       VOLUME   XXX111                        DECE~~IBER   15,  1956  -  GRAND   RAPID+.   MICHIGAN                             NLJ~XBER   6

r                                                                              That is plain first from the fact that they are burning
             lb!  ,E D I  .T A T I 0 N                                     with eagerness to see the newborn King of the Jews.
                                                                     .I        Second, that is plain from their behaviour when they
                                                                           do find Him, for they fall down and worship Him. God
                 THE WISE MEN OF THE E&ST                                  does not allow reprobates to worship Him.
              "When they had heard the king, they departed; and,               Third, from the fact that God reveals Himself to them,
                                                                           and that in a very friendly and saving way. He saves them
              lo, the  star which they saw in the east went  befosre
              them, till it came and stood over where the young            from the wrath of the King.
              child was. When they saw the  star, they  rejo,iced              And besides, it is plain that God's revelation to them
              with exceeding great joy. And when they were come            `after  they had seen Jesus was not the first time they beheld
              into the house, they  saw the young child with Mary          the heavenly vision.
              His mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him:                   It is rather plain that these wise men had come in con-
              and when they had opened their treasures, they               tact with the Jews and their Scriptures of the Eastern dis-
            presented unto Him gifts: gold, frankincense and               persion. The Jews carried the Holy Scriptures with them
              myrrh." Matt. 2:9-11.                                        wherever they went. And these wise men must have searched
                                                                           these Scriptures with believing hearts.
      Wonderful night when Jesus was born!
                                                                               Moreover, there was also the miracle in the skies: the
      All things send their representatives to Bethlehem.                  star which they had seen in their own country. And it goes
     And every year we also return to Bethlehem to see the                 without saying that God had given them special revelation
thing which came to pass, which the Lord our God has                       with regard to that star.
shown unto us.
       i                                                                       0 yes, they were children of God!
       How Divinely beautiful is the plan of God. We said, that                And they are the representatives of the elect out of the
all things sent their representatives, and that is true. The               whole heathen world.
heathen world did top. Jesus was to be a Saviour of the                        And that was also according to the prophecies of old:
whole world, according to the promises, and so it is Divinely              would Jesus not be for a Light unto the Gentiles  ?
ordained and carried  .out that the world shall have their
representatives when Jesus is born.                                            Moreover there had been already many representatives
                                                                           of the heathen world before this, and therefore, when the
      -No, we"do not know how many wise men- came from the                 greatest of all events is to take place, it is entirely fitting that
East. The Roman Catholic Church speaks of three, and that                  this world of the elect would be represented.
tradition has found its way into all countries of th.e so-called
Christian world. And that tradition is so  stron.g  that we                                             *  *  *  *
ourselves sometimes are inclined to use the number three
when speaking of the wise men of the East.                                     What did these wise men receive from the Lord?
       But they did represent the heathen world  ; they came
from the East, and the East was in darkness.                                   They received many things.
                                                                               First, they received the revelation of Holy Writ. They
       And: we are still in the Old Dispensation.                          received the Scriptures. First at their own home and country,
       But we are very certain that these wise men were re-                as already alluded to. And secondly at Jerusalem, even
generated and converted children of God.                                   through Herod the wicked king, and also from the wise men

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

of Judah who were blind, the scribes and the leaders of the         And then he sent them to Bethlehem. As a child I. often
people of Israel.                                                thought: why did he not at once dispatch his murderers to
                                                                 Bethlehem? Why did he  intrust  this mission to the wise
   Here they come to the borders of the Holy Land. Their         men ? But the -answer is easy. He knew himself to be an
hearts are burning within them. They, had seen the star;         enemy of this Divine King. And he knew that he  conse-
they had learned the interpretation of the Holy .Scriptures      quently was out of touch with heaven's God, who had re-
concerning that star; they had consulted together with burn-     vealed Himself to these pious foreigners. And so, the wisest
                                                                 would be to let these pious men find Him who was to take
                                                                 his throne away.
   They are approaching the Holy City, the City of the              It was devilish cunning at work.
great King, of which they had heard so much.                        But God is God.
   Oh, how great shall be the rejoicing  .of that happy
people of God who were the recipients of His special favor          He shows the star and there is wondrous joy in the
for those long centuries, while heathendom slept the long        hearts of these children of God. They rejoiced with  ex-
sleep of spiritual death and corruption. How glad shall the      ceeding  great joy.
Jews be that their Savior is born.                                  The star `shines brightly in the clear Eastern sky.
    Can you imagine, dear reader, how disappointed these            The star : what does it mean ?
wise men were when they enter the gates of the city of God ?        The idea of the star, dear reader, is guidance in the night !
Instead of feasting and rejoicing they find the city going          Guidance in the night of horrible sin and wrath.
about its usual business. "Business as usual," is what they         Guidance to the heart of God!
    But when God has touched your heart, you are not                Oh, they had read about that star. Attend to Numbers
easily discouraged.                                              24  :17: "There shall come a star out of Jacob." Or attend
                                                                 to Isa. 60 :3 : "And the Gentiles shall come to Thy light and
   They persist in their quest.                                  kings to the brightness of Thy rising."
   Where is He that is born king of the Jews ?                      Oh, it shall be fulfilled, and the later Scripture shall
    That question spread through  ,the city like wildfire. It speak of this star. In fact, the Star Himself shall speak:
was not long before it came into the ears of the wicked king     "I am the Root and the Offspring of David and the bright
                                                                 and morning star  !" And Peter the Apostle shall refer to
                                                                 this star and say: "And the day dawn and the day star arise
    We read that  Herod, and Jerusalem with him, was             in your hearts."
greatly disturbed. And when you read Jerusalem, you must
think most of all on the blind leaders of the blind.                Oh yes, and if that star dawns in your heart, you have
                                                                 found the way to the heart of God.
    But especially Herod was disturbed. All his life he had
been afraid of possible usurpers of his throne, and he had                                *  * * *
killed a great many whom he thought were after his throne.
And some of them were united to him by the dearest ties of           And-so the star re-appeared unto them.
    In the king's disturbance he sends for the wise men of           It indicated that God would guide them.
Judah:  <the chief priests and the scribes. He must have the       I can understand that these men rejoiced with exceeding
truth about this threatened usurper.                             great joy. When you have the assurance that God is  your.
   .Well, the place where He is to be born that shall be the     guide in the night of horror and darkness of sin, you will
King of the Jews is soon found. It was, also for them, a very    rejoice in a dungeon. There is nothing sweeter than to
classical portion of Scripture.                                  know that God is on your side.
                                                                   We know that the re-appearance of this star is also the
   `Bethlehem ! Thou art not the least of the cities and         prophecy that the dawn for heathendom was  `at hand.
                                                                     God had allowed them to walk in their wicked ways.
    Out of thee shall come forth who shall be the Ruler in       But the day was soon to be there when He would also take
                                                                 the heathen by the hand and lead them to His Home in
    Then note the shrewdness of that wicked king: he called      heaven.
 the wise men and inquired diligently of them at what time           That star was fixed above the house in which the young
the star had appeared. He is all interest. He feigns a pious     Child lay. They have no trouble at all in finding their
concern regarding this promised King of Israel.                  destination. They soon see the house, and when the door


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                   123

was opened they see the Child and Mary His mother, and
they believe.                                                                             THE  STAN,DARD   .BEARER
   And they prove their faith.                                              Semi-monthly, except  mo?tthly   &w&g  June, July and August
                                                                              Published by the  RFZ~RMED  FREE  PUBLISHING  ASS~&ATI~N
   They prove their faith.by falling `down before the Child                 P. 0. Box  SSI, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
in worship.                                                                                   Edits  -  REV.  HICKMAN  H~EKSEMA
   It is the first lesson of grace.                                         Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
                                                                            H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
   They fall down.                                                          All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
   Well, that is proper. And, incidentally, that is the divid-              G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
ing line between the reprobate. and the elect.                              Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
                                                                            address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
   They fall down. It is the very opposite of the pride of                  RENEWALS:   Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
S a t a n .                                                                 ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                            to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
                                                                                                                 _-
   They fall down. It is the sweetest thing of all our works.                                  Subscription price: $4.00 per year
Did you ever note how the inhabitants of heaven time .and                   E&wed  as Second Class matter at Grand  Ra&s,   Michigax
again fall on their faces before the great white throne? They
have learned their lessons well.                                                                                                                                     m
   And they worship. Well, that is also very proper when
you bow before the Godhead.                                                                              C O N T E N T S
                                                                      MEDITATION  -
   To worship is  to, enumerate the glories and the  perfec-                   The Wise Men of the East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
tions`of God.                                                                        Rev. G. Vos
   To worship means that you say unto God how wonderful
He is in all `His ways and works. And that is what these              EDITORIALS  -
                                                                       _       Election and Reprobation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124
wise men do.                                                                   &biblical Divorce and Remarriage. . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . .125
   ~H.ow is it possible that some say that these men are no                          Rev. H. Hoeksema.
Christians !                                                          OUR DOCYRINE  -
    And, finally, they may have their portion : they may                       The Book of Revelation. . . . . :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .         .   . . . 1 2 6
present their gifts to Jesus.                                                        Rev. H. `Hoeksema                                                         `3
    Gold : they bestow royal honor on Jesus.                          THE  DAY   OF  SHADOWS-
    Frankincense: they confess that Jesus is worthy of Divine                  The Prophecy of Zeclhariah..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .          .  :. 132
worship.                                                                             Rev. G. M. Ophoff
    Myrrh: they prophecy of His great humiliation.                    IN  HIS  FEAR-
    The Saviour Divine !                                                       Giving in His Fear (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     . ...135
                                                                                     Rev. J.  A; Heys
    Amen.
                                                              G.V.    CONTENDING  FOR THE  FAITH -
                                                                               The Church and ithe  Sacraments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .             . ...137
                                                                               R e v .   H .   V e l d m a n
                      Announcement
                                                                      THE   VOICE   OF  OUR   FATHERS-
    Delegates to  Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed                     Tlhe Exposition of the Canons od Dordrecht..  _ . . . . .                                 139
Churches are hereby notified that by a decision of the Clas-                         Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
sical Committee the next meeting of  Classis  will be held
in the Fourth Protestant Reformed Church on Wednesday,                DECENCY   AND   ORDER-
January 9, 1957, at 9 :00 A.                                                                                                                                         . ...141
                                 M. The' meeting will not be held              The Church and the State. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                                                                                     Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg
in our Creston Church as previously decided by the Classis.
                                       M. Schipper, Stated Clerk.     ALL   AROUND  Us-
                                                                               Barth's Lord's Prayer.. . . . . . . . . . . ;. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .            . ...143
                                                                               Wade to Go to Gum..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .            . ...143
                                                                               Another Church Property Judgment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...144
    "A man may as truly say that the sea burns or the fire                           Rev. M. Schipper
cools, as free grace and mercy can make a real believer do
wickedly."                                               - Brooks

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

                                                                              interprets their spiritual and heavenly significance. Thus
              E D I T 0  W. I A L`S                                           Ithe seed being- cast into the ground, dying and living again,
 IL                                                                           is the earthly picture of the resurrection, spiritual and phys-
                                                                              ical. Thus there is a picture of spiritual and heavenly rela-
                  Election and Reprobation                               .    tions in the shepherd and his sheep, the vine and its branches,
                                                                              the master and his servants, the king and his subjects, the
       The text in Matf. 13 :13-17,  as well as that in MB. 4 :lO-12,         -bridegroom and the bride, etc.
 is an application of the parable of the sower and, at  the                       Now, both the righteous and -the wicked, those that are
 same time of Jesus' teaching in parables in general. And we                  within the kingdom and those that are. without, the elect
 do well to pay attention to this for a moment.                               and the reprobate, heard the parabolic teaching of the Lord
       What is a parable ?                                                    in a natural way, with their natural ear, and sometimes they
       According to Mark 4  :ll, the parable is a revelation of               understood it with their natural mind. But do not overlook
 the mystery of the kingdom of God. The question, therefore,                  the fact, according to Mark  4:11, all these  thiuhgs  are done
 is : &hat  is a parable and how is the mystery of the kingdom                ,in parables. God gave an earthly picture of things heavenly,
 of God revealed in a parable in a special way, as it is not                  of the mystery of the kingdom of God. And Jesus, by His
 revealed in direct speech ? This is connected with the further               parables, simply called attention tqthem.  But do not forget
 question: -why and how is it that this form of teaching is to.               that, after Jesus  .had spoken- the parables, the things still
 them that are'without a greater condemnation than instruc-                   continued to be done in parables. The sower continued to
 tion ,n the kingdom of God in direct speech could ever be?
 The answer to this last question cannot be that the disciples                sow his seed, the shepherd still went out with his sheep,
                                                                              the vine and its branches still grew. And thus they all,
 understood the parables while those that are without do not,
 for fact .is that the disciples did not understand them unless               those that  are without and  thosC that are within, the righ-
 Jesus instructed  them,  while the unbelievers in some cases                 teous and the wicked, the elect and the reprobate, continued
 understood them, especially if a certain parable applied es-                 to see and hear the parables of the Lord.
 pecially to them.                                                               Now, for what purpose are these parables as they actu-
       What then, is a parable and what is its special signi-                 ally are in nature; as they continue to take place, and as
 ficance ?                                                                    Jesus calls the attention of His hearers to them ?
       A parable is not a fable. A fable-is a mere human story                   In the verses we quoted  fro& the gospel according to
 with a mere earthly significance. It is told `for the purpose                Matthew this purpose as such is not definitely expressed. It .
 of impressing a certain moral upon the minds and hearts of                   rather presents the condition of the hearers, particularly of
 those that hear. It represents human philosophy and worldly                  the wicked, as a reason why the Lord teaches  thein in par-  ;-,
 prudence. It `certainly has nothing to do with  the mystery                  ables. And at the same  -time it denotes their hardening as
of the kingdom of God. Nor is a parable the same as an                        a result of Jesus' parabolic teaching. For there we read in
 allegory. An allegory is not real. It invents something in                   13 :13 : "Therefore speak I to them in parables : because they
 story form regardless of reality. This is never the case                     seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither  do they
 with a parable. The story of a parable is not fantastic but                  understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias,
 is always taken from real life. In fact, as we shall see pres-               which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not `under-
 ently, this is essential to the- real nature and character of a              stand  ; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For
 parable. But a parable has to, do with the relation between                  this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears .are dull of
 things natural and spiritual. Only because there is a  God-                  hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time
 ordained relation between things natural and spiritual the                   they should  see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
 parable is possible. A  parable  presupposes the relation be-                should understand with their heart, and should be converted,
 tween things earthly and heavenly. Again, only because God                   and I should heal them."
 so formed, from the beginning, all things earthy that they                      Notice here :
 are a picture of the heavenly things, a parable is possible.                    1. That in these verses the teaching of the Lord in
 fiat inaptly, therefore,  the parable has been briefly described             parables is presented as having its reason in the fact that
 as an earthly story with a heavenly y.z.e.zitig. :I.             :fl         some of. them are wicked and must have nothing of Christ
                                                         . . ;- _/ I:,i 1,
       Jesus, therefore, did not fabricate+&$ory  of `z$;:p&able              and the gospel.
 as is the  case- with a fable. The  storks  w&e  &I. there, in                  2. That their heart is already hardened, for in them the
 the reality of nature and of  h&&m life and that, too, for                   prophecy of Isaiah is already fulfilled that their heart is
 ,the simple reason that God so'created and formed the things                 waked  gross and their ears are dull of hearing.
 natural that they were a  p>cture  of things spiritual, the                   `, 3: That, therefore, they are not in a condition in which
 things earthy that they were a picture of. things heavenly.' t&y can see the things of the kingdom of God, understand
 God so constituted all things  iri the, present world that  it.              and be healed. Their condition is already revealed, even on
 is an image of things to come. Jesus saw this,  -and in the                  earth and in this present time, to be hopeless. Mark you
 parable He calls  attentiqn to these pictures in nature and' well, I say that their condition is already revealed to be  hope-


