater fraud was never perpetrated upon the
    was not attributed to the water of baptism as such, but only         Church of the living God than the fraud which is known in
    upon condition of repentance and faith. It was held that in          Church History as the Isidorian Decretals. We have al-
    the case of the baptism of infants the faith of the Church, as       ready called the attention of our readers in past articles to
    represented by the godfathers and godmothers, functioned for         the rise of the Papacy and noted that the Pope's rise to
    the child. We may also remark, in -connection with this              power was a matter which is easily understood. Rome was
    second period of the Church,. that the practice of infant bap-       a leading city in the world and its bishop would naturally
    tism was generally maintained. And, finally, it was taught           be regarded with considerable honour and esteem. Besides,
    that there is no salvation without baptism. Augustine  de-           the bishop of Rome, or the  "Popel" had played a leading
    clare'd that "No one attains to God without baptism." When .and important role in the settling of controversial issues and
    the example of the thief on the cross was cited as an ob-            had thereby added greatly to the high esteem in which he
    jection, the distinguished Church Father explained that the          was already held. And to this we may also add that this
    thief must have been baptized by the sprinkling of the blood         bishop of Rome had not hesitated to rise to the  defence of
    of Christ or by the water from His side. Leo the Great de-           Rome and the Italian peninsula against barbarian invasions.
    clared that "No one can be released from the original sins           We can therefore easily understand why the bishop of Rome
    except through baptism." And Gregory the Great once                  should be acknowledged as the leading bishop in the Church
d e c l a r e d   : "Those dying without the sacrament pass on to        of God. And now the gigantic fraud of the Isidorian Decretals
 eternal death."                                                         was perpetrated upon the Church of God. We will call the
          In connection with the doctrine of the sacrament of the        attention of our readers to this fraud. Incidentally, when we
    Zord's Supper- we may summarize the following. On the                call these decretals a fraud this opinion is also shared by
    one hand, the union of Christ and the signs in the Lord's            Roman Catholic scholars of today. They  .also call them a
    Supper was often compared to the union of the two natures            fraud. Besides, this fraud was. preceded by another docu-
    in Christ. But the doctrine of transsubstantiation was cer-          ment, included in these decretals, known as the "Donation of
    tainly at this time no part as yet of the accepted doctrine          Constantine." This latter fraud was revealed in the form
    of the Church. The bread and wine are called "types and              of a strange document which appeared at the time of Charle-
    antitypes" of the body and blood of Christ, as by Gregory            magne. The "Isidorian Decretals" appeared somewhere
    Nazianzen. They are frequently called "symbols" (as by               around the middle of the ninth century. These decretals, we
    Theodoret). And Augustine writes that Christ's declara-              have already remarked, included the "Donation of Con-
    tion that  He. would give us of his flesh to eat must not be         stantine." And these documents (the Donation of Constantine
    understood in the literal sense  :- "His grace is not consumed       and the Isidorian Decretals) were accepted a genuine for
    by toothbiting." On the other hand, the idea of the sacrifice        hundreds of years. The first suggestion that these decretals
    is still emphasized, although the term does not  in. this            .were a forgery was heard in the middle of the fifteenth
    second period of the Church convey the same meaning the              century. At the same time it was proved that the "Donation
    Roman Catholics of  the present day attach to it., It was            of Constantine" was a forgery. Today Roman Catholic
    rather. conceived of as a thank-offering, consisting  :in the                            (Cmtimted   on page 95)


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   91

II                                                                        corrupt children." Let us note, first of all, that there
         The Voice of Our Fathers                                    II is a plain reference here to the preceding  &t-title.  AC-
                                                                          cording to -that.  article we maintain that man became corrupt
                                                                          in his very nature. Originally he had been endowed with the
                   The Canons of Dordrecht                                gifts of the true knowledge of God, righteousness, and holi-
                                                                          ness in his very. nature. But by his own free will, at the
                               PART TWO                                   instigation of the devil, man rebelled against God. And thus,
                       EXPOSITION OF  THE CANONS                          he not only lost all the excellent gifts with which he had
             THIRD AND  FO'URTH  HEADS OF DOCTRINE                        been  e&lowed in mind and heart and will and affections, but
                                                                          he entailed upon himself the very opposite of these gifts,
      OF  THE CORRUPTION OF MAN, HIS CONVERSION TO GOD,                   namely, blindness of mind, vanity and perverseness of judg-
                       AND THE MANNER THEREOF                             ment, wickedness and obduracy of  heart and will, and im-
                                                                          purity in his affections.  ,The  image of God in man was
               Article 2. Man after the fall begat children in his
               own likeness. A corrupt stock produced a -corrupt          subverted into its very opposite. And when the present
               offspring. Hence all the posterity of Adam, Christ         article says, "Such as  inan became after the fall," it is to this
               only excepted, have derived corruption from their          corruption of man's nature that it refers. Man became such
               original parent, not by imitation, as the Pelagians of     that he was corrupt in his very nature and in all its part.
