       VOLUME  XXX111                            JANUARY  15, 1957  -GRAND RAPIDS., MICHIGAN                                NUMBER 8

                                                                              First, I hear Christ say to us that the tabernacle of God
             M E D I T A T I O N
I/                                                                  /I is with men.
                                                                      I       That, my dear friends, is the miracle of all miracles.
                                                                              What is the tabernacle of God ?
             A YEAR OF ETERNAL BEAUTY                                         It is the abode of God. It is the place where God dwells,
                                                                           where He feels at home.
              "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
               Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He              We have the weak shadow of that Tabernacle of God
               will dwell with them, and they shall be His people,         with us. In a formal sense it applies to all men.
              ' and God Himself shall be with them, and be their              There is among the children of men an urge to have a
               God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their           home. I remember real well how I longed to have a home
               eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither            of my own. For years I travelled about in four countries
               sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more         and on two continents. Customs and habits differed greatly
               pain: for the former things are passed away. And            in the various places where I stopped, but they all had this
               He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make            one miserable thing in common: I ever stuck my feet under
               all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for             someone else's table. And no matter how agreeable the
               these words are true and faithful.", kev. %1:3-S.
                                           Cd                              people were in their efforts to make me feel at home, they
                                                                           all failed: I was an interloper, a stranger, did not belong.
      We are still in the first flush and glow of a new year.
There is a certain rosiness, freshness of a new year which                    And the urge which is in all men usually is satisfied.
makes people think and say: Now it shall be !                              They sing of it in the world : "There's no place like home !"
      And they make their resolutions.                                     Every culture has its variant of this song, The eyes of the
                                                                           German grows moist when he talks of die Heiwmt,  his home.
      b But it is all empty and vain.                                      I am told that the Mexican expresses this sentiment in his
      If the old year was dark and dank, miserable and corrupt,' La Golondrina (The Swallow) with its unspeakably sweet
so shall the new year be. And even that statement is not                   melody..
correct:  it will be darker, more miserable for the sons of                   Home is the place where you really live your inmost
Adam.                                                                      life. There you are at rest; there you enjoy yourself to the
      :There  is a poem in the old country which says : "`t Hoofcl         fullest. There you need not pose. The husband smiles at
omhoog ; het hart naar boven : hier beneden  is het niet !",               his wife, and both smile at their little ones. There they,
which means : "Lift up your heads and your heartson  high,                 are snug, cozy, and comfortable.
for your heart's desire is not here below !" (Freely trans-                   Well, God has His home. And He makes His essential
lated) .                                                                   HOME in the inapproachable Light, He inhabits eternity.
      Shall we do that? The apostle John shall be our guide.
                                                                              But He willed to make a creature that was fit to dwell
      Towards the end of the true sayings of God in this                   with Him in His home in a creaturely measure. He would
revelation, John heard out of heaven a great voice. I think                create a place where  .He would walk with man and talk to
it was the voice of Christ. I think so because of its marvellous           him, and make him feel AT HOME with Him, and that
content, which is the very heart of the eternal Gospel of God.             was Paradise. There He smiled at Adam and Eve, and they
      In that great voice I hear several things. And- of these             answered God's smile. When Adam and Eve were talking
things I would talk a little at the beginning of this year.                to God they would spread forth their arms on  .high and

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

with a voice that trembled of ecstacy they would say: Oh,              suffering of a band of chosen men, women and children has
my God!                                                                deepened. And I am persuaded to believe that the  tex'c
                                                                       speaks of thei tears, death,, sorrow, crying and pain, and-
                             * * *  *                                  not of the others.
                                                                          The others ! A deep feeling of pity fills me when I think
   But we lost that Home of God in Paradise.                           of the reprobates who weep, but not according  to God.
   And now man is away from home, singing the dirge.                   Their tears will continue to flow. Jesus speaks of weeping
       Things are no more cozy, snug, comfortable. Look                and gnashing of teeth, no matter how many new( ?) years
around you: see and listen. And weep.                                  they receive. The poor things sing of "the long, long trail
                                                                       a-winding," of "the gold mine in the sky," of "the beauti-
       They do not smile at one another; neither do they smile;        ful isle of somewhei-e," but the end of the wicked is fears and
at God. Yes,, they mention His name, but it is vain, in                more tears, for they hated God and His tabernacle. They
mockery, in agger or madness. They curse Him who is SO                 desire the snugness, the pleasures of sin for life's short span,
beautiful and good.                                                    and lose everything that is worth having: they lose their
       And so the forgoer tlzings  came about with their sorrow,       own soul!
crying and pain. And the cause is mentioned : `it is death.                But the tears of my text are the tears that flow because
And death is conflict between man and God.                      \      there is something, some holy thing in the depth  of their:
       Really, essentially, the whole world is crying bitter tears.    hearts which is hurt, time and time again. It is God dwelling
Even in their laughter they taste sorrow.                              in their hearts; it is the grief of the Holy Spirit in  theiti
       The whole world is called a vale of tears.                      inmost soul.
                                                                          Therefore those tears of the child of God are so precious
                             * *  * *                                  in His sight. David says that all his bitter tears are in the
                                                                       bottles of God Who will save them until the day when He
       Is it then not a miracle of miracles that the great voice       shall wipe them away. Oh,,  bles$ed  day ! For all the,
speaks of unutterable bliss of the tabernacle of God with              former  things, the old things, are then passed away, and
men ?                                                                  there was no more death!
       How did this come about?
       The answer is Jehovah in Jesus. The Revelation of                                         * * *  *
Jesus Christ. God took the cover off the most beautiful
THING He created: Christ Jesus the Lord.                                   And instead of those former -old, ugly, evil things there
       God dove under the children of men and appeared, garbed         .will  appear the beautiful new year of God.
in human flesh  and  b,lood.  And His purpose in so doing                  "And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make
was that He might free us from our bondage and cause us                all things new."
to return to Him so that we might dwell with Him in an-                    Do you know what that means in negative terms ? It
other Paradise: the new heavens and the new earth.                     means that Aser and Naphtali will no more throw  theif
       And here is the Wonder which makes me mar&l at all              brother Joseph in that dark pit. They will no longer sit
times: God became a Wanderer, an Outcast, a .Worm and;                 down to eat bread while Joseph cries his heart out. Read
not a man. Take all the songs that tell of the  homesick-              Gen.  37:25 and  42:21. Also,  -Isa. 11  :13, "Ephraim shall
nesses  in all centuries and all climes, with all the tears, sor-      not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim."
rows and pains, and all the deaths, and' you have only an                  In the new kingdom,, in that new world, all inhabitants,
insignificant drop compared to the oceans of death, misery             be they men or angels, shall love one another, trust one an-
and tears of Jehovah in Christ.                                        other, enjoy one another, for all shall be filled with God.
       Sometimes I hesitatingly refer to a terrible text.  1. must         The text has something about that blessed new estate:
do so now: "Who in the days of His flesh, when He had                  God will dwell with them. You are very particular whom
offered up prayers- and supplication with strong crying and            you invite into the intimate circle of your family. Not just
tears . . . ."                                                         anyone occupies a chair in the parlour, the sitting room, the.
       Thk tears of Jesus because He was so far from HO,ME!            front room.
       My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me !`?                       So is God particular. He does not invite just anyone.
                             4:  1: *  *                               He invites only His own whom He saw in the palms of His
                                                                       hands from all eternity. And their image in that palm was
       Since God revealed that most beautiful THING (Luka              beautiful.
1  :35, where Jesus is called THAT HOLY THING), the                        And God works with and in His people, until they are