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                   --~                              125

       less. The condition of the natural man is, apart from the           the light of the context, as well as on the basis of the text
       grace of God, always hopeless. But it is not Blways  revealed       itself, and in the light of other passages of Scripture that
       as such in this present life. In other words, they are like         have reference to this question, that this is the -meaning.
       ,the people that are mentioned in Heb. 6 with respect to               AS  to the context, it is as follows.
       whom the Scriptures say that is impossible to renew them               The Pharisees approached Jesus with the question whether
       again unto repentance.                                              it is lawful for a man to put away his wife. The Lord first
          4. That, nevertheless, or rather, because of this the Lord       responds by an appeal to Moses : "What did Moses command
       teaches them in parables. Why? Is it perhaps, in order that         you ?" They answer that Moses allowed a man to give his
       the things of the kingdom of God may be cloaked for them            wife a bill of divorcement and to put her away. In reply
       in obscure language, so that their condemnation may not             to this the Lord answered : 1. That Moses gave them this
       become heavier still? Such, indeed, is the interpretation  of       precept because of the hardness of their hearts, not because
       some. But. this is quite contrary to the words of the text          it was the law of God. 2. Next the Lord answered by
       in Matthew 13 as well as to the idea and purpose of parabolic       pointing to the ordinance of creation: "from the creation
       teaching. As to the latter, we have seen that in the parables       God made them male and female. For this cause shall a
       the Lord calls attention to those things in nature and in           man leave his father and mother, and cleave unto his wife ;
       human life that are pictures of heavenly things._ The latter        and they twain shall be one flesh: so that they are no-more
       always take place in parables according to Mark 4 :ll. And          twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined to-
       as to the former, the Lord says in Matt. 13 :13 that "seeing        gether, let not man put asunder." This judgment of the
       they see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they            Lord is without any restrictions. Man and wife are in-
       understand."                                                        separably bound together by God Himself according to the
          The meaning of this is evident.                                  fundamental creation ordinance. Either party may, indeed,
          They certainly and emphatically see with their natural           violate this ordinance of God by committing adultery, and
       eyes.  .They  certainly hear with' their natural ears and under-    when this is repeated it may become impossible for a man
       stand with their natural mind. And the  puirpose  of the            to live with his wife or for a woman to live with her husband.
       parable is to make them see and hear and understand in the          This, indeed, is a very serious sin. Nevertheless, they are
       natural sense of the word more clearly. But although they           still one flesh. The tie of marriage can, according to Romans
       see and hear and understand naturally, they do nlot apprehend       7, be broken only by death.
       the things of the kingdom of God spiritually, so that they             Now, if in the light of this context we read vss. 11 and 12
       are `sorry for their sin, long for the grace of the forgiveness     of the same chapter, it seems to me that they rather em-
     _;, of their sins, and for the deliverance from the power of sin.     phatically condemn the remarriage of divorced parties. Notice
.         Hence, when the Lord teaches these natural, wicked,              that in these verses the Lord speaks : 1. Of a man putting
       reprobate  men>  in parables, it certainly is in order to bring     away his wife, and of a wife putting away her husband. In
       out more clearly and emphatically their carnal mind.                itself this is no adultery. Such a separatoin of man and wife
          And thus the parabolic teaching of the Lord Jesus is to          may very well be allowed and legal as, for instance, in the
       their greater condemnation.                                         case of adultery on the part of either party. 2. But the Lord
          This is more emphatically expressed in Mark 4:10-12.             adds : "and shall marry another" and "be married to an-
          About this, however, next time, the Lord willing.                other." Then, indeed, they commit adultery. The supposition
                                                                `H.H.      is, of course, that the man that has thus forsaken his wife, and
                                                                           the woman that has thus put away her husband,- are still one
              Unbiblical Divorce and Remarriage                            flesh together and that, the marriage tie can never be broken,
                                                                           even though it may be and often is violated by the sin of
          The text in Mark lO:ll, 12 does not bear directly on the         adultery. In this light, the text certainly teaches that the
       subject we are now discussing. It reads: "And hle saith unto        marriage tie can never be broken and that he or she that
     them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry an-                forsakes the other party in marriage commits adultery when
       other, committeth adultery against her. And if a woman              he or she marries another.
       shall put away her husband, and be married to another; she             But we proceeded from the supposition that this text im-
       committeth adultery." I say that this passage is not directly       plied that the husband put away his wife for the sake of
       related to the subject under discussion, because it does not        fornication and likewise that the woman forsakes her hus-
       refer to the woman that is forsaken by her husband and her          band for the same reason. This, however, although it is very
       remarriage, or, for that matter, to the husband that is for-        possible, is not expressed in the text. We will, therefore, still
       saken by his wife and marries another woman. Yet, on the.           have to refer to other passages of Holy Writ in which this
       other hand, this can also be understood as a very strong pas-       is clearly expressed.
       sage in favor of the position that the divorced may never re-          This, however, must wait till our next number of  The
       marry not even if the divorce was granted on the ground of          Standa.rd  Bearer.
       adultery of the guilty party. In fact, it is most probable, in                                                                     H.H.

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

                                                                       congregation  .of Corinth. She also was loath to banish evil
               O U R   D O C T R I N E                                 men from the- midst, and permitted the desecration of the
                       I                                               Lord's Supper. And she too was visited by the Lord with
                                                                       many a temporal chastisement. Where the ~true church still
                THE. BOOK OF REVELATION                                exists, and- is as strong as the congregation in Pergamos,
                                                                       her sole defect being a weakness in discipline, the Lord-
                               CHAPTER  VI                             visits His church with temporal judgment, in order that she
                                                                       may repent and excommunicate the impenitent evil-doer.
                 THE CHURCH LAX  IN DISCIPLINE                            But this is not the last word. On the contrary, many
                            Revelation 2  :12-17                       were the faithful in the church of Pergamos. And for them
                                                                       the Lord closes with a word of comfort and encouragement.
         An earthly judge can pronounce .a verdict of guilty and       To them that overcome the Lord has a two-fold promise. In
  announce the sentence of punishment. But his word has no             the first place, He promises them that they shall be fed with
  power: it has not the power to inflict the penalty expressed         the hidden manna. And secondly, He promises that they
  by his sentence. He has need of the executive power to in-           shall receive a white stone, and upon the stone a new name
  flict that punishment and to enforce his sentence. Not so; written, which no man can read except he that receive+ it.
  however, with the Word of Jesus. If He, as the mighty                The figure of the hidden manna is not difficult to understand.
  King:Judge, expresses a sentence upon anyone,  ,the very             We all are acquainted with the history of God's people from
  word of the sentence is the power that inflicts the punish-          which this symbol is derived. In the desert during their long
  ment and realizes the judgment expressed. It is the sword            journey to the promised land Jehovah fed His people mirac-
  that executes the sentence. In this light, then, as the King-        ulously with bread from heaven. Every day, except on the
  Judge in the midst of the church, He announces Himself to            sabbath, He rained His manna from heaven. And in the
  the congregation of Pergamos. She has in her midst evil men,         Gospel of St. John we are told that this manna that rained
  that aim at the destruction of the church by their evil doctrine     from heaven in the wilderness was not the real manna, but
  and practice. And these men must be rooted out from her              that Christ is the true bread of life, of which the manna in
  midst. And therefore, His appearance with the sharp  two-            the desert was only typical. But even as the people of God
  edged sword proceeding from His mouth is in accord with              in the old dispensation were fed with the material manna,
  the condition of the congregation.                                   raining from heaven, so the people of God are spiritually
         Before, however, the Lord comes to exercise  ,the power       nourished with the true manna, the bread of life, that nour-
  and authority of that sharp sword. He sends the rnessage to          ishes them unto everlasting life. In Christ is their all: .their
  the church : "Repent,  therefore." These words are not               justification, their sanctification, and their complete redemp-     _'
  primarily intended for the evil men that held the doctrine           tion. All the grace they need to be delivered from the power
  of the Nicolaitanes. It is not they, but the congregation that       of sin and death, and finally to appear before the Father in
  is addressed through its angel. It is ,the church as a whole         ,everlasting  glory, to serve Him in perfection, is only in
  that is guilty and worthy of rebuke because of her laxity in         Christ Jesus their Lord. He is the hidden manna. By the
  discipline. And therefore of this she must repent. She may           Spirit, through the medium of faith, Christ imparts Himself
  not make light of the glory of her King, and be careless in          unto His people that have become one plant with Him. And
  regard to the well-being of the church by tolerating these           therefore, to the faithful in Pergamos the Lord promises a
  Nicolaitanes, to continue in her midst. The call to repent-          full supply of the hidden manna, that will strengthen them in
  ance in this case is equivalent to the call to exercise proper       their battle against Satan and his throne and that will finally
  discipline over the Nicolaitanes in the bosom of the church.         lead them on to perfection, when they shall have appropriated
  And if they do not repent and cut off these evil members,            all the blessings of salvation completely.  iBecause  of their
  the Lord threatens that He will come Himself, a:nd that too,         mystical union with Him that walketh in the midst of the
  quickly,  to' make war with them. Let us notice, in the first        golden candlesticks, they shall be fed with the hidden manna ;
  place, that the church is not threatened with the removal of         and eternally their soul shall be satisfied.
the candlestick, as was the case with Ephesus. Her con-                   As to the symbol of the white stone, we can perhaps in-
  dition was not as precarious as that of the church that was          terpret it most correctly by recalling the ancient custom of
  losing its first love. The congregation is to be saved even          expressing a verdict upon him that was arraigned in court
  though the Lord must come with His judgment. Exactly                 by means of two stones, a white and a black. Each one of
  what would be implied in this coming of the Lord to the .the' jury members would be given a white and a black stone.
  church in Pargamos, the text does not indicate. Most prob-           In case he deemed the accused guilty, he would cast the
  ably we may think in this case of temporal judgments with            black stone in a vessel  ; if judged innocent, the defendant
  which the Lord will visit the church, in order to chastize  the-m    would have a white stone cast in his favor. The black `stone
  for their laxity in discipline and to cut out the evil men           was then a symbol of guilt and condemnation, the white stone
  from their midst. An analogous case we may find in the               of innocence and justification. By promising the faithful in


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  Pergamos a white stone, the Lord assures them of their.final         do not remove the sentinel of discipline, allowing evil men in
  justification and purification in the day of the Lord. They          the midst of the church of Christ. Never allow them to
  need not be alarmed by the appearance of that two-edged              obliterate the distinction between the church and the world,
  sword, for they shall receive the white stone in proof of their      as  Balsam. tried to erase the line of demarcation between
  perfect justification and glorification, and they shall be           Israel and Moab. And for the rest, in the midst of the world,
  presented to the Father without blemish, without spot or where Satan has his throne and dwelling place, the faithful
  wrinkle, shining forth in the perfection of their new being.         must always uphold the honor of their King. For he that
     In close connectiqn.  with this white stone is the new name       overcometh shall be given to eat of the hidden manna, so that
  that was written upon it and which they only shall be able           he shall be satisfied with the blessings of salvation in eternal
z to read that receive it. The name in Scripture is expressive         life. He that overcometh shall be given a white stone, the
  of one's being and individual nature. That peculiar character        stone of his justification and purification in the blood of the
  of each person that causes him to differ from his fellow             Lamb. He shall be given a new name, expressive of his
  human being is his name. It is therefore but natural that            new and eternal being, a name which he alone shall be able
  in perfection the children of God shall receive a new name,          to know, a name that determines exactly his personal place
  in harmony with the perfect renewal of their being In this           in that blessed throng that shall once gather around the
  dispensation their name so frequently spells imperfection and        `throne of God and the Lamb and reveal in all its fulness and
  misery, imperfection physically and spiritually. In principle        splendor the image of our God.
  indeed, they already possess their new name in Christ. But
  the glory of that new name is so largely covered up by the                                   CHAPTER  VII
  darkness of their old name of sin that frequently it hardly -
  becomes manifest. Sin controls them often. And. besides,                         The Chrwc'z with a. Mystic Tendency
  the world hates them and adds to their outward misery in this                              Revelation 2 : 15-29
  dispensation. But in the eternal kingdom this shall be dif-
  ferent. If they persevere and overcome and are faithful unto            Thyatira was a city in Asia Minor southeast from  Per-
  death, they shall once enter into glory everlasting. And in          gamos, on the road to Sardis. It was known for the art of
  that perfect state the glory of their new being shall shine forth    dying. And as we know, Lydia, the seller of purple, was
  in- all its splendor uninterruptedly. Still more: not all the        from that city. Acts  16:14. It was not a large city, like
  saints shall be alike, so that they should be an endless mono-       Pergamos. And it was not exactly a place where Satan
  tony of identically the same beings. The difference between          would naturally establish his throne and where he dwelt.
  one individual and another shall not be obliterated. in per-         For that reason the church in Thyatira might enjoy a com-
  fection.  On the contrary, there shall be an infinitely rich         paratively peaceful existence. And although the letter of the
  variety of individuals, Personality shall also be in heaven.         Lord to this church suggests that the believers there also had
  Individual character shall even be emphasized to perfection.         suffered for Christ's sake, yet it did not have to suffer  *
  That is why the text has it that only he that receives the           tribulation and persecution as did the churches of Smyrna           .
name shall know it. Even here, on the earth, it is true that           and Pergamos.
  after all a person knows himself only ; and never shall we be           For the rest, at first glance the letter addressed to the
  able to penetrate into the hidden depths of another's individu-      church in Thyatira would leave the impression that her
  ality. The greater and deeper' the-person, the more difficult        condition was almost identically the same as that of  Per-
  it becomes fully to explain him. The shallower  and. more            gamos. The resemblance is indeed striking. Also the church
  insignificant a person, the more easily he is scrutinized. In        in Thyatira was faithful to the Lord, as the text plainly indi-
  perfection personality shall be emphasized and developed to          cates. Her weakness, or defect, seems to be that she suffered
  its highest glory, so that each saint shall know his own             evil men, -in this case, an evil woman with her following, -
  name only. Thus God shall be glorified in the new humanity,          in her midst. And hence, we would be inclined to draw the
  in which the image of God shall shine forth in all its divine        conclusion that also in Thyatira we are presented with the
  fulness and beauty, radiating, as it were, from the Lord             picture of a church weak in discipline. Still more, even the
  Jesus Christ into all the members of His body, and reaching          nature of the heresies that were being propagated in the two
  its full realization and` manifestation not in each. individual      churches appears to be the same. For also in Thyatira the
  saint, but rather in the harmony of the whole. Each one only         Nicolaitanes had their influence.
  knows his own name. Each particular child of God shall                  However, there must have been a difference between the
  then manifest his own peculiar shade of God's image. And             two churches. For if in the seven churches of Asia Minor
  together with the new creation, they shall all reveal in one         we correctly discerned a picture of the church in its totality
  grand and most beautiful harmony the wonders of God's                from seven different aspects, it is plain that the churches of
  image.                                                               Thyatira and Pergamos each presents a different aspect of
     He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit  saith          the church as a whole ; and each adds its-own peculiar detail
  unto the churches. What doth the Spirit say  ?  -Watch, and          to the picture of the church in its totality. This distinctive