               old asserted, but by the propagation of a vicious
               nature.                                                    And, so the article teaches, such as he was, such kind of
                                                                          children he begat. A corrupt  n&n begat corrupt children. He
       The above rendering of this article is faulty in the ex-           procreated children, therefore, that were corrupt in their
treme, not only because it is far from literal, but especially            very  nature. Children he produced who were characterized
because it leaves out entirely a  very  important phrase, "by             by blindness of mind, vanity and perverseness of judgment,
the righteous judgment of  God."  This omission is very                   wickedness and obduracy of heart and will, and impurity in
`serious because it also happens to be the one place  -in our             their affections.
confessions where the organic line is not  followed exclusively              Again, therefore, the article emphasizes  a very crucial
in delineating the corruption of man. Here we  have.at  least             point, namely, that man's sin is a  .matter of his very nature,
an indication of the judicial, or legal, ground of the depravity          and not merely a matter of the deed. The Pelagian denies
of the race, and it is omitted in the English version of our              this. He claims that sin is ever in  the act only, never in the
Psalter.  We  present, therefore, a more literal and correct              nature. A man is righteous only as he does righteousness,
translation below :                                                       and he is wicked only as he commits wickedness. The  Pela-
                                                                          gian insists that no sinful deed can affect the nature of  pan
               Moreover, such as man became after the fall, such          in such a way that the nature itself becomes corrupt. He
               kind of  chi.ldren   hk also procreated, namely, a cor-    will grant that through repetition man's will becomes weak-
               rupt man corrupt `children; the corruption having
               bee,n  diverted from Adam into all his posterity (only     ened,  SO that it becomes easier to do the evil and more
                Christ excepted), not through', imitation  Gas the        difficult to do the good. He will also grant that sin can
               Pelagians of  old~asserted),  but through the  propaga-    become habitual through repetition. But he is insistent that
               tion of an evil nature,. by the righteous judgment of      the nature itself cannot be corrupted by sin, and that the
               God.                                                  0    will of man always remains free to choose either for `the
With this rendering the Dutch translation agrees.                         good or for the evil. It is this error which, while it surely
       In this article the fathers set forth the truth concerning         goes hand in hand with the Pelagian error concerning the
the corruption of the entire race, or the doctrine of universal           imitation of sin, is nevertheless the more serious error. It
depravity. Moreover, this paragraph sets forth at the same                is in this regard primarily that the  Pelagian is individualistic
time the truth concerning the  manner of this universal                   in his doctrine. And it is over against this error that the
depravity, and that too, over against the Pelagian error. And             fathers once more in this article posit the truth concerning
finally, the article, evidently anticipating  the Pelagian ac-            the corruption of  nian's  satwe.  While in Article 1 they
cusation that the doctrine of original corruption vitiates the            Jnaintain this truth in regard to Adam, in Article 2 they
truth of individual responsibility, points to the judicial-ground         follow through by maintaining that same  Truth  in regard
of this original corruption when it emphasizes that depravity             to Adam's children. In regard to sin, the truth is: like
has spread to the entire race "by the righteous judgment of               father, like  son.  And it is of prime importance that this be
God." To these three elements of  this article we shall briefly           ,maintaineL  If it is not clearly understood and maintained,
call attention.                                                           the truth that man is  "incapdble  of doing any good, and
                                                                          inclined to all evil" cannot  possibljr be maintained any longer,
        The main  proposition.of  the article we find in its opening      and one  tin never &rive at the  conc!usion  expressed by
statement : "Such as man became after the fall, such kind                 otir fathers `in Article 3 of  -the present chapter. If in  .any
 of children he also  proci-eat&d,   namely, a corrupt man                regard this  severer sentence  foncerqing  the depravity of

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

  Adam's nature and the nature of all Adam's children is                Adam. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
  mitigated, one must be prepared to discard entirely the               Not one." A corrupt stock produced a corrupt offspring.