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                               171

as beautiful as His Christ whose image is in the very center
of that palm of God. We call that process, that operation:                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A V E R
sanctification.                                                           Scwknoltthly,  except  month,ly   durkg  June, July  a,& August
    And that process begins on earth.                                       Published by the  REFORMED   FREE   PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION
                                                                          P. 0. Box  S81,  Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  `Mich.
    The beauty of the Godhead is given when you are born                                    Editoor   -  REV.  HERMAN HOEKSEMA
anew. It is brought to your consciousness in conversion.                  Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
    He even gives us a place where we may practice how to                 H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
behave in the House of God in heaven.                                     All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                          G. Pipe,  1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
    And that place is the church on the Sabbath.                          Aunouncem.ents  and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
                                                                          address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
    It is a bad sign when they must drag you to church. Then              RENEWALS:  Unless a definite request  fosr  discontinuance is re-
you have not tasted that the Lord is gracious. Church is the              ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
most beautiful thing on earth. It is the anticipation of God's1           to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
tabernacle in the New World.                                                                 Subscription price: $4.00 per year
                                                                          Entered as  Second  Clam matter  at  Grand  R&ds,  Michigan
                              * :k  *  *

    Yes, we will believe all this; we will firw~Zy  believe all
this.                                                                                                  CO.NTENTS
    Because He that sat upon the throne has a final word               MEDITAZON  -
                                                                             A Year of Eternal Beauty.. . . . . . . . . .                                   . . . ...169
for us : "these words are true and faithful."                                     R e v .   G .   V o s
    A &a&e thing is a thing which is as it ought to be accord-         EDITORIALS  -
ing to its. nature.                                                          Unbiblical  Divosrce  and Remarriage.. .............. . . . . . ;172
    A faithful thing does as it promises.                                    Election and Reprobation.. . . . . . . . . . . .............. . . . ...173
                                                                                   Rev. H. Haeksema
    You may apply that to the words of the Almighty.
    Believing His true and faithful word is like building on           OUR  DOCZTRINE-
a rock.                                                                      The Book of Revelation. . . . . . . . . . . . . .                              . . . ...174
                                                                                  Rev.  H.  Hceksema
    Your tears, the tears of your heart shall be wiped away!
                                                              n T7     THE DAY OF SHADOWS-
                                                              Cr.V.          The Prophecy of Zechariah.. . . . . . . . . . . . . :. . . . . . . . . . . . .178
                                                                             The Antediluvian Wasrld. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179
                                                                                  Rev. G. M. Ophoff
                      THE LORD OF HOSTS                                FRoM HOLY WRIT-
            God is our refuge and our strength,                              Expositiau of Matthew 11:25-30.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
                   A helper ever near us ;                                        Rev. G. Lubbers
            We will not fear through earth be moved,                   IN HIS  FEAR-
                   For God is nigh to cheer us.                              Respect and Obedience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .183
                     Although the mountains quake                                  Rev. J. A. Heys
                     And earth's foundations sake,                     C O N T E N D I N G F O R   T H E  F A I T H -
                     Though angry billows roar                               The Church and the Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .`. . . . .185
                    And break against the shore,                                  Rev. H. Veldman
                   Our mighty God will hear us.
                                                                       THE  VOICE   OF OUR  FATHEXS-
            God's city is forever blest                                      The Exposition of the Canons of Dordrecht.. . . . . . . . . . . . .187
                   With living waters welling;                                     Rev. H. C.  Ffoeksema
            Since God is there she stands unmoved                      DECENCY AND  ORDER-
                   `Mid tumults round her swelling ;                         The Church and State (Continued). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189
                     God speaks and all is peace,                                  Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg
                     From war the nations cease;                       ALL AROUND  Us-
                     The Lord of Hosts is nigh,                              Daane Versus Van Til an the Offer and 1924.. . . : . . . . . . . . .191
                     Our fathers' God Most High                              Pathos of Hungarian Pra~testantism..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191
                   Is `our eternal dwelling.                                      Rev. M.  Schipper
                                                      Psalm 46:1, 2