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   feature we try to express in the subject of this chapter, "The        the *intellect in religion is overrated and exclusively em-
   Church with a Mystic Tendency."                                       phasized, while'the inward life of the Spirit is forgotten. Then
          It is undoubtedly not superfluous, first of all, to ask and    all the emphasis is placed exclusively on cold doctrine. The'
   answer the -question : what is meant by this phrase, "The             congregation never receives a taste of sweet mystical com-
   Church with a Mystic Tendency"" By mysticism, in the                  munion of the Spirit, and religion becomes cold and dead
   sense in which the term is employed by us now, - sometimes            intellectualism, - a body without a soul. Such a condition
   designated as "false mysticism,"- we denote a condition or            is, of course,  `to be condemned, is indeed very dangerous.
   tendency in the church of Christ characterized by ardent and          But there is still another form that reveals itself from time
   abundant spiritual life, rather of the experiental or emotional       to time in the history of the church as the dominant form, .-
   type, but more or less severed from the objective criterion           a form, in fact, that never vanishes out of sight entirely. And
   and test of the Word of God. Perhaps you will be able to              that is the condition of what we call false mysticism. If
   gain some conception of this condition if we say that it re-          dead orthodoxy overrates the value of doctrine, false mystic-
   ,presents the direct opposite of the condition of the church of       ism  undervalules  `sound knowledge of the truth altogether.
   Ephesus. The latter was strong in respect to whatever is              If the intellectual church is not sufficiently emphasizing the
   purely objective, strong in doctrine and the knowledge of             life of the Spirit and mystical communion, the church that
   the truth, faithful too in works and strict in discipline. But        is mystically  in.clined  places all the emphasis on the subjective
   she was weak in rega.rd  to the life of the Spirit, and had lost      experience of the soul. The mystical element is there, exists,
   her first love. She was poor in warm, inward, devotional              in fact, in an abundant measure. And many in the church
   spiritual life. With a church of mystic inclination it is exactly     can testify of the good times they experience with the Savior.
   the reverse. She is generally rich in spiritual devotion,             But this mystic life is from the start not guided by the ob-
   abundant in that part of our spiritual life which cannot be           jective testimony of the Word. Such a congregation makes
   explained and expressed in words, often claims a direct in-           the experience of its members the test.and guide of all spirit-
   tercourse with the Spirit. But she most frequently manifests          ual life. She-is in danger of running wild with devotion. And
   an accompanying tendency to separate herself from the ob-             if it continues and develops, she will attach significance to all
   jective standard of the Word. She is usually poor in knowl-           kinds of feelings and sentiments, perhaps  even.to visions and
   edge, and, in general, in regard to things that can be grasped        dreams. And finally, being cut loose from the Word of God,
   and analysed by the intellect. Or, to prevent any possible mis-       she becomes a fit object of Satan's seductive influence, ex-
   understanding, it is perhaps expedient to call your attention         posed to any and every error of the kingdom of darkness.
   to three possible conditions in the church of Christ on earth.        And I think a clear tendency towards this false and danger-
   First of all, we may mention the correct! the healthy and             ous form of mysticism may be noticed in the  ,church of
   normal, the most perfect condition of the church on earth,            Thyatira.
   namely, that condition which is characterized by a correct and           Let us notice, in the first place, that the Lord in His
   constant equilibration of the subjective and objective. It is         letter to the church of Thyatira first of all enumerates some
   the condition of the church that is both strong in knowledge          of the most excellent qualities which a church may possibly
   and maintenance of the truth, emphasizes the necessity of the         possess. Writes He:  "I know thy works, and thy love, and
   Word properly, but at the same time not devoid of true,               faith, and ministry, and patience, and that thy last works are
   devotional, ardent spiritual life, and where the latter is con-       more than the first." It is evident that the term  worbs in
   tinually guided and tested by the former. Of course, in any           the first part of this description must be taken in the general
   form of true Christian religion there is a mystic element,            sense of the word, as referring not merely to external *works
   resulting from our spiritual communion with Christ our Head.          of faith, but just as well to the internal spiritual condition`of
   And any true child of God will be able to speak of the fact           the church, while this all-comprehensive term is further
   that he experiences moments of sweet communion with the               analysed and specified in the words "thy love and faith and
   Savior that transcend all analization and expression in human         ministry and patience." The meaning therefore is : I .know
   language. To speak in terms often employed by children of             thy works, namely, thy love and faith and ministry and
   God, there are moments when they have "good times" with               patience. The church, according to this description, was in
   the Lord; moments in which we experience the mystical                 an enviable condition. Notice, however, from the start, that
   feeling of the bride that is near the bridegroom. Such moments        love is mentioned first: not because love is first, for that is
   are perfectly normal, and they should constitute an element           not the case. Love in the sense in which it evidently occurs
  of our life with God. There is no danger in such mystical              in  the- text is not the root of our spiritual life, but faith is.
   communion, if only it is continually subjected to the objective       It is by faith that we are grafted into Christ,. by faith that
   test of the Word of God. And if such a condition is peculiar          we draw from Him the treasure of our salvation, by faith
   of an entire church, that church enjoys what may be called            that we grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord. Not
   a state of healthy mysticism. A second condition, however,            love is the root of faith but faith is the root also of love.
I- also met with in the church of Christ on earth, is that which         And'the latter flourishes and blooms only on the root of faith.
   results when the value of pure doctrine and the function of           But in this letter love is mentioned first because it was the


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most apparent, the most eminent, `the most prominent quality        other than the literal sense of the word, especially since it
of the church in Thyatira. It was a congregation overflowing        is a well-known fact that immoral practices, sometimes
with real,  .warm, spiritual love of the  Lor,d -exactly the        adultery of the worst sort, was intimately connected with
opposite of the church in Ephesus. In Ephesus love was              idolatry in those times, especially in connection with the
wanting  -to a large extent; in Thyatira it is abundant. In         sacrificial feasts. And hence, in this congregation, so filled
Ephksus, I think, one could be found only with difficulty that      with love and so busy in the ministry of the kingdom, present-
would consciously speak of the love of Jesus; here in Thy-          ing such an attractive and, sw,eet picture, we meet with one
atira almost every member would be able to give a testimony         of the worst forms of degeneration conceivable in the church
in a prayer meeting. There, in Ephesus, the hearts were cold ;      of Christ. The impression is, in fact, that at this time there
here in Thyatira they were glowing with ardent love. Surely,        were already a comparatively large number that lived in open
there was also faith. For how otherwise could love exist?           adultery, and participated in the heathen sacrificial feasts.
But faith is mentioned in the second place. The congrega-           And what is far worse, this departure from the way of sancti-
tion was characterized not so `much by the firm strength of         fication  was evidently defended by an appeal to principle.
conscious faith as by the attractive warmth of true and ardent      Clearly, in .the church of Thyatira we meet once more with
love. This also became manifest in their actual life. It was        the Nicolaitanes, people who boasted in wanton profanity
again love, revealing itself in works, that appeared in the         that it mattered not at all how the Christian lived here upon
foreground. For in the text their ministry is mentioned first       earth, Christians who sinned that grace might abound the
of all. This term &z&-y  may be taken in a general sense,           more. The old Adam was doomed to destruction anyway;
as applied to all kinds of service in the kingdom. All the          and Christ had fulfilled the law.  .The argument that was
members in  Thyatira.exerted  themselves to do something for        adduced to defend such a life in sin was, as we shall see
the kingdom of God. I imagine that if anyone was taken              presently, that a descent into the very depths of Satan caused
sick in the church, the angel would have to be on the alert if      the child of God to appreciate the glory of Christ's gracious
he desired to be the first one that called on that sick person.     deliverance all the -more. But in reality the protagonists of
If anyone was in suffering or want, the church was sure to          this view made of their so-called Christian liberty a pretext
know it, and all would help to alleviate the suffering, or          for the flesh. And therefore, there is no question about it:
provide in case of need. The ladies of the church perhaps           the church of Thyatira, viewed from this angle, offered as
often came together in the afternoon, not to gossip or expose       horrible an aspect as the first view was sweet and attractive.
the sins and weaknesses of the brethren and sisters, but to            You remark, perhaps, that this recalls to our mind exactly
work for the relief of the poor, -if not in their own church,       the condition of the church in Pergamos. There too these evil
then for the benefit of the poor in other parts of the church.      Nicolaitanes were found. And there, as here, they were al-
All this they,performed  from the motive of love; not in order      lowed to exert their evil influence upon the church without
to be seen by men and receive the praise of the world, -for         being disciplined. And in so far you are correct. But there
also they were subject to reproach and malevolent slander.          was nevertheless an important difference between the two
But with patience they bore and labored and ministered in the       congregations with respect to the reason why these danger-
kingdom of God. Nor were they in a condition of gradual             ous heretics were allowed in the church. and tolerated. In
.degeneration.  On the contrary, the congregation was spirit-       Pergamos it is a case of mere laxity in discipline. We are
ually growing, increasing in their love and faith and ministry      simply told that the Nicolaitanes existed in that church, and
and' patience. For the Lord testifies concerning them that          that they had not been disturbed before the Lord addressed
their last works were more than the first. Indeed a beautiful       His letter to them. That they were allowed to teach and to
picture this aspect of the congregation presents to our view.       seduce others we do not read. But this is entirely different
It is perhaps not a picture that necessarily impresses one by       in the church of Thyatira. Notice, in .the first place, that in
its strength of features or staunchness of expression, but one      Thyatira the propagator who disseminated the seed of this
that is attractive because of its sweetness, and that appeals       horrible heresy was a woman, Jezebel. There is no reason
because of its beauty.                                              to allegorize and make this woman a fictitious character, sym-
   But there is another side to this picture, a side which is       bolizing something entirely different, though the name calls
as horrible and repulsive as. the former was attractive and         to our mind one of the most despicable female characters of
beautiful. The Lord turns this side to our view when  l!!l.e        the Old Testament. No, there was a real woman in the
continues in His letter: "But I have against thee that thou         church of Thyatira. And we receive the impression that she
sufferes't the woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess ; was allowed to teach her contemptible doctrine regardless of
and she teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit fornica-        the fact that  ,the woman was not allowed to teach in  the-
tion and to eat things sacrificed to idols." These words            church, but was enjoined to be silent. Regardless of the
reveal  the. existence in the church of Thyatira of a most          further fact that this particular woman taught a most horrible
horrible heresy that had already obtained a foothold and was        doctrine, seduced many of the servants of God from the path
evidently gaining ground. There is no reason to conceive of         of righteousness, this Jezebel was nevertheless allowed to
this fornication and eating of things sacrificed to idols in any    ,teach:  If we add to this fact that her teaching is  character-


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 ized as a sort of mystic  gnosticism by the words that evi- . On the contrary, she listens. She  .is silent. She admits the
 dently designate the slogan of her and of all that followed        possibility that this woman is actually a prophetess, though
 after her, "who know the deep things of Satan," I can sug-         her speech directly contradicts the objective revelation of
 gest  .but one possible explanation of this toleration on the      the Word of God. And many even follow her, and in
 part of the Thyatiran church : she was mystically inclined,        harmony with her teaching descend into the depths of Satan.
 and was in danger of severing her beautiful spiritual life         Many servants of the Lord are seduced by her teaching. How
 from the infallible Word of God.                                   must this be explained ? How is it possible that this ardent
         If I may be allowed to cast a modern hue over the .an-     little  conigregation  of Thyatira listens  .patiently  to the dark
 cient church, and present to you in a concrete picture my con-     testimony of this instrument of hell ? In but one way : this
 ception of the congregation in Thyatira, I would offer the         sweet and lovable little church had gradually forgotten to
 following. It is Wednesday evening. The church holds               apply the objective standard of God's revelation, and allowed
 midweek prayer meeting. Let us attend one of these. The            personal experience to be the chief criterion ,of the truth. If
 angel of the church opens with a fervent prayer, and offers        they had at all made an attempt to apply the test of the Word
 a few words of introduction glowing with the love of his           of God to the speech and life of this woman Jezebel, they
 heart toward the Lord Jesus. He speaks of it, how in the           would have detected her heresy immediately, and cast her
 past few days he realized his sinful condition, but also how       out if she would not repent. But they are inclined to false
 clearly he had experienced the all-sufficiency of the grace of     mysticism.  .And Satan, aware of this tendency in the  con-
 Jesus Christ. Speaking evidently with all his *heart  in it and    gregation,  employs a woman, who largely lives by intuition,
 with tears of gratitude glistening in his eyes, he praises the     is more easily inclined to drift away on subjective feeling and
 Lord for the abundance of His grace. After him an old man          experienoe,  and of a stronger and more ardent emotional
 arises, who also testi:hes  in the same manner. Of years ago       nature than man, to appeal to the mystic tendency in the
 he speaks, when first he became acquainted with the gospel         church of Thyatira, in order to seduce her from the truth.
 of redemption. And he emphasizes that this gospel has been         For the same reason Scripture calls this woman Jezebel,
 sweet unto his soul, a. power of love ever since. A third, and     which may be considered a symbolic name, to remind the
 a fourth, and a fifth give their testimonies. And all witness      church of her real nature. For even as Jezebel seduced the
 of the personal  part:icipation  in the grace of Christ  Jesus,    people 06 God of the old dispensation to the service of Baal,
 and of their love to Him. But finally a strange figure attracts    so does this woman lead the people of ~Thyatira astray in
 our attention. It is a woman of a weird and repulsive ap-          Ipaths of fornication and vilest sin.
 pearance. Her large, protruding eyes, sensuous lips, and               In short, we discover in the congregation of  Thyati'ra
 morbid complexion witness of a life of sin and dissipation.        a church with a tendency to false mysticism, the church that
 She too speaks. And with a voice that sounds as if it comes -is strong in warm devotional life, but that has enthroned
 from the nether world, she tells the congregation of .a vision     personal experience as the criterion for the truth. Fre-
 she had in the by-gone night, and how the Lord appeared to         quently this aspect of the church has become prominent in
 her to reveal His truth in a dream. For she claims to be a         history. In the Middle Ages, when the death chill of schol-
 prophetess. In her dream, so she continues, the Lord showed        asticism and Roman Catholicism began to cause a reaction,
 unto her the horrible depths of. Satan, the abyss of sin and       this mystic tendency became manifest before long. At the
 iniquity. And as they both stood on the brink of that dark         time of the Reformation there also was a mystic strain
 and horrible abyss, the Lord said unto her: "If anyone             mingled with the otherwise `healthy movement of  Prot-
 would truly taste my grace and infinite mercy, he must actu.       estantism. After the dead orthodoxy of the eighteenth cen-
 ally descend into these depths, and learn to know them by          tury had laid exclusive stress on cold and dead orthodoxy,
 experience. For the more he is able to realize the depths of       the same inclination became manifest. And every time,
 Satan by actual experience, the more he will be in a condition     when the church has passed through a period of intellectual-
 to appreciate my salvation." She still continues to explain        ism, the right of the more emotional and mystic element of
 that she has personally obeyed, that she did descend into those    our religion to assert itself is maintained, and by reaction
 depths of Satan. She committed fornication. She feasted with       the church swings to the opposite extreme of false mysticism.
, the heathen in their sacrificial meals. She subjected her body    And just as often this mystic strain became the occasion
 to the vilest service of sin. And she concludes by testifying      for the flesh, and ended in sin and dissipation, simply be-
that  to- her there was a great blessing in this descent into       cause of its licentious separation from the objective testimony
 the abyss of sin. For the more clearly she realized the awful      of the Word of God. And therefore the church should be
 depths from which the grace of Christ redeemed and de-             on her guard against both extremes. She should watch
 livered her, the more fully could she gratefully appreciate        against the danger of cold intellectualism, but at the same
 the wonders of His mercy.. Thus this instrument of the             time refuse to enthrone subjective experience as supreme
 devil speaks in the midst of the congregation. But what            lord. Our personal experience must be subjected constantly
 now does the congregation. do  7 Does she cast this vile           to the test of the Word of God. And if anyone would
 woman out, admonishing her to repent of her horrible sin?          experience anything, not in harmony with that objective