  Reformed doctrine of total depravity.                                   To this rule the fathers admit only one exception, our
        The second, and related truth taught  by. this article is       Lord Jesus Christ. It is to be noted in this connection that
that this universal, depravity of mankind is achieved by                the exception does not lie herein, that Christ did not belong
  p.ropagation  of an -evil nature. This is already maintained          .to the posterity of Adam. To deny that would be to deny
  in the opening statement of the article when it says that man         the real humanity of the Mediator and would be the denial
  procrea.ted,  or begat, children like himself. And it is em-          of all possibility of salvation. But the fathers exactly place
  phasized in the last part of the article over against the             Christ in the line of the prosperity of Adam, excepting Him
  Pelagians. The latter teach that sin can be extended to man-          at the same time from the corruption of that posterity. This,
  kind  ,only by way of imitation. This is, of course, quite in         as we know, is due to the fact, on the one hand, that Christ
  harmony with their error that sin is only in the deed, never          *was  the Person of the Son of God, and therefore exempt
  in the nature. It stands to reason that this is the only course       from the imputation of Adam's guilt; and it  is~ due, on the
  open to the Pelagian to explain -sin. The  act  of sin cannot         other hand, to the truth that while Christ assumed His human
 be extended from one man to another, from one generation               nature from the line of Adam's posterity, from the virgin
  to the next, by propagation, by conception and birth. And if,         Mary, He assumed that nature by way of the conception by
  then, the act of sin is the only sin there is, it must be that        the Holy Ghost, and therefore assumed a nature that was
 sin is  lear/ned.  And thus the Pelagian maintains that sin is         absolutely holy and that could not possibly become defiled
  transmitted through imitation. Abel and Cain sinned be-               by the corruption of sin.
  cause they had an example of sin in their parents. And every              We may also note that the fathers do not involve them-
  child sins because he comes into a world in which he is sur-          selves in the. old argument concerning the origin of the soul.
  rounded by a multitude of bad examples for him to imitate.            None of the three views concerning the origin of the soul,-
  Sin is a matter of the environment. From this point of view,          creationism, pre-existentianism, and traducianism,  - is
  of course, the modern philosophy that controls much of educa-         treated in the article. We will therefore follow the lead of
  tion today is not really modern at all, but as old as Pelagian-       this article, and not take the time here to elaborate on these .
  ism. And in this same regard, therefore, the instruction of           various views. Let it suffice to note that the fathers happily
  our  Cmons  is very much to the point, not only as respects           speak of the propagation of an evil  na.ture.  This must needs
  matters soteriological but also as regards matters educa-             exclude both creationism and pre-existentianism-, because the
  tional. The Reformed Christian cannot go along with a                 latter both deny that the nature is propagated. And it ex-
  philosophy of education which teaches that the child is in-           cludes traducianism, at least by implication, because it does
  herently good, or that this nature is at least inherently neutral,    not speak of the propagation of the person, but only of the
  and that therefore a good environment will result in a good           nature. The nature, both body and soul, is propagated  ; and
  child.                                                                it is propagated in sin. For a further elaboration of this
                                                                        subject we refer you to: H. Hoeksema, "In the Midst of
        But let it be clearly understood as well, that the doctrine     Death," pp. 153, ff.