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

                                                                      rather the sin that he marries another. It, evidently, means
           E D I T O R I A L S                                        to say that the marrying of another woman is always sin on
                                                                     the part of a man as long as his first wife is still living.
                                                                      Whether he put away his wife because she committed fornica-
       Unbiblical Divorce and Remarriage                             tion or not, he may not marry another. And what is true
    In our last issue we discussed the text from Matt. 19 :9.        of the man is also true of the woman. For also in the
    We did so especially in the light of the last part of this       passage of Luke the Lord adds: "and whosoever marrieth
verse : "and  whoso marrieth her which is put away  doth             that is put away from her husband committeth adultery."
commit adultery."                                                         Also here, therefore, there are three that commit adultery :
    It ought to be very evident from this passage of Scrip-
ture that marriage is an unbreakable bond and that any mar-                1. The man that marries another while his. wife is still
ried man or woman who has sexual intercourse with an-                living, whether she committed fornication or not. And also
other man or woman, before the married man or woman                  the woman that marries. him.
dies, commits adultery. If for any reason  at,all the married             2. The man that .marries  the forsaken woman while her
man or woman puts away his wife or her husband, divorces' first husband is still alive.
him or her, he or she cannot, before God, even though it is               3. The woman that marries the second man while her
possible and legal before the law of the land, marry an-             .first husband is still living.
other man or woman. If he does so, he lives in continued                  The fundamental principle involved is, of course, that
adultery with her whom he so marries; and if she does SO,            the marriage bond is inviolable. Only death can break it.
she also lives in continued, adultery with him whom she thus              ft stands to reason that, before one of the three parties.
marries. The reason is that, before God, he is still married         can ever become members again in good standing in the
to his first wif&  and she is still married to her first husband, church of Christ on earth, they must sever their false mar-
or, if you please, only death can. break the marriage bond.          riage relationship with the man or woman with whom they
    This, we claim, is very evident from Matt. 19:9, especi-         are living. They cannot simply confess the sin of having
ally from the last part.                                             married another party and then continue to live with that
    It is clear from this text that the woman is innocent: she       other party. For fact is that, as long they live in that false
did not commit adultery. However, the man that put away              marriage relationship, they live in continued adultery. Before
the innocent woman did commit adultery when he married               therefore, they can even sincerely make-confession of their
another woman. The question is : may that woman now mar-             sin before the church,- they must break off their false mar-
ry another man or, as the text has it, may another man marry         riage-relationship.
the innocent woman after her first husband married another                                              .I
and committed adultery? The text we are discussing denies                 And now we close this discussion. Let me briefly re-
this : he that marrieth her which is put away, and whose             capitulate what I have written on this subject of Unbiblical
husband committed adultery by marrying another woman,                Divorce and Remarriage.
also commits adultery.                                                    First of all, I made plain that the Christian Reformed
   The marriage bond, therefore, is inviolable. Only death           synod of 1956, in their decisions in regard to divorce and re-
can break it.                                                        marriage, erred grievously when they virtually took the
   This is also the teaching of Luke 16 :18. There we read :         stand that, `according to the Scriptures, remarriage of di- '
"Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another,              vorced  persons is perfectly proper in the sight of God and
committeth adultery ; and whoso  marrieth her that is put            that if they only confess their sin of their former divorce,
away from her husband committeth adultery."                          they may be admitted as members in good standing in the
   This text is very similar to the one in Matthew. The only         church on earth.
difference is the limiting clause "except it be for fornication,"         Secondly, I showed that the reasoning of the committee
which occurs in Matthew but is not found in Luke.                    on divorce and remarriage that reported to the synod of the.
   This, however, corroberates  what we wrote in explana-            Christian Reformed Church in 1932 was nothing but
tion of the passage in Matthew 19.                                   s o p h i s t r y .
   The latter passage teaches, as we explained, that a man                Finally, I showed from the Word of God that the mar-
may only leave his wife in case she committed adultery. Even         riage tie can never be broken except by death. This I proved :
then, although he may `put away his wife and obtain a di-                 1. From the biblical teaching that marriage is an image
vorce, he may not marry another woman. If he does so, he . of God's eternal covenant that can never be broken.
commits adultery.
   For this reason it was not necessary to put the limiting              2. From several passages of Scripture such as Rom.
clause "except it. be for fornication," which is found in Mat-       7:1-4; Matt. 5  :31, 32; Matt.  19:9; Luke  16:X
thew, in the text in Luke. The latter passage does not mean               Now, for the time being, I close this series.
to emphasize the fact that a man puts away his wife, but                                                                       H.H.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 173