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    131

revelation, he should draw the conclusion that it is of the         spirits, and lacked the courage to assert that Jezebel was not          -
evil one. And again, if on the basis of his experience  any         a prophetess of the Lord, but an instrument -of Satan. NOW
member would spread a doctrine not in harmony with the              the Lord will plainly expose her and reveal that she is
Scriptures, he should be corrected, and, if he will.not  repent,    nothing but an agent of the devil to seduce the congregation.
excommunicated without. improper delay.                                  of Christ will strike the woman first of all. Her case is hope-
                                                                    Hence, "Behold, I will cast her into a bed." The judgment
   `It is only if we bear in mind this peculiar condition of the    of Chirst will strike the woman first of all. Her case is hope-
church in Thyatira that we will also be able to discern the         less. She has descended into the depths of Satan voluntarily
reason for the particular message that is sent unto her             and consciously so often that she will come to repentance
through John. Notice that the customary admonition to               no more. And therefore, the measure of her iniquity is full,
repent is lacking in this message. The Lord does not enjoin         and the time for judgment is come. That the Lord will cast
on the church to discipline the wicked Jezebel and her              her into a bed must, of course, not be understood as if He
followers in order to excommunicate them if.  ithey do not          would cause her to be an instrument of adultery still, more.
repent. They would not be in a condition to obey this com-          He will not cast her into the bed of prostitution. This she
mand. Discipline can only be exercised on the basis of the          had been doing herself. But it is most natural to assume that
objective Word of God, and in regard to the knowledge and           the Lord would send unto her those horrible and repulsive
application of this Word the church of Thyatira was weak.           diseases that are inevitably the result of a life of dissipation
They were not able to distinguish the true from the false.          and prostitution. For this way the Lord would reveal by
They lacked the power to discern and test the spirits. And          His judgment most plainly that all impurity is despised by
for that reason the Lord Himself will mark the evil-doers in        Him, and that it is not His will that we descend into the
the congregation, and clearly point them out as the objects         depths of Satan that grace may abound. But also upon her
of His sore displeasure. In person He will exercise dis-            children the sin of the mother would be visited-. Perhaps she
cipline Himself. He announced Himself in such terms as              had many children. Perhaps they were all children of adult-
are suitable to reveal Himself  .as the One that is able to         ery. However this may be, the sin of their mother will be-
search the hearts. He is the Son of God. And especially in          come manifest also in them. Not as if the children were
connection with what follows, it is plain that this appellation     considered guilty of the sins of their mother; but, in the
must serve to bring Him before the consciousness of the             first place, to reveal the effects of her sin also in her chil-
congregation as the omniscient one, before Whose eyes noth-         dren, and in the second place, to add to the severity of her
ing is concealed. For He continues to announce Himself as           own judgment. And for thechildren it may have been a bles-
the One that has  I eyes like a flame of fire, that possesses       sing that they were killed with death. And finally, also those
?power  to penetrate into the innermost parts of man, and           that have been seduced by her and that will follow in her
scrutinize the deepest depths of a man's heart. This woman          steps, that commit adultery w:th her, are mentioned in this
Jezebel and her followers might hide a horrible nature of sin       message. For them the time of repentance is not past. And
behind a mask of piety and devotion. To Him that mask               therefore, their judgment is presented as `conditional upon
does not conceal a thing. He is able to expose to view all          their attitude to this message. If they do not repent, the
the darkness of sin that is hidden behind this mask of god-         Lord will send unto them great affliction. If they continue
liness. Still more: not only does He possess the power to                to follow in Jezebel's steps even though they behold how the
penetrate and to know the hearts of Jezebel and her followers,           Lord despises her works, the Lord will also visit them. And
but  He is also able to execute terrible judgment. For His               no doubt also their affliction will stand in close connection
feet are like unto burnished brass. If His eyes detect iniquity,         with the nature of their sin. And the purpose of these judg-
with those feet He is able to tread down the enemly  and con-            ments is that the churches may know that the Lord is He that
sume him. In short, the Lord announces Himself to the con-          searcheth the reins and the hearts, and that He will give to
gregation as the omniscient and omnipotent  Judge of  the                each one according to his works.         Again, this avowed
evil-doers in His church.                                           purpose is clearly in full harmony with the condition of the
   In harmony with this Self-manifestation of the Lord is           church in Thyatira. She could not test the spirits,, and
the message He delivers to the congregation. He not only            distinguish the true from the false, and exercise discipline
appears as Judge, but He will act as such in the midst of           wherever necessary. The Lord, Who searches the hearts,
the church. And by His own judgments He intends to ex-              would do it for them. Again, the church af Thyatira allowed                  .
pose the evil-doers. "Behold," thus He speaks, "Behold, I           a doctrine of licentiousness to be taught in her midst, a
will cast her into a bed." Behold ! The Lord wants to draw               doctrine that boldly advocated a life of sin, a descent into
the attention of the church. For it is primarily for her sake       the dark depths of Satan, in order that grace might be more
that He will come with His  .judgments  upon the wicked.            abundant. Jesus will appear as the rewarder of each one
                                                                                              :
They themselves were not able to exercise proper dkcipline,         according to his works, and thus expose the -devilish. nature
and they allowed the wicked Jezebel to teach and to seduce          of such a heresy.
the church. They were not in a condition to discern the                                                                           H.H.

                                                                    -


  132                                        T H E   STANDAR.D   B E A R E R   -

                                                                      the true Israel of all ages. On account of the abominations
  11  TflE DAY OF SHADOWS  11 of the reprobated Israel, the fathers, the Lord had done
                                                                      also the true people of God that evil-He had led also
                                                                      them into the captivity of the exile and `scattered them
                 The Prophecy of  Zechtiriah                          among the nations. The exile -had taken place some ninety
                                                                      years previous to the time of the appearance of Zechariah
                            -Chapter VIII                             on the scene and it was almost two hundred years previous
     For  ths  mith  the Lord of hosts;  a.s I  jw-posed to do        to this time that the ten tribes had been dispersed among
  you evil, when yoztr fathew provoked wbe to wager, saith the        the nations. What it means is that all the people of God,  .:
  Lord of hosts, a.nd I repented not; 15 so again have I pur-.        the true. church, contemporary with our prophet, had b,een
  posed in these days to do zwll unto Jerusalem and the home          born in exile or in the dispersion and that the vast majority
  of Judah.  Fear ye                                                  of them were still scattered among the nations. This evil the
                         n.ot.                                        Lord had done also the people of God, *when the apostates
         As  I  @rposed  to do  you evil-The pronoun  yo,u signi-     had filled up their measure of iniquity. But hereby the Lord
  fies the same people that it indicates in the previous              did His true people no injustice. For, though in principle
  verse  .(13) to-wit principally the house of Judah and the          true children of God, they were sinful men, by nature no
  house of Israel according to the election of grace and not          better than the others, and, therefore, they, too, in so far as
  these houses head for head and soul for soul. For unto the          they were sinful, had helped to fill up that measure. Yet
people indicated are all the promises of this chapter. This           there was a difference. They, certainly, did not revel in
  people is Zion to which the Lord is returned, Jerusalem in          gross wickedness as did their apostate brethren, but in
  the midst of which He will dwell, and that. shall be called         principle their delight was in the law of the Lord. Yet they
  the city of truth, the holy mountain  (3))  the people that         were sinful men, contaminated with the abominations of
  the Lord will save and bring forth from the four compasses          the apostates in whose midst they had dwelt. And, therefore,
  of the earth and that will be unto Him for a people and to          to  chastize  them in His love the Lord laid that stroke also
  whom He will be for a God in truth and in righteousness             upon them. He scattered them, too, among the nations whom
   (7,  8).                                                           they knew not, and led them into the `captivity of the Baby-
         The Lord purposed to do this people, the house of Judah      lonian exile. And here He gave them grace to repent. If
  and the house of Israel, evil.  And I repented  not-What            we want to know how this people reacted toward these
  the Lord thought, purposed, He also performed. He led the           chastisements of God, we must read the Lamentations. Iden-
  house of Judah into the captivity of the exile and scattered        tifying Himself with -this people, Jeremiah voices all the
  the house of Israel  a.mong the nations. The Lord had done          thoughts of their heart.
   His people this evil when, that is, because, the fathers had          The fathers provoked God to anger. This cannot mean
  provoked Him to anger. In the previous chapter our prophet          that man determines God's mental states. God cannot be
  has much to say about these fathers. The word of the Lord           acted upon, influenced or coerced by the creature. He does
   had come also to these fathers, commanding, them to exe-           all  His goodpleasure. It was according to His counsel that
   cute true judgment, show mercy and compassion to their             the fathers apostatized from God. That they provoked Him
   brethren, oppress not the widow, the fatherless, the stranger      to. anger by their abominations can, therefore, only mean
   and the poor, and not imagine in their heart the evil against      that as impelled by His own infinite goodness He willed
   their brethren. But they refused to hearken, and pulled            that His anger kindled at the thought and sight of  ,their
   away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should        wickedness determinedly willed by Him. Surely, being Holy,
   not hear. And they made their hearts like an adamant stone,        God could not will the contrary. With sin before His eye
   lest they should hear the law and the word .which the Lord         as set there by Himself, His whole being is ablaze with a
   sent by His Spirit and His prophets. Thus they refused to          fierce indignation, wherefore He is also `a consuming fire
   execute true judgment, oppressed the defenseless and plotted       unto all such not hidden in Christ.
   the ruin of their brethren. It is plain that by  .these fathers
   must be understood the reprobated  in. the generations of the         And I  refer&d  not-  this was not owing to the fact
   people of Israel. The law entered in at Sinai and sin              that for God repentance is impossible. He is known from
   abounded in the lives of these fathers. `With these apostates      the Scriptures to have repented-more than once. It repented
._ our prophet places the people indicated by the pronoun  YOU,       the Lord that He had made man on the earth and it grieved
   the people that the Lord will save and that shall- be a bless-     Him at His heart, Gen.  6:6. The Lord repented of the evil
   ing, in juxtaposition. The latter, therefore, are  princi.pally    that He said  (not thought  as the versions have it) to do
  `the true people of God "that hear in these days these words        unto His people Israel, because of their having made them
   by the mouth of the prohpets" (verse. 9 of chapter S), thus        gods of gold, Ex. 32  :14. The Lord repented that He had
   in the first instance the true church contemporary with            made Saul king of Israel, I Sam. 15 :35. Yes, God repented.
   Zechariah and then this church as representing principally         Not that like man he changed His mind with regard to a


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              I33

@ast or intended action because it was a mistake or would         namely to save them by His chastisements. Hence,  His
be a mistake should the action be carried out. God ~makes         purpose to :db them evil is an excellent resolution and His
no mistakes. He made no mistake when He made man on               doing them evil an, excellent work as are all His purposes
the earth. The counsel of His will according to which He          and works. His purposes do not grieve Him. He does not
works all things is the embodiment of perfect and infinite        repent of His counsel. How could He, if it is the implication
wisdom.  Ancl  He does all His good pleasure. For there is        of the infinite wisdom of God.?
no limit to His power. And the creature exists by His will.          In the light of these observations we can lay hold on the
Hence nothing stands in His way, can prevent God.. `He,           message in the Scripture passage under consideration. As
therefore, keeps Himself to His own counsels always. And          the Lord thought, purposed to do the house of Judah and
there is every reason, certainly, why He should. What. then,      the house. of Israel evil, when the fathers provoked Him to
is God's repentance  ? We learn from the Scriptures that          anger, and He repented not, so He again purposed to do
its substance is divine grief. This is its sole element. It       Jerusalem and the house of Judah well. The idea is this :
grieved God at  His heart, so we read,  that He had' made         If the Lord did not repent of His purpose to do His people
man upon the earth, because, according to His own sov-            evil, when the fathers provoked Him to anger, He will not,
ereign determination, the wickedness of man was great upon        surely, repent of His purpose to do His people well, now
the earth. What grieved Him was man's  ,wickedness.  And          that by His  -mercy they have repented and again run the
that was His repentance, that grief and the action that it        way of His  co&~ands,  and build His house. Surely He
caused Him to take. He destroyed man from the face of             will do them well, enter their lives with His blessings and
the earth.                                                        thereby provide them with the tokens that He has forgiven
   What God said He would do unto His people - He said            them for Christ's sake. So, let them not fear. This is here
to Moses to leave. Him alone that He might destroy them-          the message. For, though the law entered in, the saints of
grieved Him at His heart, and with reason. `He had chosen         the first covenant did not live by the works of the 1%~ any
that people in Christ. It, therefore, had the love of His         more than do we of the new covenant. They, too, lived
heart. And accordingly, the sole reason He said what He           only by the mercies of Christ. They were new creatures in
did was to prompt Moses to pray for them.                         Christ. And so their faith and obedience and good  -will
   It grieved God that He had made Saul king of Israel,           to repent were gift`s worked in them by Christ atid not con-
because, again according to His sovereign determination,          ditions on which God would again do them well. How, could
Saul was self-willed and disobedient. What  grieved  Him          such a view be harmonized with the Gospel of the sur-
is Saul's disobedience.. And, therefore, He removed him to        rounding verses, with the -Gospel that the Lord will return
make way for David.                                               to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and that the
   During the reign of David the Lord sent pestilence upon        city shall be called a city of truth and the holy mountain (3),
Israel and there died many people. And then we read, "And         and with the Gospel that the Lord will save them, and that
when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to           they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem (7) ?
destroy it, the Lord repented Him of the evil, and said to           To `lead His people .to repentance the Lord was resolved
the angel that destroyed His people, `It is enough" (II Sam.      to do them  evi!.  This. with Him was an abiding  resolution
24  :16). The evjl that the Lord was doing His people             of which He did not repent. And when by His m&l ?Yey
grieved Him. And, therefore, He took action. He bade              repented, He was resolved to do them well. This, tab; was
the destroying angel to stay his hand.                            an abiding resolution with Him of which He did not repent.
                                                                  For if He should repent of these thoughts or purposes, His
   If according to the Scriptures God repents, Holy Writ          people would not be saved but with the wicked would per-
also teaches that He does not repent. So in the  hassage          ish in their sins.
under consideration. The Lord purposed to do His people
evil and He repented not.. The Lord again purposed to do             As He did evil unto the house of Judah and unto the
His people, the house of Judah and the house of Israel, well,     house of Israel, so he will again do well unto Jerusalem
and He repented not. So we read here. So then, II Sam,            and unto the house of Judah. But not also unto the house
24  :16 states that the Lord repented Him of the evil, while      of  Israel   ? Surely, yes. The house of Judah and the house
here it is said that the Lord purposed  td do His people          of Israel, Jerusalem, Zion, the mountain of Jehovah are
evil and that He. repented not. We will see that, there is no     names and expressions indicating the same entity, namely
conflict, if we only take notice of what this passage asserts,    the church of the elect. (See on S:l, 2.)                   : -.
namely that the Lord thought, purposed, resolved to do                16. There are the things which ye shall do; speak tm&
His people evil and repented not. The Lord always repents         each to I@ neighbor; trh'a and judgment of peace judge ye
of the evil that He does His people. Their sufferings always      in your g&es. 17. And let~none of you devise the evil a.gainst
grieve Him., And, therefore, He shall also deliver them one       His nqighbor in' your hearts, and love not an oath of false-
day out of all their troubles. That He nevertheless does          hood; fog all these are m&t .I hate, saith the Lord.
them evil is always. for  a wise and benevolent. purpose,          .Speak truth-Without  truthfulness among its members