  of a depraved  n&we  cannot be maintained except on the                   Finally, we must take note of  the. phrase, "by the right-
  basis of the doctrine of original corruption, or better, in-          eous judgment of God." Undoubtedly these words were  in-
  herited corruption. No more than the Pelagian can maintain            Berted  because the Arminians and Pelagians insist that the
  his doctrine that sin is only in the act of every individual  ex;     doctrine of inherited corruption removes the responsibility
  cept on the basis that the sinful act is a matter of imitation,       for sin from the individual. If, so they argue, a man comes
  no more can the Reformed man maintain his doctrine that               into this world with a nature that is so corrupt that he is
  sin is in the nature of every man, except on the basis that this      incapable of doing any good and inclined to all evil, then
  depravity is transmitted to all men from Adam by way of               he cannot help. it that he sins. If he is inherently evil, what
conception and birth. The human race is an organic whole.               else than  sin, can be expected of him. But if he is by nature
  There was in paradise not simply an isolated individual,              incapable of ought but sin, then he is not to be, blamed. God
  Adam, with an isolated instance of a human nature, which              Himself, so they claimed, cannot expect more than a man
  stood entirely unrelated to all other instances of the human          is capable of. And therefore God cannot hold man responsible
  nature. But the father of the entire race was in paradise.            for his sinful deeds, let alone his sinful nature. Hence, if
 . His human nature was our human nature. And there is no               you would maintain the doctrine of original, or inherited cor-
  instance of the human nature that is not out of Adam. And             ruption, you. must discard the doctrine of human responsibil-
  just as surely as every individual of the human race has              ity. `The judicial ground, therefore, of this original corrup-
  received his nature from Adam by way of generation and                tion must be understood. The corruption of the nature is
  birth, so surely is that nature a  corn@@@   nature. No more          ,pztnis&ent,  one aspect of the punishment of death. And that
  than one can gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles,, no        punishment is on account of original  guilt.  But original guilt,
  more can one gather good men from the corrupt vine of                                         (Co~ttiwecl  on, page 96)



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                                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              93

      II                                                                     the truth, and instead of begging the sinner to surrender let
                     ALL  ARO.UNB US                                 -.      us rather beg the Spirit to impart grace to the sinner.
      I!-                                                                       "III. Among the terms relating to preaching the Gospel
       Accepting Christ.                                                    which need scrutiny are the words, `evangelical,' `evangelistic,'
              The last time I called the attention of our readers to a      and `evangelise.'
       little pamphlet entitled : "Popular Phraseology Considered"              "Many persons who use these terms in a popular and
       written by Principal C.  B/reed of the Strict Baptist group.         rather thoughtless manner, would do well to study their
       I promised to finish in this issue the complete quotation of         meaning with the help of an English dictionary. The verb
      this pamphlet. The second part of this pamphlet has to do             `evangelise' means simply `to make known the evangel or
      with the expression "Accepting Christ." The writer con-               Gospel.' The adjectives `evangelical and `evangelistic' mean
      tinues as follows :                                                   respectively, `pertaining to the Gospel' and `intended to
             "II. Arising out of the conception of a Gospel offer there     evangelise.' These terms then have no reference to the
      is a type of phraseology variously. expressed as "accepting           preacher's audience, but to his preaching. If he preaches
      Christ,' or "making a full surrender," or "giving the heart           the Gospel, he is evangelical and he evangelises, whoever
      to Christ."                                                           his audience may be. If he does not preach the Gospel,
             "(a) With regard to the first of these, it has already been    he is not evangelical and he does not evangelise, whatever
      noticed that acceptance of the offered salvation is treated as        may be the composition of his audience.
      essential to the obtaining of salvation. It has also been ob-             "Certain services are now being described as an `evangel-
      served that the quickening of the Spirit is evidently the             istic campaign' - a phrase which has been lifted from out-
      actual beginning of an experience of salvation. Christ made           side sources. Why must certain services be designated
      this clear to Nicodemus, `Except a man be born again he               evangelistic as distinct from others  7 Is it that the other
      cannot see the kingdom of God.' But this new birth is a               services are not evangelistic ? This would be serious  for.
      secret operation of the Spirit for, `the wind bloweth where           surely every preaching service should be evangelistic. The
      it listeth and thou  ,hearest  the sound thereof, but  canst not      fact is that these terms have. been dragged from their rightful
      tell whence it  cometh,  and whither it goeth, so (like that)         places and made incorrectly to refer to preaching to  uncon-
      is everyone that is born of the Spirit.' The sinner may know          verted only, as if the words had reference to the nature of- the
      the time of his conversion, or when he was first conscious of
-I                                                                          audience.  Q all means let the Gospel be preached to-the un-
      the Lord's work within, but he does not know the moment of            converted, who can be found inside the Chapels as well  -as
      his secret quickening. The seed may lie dormant a long                outside, but let all preaching be the pure Gospel of Christ.
      time before starting into activity, (I would put a big question       Only so is it evangelical.