              Election and Reprobation                                   It is in distinction from those to whom it is given  `co
                                                                     know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven that the text
   Mark  4:10-12, speaks of those that are without: "but             speaks of those that are "without."
unto them that are without all these things are done in par-
ables," the question is : who are they ?                                 Who, then, are they?
                                                                         The contrast demands that we answer: Those to whom
   They are mentioned in distinction from those to whom              it is not given to know these mysteries.
it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.              Why, then, is it not given unto them ? Is it because they
These mysteries of the kingdom are mysteries, not because            are not worthy to receive this true, spiritual knowledge? We
they are so deep and dark from a natural viewpoint that no           answer, of course, no; for no one is worthy of this. Is it
one can understand them, for this is not the case. The whole         because, when the gospel is preached unto them, they reject
doctrine of salvation, the revelation of God in Christ, the          it and harden their hearts. Again, we reply: no. It is cer-
truth concerning the incarnation of the Son of God, of the           tainly true that, when the mysteries of the kingdom of God
atonement, of the forgiveness of sin and justification, the          are proclaimed unto them in the gospel, they harden their
regeneration and sanctification, and of eternal life and glory,      hearts against the gospel and reveal that they must have noth-
-all these truths of the gospel can be understood by any             ing of that gospel. It. is also true that for their rejection of
normal mind. But they are mysteries, in the first place,             the gospel they will be held responsible in the day of judg-
because the things of the kingdom of heaven do not belong            ment and their condemnation will be made the ,heavier.  But
to this world and, therefore, can be known only by special           it is not true that because of this rejection of the mysteries
revelation. What we call "nature" does not reveal them.              of the kingdom of heaven, and because of this hardening of
They are introduced, centrally, by the revelation of God in          `their hearts it is not given unto them to know the mysteries
Christ. Hence, they are mysteries also because they must be          of the kingdom of heaven. The text, in its contrast, demands
spiritually discerned and they can be apprehended and ap-            that our answer must be: those whom God, in His sovereign
propriated only through the operation of the Spirit of God           counsel of reprobation, rejected from before the foundation
in Christ in our hearts, and, therefore, only by faith. Even         of the world.
though an unbeliever may, with his natural mind, under-                  Sovereign reprobation is the deepest cause for the fact
stand all the doctrines of the gospel so that, if he should wish,    that it is not given unto them to know the mysteries of the'
he might write a whole dogmatics, yet he would not be able           .kingdom  of heaven.
to apprehend them spiritually so that for instance, he
would- flee to the cross and receive forgiveness of sins                Just as sovereign election is the sole and deepest cause of
and life everlasting. With all his learning, he would                the fact,that to some is given the grace to know the mysteries
remain a stranger to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.         of the kingdom of heaven, so sovereign reprobation is the
Spiritually he does not know them although naturally he              sole cause of the fact that to others it is not given.
may be able to explain them even in detail. Hence, accord-              Just as God works out His own counsel of election by
ing to the text in Mark 4, it must be given to us to, know           enlightening the minds of the elect and by softening their
the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. If it is not given to        hearts, so God also works out His own counsel of reprobation
us by God, th.rough the Spirit of Christ, we will never know         by leaving others in their darkness (infra) and hardening
them.                                                                whomsoever He will (Rom. 9:18).
   Now, the text says that is given unto the disciples, i.e.            This is the meaning of the text in Mark 4.
not only to the apostles but to all that believe in Jesus, to           This is the teaching of all Scripture.
know these mysteries.                                                   And this is expressed in our Reformed Confessions.
   The fact that it is given unto them is the cause that they                                                                   H.H.
know these mysteries and that they are "within" the king-
dom of heaven.
   Why is it given unto them ? Not because they are more                              Notice for Classis West
worthy than others,. for they are not. Not because they long            Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will
to be in the kingdom of heaven, for by nature they cannot            meet, the Lord willing, Wednesday, March 20, 1957, in
even see the kingdom. Not because they accept Christ, for            Doon,  Iowa.
by nature they must have nothing of Him: they always re-
ject Him. Before it is given unto them to know the mysteries            The consistories are reminded that all matters for the
of the kingdom of heaven, they are all without. No, but is           classical agenda must be in the hands of the stated clerk not
given unto them by absolutely sovereign grace. And to whom,          later than thirty days before the date of Classis.
then, is that sovereign grace given ? The only possible an-                                   The Stated Clerk,
swer, and the answer of all Scripture is : only to those whom                                                     Rev. H. Veldman,
God chose from before the foundation of the world.                                                               Edger-ton, Minnesota

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

                                                                       story. He would quickly have the pupils recite their lessons
              O U R                 DOCTR'INE
                                              `_                       and dismiss them as so.on as possible. In Sardis they had
                                                                       finally only one service on Sunday, and the sermon lasted
                                                                       just long enough for the congregation to fall fast asleep. In
              THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                   his pastoral work the angel of the church in Sardis was most
                                                                       negligent of all. He hated to go out and visit the flock. Family
                         CHAPTER   VIII                                visitation was never done by him, sick visiting he did very
                                                                       rarely, and when he did visit them he knew not what to, say
                THE   CHURCH   ABOUT   To DIE                          to them: the word of life and comfort he could not find. In
                        Revelation 3 :1-G                              a word, in the entire manifestation of his life and work, the
                                                                       angel of the church in Sardis was dead and he shamefully
     The Church of Sardis presents, indeed, a most miserable           neglected his calling.
 picture !                                                                 Such was the angel of the church in Sardis: he had a
     A dead minister ; and a dead church !                             name that he was living but was dead.
     We must say a little more about this.                                 Such was their spiritual leader who had to feed them with
                                                                       the bread of life, who was supposed to be their example, ad-
     The Lord says that the minister and the church, too,              monish them to be awake, strengthen in their faith, be their
 have a name that they live, but in reality they are dead.             captain in the battle of faith and lead them on to victory !
     We understand that this is not to be interpreted in the
 strict and absolute sense of the word, either of the minister             Do you wonder that the whole congregation was virtually
 or of the congregation. In respect to the minister it, un-            dead ?
 doubtedly, refers to him only as the angel of the church,                 This was evidently the case. The Lord comes to them
 in .his capacity as office-bearer. It does not mean that there        with the admonition : "be watchful !" It is true that these
 was no life in him as a personal saint, for then the Lord, it         words are, undoubtedly, first of all addressed to the minister
 seems to us, would not have'admonished him as He does in              of the flock, but also to the whole congregation. The church
 this letter. He still comes to him, in the first place, with the      in Sardis was fallen into a deep spiritual slumber. There was
 admonition to wake up out of his indolent slumbers and to             but little activity in the church, little manifestation of spirit-
 repent. In the second place, He admonishes him to strengthen          ual life. They were not concerned about doctrine and the
 and establish that which is ,about to die. Hence, the state-          truth of the Word of God. They were too far gone to be
 ment that he is dead can hardly refer to him personally. He           interested in maintaining the truth. In the church as a whole
 may very well have had the principle of the new life in his           there was very little expression of spiritual life. The service
 heart. But although he may have been a regenerated child              on Sunday was badly attended and those that did attend re-
 of God, as we rather suppose he was, nevertheless, that life          vealed in their whole attitude that they were not interested.
 appeared to be dead, did not come to manifestation in his life,       The whole congregation was about to die. Their general,
 especially in his life and. labors as a minister and shepherd         condition was expressed in the words: "thou art dead." If
 of the flock of Jesus Christ. Just as you sometimes meet with         you would peruse the congregational record you would dis-
 persons in the natural sense of the word of which you say             cover that there were a number on the membership list that
 that they are dead because they seem to have no ambition              no one knew anymore. No one, either in the congregation
 and reveal.no interest in anything, thus it was, in the spiritual     or in the consistory could give you any information about
 sense, with the angel of the church in Sardis. In his entire          them. Another number you would find that never attended
 manifestation as minister of the Word he acted as if there            the church service. There were also some that still showed
 were no life in him. No spark of life flashed from him to the          some signs of life but that were already fast falling asleep.
 congregation. In all he did as minister and pastor of the             True, there were also the faithful in Sardis, but of them we
 church in Sardis he appeared to be dead. Dead was his                 must speak presently. On the whole, the congregation  was
 preaching, dead was his catechetical instruction, dead he was         about to die. And, therefore, the Lord comes to them with
 in his pastoral work. During the week, he had no ambition              the admonition: be watchful, wake up and strengthen that
to study the Word  of, God from which he must feed the                  which is about to die !
 flock on the Sabbath. He would sit with his wife or with
 his friends and thus idle away his time. The result was that,             And how about their works ?
 when he came to. his pulpit on Sunday, he really he had no                Was it, perhaps,, thus in the -church of Sardis that they
 message for the flock that was congregated.. There was no              were not doctrinally but -practically inclined? Also this was
 contents to his brief sermon and even what he said was                 not the case as we have already remarked before. Nor was
 without the fire of the conviction of faith. When he finished          this to be expected of a church that was about to die. The
 his sermon and said "amen" it was with a sigh of relief,               very contrary is true. For the Lord adds in his admonition
 glad that it was over again. In catechism it was the same              that he had not found their works perfect or full before God.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              175