   i 3 4                                         ,THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

  the comniunity of God's people  could not. prosper.  Trztth              memorate  the beginning of the siege of the tenth day of the
 .jztdge is equivalent to give true and righteous judgment:                tenth  month (Jer. 39  :l  ; II Kings 25  :l):
  Judgesent  of peace is an administration of judgment that                   Must these fasts still be observed ? Must we still weep ?
promotes  peace. To devise  ez$ against  the  neighbor in  the             Such was the question of the deputies from Bethel that they
  heart  is to  be  planning his ruin. And  to love  an  oa.tlz of         had put to the priests and the prophets. What we have
  falsehood  is to be always disposed and ready to work his                here is the Lord's answer. These fasts shall become festiv-
   ruin. He who is guilty of these things, hates. For hate is              ities. Weeping shall be changed into rejoicing. For if the
  the will to destroy. They shall not hate but love one an-                Lord was purposed to do the house of Israel and the house
   other. Such has been the word of the Lord to all the                    of Judah evil, He is again purposed to do Jerusalem and
  generations of the past (see on 7 :9, 10). It is the second of           the house of Judah  will. He is returned to Jerusalem and
  the two commandments on which hang all the law and the                   will dwell in the midst of her, and the  city shall be called
  prophets; the other, the great one, being "Thou shalt love               the $y of truth. And He shall save His people from every
  the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul and               quarter, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.
  with all thy mind and with all thy strength. But how shall               And they shall be unto Him for a people, and He shall be
  they love  ? The Lord shall save them  .( 7)  :` He shall put            unto them for a God. This is the promise.  And until it is
   His laws in the mind of the house of Israel and the house of            performed, until the church appears with Christ in glory,
  Judah and write them in their hearts (Heb.  8  :lO). And                 God's believing people shall  and. do weep. For in this life
  the fruit of this work of God in them is that they love peace            they have so much to weep about. The chief cause of grief
   and truth.                                                              is their painful awareness that they still sin continually, that
      This good the Lord will do unto the house of Judah                   what they would they do not, and that what they hate, that
  and the house of Israel, His chosen people. But there is                 they do. But God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
  also thk carnal Israel in this post-esilic community, wicked             and there shall beno more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,
  men that walk in all the abominations of their reprobated                neither shall there be any more pain. For the former things
  fathers. They execute- no true judgment. They show no                    shall pass away (Rev.  21:3, 4). Alas, if a man does not
  mercy and compassion. They are cruel and ruthless men.                   now weep-weep for his sins! He shall be cast into outer
  They oppress the widow and the fatherless; the strapger                  darkness, where he shall weep everlastingly. But blessed
  and the poor. They imagine the evil against their brethren               are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
  and love the oath of falseness. At the same time they want                  B&t love  ye  truth  and peace- Let not a man seek the
  to appear righteous before men. And so, even while they                  evil of- his neighbor. Let him not love the oath of falseness.
  plunder the houses of. the widows, they fast and weep and                For all these things the Lord hates.
  `bring sacrifices`unto the Lord ; they spread forth their hands                                                                     G. M. 0.
  and make many prayers, the hypocrites; they compass land
  and sea to make one proselyte, swear by the altar, pay tithes
  and mint and anise and  cummin,  build the tombs of the
  prophets, garnished the sepulchres of the righteous and say                             I  W E D D I N G   A N N I V E R S A R Y
  that if they had been in the days of their fathers, they would             -On November 23,  19.56,  our dear parents
  not have been  parta.kers with them in the blood of the
  prophets. But  "all  these  tlzings  aye things that I  h,ate,  saith                 Mk. and MRS. MENKO FLIKKEMA
  the  Lofpd.   And, therefore, their house- the house of this             celeb,rated  their 40th wedding day anniversary.
  carnal, reprobated Israel-was left unto them desolate. Je-
  rusalem that killed the prophets, and for which God was                     We as children and grandchildren extend our hearty congra-
                                                                           tulation  2nd are grateful to God for what He has given us through
  not jealous but against which His wrath burned with great                them. May we ever follow their example and walk in the fear
  fury, was destroyed, never to be rehabilitated, when the                 of the Lord. Trusting that His blessings will continue to rest
  ascended Christ came in judgment over her.                               upon them and supply them in all their daily need.
      8. And the word of Jehovah  came to  me, saying,  19.                                   Their grateful children :
  Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the fast of the fo,wth (monthjt)                                         Mr. and Mrs. John Flikkema
  and the fast of the  fifth, and the fast of the seventh,, and                                            Mr. and Mrs. George Flikkema
  the fast of the tenth, shall become pleasure ,and joy to .tltc                                           Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Hoekema
  house of  Judah and  cheerful feasts; but love ye  `trzh and                                             Mr. and Mrs. Albert Flikkema
  peace.                                                                                                   Mr. and Mrs. Peter Kim
                                                                                                           Mr. and Mrs. Garret Flikkema
      The  fast  of  the fourth  WLonth-The  fast kept in com-                                             Mr. and Mrs. Dave Hoekema
  memoration of the ca,pture  of Jerusalem by-Nebuchadnezzar                                               Mr. and Mrs.  Phillip Flikkema
  dn the ninth day af the fourth month (Jer. 39  :2; 52  :7).                                              Mr. and Mrs. Jake Dyksterhouse
  Fifth, seventh  -see `on  7:4. Tenth -A fast held to  com-                                               Twenty-two grandchildren.


                                          T H E   `S T A N 'D A R D   `B E A R E R                                                13.5
 -                -  -...
Ii                                                                   well-being and consider it to be our duty to help him when-
                  I N   H I S   FEA'R  ,' II ever and as much as we can. We are not to stick our noses
                                                                     in his business and personal-affairs. But as God brings him
                                                                     across our path we are to look out for, his good as well as
                      Giving In His Fear                             for our own. We may note that these. words of Paul are
                                   (5)                               spoken after he had given commandment to the Philippians
       The Scriptures have a way of making us feel very un-          with these words, "Let nothing be done through strife or
comfortable at times.                                                vainglory  ; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
       That is to be expected !                                      better than themselves.," Philippians  2:3. To look at or on
       For, the Scriptures are the truth; and we, by nature, live    the things of others, then, does not mean that we do so for
outs of the principle of the lie.                                    our own benefit, for our own curiosity or for our own pro-
       The Scriptures, therefore, as the Word of God, always         tection and preservation. On the- contrary, the whole pur-
oppose us as we are by nature and as we behave out of                pose must be the good of the neighbour. It must be done
that principle of the lie.                                           in love and with a willingness to serve him.
       ,When we have made ourselves feel quite comfortable and          That is a thing we may bear in mind at this season when
satisfied with ourselves, and others round about us are              on every side we are being urged to give to this institution
singing our praises, the Scriptures have a way of robbing us         that cares for the mentally sick, to that organization that
of all that joy and comfort by exposing us for what we               seeks to provide from our surplus the daily bread of those
really are.                                                          that face  .the peril of starvation through one cause or an-
       We go our own way as peace-loving individuals. We             other, to this society that helps those who by no deed. of
mind our own business. We live and let live. We pay  our             their own ifind themselves in a "disaster" area and desperately
bills and even lend money to those that are in financial             in need of that which others can supply.
straits. We do not- bot,her  them - at least, not too .much -           It is easy to dismiss the whole plea with the sentiment
when.they  cannot meet the full payment in a particular month        of Cain expressed in our own words: "I gave last year.
or even for a few months in succession. Men praise us for            Let  somealne  else do it  now.`:                      ,.
being patient, generous, lenient with those who are finan-              When we give in His fear, we do not talk that way.
cially hard pressed and kind.                                           He  ,who gives in His fear to his neighbor is a man .who
       Then the Word of God on the printed page leaps out            also in His fear heeds the Word of God and looks on  .the
at us: "Look not every man on his own -things, but every             things of others.
man also on the things of others," Philippians 2 :4.                    What a different world this would be if men would
       At first we find comfort in assuring ourselves that the       practice that truth which Paul gave to the Philippians ! What
text surely cannot mean that we should stick  `our noses             a different relationship there would be .between  capital and
into our neighbour's business. His business is his own busi-         labor! And, by the way, this is the Scriptural approach to
ness ; and my business is my own business. I do not want             the problem. Let Capital look at the things of Labor and
others poking into my affairs : how much I make, what I              let Labor look at the things of Capital! That is a far cry
am worth, whether I can make ends meet? how much I am                from the modern union and its strike, boycott and violence.
in debt; and I am sure that. my neighbour feels the same' Those are not Scriptural. But because Capital has not been
way about these things.                                              looking at the things of Labor, we have the mess wherein
       But Scripture has a way of not letting us go and of           we find ourselves today with strikes followed by wage in-
appearing and reappearing in our thoughts. We begin to               creases  followed'by  price raises which induce more strikes
ask ourselves whether we have stood squarely before the              and a vicious circle that gets us nowhere unless it be into
text when we have so quickly given our answer to its com-            a greater mess in the future. And because Labor  willnot
mand.  We have to admit that an uncomfortable feeling                look at the things of Capital this ceaseless trouble and.unrest
still remains.                                                       goes on and on. There is only one way out. That is the
       With Cain even we are inclined -at least in our hearts        way pointed out in the Scriptures.
-to say, "Am I my brother's keeper  ?" when the truth of                What a different world it would be if the employer whose
the text will not let us go. We may not dare to use these            profits have been soaring and who each year is able to "salt
words of reprobate, murderous, profane -Cain.  But we may            away" a bigger return for his money, would look at the
put it, in our own language. We may, for example, say,               things of his employees and share his profits with them
"Let someone else do it this time."                                  rather than to sit back smugly in his office holding his
 - 0; yes, we are our brother's keeper, even though we               breath lest the door ppen for one of his employees to enter
did help him last time. What is more we are our neighbour's          and plead for a raise since he cannot make ends meet with
keeper. We must mind his things as well as the brother's             the cost of living continually rising! Then,- even, rather
and our own things.                                                  than to look at the things of his employee when he brings
      The idea is, of course, that we are concerned with his         them to his attention, he will all too quickly look at his


     136                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
      -                                                                -                             i
     own things and cry about his expenses and costs and the                That is why, as `we said a moment ago, we pride ourselves
     like  ; while actually he was able to invest in another in-' in being peaceloving individuals. That-is the whole trouble:
     dustry besides his own, was able with his profits to buy          `our individualism, which is only a fancy name for  self-
     another store or another farm to rent out and so insure           centeredness. We think no farther than ourselves - and our
     even more income for himself. `And the hard pressed em-           families because they touch us. To look upon the things of
     ployee is sent away with the added anxiety that for his re-       others that are not related to us  ; to see our calling in re-
     quest he may be the first to lose his job.                        gard to .those  who have no legal or blood ties with us is not
            What a different situation it would be if men did not      the natural thing for us. By nature we always ask with
     have to complain before they were heard by their ,employ-         Eve, "what good will it do me?"
     ers ! It is a sad commentary on our life if the only way we            But Jesus.tells  us that all such behaviour  brings down the
     can get one to look at our things  is that we first have to       everlastmg wrath of God. He tells us that inasmuch as we
     let out a long, mournful wail. The Word of God does not           have looked at the things of others and given them clothing
     say, "Listen to the  complaints~  of others": it says, "Look      when they were naked, food when they were hungry, visited
     on the things of others."            s .                          them when they were in prison, we have done- it unto Him.
            The same, of course, holds true for the employee. He       And inasmuch as we did not do it to those whom God brought
     must look at the things of his employer and do the best he        across our path and whom we knew to be in such peril and.
     can with his materials, machines and the like. He has no          straits, we refused to do it to Him.
      excuse for unfaithfulness. He should give of his time and             Our first obligation is to maintain the gospel and the
     talents to his employer in His fear. The employer must give       schools but a calling which we likewise may not shirk is that
     wages in His fear; but the employee must give service in          of giving in His fear to the poor and needy. That answer
     His fear.                                                         which we quoted before from the Heidelberg Catechism con-
            And of the .poor whom we always have with us, what         cerning the requirement of the fourth commandment makes
     we said a moment ago stands. We must give for their sup-          that plain. VVe read, ."First that the ministry of the gospel
     port in His fear. We must look to the things of these,            and the  scho'ols be maintained  ; and that I . . . contribute
     esteeming them better than self and not despising them            to the relief of the poor as becomes a Christian." Such
     because of their lack of material things.                         language leaves no doubt as to our calling. It becomes a
            He who gives to the poor in His fear gives for the sake    Christian to contribute to the relief of the poor.
     of giving. He gives in love. He gives not to receive but to            The answer quoted above presents it as something that
     be of service with what God has given him for service. He         we do on the Sabbath in our own local congregation. But it
     looks on the things of others in order to be helpful when         by no means forbids or ignores .the calling we have to con-
     and where he can, to serve God when and where he can              tribute to other causes than those of the local deaconate for
>    with what God has given him for this very purpose.                the relief of the poor in the congregation or denomination:
            He who gives in his fear does not do so in a `haughty,     This same idea of contributing to the relief of the poor is
     proud attitude over against those whom he serves. No, he          presented in the answer in regard to the meaning of the eighth
     serves them ; and though he has had much more of this             commandment: ". . . .that I faithfully labor, so that I may. .be
     world's goods bestowed upon him than the man whom he              able to .relieve  the needy." The labor is during the week and
     befriends he, in his deed of charity, functions as a servant      contributions during the week and apart from the deaconate
     to that poverty stricken neighbour whom he helps. He does         are also our calling whenever and wherever we see the need.
     not give through strife or vainglory; but with lowliness of            The world is agitating in our land for a four-day work
     mind. esteeming others better than self. And he gives not         week -the same pay but fewer hours of work. Why? Be-
     to receive-not even to receive praise of men-but in               cause men are more and more manifesting the truth of Paul's
     order to serve God.                                               words to Timothy that men will become lovers of pleasure
            While we are so busy in the weeks that lie ahead plan-     rather than lo,vers of God. A pleasure mad world must make
     ning and even lavishly spending for Christmas presents for        a living but have time for more satisfaction of the lusts and
     our own family, let us not look only on our own things            pleasure. Quite a radical idea in such a world that men work
     but also on the things of others. As by mail and personal         - as God said in the Ten Commandments, six days a week--
     contact the things of others are brought to our attention and     that fifth or even part of those fifth and sixth days anyway
     we are requested to contribute, let us look to these things       and use the "overtime" pay for the maintenance of the gos-
     and give in  .His fear. In His fear we cannot be selfish,         pel and &the  schools and to- provide for the relief of the needy
     greedy and self-centered. That we are by nature, That             When that four-day work-week is realized, few will even
     man became when, through the lie of Satan, he took his            consider working a part of the fifth day for the maintenance
                                                                                              .--
     eye off God,,.upon Whom it was centered by his very crea-         of the gospel  land for those who cannot work or have no
     tion in God's image, to fix it upon himself by considering        work and are needy. But would you say that those who do
     and yielding to the temptation to take God's place and to         are not living and giving in His fear? And what do you
     be like Him.                                                      think God would say  ,-of such  ?                      J. A. H.