      mark behind this last statement-M.S.) In short, in the                    "The foregoing examples must suffice to illustrate the
      matter of regeneration, the sinner is completely passive: he          dangers of the speaker-hearer relation. Some of these cases
      neither welcomes it, nor oppose it-he knows nothing about             are instances of the wrong use of terms which have a correct
      it-until afterwards. But it cannot be denied that a regenerate        employment  ; others are cases of terms which are wrong
      soul is already redeemed, though that fact may not yet be             anyway in a Free Grace scheme of things:
      published in the conscience. If a man is brought into a hos-             "The terms and phrases noticed are tending to become
      pital in an unconscious or dying condition, and is given an           current in Strict Baptist  ,language,  and as far as those of
      injection of some saving drug and recovers, what would be             Arminian origin are concerned, their use has a subtle tendency
      the point of asking whether he accepted what the doctor had           to convey to the mind almost unconsciously their original
      done  ? If a sinner when- dead in sin is quickened by the             import. Once the terms are admitted, the doctrines they
      Holy Ghost, by the injection of a new nature, (I would say  -         connote are likely to follow.  .This  would seem to be par-
      "Heart"  - M.S.) what is  ,the point of asking his acceptance         ticularly the case with young people who are, not versed
      of the gift of life which he now possesses  ?                         in the niceties of theological language.
             "(b) In the case of the other two phrases, the kind of            "Calvinism has no need to borrow or import terms from
      person intended as needing to `surrender' or to `give the             other systems of thought. It produces its  own. technical
      heart' to Christ, is clearly not an incompetent sinner, but one       terms and phrases. It has no need to ransack the theological
      who is able to stand alone against. the grace `of the Spirit.         world for secondhand words or thought-forms. Once let an
      One popular  Arminiaa  preacher declared at a great meeting           Arminian term, like the wooden horse of Troy, be admitted
      in the Albert Hall, `The armies of the Lord of Hosts halt at          into our thinking and speaking, and the resultant tragedy
      the gates of the city of  Mansoul and invite its surrender.'          will be such that another Reformation will be needed to save
      This teaching is open to the serious charge of inventing an           the Denomination."
      incompetent God; If it should be said, as it has been said,           Though we  -do not agree with all the phraseology the
      that the Spirit must give the sinner grace to surrender,. then        writer of this pamphlet uses as I  .have noted in the paren-
      the answer surely is, let us be done with this trifling with          theses above, we do nevertheless agree whole-heartedly with

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

  his condemnation of the phraseology he claims is being im-                   So far, so good! according to Rev. Selles.
  ported into his  denoiiiination from  Arminian  sources. His                 But now, it was at this point when something happened
  `is not the only denomination that has experienced this im-              with which the Rev. Selles could not agree. The "Prot.  Ref:
  portation. In our American-Reformed church world these                   Churches" did something uncomplimentary.
  importations have been long in use.                                         They hired an Orthodox Presbyterian minister who was
        We especially liked the thought he expressed when he               loaned to them  by, the Presbytery of California for mission
  said : "Calvinism has no need to borrow or import tei-ms                 work on Guam, and this on the basis of the Three Forms
  from other systems of thought. It produces its own technical             of Unity plus the Westminster Confession. Isn't that strange  ?
  terms and phrases, etc." The trouble is that those churches,             asks the Rev. Selles. How can they do that if they reckon
  including his own, which purport themselves to be Calvinistic,           with Articles 27-29 of the Belgic Confession?
have and do import these foreign terms and phrases. And                       Yes, Rev. Wade is a man who has reputiated Arminian-
 -the  decep'tive aspect of this fact is that the immature and             ism and heartily subscribes to the truth of God's sovereign
  less-informed constituency in these churches accept these                grace and unconditional election, according to Rev.  Kol, says
  terms as being Calvinistic. How  thankful~ we as Protestant              Rev.  Selles; but if that is so, he continues, isn't it the first
 Reformed people may be that we have been spared so far                    task of the  chtirch  to join themselves with the Orthodox
  this insidious evil, and that from our pulpits sound forth the           Presbyterian Church? And if this is not possible,  th?n
  full-orbed Gospel of Christ without these false admixtures.              shouldn't they  af least be. one with Rev. Wade ? And if this
  ""Mksio~z  Activity in  the Pro t. Ref,  Chawches."                      is impossible, then the whole business is out of order.  You
                                                                           cannot, standing on two different church-scaffolds, build the
        A brother sent me a copy of the "Canadian Reformed                                                                                    e
                                                                           walls of Zion. Such is the contention of Rev. Selles.