No, this does not mean that the church in Sardis had not, as        there are in the midst of the congregation a few faithful that
yet, attained to the state of perfection in regard to their         have not defiled their garments  ; and, secondly, there are also    -
works. In this respect, all the churches would have to con-         those that are not devoid of .spiritua.l  life, though it is far
fess that their works were not full before God. Believers, in       from bright and flourishing and though they are fast asleep.
the present .time, have but a small beginning of the new            And, therefore, the Lord comes to them with this admonition
obedience and their works are never perfect. No, but in the         to repent. We may notice that there is a similarity between
first place, this implies that some works which the church in       this admonition and the one that is addressed to the church
the world is always called to perform were entirely neglected.      in Ephesus. The latter the Lord admonished in the words:
The church did not let her testimony go forth in the midst of       "Remember therefore whence thou art fallen ;" to the church
the world: it was no shining light in the midst of the              in Sardis the Lord writes: "Remember therefore how thou
darkness of this present world at all. The world hardly             hast received and heard." In principle, there was, no doubt,
knew that there was a church in Jesus Christ in Sardis. Her         a good deal of similarity between the two churches. The one
influence was not felt. Besides, even in her own midst her          had lost her first love, the other had a name that she lived
works were not full. Works like that of taking care of the          but was dead.. The latter might be considered a further
poor and indigent, the work of mercy, the work of instructing       development of the former, for the church that has lost its
the children in and according to the Word of God, were, no.         first love is about to die. This is the reason of the striking
doubt almost or even entirely neglected. And what the               similarity in the admonitions to the two churches. Both
church in Sardis still did was done so half heartedly, that         must remember something they had possessed in the past and
there was no manifestation of life in it. [But  there was still     had now lost. The.memory of their former state may appeal
more. If we consider that the Lord praises the few faithful         to them in as far as they are still alive and may be an in-
in the congregation of Sardis because they had not defiled          ducement to repent. Sardis must recall how they had re-
their garments, we may certainly draw the conclusion that           ,ceived and heard in the, beginning. The reference is,  `of
the other members had defiled them. and that they lived in          course, to the gospel and all that is contained in the gospel
open sin in the midst of the world. How could it be diffe-          of Jesus Christ. The congregation must recall how, that is,
rent? A church that was about to die, most of whose mem-            in what manner they had received and heard that gospel when
bers were already dead, a church that cared no longer for           it first had been proclaimed unto them. What a profound joy
the truth of the gospel and that did not perform the works          it had wrought in their hearts ! What ardent and true spirit-
a church is called to perform, was but naturally inclined to:       ual enthousiasm it had caused in their inmost soul ! How they
seek the things of the world and to live in sin. They en-           had received it with joy and had witnessed to all about them
joyed the pleasures of the world. In their actual walk, they        of the grace of God and of the glorious salvation there is
could not be distinguished from the world, and those of them        in Christ! How, through the power of that gospel, they
that did walk after the precepts of the gospel they despised        had fought the good fight and had walked in a new and holy
and considered them narrow minded. Hence, it certainly              life! That former state they must now recall. They have
was not true that, with a view to their practical life and walk,    fallen from it. They can experience it only in their memory.
they appeared to be alive. On the contrary, they were dead          If their is still a spark of life in them, even though they
in the entire manifestation of their life.                          are  falled  into a deep slumber, the recollection of their
                                                                    former state will appeal to their inmost heart. Remembering
   A most miserable church,  .indeed, is that in Sardis. A          that former state, they will see how deeply they have fallen
church about to die! A dead minister and a dead congrega-           and, through the power of the Word of the Lord, they will
tion: a minister and a church that have a name that they            wake up, repent, and return to their former state. Sardis
live but they are dead! Most of the members had `already            must have a revival, not, indeed, a revival that must be re-
fallen sound asleep  ; the rest were about to  d4e. Conformed       peated every few months, but a true spiritual revival, a
they were, in their life and walk, to the world in the midst        revival of abiding value. They must remember how they have
of which they lived. For this, the responsibility rested, in        received and heard the gospel and `repent in true sorrow, of
the first place, on the angel of the church, but not in such a      heart and mind.
way that the congregation was without guilt. And, therefore,
it is also to the church as a whole that the admonition is             But although there still seems to hope for the church in
addressed : "Remember therefore how thou hast received and          Sardis, the future does not look very bright. Hence, the
heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not       Lord immediately follows up this admonition to remember
watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not           and to repent, by a threat of His coming for judgment: "If
know what hour I shall come upon thee."                             therefore thou `shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief,
                                                                    and thou shalt not know what hour I shall upon thee." These
   We may see, therefore, that, although the condition of           words have been explained a referring to the sudden coming
.the church in Sai-dis is as miserable as we have described         of the Lord for judgment. All of a sudden, according to this
her, nevertheless, it is not yet hopeless. The congregation as      interpretation, when it is too late, the Lord will come upon
such may still be changed and repent. For, in the first place,      the congregation and they shall realize that the Lord has