                                           .I_
                                             TtiE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 137

                                                                     fields laid waste, the land made desolate. Villages are empty,
         Contending For The Faith                                II few inhabitants remain in the cities, and even these poor
                                                                      remnantls   .of humanity are daily cut down. The scourge of
                                                                     celestial justice does not cease, because no repentance takes
          The Church and the Sacraments                              place under the scourge. We see how some are carried into
                                                                     captivity, others mutilated, others slain. What is it, brethren,
   VIEWS DURING THE THIRD PERIOD  (750-1517 A.D.)                    that can make us contented with this life ? If we love such
                                                                     a world, we love not our joys, but-our wounds. We see what
                THE SUPREMACY OF THE POPE                            has become of her who was once the mistress of the world.
               GREGORY THE  GREAT   (590-604)                        . . . . Let us then heartily despise the present world and
                                                                     imitate the works of the pious as well as we can."
    "Whatever may be thought of the popes of  earlier times,"            Gregory was born about A.D. 540, from an old and
says a certain writer, ythey always had great interests in           wealthy senatorial (the Anician) family of Rome, and edu-
view : the care of oppressed religion, the conflict with heathen-    cated for the service of the government. He became acquainted
ism, the spread of Christianity among the northern nations,          with Latin literature, studied Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine,
the founding of an independent hierarchy. It belongs to the          but was ignorant of Greek. His mother Sylvia, after the
dignity of human existence to aim at and to execute some-            death of Gordianus, her husband, entered a convent, and so
thing great ; this tendency the popes kept in upward motion."        excelled in sanctity that she was canonized. The Greek em-
    This commendation of the earlier popes, though by no             peror Justin appointed him to the highest civil office in Rome,
means applicable to all, is eminently true of the one who            that of imperial prefect (574). But soon afterwards he
stands at the beginning of our period.                               broke-with the world, changed the palace of his father near
    GREGORY THE FIRST, or THE GREAT, the last                        Rome into a convent in honor of  St. Andrew, and became
of the Latin fathers and the first of the popes, connects the        himself a monk in it, afterwards abbot. He founded besides
ancient with the mediaeval church, the Graeco-Roman with             six convents in Sicily, and bestowed his remaining wealth
the Roman-Germanic type of Christianity. He is one of the            on the poor. He lived in the strictest abstinence, and under-
best representatives of mediaeval Catholicism : monastic, as-        mined his health by ascetic excesses. Nevertheless he looked
cetic, devout and superstitious  ;  hierachical,  haughty, and       back upon this time as the happiest of his life.
ambitious, yet humble before God  ; indifferent,- if not hostile,        Pope Pelagius II made him one of the seven deacons of
to classical and secular culture, but friendly to sacred and         the Roman Church, and sent him as arnbassador or nuntius
                                                                                                                                  .I
ecclesiastical learning ; just, humane, and liberal to ostenta-      to the court of Constantinople (579). His political training
tion  ; full of missionary zeal in the interest of Christianity      and executive ability fitted him eminently for this post. He
and the Roman see, which to his mind were inseparably con-           returned in 585, and was appointed abbot of his convent, but
nected. He combined great executive ability with untiring            employed also for important public business.
industry, ,and amid all his official cares he never forgot the           It was during his monastic period (either before or, more
claims of personal piety. In genius he was surpassed by              probably, after his return from Constantinople) that his mis-
Leo I, Gregory VII, Innocent III; but as a man and as a              sionary zeal was kindled, by an incident on the slave market,
Christian he ranks with'the purest and most useful of the            in behalf of the Anglo-Saxons. The result (as recorded in a
popes. Goodness is the highest kind of greatness, and the            previous chapter) was the. conversion of England and the            -
church has done right in according the title of ,the Great to        extension of the jurisdiction of the Roman see, during his
him rather than to other popes of superior intellectual power.       pontificate. This is the greatest event of that age, and the
   The times of his pontificate, (A.D. Sept. 3, 590 t.o March        brightest jewel in his crown. Like a Christian Caesar, he
12., 604) were full of trouble,. and required just a man, of         re-conquered that fair island by an army of thirty monks,
his training and character. Italy, from a  .Gothic kingdom,          marchingunder the sign of the cross.
had become a province of the Byzantine empire, but was                  In 590 Gregory was elected pope by the unanimous voice
exhausted by war and overrun by the savage Lombards, who             of the clergy, the senate, and the people, notwithstanding his
were still heathen or Arian heretics, and burned churches,           strong remonstrance, and confirmed by his temporal sover-
slew `ecclesiastics, robbed monasteries, violated nuns, reduced      eign, the Byzantine emperor  Mauritius,  Monasticism, for
cultivated fields into a wilderness. Rome was constantly ex-         the first time, ascended the papal throne. Hereafter till his
posed to plunder, and wasted by pestilence and famine. All           death, he devoted all his energies to the interests of the holy
Europe was in a chaotic state, and bordering on anarchy.             see and the eternal city, in the firm consciousness of being
Serious men, and Gregory himself, thought that the end of            the successor of St. Peter and the vicar of Christ. He con-
the world was near at hand. "What is it," says he in one of          tinued the austere simplicity of monastic life, surrounded him-
his sermons, "that can at this time delight us in this world?        self with monks, made them bishops and legated, confirmed
Everywhere we see tribulation, everywhere we hear lamenta-           the rule of St.. Benedict at a council of Rome, guaranteed
tion. The` cities are destroyed, the castles torn down, the          the liberty and property of convents, and by his example and

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

 influence rendered signal services to the monastic order. He           the trinitarian faith. He endeavored to suppress the rem-
 was unbounded in his charities to the poor. Three thousand             nants of the Donatist schism in Africa. Uncompromising
 virgins, impoverished nobles and matrons received without a            against Christian heretics and schismatics, he was a step in
 blush alms from his hands. He sent food from his table to              advance of his age in liberality towards the Jews. He  cen-
 the hungry before he sat down for his frugal meal. He in-              stired the bishop of Terracins and the bishop of Cagliari for
 terposed continually in favor of injured widows and or-                unjustly depriving them of their synagogues; he condemned
 phans. He redeemed slaves and captives, and sanctioned the             the forcible baptism of Jews in Gaul, and declared conviction
 sale of consecrated vessels for objects of charity.                    by preaching the only legitimate means of  conve+sion ; he did
       Gregory began his administration with a public act of            not scruple, however, to try the dishonest method of bribery,
 humiliation on account of the plague which had cost the life           and he inconsistently denied the Jews the right of building
 of his predecessor. Seven processions traversed the streets            new synagogues and possessing Christian slaves. He made
 for three days with prayers and hymns; but the plague con-             efforts, though in vain, to check the slave-trade, which was
 tined to ravage, and demanded eighty victims during the                chiefly in the hands of Jews.
 procession. The later legend made it the means of staying                  After his death, the.public distress, which he had labored
 the calamity, in consequence of the appearance of the ar-              to alleviate, culminated in a general famine, and the ungrate-
 changel Michael. putting back the drawn sword into its                 ful populace  of- Rome was on the point of destroying his.
sheath over the Mausoleum of Hadrian, since called the Cas-             library, when the archdeacon Peter stayed their fury by as-
 tle of St. Angelo, and adorned by the Statue of an angel.              serting that he had seen the Holy Spirit in  the_ form of a
       His activity as pontiff was incessant, and is the more           dove hovering above Gregory's head as he wrote his books.
 astonishing as he was in delicate health and often confined            Hence he is represented with a dove. He was buried in St.
 to bed. "For a long time," he wrote to a friend in 601, "I             Peter's under the altar (of St. Andrew.
 have been unable to rise from my bed. I am tormented by
 the pains of gout; a kind of fire seems to pervade my whole                Bishop  Bossuet  thus tersely sums up the public life of
 body: to live is pain; and I look forward to death as the only         Gregory : "This great pope . . . subdued the Lombards ; saved
 remedy." In another letter he says : "I am daily dying, but            Rome and Italy, though the emperors could give him no as-
 never die."                                                            sistance ; repressed the new-born pride of the patriarchs of
       Nothing seemed too great, nothing too little for his personal    Constantinople ; enlightened the whole church by his doctrine ;
care. He organized and completed the ritual of the church,. governed the East and the West with as much vigor as
 gave it greater magnificence, improved the canon of the mass           humility ; and gave to the world a ljerfect  model of ecclesias-
 and the music by a new mode of chanting called after him. He           tical government."
preached often and effectively, ,deriving  lessons of humility             To this Count Montalembert (likewise a Roman Catholic)
and piety from the calamities of the times, which'appeared              adds : "It was the Benedictine order which gave to the church
to him harbingers of the judgment-day. He protected the                 him whom no one would have hesitated to call the greatest
city of Rome against the savage and heretical Lombards.                 of the popes, had not the same order, five centuries later,
 He administered the papal patrimony, which embraced large              produced St. Gregory VIII. He is truly Gregory the Great,
estates in the neighborhood of Rome, in Calabria,  Sardinin,            because he issued irreproachable from numberless and bound-
Corsica, Sicily, Dalmatia, and even in Gaul and Africa. He              less difficulties; because he gave as a foundation to the in-
encouraged and advised missionaries. As patriarch of the                creasing grandeur of the Holy See, the renown of his virtue,
West, he extended his paternal care over the churches in                the  can`dor of his innocence, the humble and inexhaustible
Italy, Gaul, -Spain, and Britain, and sent the pallium to               tenderness of-his heart.'
some metropolitans, yet without claiming any legal jurisdic-               "The  pontifica.te  of Gregory the Great," says Gibbon,
tion.  \He appointed, he also reproved and deposed bishops              "which  l&ted  thirteen years, six months, and ten days, is
for neglect of duty or crime.  I$ resolutely opposed the                one of the most edifyipg  periods of the history of the church.
prevalent practice of simony, and f&-bade  the clergy to exact          His virtues, and even his faults, a singular mixture of sim-
or accept fees for their services. He corresponded, in the              plicity and cunning, of pride and humility, or sense and super-
interest of the church, with nobles, kings and queens in the            stition, were happily suited to his station and to the tem-
West, with emperors and patriarchs in the East. He hailed               per of the times."                                       H .   V .
the return of the Gothic kingdom of Spain under Reccared
from the Arian heresy to the Catholic faith, which was
publicly proclaimed by  the Council of Toledo, May  8, 589.
He wrote to the king a letter of congratulation, and exhorted              "There is no coming at the fair haven of eternal- glory,
him to humility, chastity, and mercy. The detested  Lom-                without sailing through the narrow strait of repentance."
bards likewise cast off Arianism towards the close of his                                                                      - Dyer
life, in consequence partly of his influence over Queen                    "No sin can be little  ; because there is no little God to
Theodelinda, a Bavarian princess, who had been reared in.               sin against."                                       - Brookes