  Magazine" dated October 3,  195'6,  in which appeared an                     I have nothing against the criticism  0: Rev. Selles.  I
  article in the rubric  called: Mission. This article treats              agree  with'him. But he should not speak of the group that
  of "Mission activity in the Prot. Ref. Churches." With the               left  us  a$ being Protestant Reformed.
  latter, the writer evidently means the schismatic group that                 The Protestant Reformed Churches would- not do mission
  left the Protestant Reformed  Church& recently, but still                work  that way. Only those whose mission  zeil has run
  calls itself Protestant Reformed.                                        away with them so much that they are willing to blindly
        I cannot take the time to translate and quote the entire           foresake principles all along the line to give vent to their
  article, nor is this necessary. Let me briefly repeat in my              zeal, would do this. Not the Protestant Reformed Churches
  own words the gist of the article and  +ialre a few comments.            violated the sound  principk   Rev.,.Selles  referred to, but an
        Rev. L.  Selles? the author of this article,  f&-St compliments    independent group  ,of  schismatics  led by a group of schism-
  the schismatic group on its missionary zeal. He informs his              atic ministers: Let Rev. Selles make this correction in the
  readers that the Prot. Ref. Churches have never had a foreign            next issue of his periodical, the Canadian Reformed magazine.
  mission field of their own, but had only conducted so-called                                                                               M.S.
  Home Mission work. But sometime ago two young teachers,
  members of these churches, went to the island of Guam to
  teach for the government in the public school located there.                  Report ol the' Western Ladies' League
While there they became  i&erested  in a mission established                   On the afternoon  6f October 12, 1956 our fall meeting  nf
  by a certain Rev. Wade of the Orthodox Presbyterian                      the Ladies' League of the Protestant Reformed Churches was
  Church who was connected with the Navy. These teachers                   held at Edgerton, Minn.
  conceived of the idea of the Prot. Ref. Churches sponsoring                 Our meeting was opened by' singing our theme song:
this mission on Guam, and immediately contacted the  con-                  Psalter number  298: Then' we sang  nunjbers 216 and 124
  sistory of First Church of which De Wolf is minister, and                of the Psalter, -after which our president, Mrs. E. Van
  this consistqry in turn contacted the Mission Committee of               Egdolt',  read from Revelation 6  :1-S.  Our president asked
  this group which studied the matter and  broug.ht the case               Rev. G. Van  Baren to open with a word of prayer, after which
  to tlieir syhod. .                                                       our president extended a word of welcome  to all  the ladies
        In the meantime, so we are informed, Rev. Wade had                 present. The secretary `then read the minutes  an? the treas-
  finiShed his stretch with the Navy and evidently had in-                 urer's report was given. The president then introduced the
  formed the Mission Committee that he would like to return                speaker, Rev. H. Veldman, who spoke on:  "The Signs of
  to Guam under the auspices of the Prot. Ref. Churches to                 the Times."                                                .~.
  continue the work  iri the Mission. The  syndd decided that                 In his introduction Rev. Veldman spoke' of  -.&be signs
 .under the auspices  bf  the Mission Committee the churches               of the coming of Christ and divided  these.as follows.  &.-The
                                                                                                                                _*
 would sponsor the Mission. One or more  chui-ches  were ap-               signs,  .II.. Their meaning, III. Their practical significance.
 pointed to raise the salary' of the missionary, and by free                  Concerning the signs Rev. Veldman emphasized that they
 collections-  the rest of  the expenses  .would  be obtained  frbm        must not be conceived of as pre-millenarian. Those speak
 .tht? churches.                                         .                 of three comings of Christ. First there is the rapture, a


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                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     9 5

      secret coming at  any time,  not  preceeded  by any signs, by                After this instructive speech, we were favored with a
      which Christ takes the living and dead believers with  Him            beautiful piano solo, "He Leadeth Me," by Mrs. Harold
      into the air. Also they speak of the Revelation and the final         Van Maanen from our Hull society. A collection was taken
      coming on the clouds of heaven.                                       for the Reformed Witness Hour. After this, Rev. Heys
          We also speak of threk comings of Christ : at Pentecost;          answered six questions submitted to him by the three so-
      at the time of our death  ; and throughout this entire dispensa-      cieties. Then we were favored by a double duet from the
      tion, culminating in the coming  upori  the clouds of heaven.         Doon  society. We sang Psalter No. 266, our president
                                                                            thanked `the  Edgerton  ladies for being hostesses, and then
          Among the signs of the coming of Christ we could list:            asked Rev. Heys to close with prayer. Afterwards, refresh-
      the preaching of the gospel, wars and rumors of wars, social          ments were served in the basement.
      conflict, earthquakes, great  apostacy,  tribulation, signs in the                                       Mrs. James Blankespoor,  Repo&r
      heavens and finally the sign of  the Son of Man.