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visited them as Judge while they were still sleeping. With           He that withdraws them. If He does the latter, the light of
a view to the final coming of the Lord, .this is, of course,         the Word shall, at least through them, shine no more. Thus
true. If they do not heed the admonition of the Lord but             the Lord shall come with His judgment upon the church. He
continue sleeping, death will come and in their death the            shall'come as a thief. Before they are aware of it the Spirit
Lord will come upon them as their Judge. Nevertheless,               shall have departed out of their midst and they shall be with-
there is, I think, another idea in this coming of the Lord as        out the light of the Word that shines through their star. The
a thief upon the church in Sardis. A thief's aim is not tot          church shall cease to exist as, a- church of Jesus Christ.    ,,
come upon you all of a sudden and inspire you with fear, but             But there are still a few that are faithful in the church
rather to sneak into your house without your being aware             of Sardis. The Lord concludes this letter. with beautiful
of  if do his work, remove your valuables and disappear              promises to them and to those that overcome in general.
,without  your having noticed him. So the Lord will come                These faithful are, first of all, described. They are those
upon this church that is sleeping and about to die. He will          that have not defiled their garments. The Lord knows them
come as a thief. The church shall never be aware of his.             by name. The fact that the Lord describes them as those
coming. He will do His work as Judge, remove the candle-             `that had not .defiled  their garments implies, of course, that
stick out of its place, and the church shall have died in her        the rest of the congregation in Sardis had defiled them. The
sleep without waking up even for a moment. The condition             question is : what is' meant by the garments of the members
here is just the reverse from that of Thyatira. That church          of the church in this connection. It is evident that they do.
is called to attention in regard to the judgments the Lord           not refer to the righteousness of Christ, for all the members
will execute in their midst. But to Sardis the Lord writes           had those garments and some or many of them had defiled
that He shall come as a thief. Entirely in harmony with              them. Rather, therefore, we must understand that these
their deadness and spiritual slumber, He will come upon them         garments refer to their outward membership in the church.
without their being aware of His coming. He shall execute            They were all baptized in the name of the triune God, they
His judgments before they know it.                                   all were members of the church in an external sense of the
   That this is true the Lord plainly indicates in His self-         word, and they were known as such in Sardis.. They all
announcement. He says : "These things saith he that hat-h            outwardly professed the name of Christ. They all wore the
the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars." We remem-            garments of the church. Even as the soldiers of the same
ber that also in the first chapter  ,both these expressions occur    army wears the garments or uniform of the army so all the
although, in that chapter, the first part of it does not occur       members of the church in Sardis wore the uniform of Christ:
in the vision of the Saviour. There it is used in connection         But all had not lived in harmony with the garments they
with the salutation of John and his benediction. The seven           wore. They were dead. They had dishonored the name of
Spirits are not presented there as the Spirits that are held         their king. They did not distinguish themselves from the!
by Jesus but simply as the Spirits that are.before  the throne       soldiers of satan in the midst of the world. They had defiled
of God. We remarked, in that connection, that these seven            their garments by a walk in sin. Hence, the expression that
Spirits are not simply a reference to the Holy Spirit as the         the few that were faithful in Sardis had not defiled their
third Person of the holy trinity, but rather to the Spirit of        garments does not and cannot mean that they were without
Christ as He received Him from the Father. He now has                sin and that they had already reached perfection, but simply
that Spirit as the Head of the church and as the Mediator            that they had been faithful to their profession both in their
of the new covenant. And while that Spirit dwells in Him             confession and walk. They had been faithful to the name
as the head of the body, He also poured Him out into the             ,of Jesus their Lord and they had refused to walk in the sins,
church. It is the Spirit that establishes the unity between          of the world as the others had walked in them. A difficult
the Head and the body> between the church and her King.              position they must have occupied in the church of Sardis.
It is as the One that has the seven Spirits of God that the          The others were dead and  as,leep, these were alive and
Lord announces Himself to the church of Sarclis, in the first        awake, loving the truth and busy in the things of the king-
place, to inspire them with hope in case they repent, for            dom of God. The others were enjoying a walk in the sins
He has the seven Spirits and through these He dwells in the          o,f the world and did not manifest themselves as scrupulous
church so that they may expect from Him life and strength            in regard to their life and walk in the midst of the world;
to keep what they have that no one take their crown. But,            these, however, refused to become conformed according to)
secondly, with `a view to their spiritual condition, the mention     the life and standards of the world in the midst of which
of the seven Spirits must serve as a reminder to them of what        they lived. How it must have troubled them that their angel
will surely happen if they do not repent. If He withholds the        was dead and that he could not and did not bring them the
seven Spirits, the church. will be dead even though they may         word of life ! How it must have grieved them to see that
still have a name that they live. The same is true of the,           the church was so dead and that she was becoming more and
seven stars. It was especially due to the angel of the church        more apostate ! And above all, how it must have pierced
in Sarclis that  .they were dead. Now, the Lord holds the            their soul like a sword that they had to bear the reproach
seven `stars. It is He that gives them to the church ; it is also    and shame `and mockery of their fellow-members in  the