                                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     139

I                                                                                  to `which they made.the  right use of this light of nature  (so-
fI          j3-1e Voice of Our Fathers                                       II called common grace) a condition unto gaining a greater, viz.,
                                                                                   the evangelical or saving grace and salvation itself. Cfl III,
                                                                                   IV, B, 5. -But in the second place, common grace and a so-
                    The Canons of Dordrecht                                        called civil good are not mentioned with so much as a breath
                                  PART TWO                                         in this article. And not only are they not mentioned, but the
                                                                                   entire article militates against any such false conception. This
                      EXPOSITION  OF   TI-IE  CANONS                               can be made abundantly clear,  -so clear that any honest
              THIRD  AND  FOURTH  HEADS  OF  DOCTRINE                              study of the teaching of the fathers in this paragraph must
      OF THE CORRUPTION  OF MAN,  HIS CONVERSION TO  GOD,                          needs lead either `to a rejection of the theory of common grace
                      A N D  THE  M A N N E R  T H E R E O F                       or to a rejection of the fathers.
                Article 4. There remain, however,  in man since the                   `And yet it seems to be a rather common thing that the
                 fall, the glimmerings of natural light, whereby he                subject of common grace is broached in this connection, and
                 retains some knowledge of God, of  netural things,
                 and of the differences between  go'od  and evil, and              that the attempt is made to find the common. grace theory in
                 discovers some regard for virtue, good order in                   this utterance of the Great Synod. It is well-known, of
                 society, and for maintaining an orderly external de-              course, that <the Synod of the Christian Reformed Churches
                 portment. But so far is this light of nature from                 in 1924 sought to support the Third Point of Common Grace
                 being sufficient to bring him to a saving knowledge               by citing only the first sentence of this article, i.e., up to the
                 of God, and to true conversion, that he is incapable
                 of using it  aright even in things  natural 2nd' civil.           ` But . .  .". But there are others also, who, while they do
                 Nay further, this light, such 2s it is, man in various            not argue from this article to prove the theory of common
                 ways renders wholly polluted, and holds it in un-                 grace, nevertheless look at the article through the spectacles
                 righteousness, by doing which he becomes inexcusable              of common grace, and who evidently feel while they dq so the
                 before God.                                                       impossibility of the common grace theory in the light of this
        Again we find fault with our English version of this                       article. Thus, for example, Ds. J. G. Feenstra, in his "De
article. For even though it may be granted that there is                           Dordtse Leerregelen Toegelicht," begins his commentary on
nothing in the translation that essentially changes the mean-                      this article (p. 125) as follows : "We komen nu' tot een
     ing of the fathers, yet there are certain fine distinctions which .~~Loeili;jke Kwestie,  waarover  heel wat gcschreven en gezegd is.
are lost in this translation, and which surely may be classed                      -6aarom   willen wij ons strikt houden  aan wat door de  be-
     as inaccuracies without running the risk of being called hyper-               lijdenis, op grond van Gods Woord,  w&dt gezegd." Per-
     critical and technical. We can perhaps best call attention to                 sonally we cannot see anything so moedijk,  difficult, about
     these inaccuracies by presenting our own translation -of the                  this question. And if only the author had held himself to
     Latin and leaving it to the reader to make a comparison of                    what is, said by the confession upon the basis of God's Word,
     the two. Our translation here follows:                                        as is his announced intention, all difficulty would be avoided.
              There is indeed in man after the fall a residual light               But it is not long before he leaves that course, and makes a
           of nature,. by benefit of which he retains a kind of knowl-
           edge (probably better: some ideas, concepts. The Latin                  conclusion that is warranted neither by the confession nor by
           here is the plural  quasdam  notitias,  in distinction from the         the Word of- God, when, writing about this light of nature,
           cognitionem   used later in the article, both of' which arc             he concludes : "Die overblijfselen zijn dus restew van Gods
           translated "knowledge"  in-the English and  "ken&" in the               beeld. We hebben het beeld God< verloren, maar overblijf-
           Dutch) concerning God, concerning things natural, and                   selen behouden." We call this an unwarranted conclusion.
           concerning the difference between things honorable 2nd
           base, and shows a kind of regard (Latin :                               For Ds. Feenstra speaks of remnants of the image of God,
                                                          studium)   for virtue
           and- external order (Latin:  discipha).  But so far is he               while neither Scripture nor the confession does this. Our
           from being able by this light of nature to arrive at a                  fathers do not speak of the image of God in this connection
           saving  ,know!edge (cognitionem) of God and to convert.                 whatsoever. They speak of the "light of nature." And the
           himself to Him, that not even in things natural 2nd civil               statement  quoted above is. based on the false premise that
           does he use it  aright, yea much rather, such as it is even,            the  .light of nature is the same as the image of God. And
           he in various ways contaminates it wholly, and holds it un-                  ,  -
           der in unrighteousness, -which while he does, he is rendered            while this author does not speak explicitly of common grace,
           inexcusable before the face of God.                                     he nevertheless, before he reaches the end of his comments
         It is from more than one point of view strange and sur-                   about this article, speaks of these remnants of natural light
     passjng reason that such an article as this should be cited in                as  "voo~~echten, phvilcges" : "Dat licht der natuur, die. over-
     support of the theory of common grace. To borrow an ex-                       blijfselen, res'ten van het beeld Gods, zijn  voorrechten, die
     pression from Calvin, a man "must be utterly beside himself"                  God de  mens gegeven heeft. Helaas maakt de natuurlijke
     to find any support for that theory in this paragraph of our                  mens daar schandelijk  misbruik van."  (idem,  p. 127) Ds.
     Canons. For in the first place, it is exactly against the                     T. Bos in his commentary on this article was also under the
     Arminians' cornron grace theory, according to which they                      influence of the common grace. theory, as is evident from his
     considered this light of nature as comtion  grace and according               opening comments :

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

         "In den laatsten tijd is het leerstuk der algemeene  ge-         resid,Ltzbptz,  is a rather apt expression in this connection. We
  nade :. `Gemeene gratie' meer breedvoerig behandeld dan vroe-           are instructed not to think too highly of this natural light
  ger. Daarin is 001~  sprake van hetgeen  in den mensch na. den          that is left in man after the fall, such as it is. The descrip-
  val nog overbleef van het beeld Gods, in ruimeren zin geno-             tion of the article certainly does not leave the impression that
  men. Bij de behandeling van dat onderwerp wordt door                    man's natural light has only been marred a little, that it has
  sommigen, in remonstrantschen zin,  ,het wezenlijk  onder-              been somewhat impeded, while he has retained by far the
  scheid tusschen de `algemeene' en `bijzondere' genade weg-              biggest part of it. The description of our Canons, on the
  geredeneerd, en de algemeene genade wordt verheven tot                  contrary, leaves the impression that through the fall man
  den grond en wortel der bijzondere genade, zoo dat de ont-              has been stripped of even his light' of nature for the most
  wikkeling van het eene tot het andere mogelijk wordt geacht.            part, and has kept only a very small remnant of it,- a
         "Neemt ondcrschatting van de `gemeene gratie' het ver-           residue. If, then, we are inclined to think highly of those
  band tusschen schepping en herschepping weg, oaerschatting              things that are accomplished by men by virtue of this little
  miskent de noodzakelijkheid der wedergeboorte, om tot we-               remnant of the light of nature after the fall, how tremendous
  zenlijke herstelling te komen."                                         must have been  *the light which man possessed in the state of
         Here evidently the theory of common grace is maintained,         rectitude! If we speak sometimes of "intellectual giants"
  but a warning is sounded against using "common grace" in                who have after all only a residue of the light of nature, what
  the Arminian sense, as though it can be the root and ground             a light of intellect must the first man have had in paradise!
  of "special grace."                                                     And what a flood of understanding shall enlighten us anew in
         A little farther on this, same author writes, still evidently    the world that is to come!
  with the theory of common grace in mind : "Tech is dat licht                As far as the idea and the cpntents  of this light of nature
  der natuur, in den mensch nog overgebleven, een weldaad                 are concerned, we may say,, first of all, that it is by virtue of
  Gods, en het maakt  den mensch schuldig voor Hem, als hij               this remnant of natural light that man remains a rational,
  het door ongerechtigheid te  ondev  houdt, zoodat het  zich niet        moral being even after the fall. He is a creature that can
  in hart en wandel openbaart. Het is oorzaak dat de mensch               still think and will. He remains a man. His natural, human
  onnatuurlijk wordt en zich tot het dierlijke verlaagt.                  gifts,  *the light that he had by virtue of the fact that his nature .
         "Onschuldig  voor God is geen mensch. Heel de wereld             as a creature was a human nature, -that light did not re-
  is  verdoemelijk,  voor God. Wat op zichzelf een zegen was,             main unaffected by the fall. But it was not lost either : he
  wordt in een vloek gekeerd door moedwillig het licht dat in             retained a residue of, it. If he did not have that residue, he
  den mensch nog is, te verdonkeren of uit te blusschen, niet             would not be able to act as a responsible, rational, moral
  hoorende naar het geweten, dat in hem nog spreekt."                     creature in relation to God and man. He could not  ,sin, for. ,
      Here we find a bit of philosophy, -for philosophy it is,            sin implies a creature that knows what he ought to do, a
  not Scripture, -to explain the fact that the object of com-             creature that is responsible, capable of a moral response. He
  mon grace nevertheless falls under condemnation. The light              could not be'subject  to punishment, for that is impossible jn
  of nature, even the residue of it, is a "weldaad Gods." It is           the case of a non-responsible creature. Hence, he has kept
  "op zichzelf een zegen, by  -itself a blessing." But man                something of that light of nature. He has kept enough
  changes this "blessing" into a curse by wilfully blotting out           of it that he remains a human being,  - a rational,
  this light of nature and by not listening to his conscience, that       moral, responsible creature. Although his nature was serious-
  still speaks within him. We learn then also that common                 ly  afflected  through sin, it remained a  &TPKZX nature. Man
  grace is a kind of grace of God too that is resistible, for             did not become through the fall an irrational beast.
  though God blesses, man can change that blessing into a curse.             We must notice, however; already here that this is no
      Because ,of this common tendency to subvert this light of           question of grace or lack of grace. In fact, the truth of the
  nature into a common grace of God, therefore, it is`necessary           matter is that those very glimmerings of natural light are
  that we consider this article thoroughly.                               a constant testimony of the wrath of God. For it was the
      First of all, then, we face the question: what is this              ,wrath of God against sin that so consumed man that, it
  natural light ?                                                         even extended to his very nature and stripped him of a large
     The article, while it does not furnish us a formal definition        part of his original natural gifts. And, as becomes evident
  of it, does give us a rather thorough description <of its con-          in the last part of the article, the wrath of God left man
  tent. It tells us that by virtue of this natural light, or, better,     with just sufficient natural light that he might ,be left inex-
  light of nature, man retains some idea of and acquaintance              cusable and might, thus become the object of more divine
  with things concerning God, things natural, and with the                wrath. Nay, from this point of view it might have been
  difference between things honorable and things base, and                better if man had been totally stripped of his natural gifts.
shows a certain regard for virtue and external order. It tells            Then, at least, he would no longer have been a morally
  us; in the second place, that man has but a residue of this             responsible creature. Then, at least, he could not become
  light after the fall. This is worthy of note. The word                  subject to a further visitation of wrath. But now he is
  "glimmerings," while scarcely a literal rendering of the Latin          indeed born a child of wrath.        (to be continued) H.C.H.


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  141

       II                                                                   fere in matters of faith. Yet as nursing fathers, it is the
               - DECENCY and ORDER                                          duty of civil magistrates to protect the Church of our com-
                                                                            mon Lord,`without  giving the preference to any denomination
                                                                            of Christians above the rest; in such a manner that all ec-
                       The Church and the State                             clesiastical persons whatever shall enjoy the full, free, and
                                                                            unquestioned liberty of discharging every part of their
             The teaching  ,of Presbyterianism regarding the Church         sacred functions, without violence or danger. And, as Jesus
       and State is found in the original Westminister Confession           Christ.hath  appointed a regular government and discipline in
       of Faith, Chapter 23, entitled, "Of the Civil Magistrate." It        His Church, no law of any commonwealth should interfere,
       reads as follows :                                                   with, let or hinder, the due exercise thereof, among the
                                                                            voluntary members of any denomination of Christians, accord-
             "I: God, the supreme Lord and King  of all the world,          ing to their own profession and belief. It is the duty of civil
       hath ordained civil magistrates to be under him over the             magistrates to protect the person and good name of all their
       people, for His own glory, and the  publick  good  ; and, to         people,  i.n such an effectual manner as that no persons be
       this end, hath armed them with the power of the sword, for           suffered, either upon pretence of religion or infidelity, to offer
       the defence  and encouragement of them that are good, and            any.indignity,  violence, abuse, or injury to any other person
       for the punishment of evil doers.                                    whatsoever; and to take order, that all religious and ec-
             II. It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the      clesiastical assemblies be held without molestation or dis-
       office of a magistrate, when called thereunto; in managing           turbance."
       whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice,
.;                                                                             Now, we especially want to direct attention to this be-
      and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each common-            cause,. in a certain respect, there is a striking similarity be-
       wealth; so, for that end, they may lawfully, now under the           tween  thi.s Presbyterian revision and the decision of the
       New Testament, wage war upon just and necessary occasions.           Synod of the Christian Reformed Church (which is also
             III. The civil magistrate may not assume to himself the        ours) in 1910 concerning the Thirty-sixth Article of the
       administration of the word and sacraments, or the power of           Belgic Confession,  -which we-quoted last time. Both of the
       the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; yet he hath authority,           revisions adopt the principle of separation between church
       and it is his duty, to take order, that unity and peace be           and state. Consequently, both eliminate such assertions as
       preserved in the church, that the truth of God be kept pure          are found in the original articles as the following: "The
       and entire, that all blasphemies and heresies be suppressed,         office of the magistrate is to remove and prevent all idolatry
a' - all c&uptions and abuses in worship and discipline.prevented           and false worship . . . . to supress all blasphemies and here-.
       or reformed, and all the ordinances of God duly settled, ad-         sies .  `. . . to prevent or reform all corruptions and abuses
       ministered, and observed. For the better effecting whereof,          in  ,worship  and discipline . . . . -to call Synods, etc."  IBoth
       he hath power  to- call synods, to be present at them, and           repudiate the position of the Established Church and adopt
       to provide that whatsoever is transacted in them be accord-          the view that is today commonly held.
       ing to the mind of God.                                                  Objections to this view are. frequently raised. Without
             IV. It is the duty of people to pray for magistrates, to       at present expressing our evaluation of these criticisms, since
       honour  their persons, to pay them tribute and other dues, to        we wish to do that later, we will present them for the
       obey their lawful commands, and to be subject to their author-       reader's consideration as gleaned from four lengthy articles,
       ity for conscience's sake. Infidelity, or difference in religion,    written .by Rev. Malcolm  MacRay, a former Presbyterian
       doth not make void the magistrate's just and legal authority,        minister in Nova Scotia, in "The Contender" in 1952. `Rev.
       nor free the people from their due obedience to him: from            MacEay himself, not so long ago, maintained the view he
       which ecclesiastical persons are not exempted  ; much less           now criticizes for he writes:
       hath the Pope any power or jurisdiction over them in their               "And incidentally, we maintained this position a year
       dominions or lives, if he shall judge them to be hereticks, or       ago in a letter to the New Glasgow Evening News . . . . Like
       upon any other pretence whatsoever."                                 a great majority of non-Roman Catholic people in North
             In connection with our present subject we are concerned        America, we were brought up to believe that separation of
       mainly with the third paragraph of the above quoted chapter.         Church and State was right, and that this was the only
       It is interesting to note that it is this chapter that underwent     workable policy. We accepted this doctrine, which is taught
       revision by the American Presbyterian Church in 1788. The            here by every agency of communication, because we had never
       revised section which, I think, is still maintained today, reads     really considered the arguments against it. However, for a
       as follows :                                                         variety of reasons, serious doubts arose as to whether or not
             "III. Civil magistrates may not assume to themselves           the doctrine of separation of Church and State, so widely
       the administration of the Word and sacraments, or the power          held in North America, was Scriptural after all."
       of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, or in the least inter-             The author then proceeds to advance the claim that this