          Particularly, Rev.  Veldman called attention to  -the signs
      found  in Rev. 6:1-S. There is presented the horse and its                                   CONTENDING  ~qj3  ?HE FAITH
                                                                                                       (C0&&d  fro&   page 90)
      riders. The horse is a symbol of war. It shows courage and            scholars agree with Protestant scholars that both documents.
      irrepressible force. That they have riders indicates that the         are false. And although it is now generally accepted thah
      horse is directed in a particular  dire$ion  and purpose.             these documents are false, it is a fact that they were foisted
          The first horse is white, a symbol of victory. His bow            upon the world and  the Church  at a time of extreme ignor-
      pictures  h<s righteous warfare, and the rider wears the crown        ance. At the time they were regarded as genuine. And the
      of  Victory.  The second horse. is red, a symbol of wrath,            damage had been done. We conclude this article with the
      anger, passion, and warfare. He goes forth to kill. The               remark that the supremacy of the  l%pe was strongly asserted
      third horse is black, a symbol of want and scarcity. The              in this third period of the Church to which we will now call
      rider has a balance and  sp regulates the food supply  that           a t t e n t i o n .                                             $I.V.
      the  corn&on man gets only his daily bread, while the rich
     live  in.luxury.  The fourth horse is pale, the  color of death.
      Its rider is death and  hades follows.                                         REPORT OF THE LADIES'LEAGUE MEETING
          The meaning of these horses is as follows.  The white                                        (Covhvcued  from  #age 78)
      horse is the irresistible preaching of the gospel of Christ                  In the fourth place liveliness, as we read in James 2  20,
      which is always victorious and proceeds generally -from the           that faith without works is dead.
      East to the West. The red horse indicates war, and no                        The fifth implication implies sufficiency. We need nothing
      man can prevent the progress of that horse. Wars are not              beside God.
      accidental, but are all directed. The black horse reveals'                   The last implication implies freedom.
      scarcity and want for many, and luxury `for the few rich.                    -The freedom is an earnest. In heaven that earnest will
      This also is directed by Christ.  The- pale horse is sent by          be complete and perfect. It will be perfect Consciousness,
      Christ to cause death in this world.                                  harmony, direction, liveliness, sufficiency and freedom. That
                                                                            earnest seeks God in everything and sees him in all his
          Why are these horses sent out? The white horse sig-               suffering and sees him in the judgment.
      nifies the gathering of Christ's church from all the earth.              The obligation, that we should speak from the new heart.
      The other horses all serve that white horse.  The devil seeks         We say, Thy truth Lord will I speak. When I believe  it's
      to set up his  anti-Christian  kingdom where Christ establishes       a fruit of the new heart. It is our obligation to express it
      His church. The iast three horses prevent the antichrist              all the days of our life, as the  patriarches  of old did. It is
      from  establishifig  his kingdom and allow the church to be           also our obligation in the rearing of our children.
      gathered. The last three horses prevent the world from                       While we. sang Psalter No. 386 the collection was taken           -
      establishing its kingdom as it desires.                               for our schools and The Standard Bearer. The business at
       What do these things mean to us  ? We must know these                hand was taken care of and our new and old board members
      signs in order to recognize them when `we see them. As                were introduced.
      mothers and grandmothers we  mus> teach them to our chil-             Miss Elsie  Kuiper  from Second Church gave a report
      dren and grandchildren. Apostacy'is increasing and teaching           on the activities of their society.  We were favored by an-
      is essential. We as parents must take heed of the hellish             other number by the ladies double trio, they sang "God
      character and teaching of the public schools of this world.           Leads Us Along."
      We must realize that authority is not respected, and that                    Everyone was thanked who in any way made the evening
      people always depart from the Word.                                   a  success..and Mrs. Jonker  dur  tiew president thanked Mrs.
          Also, we  must not fear when we see these signs, It
                                                  .,                        Harbin  for her three years of presidency.
1 means Christ is coming,  and- is therefore a  sburce  oi joy                     The evening was closed in prayer by student A. Mulder.
~ for us.                                                                    .        _                                   Reporter for the League
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9;                                          T H E - S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

               THE VOICES O,F &JR FiTgEiS                                                      W E D D I N G                          ANi+;VERSAR+  _  :  ..