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             177

 church of Sardis ! For that was naturally the result. The          presents the assurance they had, from all eternity been writ-
 worldly minded members of th,e church filled the faithful          ten in it, and that the believers in Sardis may be confident
 few with reproach and shame and called them  narrow-               that they shall find that their names are written therein in
 minded. It is hard, indeed, to bear the reproach of the world.     the day of judgment. A glorious promise this is, indeed. If
 But this you cannot avoid. You. expect this of the world.          we are faithful and do not defile our garments, we may have
 But a thousand times more grievous it is that  you must            the assurance in our hearts that, in the day when the "the roll
 bear the reproach of them that wear the garments of Jesus;         is called up yound&-," the roll of those that inherit eternal
 and that profess to belong to the church of Christ. Such           life, also our names shall be called. In that day, there shall be
 was the position of the few names in Sardis. In the midst of       no fear.or anxiety on the part of those that were faithful in
 all these difficulties they had not become unfaithful but had      the midst of the world and, by grace, have overcome in the
 refused to defile their garments with sin.                         battle of faith. They shall stand in the assurance that their
    To them a&$ to all that are victorious the Lord gives a         names are written in the book ,of life.
 most beautiful promise in a threefold form: they shall all            Finally, in close connection with the assurance that their
 walk with Him in white garments, their names shall not             names shall not be blotted out of the book of life, stands ihe
 be blotted out of the book of life, and Jesus shall confess        third form of the promise that the Lord will confess the
 their names before God, His father.                                names of these faithful ones before His Father in heaven.
    In general, it is evident that the Lord here promises           As the names are being called from the book of life, Jesus
 them eternal life and glory. The threefold form of this            shall say: `fYes,  these are also of my sheep which, Thou,
 promise is in harmony with the position of these faithful          Father, .hast given me; they have been faithful and have not
 ones in the midst of the church in Sardis.                         defiled their garments; they are worthy to enter with Me
    There is, in the first place, the promise that they shall       into Thy everlasting glory !"
 walk with the Lord in white garments. In Scripture, white             Hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches ! What does
 garments are a symbol of righteousness and holiness and            the Spirit say  ? Watch, many a church has fallen asleep in our
 purity, of perfect deliverance from sin and corruption. Hence,     day. Many are the churches and ministers that have a name
 in this beautiful promise the Lord assures the faithful in         that they live but they are dead. Shall we remain faithful ?
 Sardis that they once shall be delivered perfectly from sin        Many have defiled their garments. Shall we keep them clean  ?
 and death and that,, in their entire life and walk, they shall     We shall if, by the power of the grace of God, we fight the
 be as the Lord. With Him and as Him they shall live                good fight even unto the end. Watch, therefore, that no one
 and walk, without any imperfection, and never they shall           take your crown!
 defile their garments anymore. It needs no mention that                                                                       H.H.
 this was exactly the deepest desire and longing of these
 faithful ones. While many in the congregation lived in sin
 they fought the battle of faith and strove to keep their gar-
 ments pure. Hdw this promise that, in the future, they would                  THE GUARDIAN CARE OF GOD
 be perfectly holy  and pure must have appealed to their in-                 Thou Jehovah,, art &y Shepherd,
 most heart and must have spurred them on to be faithful                        Therefore I no want shall know;
 even unto death!                                                            In green pastures Thou dost rest me,
    Secondly, the Lord gives them the assurance that their                      Leadest where still waters flow,
 names shall not -be blotted out of the book of life. Scripture;                     And when fainting,
 speaks more often of books. There are before God's counten-                    Sweet refreshment dost bestow.
 ance books of remembrance. They shall be opened in the day
 of judgment so that all the works of men, which are done                    For Thy Name's sake Thou dost guide me
 in time, may be revealed. Then there is also thesbook of life.                 In the paths of righteousness  ;
 In that book, written before the foundation of the world, the               Though I wa1.k the vale of shadows,
 names are written of those that are chosen unto everlasting                    Fears no more my soul oppress ;
 life and glory. The names that are written in that will, of.                        Thou art with me,
 course, never be blotted out. Nor does the Lord say that                       With Thy rod and staff to bless.
 this is possible. He merely assures the faithful in Sardis that
 their names shall not be erased from the roll of God's elect.               Thou preparest' me a table
 Fact is that once upon a time also the unfaithful ones in                      In-the presence of the foe ;
 Sardis had appeared as if they had been -written in that                    Thou my head with oil anointest,
 book of life, for their names had appeared on the roll of the                  Yea, my cup doth overflow.
 church. NOW, however, their apostacy and their walk in sin                          0 my Saviour,
prove that their names had never been written in the book of                    Having Thee, no want I know.
 life. Hence, not to be blotted out fro& the book of life re-                                                         Psalm 23 :l-3