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

  belief is in conflict with the Reformed' truths of the Sover-         Reformed doctrine of the -absolute sovereignty of God deny
eignty of  God- and Absolute Predestination. We quote the               this, if he can, on Scriptural. grounds. Therefore, in order
  following:                                                            for this,great central truth of the Bible to be truly established
         "We believe therefore that in order for the genuine Re-        on this continent, the Church-State relationship must be
  formed faith to be re-established in the earth, the absolute          corrected with a view to acknowledging by law that the true
  sovereignty of God must be acknowledged by the State as               and living God is the sovereign, although unseen ruler of
  well as by the Church. But, -the North American doctrine              Canada and the U.S.A. -as the Bible teaches He is the
  of the separation of Church and State refuses to give. God            actual ruler of all nations at all times. This, neither country
  the glory due to His name in the affairs of the State, as such,       has yet done. Until this is done, God's sovereignty is eclipsed,
  and thus would rob God--of His absolute sovereignty over the          to say the least.,"
  nations. If the absolute sovereignty of God is not acknowl-               And once more we read from MacKay's  pen : "We believe
  edged in all aspects of- human life, which -include the very          that it is long past time for those who adhere to the  Cal-
  important realm of the State, then God is not acknowledged            vinistic Reformed Faith to challenge the whole North Amer-
  as the absolute Sovereign at all. So, in reality, anyone who          ican conception of religion in relation to the state. Unless or
  holds `to the doctrine of the separation of Church and State          until this is done, we believe that there is, humanly,speaking,
  does not believe in the absolute sovereignty of God,` but only        not a chance for the Reformed faith to `get anywhere' for
  in a limited sovereignty of God, - which is no sovereignty at         the exclusiveness of the Christian faith, especially as it is
  all. This is a heavy blow directed at the heart of the Re-            emphasized in the Calvinistic doctrine of sovereign and
  formed faith. We have come to believe that this matter is             particular election is everywhere opposed by the madness
  as serious as that! Hence, in order for the Reformed faith            for equality .DE all religions, and partiality toward none. No
  to be re-established in the world, and in North America in            wonder, then, the  Calvinistic doctrine of a Predestination that
  particular, we believe that Reformed churchmen will have              is neither equal nor impartial-for the Bible teaches us that
  to re-examine their whole position in regard to Church and            God does not dispense His grace equally or impartially
  State."                                                               among all men -is in great disfavour on this continent."
         In his' second article, MacKay  writes : "If Christ's crown        Hence, the view of Rev. Mackay, if we .understand him
  rights over the nations are not acknowledged or are neutral-          correctly, is that the doctrine of separation between church
  ized. as in the United States, or if His crown rights are             and state is a denial of the  "car ecclesia"  ; the truth of
  openly rejected as in Soviet Russia, then the sublime Biblical        Predestination and the Sovereignty of God. But the- author
  truth of the absolute sovereignty of God over all men is              has other objections to this view concerning. church and
  overshadowed by the sinful unbelief and disobedience of men,          state which, D.V., we will present the next time and then
  or by their pride and' unlawful ambitions to `be as gods.' proceed to evaluate this view that is critical of our Confes-
(Compare Satan in tempting Adam, Gen.  3  5). Thus by                   sion and the original 28th article of our church order.
  nations not officially acknowledging the living and true God                                                                   G.V.D.B.
  to be the God of their nations, as is certainly taught and de-
  manded in the Bible, men would rob God of the glory that
  is due His name in the affairs of state. Hence, the great basic                                ALL  AROUND   US
  truth of the Reformed faith, namely, the absolute sovereignty                                (Co&wed   from   page 144)
  of God over all men, is denied before the eyes of men in the          sical  level to the time of the split.- This Judge Sear-l refused
  case of those nations who refuse officially (that is, by law)         to see.
  to acknowledge God to be ,the God of their nations. This is              Therefore, in the second place, the case of Second Church
  certainly the case with regard to the two greatest nations in         is being appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court. There
  the world today, the United States and Russia. Regardless             can be no doubt that the latter court not only, will be able &I
  of- the different reasons, in each case, the fact remains that        "untangle the present confused picture," but will also sustain
  the governments of the United. States and Russia agree in
  refusing to give God the glory due His name in the affairs            the Hoeksema group for the same reasons it decided in their
  of state by acknowledging the crown rights of Christ over             favor the first time.                                        M S .
  their respective nations.
     "To be more specific about North America, the Biblical                "The reproaches of Christ are precious! It is better to
  and Reformed truth of the absolute sovereignty of God over            be preserved in brine, than to rot in honey."
  all men is under a cloud because of the fact that neither the                                                                   - Dyer
  `United States nor Canada by law recognize that the God of
  heaven and earth, the  King   -of kings, who is the God and              "God has two thrones: one in the highest heavens, the
  Father of the Lord Jesus Christ is the God of their respective        other in the lowest hearts."
 nations. Let any person who knows the true Biblical and                                                                     - Arrowsmith


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR,ER                                                    143
                                                                                                              --
                                                                          Christ. He calls Jesus Christ the `Son"' of God, who has
              A L L   A R O U N D   U S                                   made himself' our brother and made us his brothers.' He
 r'                                                                       calls God `our Father,' `A Father who isa father to us- in a
                                                                          most particular fashion.' Then he tells' us that the  .Lord's
 Ba&`s Lord's Prayer.                                                     Prayer `implies the communion of man praying with Jesus
       In the November 15th issue of The Psesbytcrian Gztard-             Christ, his existence in the brotherhood of the sons of God.'
  ian we came upon an article with the above title which we               He says, `Jesus Christ invites, permits, commands  man.  to
  thought interesting as well as instructive especially for those         join him, especially in his intercession with God his Father.
  who would know more about this Swiss theologian, Karl                   Jesus Christ invites us; commands us and allows us to speak
.. Barth. `Because it is a short article, we are quoting it in its        with him to God, to pray with l'z@ his own  prayer, united
  entirety and without further comment. The artilcle  is written          with him in the Lord's Prayer.' (italics mine, Ed.)
  by Robert S. Marsden, associate editor of the Guardian. He                 Historic Christianity has always been able to read the
  writes as follows :                                                     simple statements of Scripture and- to see that Jesus never
       "The NAME OF KARL BARTH has become more                            united himself with his disciples in prayer nor does he ever
  widely known in our day than that of any other contemporary             imply that what we know as the Lord's Prayer is his prayer
  theologian. An obscure Swiss pastor of thirty years ago has             to God the Father. Jesus said, `when ye pray,' and then he
  become the most influential voice in Protestant Christianity            gives the prayer which we call the Lord's Prayer. If Jesus
  today !                                                                 unites in  ,that prayer then Jesus is a sinner who needs to
       The faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary was                pray, `forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors' and
  alert to the danger of Barthianism in the very early days of            if Jesus is a sinner he is certainly not_ the saviour. If Barth
  Barth's influence. His extremely voluminous and difficult               writes a million words which all sound equally pious and
  writings were brought to the attention of the American public           orthodox, his words must all be related to his unbiblical con-
  by Dr. Cornelius Van Til in his book, `The New Modernism,' ception of Christ. If the Christ of  Barth? Lord's Prayer is
  published ten years ago, and Dr. Van Til has kept up with               the historical Christ then we have no saviour and Chris-
  the developments of Barth's thought and the acceptance of               tianity is a sham. It is inconceivable that those who love the
  Barthianism since that time.                                            Lord Jesus Christ as he is revealed in the gospel, should
       On the other hand, Barth's work has been hailed by a               make common cause with a system of religion which rejects
  very.$large  segment of the Christian Church as a marvelous             this, Christ. Let those who are Christians and who have
  and -vital statement of Christian orthodoxy. Princeton Theo-            been speaking wildly concerning Barth and have been judg-
. logical Seminary was one of the first of the older conservative' ing him to be a new Martin Luther or a new John Calvin be
  institutions to accept Barthianism. The latest issue (October,          awakened to the fact that the religion of Karl Barth and
  1956) of the journal Theology Today is almost entirely de-              historic Christianity are poles apart and that the acceptance
  voted to the life and work of Barth;in connection with his              of the one is the rejection of the other."
  seventieth `birthday, which was celebrated last spring. The
  leading editorial is by Dr. John A. Mackay, chairman of the                Wade to Go to G`uam.
  editorial council of  Theology  Toda.y,  and President of Prince-          In the same issue of  The  Presbyhian  Guardk  above
  ton Theological Seminary. As everyone  connelcted  in any               referred to we came upon another short article with the above
  intimate way with the journal is also connected with Prince-            title. The readers  of  the  Startdayd Bearer  will recall that
  ton Theological Seminary, the journal is generally considered           just recently we reflected on an article appearing in the
  to be a publication which reflects Princeton's position. Dr.            Ca,nadian  Reformed.  Maga.zine  which mildly yet critically
  Mackay's editorial is called, `A Lyrical Tribute to Karl                rebuked the schismatic group that left us for hiring the
  Barth' and while he does take exception to certain compar-              Orthodox Presbyterian Missionary, Rev. E. L. Wade, to
  ative details in Barth's position, it..is a `tribute' iadeed,  which    labor for them on the Island of Guam.  The  Pyesbyteyian
  he pays.                                                                G,uavdia:ti  now gives us further information respecting this
       .Immediately  .following  the editorials is a two-page article,    matter. The article in  toto reads as follows:
  `The Lord's Prayer' by Karl Barth. This is given as a kind                  "The Rev. E. Lynne Wade, formerly a Navy Chaplain,
  of gem from Barth's writings. It is obviously to be re-                 expects to go soon as a missionary to the Island of Guam
  garded as a sample of the marvelous things that Karl Barth              in the Pacific. Mr. Wade was stationed there for a time while
  has written and said in the hundreds and thousands of words             in the Chaplaincy.
  which he has published.                                                     This arrangement is a sort of joint project. The Prot-
       From the point of view of historic Christianity,  `it is a         estant Reformed Church consulted with Mr. Wade during
  very fortunate selection. One does not have to be the least             the summer and agreed to provide him financial support rf
  bit of a theologian nor be able to read the heavy writings              the Orthodox Presbyterian Church would agree to have him
  of Barth, nor be particularly erudite to see that Barth's               go to the field. The Presbytery of California, after review-
  Christ is not the Christ of the Bible and is not the historical         ing the arrangement with the other group, approved the


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                                  _                                                 _____   ~  --------
                                                                                                             7---

                                                                 -I.
      144                                           -._-, _'            TH-E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   `.
                                                                                                                     -
      -             .                  (c'-             __ .,
                            ,i
      financial contracJ.,and  deternlined  to send him out under thai                    Another Ckz~h Prop&y Judgment.
      plan.. The purpo&,,of  his @fk  is to establish a national Re-                        `-  In  Th-e  Ba,nwer  of November 23, 1956;  p' 1448, the Rev.
      fobmeg Church of  kuarn:"  The present  coqtract  is for  two- ~~...  -
                                                                                           Peter van Tuitien  writes the following under the above `title :
      jiears, with  the-  promise  of three more years if the initial
      period-is satisfactory. Mr. Wade will continue as a mini+                               "The situation with respect to the church property dis-
      of the.Orthodox~ Presbyterian Church and ,a member oi the                           putes between the two sides in the Protestant Reformed
      Presbytery  .of  Califo`rnia, to which he is to submit regular                      Chnrch  .schism   is  becotiling  more complicated.  -The newest
      reports."                                                                           complicatjon   a&& from the decision of circuit judge Fred
           Like the chameleon  which has the power to change its                           N. Sear1 with respect to  &$property  of  the Second Prot-
      color-  to remain undetedted in its surroundings, so this schism-                   estant Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan. By
      atic group appears to have the power to change  its name at                         deciding in  fa&- of the group associated with Rev. H. De
      will to suit the circumstance. When they lose a court case,                         Wolf, Judge Sear1 brought about a situation with respect to
      they quickly assume the name  Orthodox Protestant  Re-                              Second -Church  directly opposed to that Which  the Michigan
      fo&ed   C%zz~~ch.  When they' negotiate a financial contract                        Supreme  court sustained  with respect to First  Chtirch.  The
      with another church group' to give vent to their great mis-                         First Church property was awarded to the Hoeksema group,
      sionary zeal, they return to' their original name and sign the                      and now the Second Church property has been awarded to
      contract with the name  Protestant.  Reformed  Chztrch.  And                        the De Wolf group, locally headed by Rev. John  Qlanke-
      now, if the Rev. Wade is successful on the Island of Guam                           spoor. Both decisions assume a Presbyterian church `polity as
      in establishing- a  chur$h  ,there,  they are going to call it "a                   basis for the action taken.
9     national Reformed Church." It's a good thing that the                                   How  cc$d  this confusing situation arise in the same city ?
      government does not assess them for taxes. For pity the                             It appears th&,the. latest decision is based on a much more
      government that would have to untangle  the, names to get to                        complete picture of the schism than the earlier decision.,
      the taxable party.                                                                  Judge Searl's ruling finds the Hoeksema group schismatic in
           It is also remarkable how this schismatic group with so                        that it ignored the properly  constitute2  Synod of the  Fro!-
      many aliases has succeeded .in attaining to their other ob-                         estant Reformed Church. In the decision regarding First
      jective besides foreign missions, namely, ecumenicity. Oh,                          Church's property, this broader question did not enter.
      how they despised  tl?e narrow' confines of, the Protestant  Re-                        Whether the losers in this case will appeal to the Supreme
      fc&ed ChurchgiT' How they longed-t,o-  br&r t!-: ::;mdaries                         Court of the State, and whether the Supreme Court will be
      and be united in the ecumenical movement of our day with -able to utitangie  the  ~pr&eri&&nfus&l  hicture; r&iains   to be
      other church groups. Well, now it appears that they are                             seen."
      reaching `the goal for which they have striven. They did it                             I have two brief comments to make. In the first place, it
     under the name  Protestant Reformed  Ckztrck..   This? of                            is true what Rev. Van Tuinen .writes  "Both decisions assume
      course, is also a reflection on the sagacity and sincerity of                       a Presbyterian church polity as basis for the action taken."
      the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. How can they decide                               Here was a case where the chameleon changed his-color again.
      just like-that to colaborate with a group that has so many                          In the First Church case .both' before Superior Court Judge
      aliases and which signs a contract with the nanie Protestant                        Taylor and the Michigan Supreme Court the case was won-
      Reformed  Cli~~lt,  while they must have known that our                             by the Hoeksema group on the basis of Presbyterian church
      churches also .have the name- Protestant Refornied,  not even                       polity. In spite of the fact that the De Wolf group tried
      making an attempt to inquire of us who is really Protestqnt                         desperately to  defend the Congregational form of church
      Reformed ? Doesn't it make any difference to the Or.thod&x                          polity, under the leadership, of the Rev. B. Kok, the courts
      Presbyterian Church what the doctrinal standards are of                             would not listen, and decided that the Protestant Reformed
      #the churches with whom they unite ? Or, did they perhaps                           Churches have the Presbyterian form of church government.
      find when they interrpgated:  the schismatic. group that left                       When the case of Second Church came before Circuit Judge
      us that as far as doctrine is concerned they could be in                            Searl,  the- De Wolf-Blankespoorian group realized. they
      perfect agreement? If the latter is .the. case, I would like to                     wouldn't get to first base on their old tactics, so they initiated
      warn the Orthodox Presbyterian Church that the doctrine                             their cause by- conceding that the form of government in the
      of the group they colabora&  with is not the doctrine of. the                       Protestant Reformed Churches Was  Presbiterial.  And then
      Protestant Reformed Churches. And, therefore, the name on                           introducing what appeared to be a new phase in' the case, the
      the contract between them made is fictious.                                         matter of the Synod, they succeeded in impressing the judge
           But it cannot be gainsaid  that the schismatic-group which                     with the idea. that the highest ruling body in the church had
      left us, whatever their name may be, has by hook or crook                           been ignored by the Hoeksema group. `The fact of the
      reached their objective. Yes, they are really going places.                         matter was that neither the case of First Church, nor that
      One can only wonder  what will `be the next item "on their                          of Second Church had ever gotten any higher than the Clas-
      agenda.                                                                                         ,        (Cohmted  0s page 142)                .