                    (Contiwd   from  Page 92)                           -On October-26,  1956, our ddar parents,
it must be remembered; is not .propagafed:  it does not rest                         MR. and MRS. JACOB `H. VANDER WAL
on the organic unity of the race. It is  imputed.  It is the         celebrated their  45th wedding anniversary. >We are  thankful to
guilt of Adam's sin reckoned to the account of every member          God- for having spared them for each other and  us for the
of the human race (again, Christ excepted). You ask how              years gone by. Our prayer is that God may continue to sustain
this is possible? The  .answer is that this truth of the  im-        and bless them in the way that lies ahead:
                                                                     i . .
`putation of Adam's guilt to our account rests upon the legal                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Henry  yander Wal
and federal solidarity of the human race. .The race is legally                                                    Mr. and Mrs. Dick Vander Wal
                                                                                                                  Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Versluys
one, and Adam is. not only father; but representative head.                                                       13 Grandchildren
His guilt is the guilt of all his posterity. And the punishment      Grand Rapids, Michigan.
of that guilt is death. In that death, to which belongs the
corruption of our nature, we are all born.
                                                                                                         I N   M E M O R I A M
      This solidarity of the race is not only a matter of the
actual experience of men and nations, it is plainly the basis            The  Con&tory of the First Protestant Reformed Church  df
                                                                     Redlands, California, takes this means to express its sympathy
of the apostle's instruction  Jn Romans 5  :12-l% The entire         with one of, its members, Deacon E. Van Voorthuysen, Sr., in
emphasis in this passage is ultimately upon that legal aspect        the recent death of his Mother,
both of sin and of grace. And if, then, it be  objected  that                     M I E T J E   O V E R H E E M   V A N   V O O R T 'H U Y S E N                            -
even thus the responsibility for sin on the part of the indivi-
dual cannot be justly maintained, our answer is three-fold.              May our merciful God sanctify this bereavement to the
In the first place, we reply that both this federal solidarity,      sorrowing ones so as to experience the realization of  Psalm
                                                                     90:12, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our
and therefore the guilt it implies, -and the responsibility for      hearts unto wisdom."
our actual sins, as they arise out of 08ur inherited corruption,                                                           H. H. Kuiper, President
are simply undeniable facts of our experience. One can,.                                                                   M. Gaastra, Clerk
reason as he may, in actual experience escape neither the one
nor the other. In the second place, we must remember that the
denial of the federal solidarity of the human race in Adam                                               Iti  M E M O R I A M
will also force one to the denial of the federal solidarity of                The  Cons&tory of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
Christ and. His elect. And that would make impossible any            Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby expresses its sincere sympathy
atonement and salvation. This is exactly the parallel that           to  `omne of its members, Deacon Charles Pastoor, in the  loss  cd
                                                                     his Father,
is drawn in the passage from Romans 5 cited above. And                                             C O R N E L I U S   PASTOOR
in the third place, if one seeks the reason for this legal                    psalm  1X:15, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death
solidarity of the race, ultimately that reason is to be found in     of His saints."
the sovereign good pleasure of God. And to him who would
object, "Why doth he yet find fault, for who hath resisted
his will ?" the answer of the Word of God must be : "Who
art thou, 0 man, that repliest against God ? Shall the. thing                             THE EXPOSiTIOiN  OF THE
formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me.                                 HEIDELBERG CATECHISM
thus ?" Was it not the sovereign right of the Creator to form
the entire race in Adam both organically and legally? And                                    - by the REV. H. HOEKSEMA
is it then not strictly according to justice that He imputes
the guilt of the one man Adam to the entire race. And @on            i s   n o w   c o m p l e t e d .   T h e s e   1 0   v o l u m e s   a n d   s e v e r a l   other
thk basis of that guilt, is it not strictly according to justice                                    subjects  are available.
that the punishment of death should come upon all ?                      If desired, a catalog will be sent to you of these. books.
      In conclusion, however, we must remark that the em-
phasis of this -article is nevertheless not upon original guilt,'                                 Send your inquiry to the
but upon original corruption. And the reason is rather ob-
vious: The fathers are in this chapter interested in the                               REFORMED WITNESS HOUR
natural condition of the sinner in relation to  the question                                                P.O. Box 8
whether his conversion is or can be in any wise his own                                   GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
work.
                                                        H.C.H.