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

  II                                                                     translates out of darkness into His marvelous light, and that
             THE DAY OF SHADOWS                                     II the fruit of this His work in them is that they come to seek
                                                                         the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, -they, "my people," the
                                                                         many peoples, the nations. The view that limits Israel to Jews
                 The Prophecy of Zechariah                               and the church to the gentile nations and then goes on to
                           Chapter 8 20-22                               maintain that Israel is one and the church another is not
        20. Thus  mith the Lord of hosts: it shall yet come  toI         the word of God of the verses of this chapter. In fact, it is
  pass,  t?zat there  sha,ll  come peoples,  awd the  inlmbitants  of    a view that is in glaring conflict with this word. To prove
  wmny cities. 21. And the inhabitants of one city shtill g.o to         this we need direct attention to but one statement in these
  another, saying, Let us go speed,ily to pray before the Lord,          verses and to the sentence element so that in it, "I will surely
  and to seek the  .Lord of hosts. I will go.' 22. Yea, many             bring it to pass, so that there shall come peoples."
  peoples  a.nd strong  nations  shnll come to seek the  Lord  of            Yes there will ~0.~8  peoples  and not just one people and
  hosts in Jeratmlem, ,and to pray before the Lord.                      this people the Jewish but peoples,, God's chosen ones in the
        20-22. TI%U saith Jeh0va.h  of hosts - As' is the case with      peoples and counted of Him for peoples.  And  will  CO~ZB
  this introductory formula at all the other verses that it heads        inhabita,nts  of many cities. These inhabitants, the ones that
  in this chapter, so here: it looks to what follows and not to          come, are without exception true people. of God. For they
  what goes before. The result is a break in thought in the              come to seek Jehovah of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray be-
  first part of verse 20. "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts . . . .           fore Jehovah of hosts. And so they come, for this is prayer,
  so that there will come peoples," etc. So reads the Hebrew             that they may drink of the  fo,untain of all good, the God
  text at this place. As is plain, the break occurs between              and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They come that they
  hosts and so that. A clause is needed to fill out the sentence..       may taste Him, the God of their salvation, in all His infinite
  The translators did well by inserting "it will yet come to.            goodness. And they come with haste, as mightily driven by
  pass," for this is the clause required by the context,. only it        the love of Christ. This all is implied in what is stated of
  should be tiade read, "And I will surely bring it to pass,"            these inhabitant in the succeeding verse (21). The inhabit-
  for this is better. What we then get is this, "Thus. saith             ants of one city go to another city and exhort its inhabitants
  Jehovah of hosts, I will surely bring it to pass, so that there        with these words, `<Let us go speedily`to pray before the Lord
  yet will come peoples (ZO),  yea, many peoples," etc., vs. 22.         and to seek the Lord of hosts. And there is quick response
        In the versions the first part of verse 20 reads, "It shall      on the part of the inhabitants of the city exhorted that come.
  yet come to pass that there shall come people (should be               They say,  "I  will go." So they are just as eager as their
peoples),  `<but  this `rendering is not so good, seeing that it         exhorters. All without exception have been gloriously con-
  does not have the connective so thait, the very and only ex-           verted to the Lord. And it is but natural for the converts.
  pression that correctly. reproduces the meaning of the cor-            of the one city that they should exhort the inhabitants of
  responding  partiCles  in the original, and that, therefore,           another city. For knowing, as they do, what a blessed thing
  should be given a place in the translation. tB(y its ommission         it is to seek the Lord and to pray before His face they want!
  the actual teaching of these verses (7, 8, 20-22) is more or           all men to seek the Lord atid to pray before His face,. yet
  less obscured in favor of premilliniali@ theories, as will be-         not all but as many as the Lord shall call.
 come evident presently.                                                    Our prophet goes on to say, in the succeeding verse (22))
        The question is now: what will the Lord surely bring to,         "Yea, ma.n.y  peoples and strong nations shall come to seek
 pass ? All that is stated in  the preceding verses, definitely:         Jehovah of hosts sin Jerzmlem, and to pray before Jehovah.
  what is promised in verses 7 and 8, namely, that "I will save          The emphasis falls on the  many-  many peoples,, many
 my people from the west country and from the east country,"             strong nations will come. The coming ones will form a
 etc. So the Lord promised. And His promises are sure. He                multitude that no man will be able to number.  Said  the
 will bring it to pass without fail,. "Cso that," on this account,       Lord to .Abraham, "Look now toward heaven, and tell the
 there will yet come peoples, many  pe.oples,  nations (vss. ZO-         stars, if thou be able to number them . . . so shall thy seed
 23). In other words, the "many peoples" of verse 22 come,               b," - thy seed, "my people" of verse 7, and "peoples" and
 because God saves "my people" of verse 7. This can mean                 "inhabitants of the cities" of verse 20 and "many nations"
 but one thing, namely, that "my people" of verse 7 are the              and "strong nations" of verse 22. Indicated by these various.
 very peoples and nations of verse 22, and that, if so, "my              terms and expressions is the one flock of God, the church af
 people" of verse 7 are not only Jews but Jews and                       the elect. The strength of the strong  .nations is not physical
 Gentiles according to the election of grace and that the                or natural strength ; it is the spiritual power of men born
 "many peoples" of verse 22 are not only Gentiles, but like-             from above to seek God and pray before His name.
 wise Gentiles and Jews, the one and only flock of God, the                 What is presented to us in these verses is the work of
 city of truth, the holy mountain, Zion, Jerusalem (vss. 2, 3).          Christ in this dispensation of the Gospel. He will gather His
 Such is here the teaching, namely, that God has one people              church by His Spirit and His word.  We must not fail to  '
 that He saves from every quarter of this globe, quickens,               observe how tha? it is stated that feoples and n&ions will


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 179

come to seek the Lord in Jerusalem. The meaning is that                believed that God raised up that Jesus and made Him Lord
the nations will come in a body.' Such is the manner of                :and Christ. But to his mind salvation had been prepared for
divine working always. He establishes His covenant in the `Jews and their proselytes but surely not for the gentiles.,
line of continued generations. He saves families though not            There were gentiles with him on the way. He could hear'
head for head. He establishes His covenant with Abraham                them saying that they were going to Jerusalem to pray be-
and His seed, and He knows, determinedly knows, that                   fore the face of the Lord of hosts. This Jew is horrified.
Abraham will command his children, and they shall keep                 Ten men inquire of him about the .way to Jerusalem. -The
the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, Gen. 18, 19.           Jew replies by a wave of his arm in the general direction
Coming now to our own Christian era, isn't it true that the            of Jerusalem, and hastens on. He even runs to get away
nations' of Europe in a body were converted to the Lord. If            from these heathen. But the ten men will see to it that it
it be considered that the Jerusalem -on earth cotild  not con-         doesn't happen. They take hold of his skirts, saying, We
tain the nations and that, therefore, it is the Jerusalem above        will go with you, for we have heard. that the Lord is with;
with which our prophet is occupied, then we will see that the          you. This is the picture.                               G.M.O.
prophecies with which we here deal were destined to be ful-
filled literally. They were not fulfilled in the number of
proselytes made to Judaism after the turning of Judah's cap-                          The Antediluvian World
tivity. For surely neither "many peoples" nor "strong na-                  Let us now attend to what is reported of the antediluvian
tions" ever came to seek the Lord in the earthly Jerusalem.            world. The report is significant and very brief. It forms
   23, In, those days it will come to pass, that ten men will          but one chapter in the book of Genesis, namely, the sixth.
tnke hold out of a~11 languages of the n&ions, even will ta$ke         Reading  ,this report, our attention is arrested first of all by
hold of the ski& of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go              the rapid degeneration of this predduvian race, which is set
with you, for we have hea.rd that God is with yoz*.                    forth in the Genesis narrative in this language, "And God
   In those days-  In the days of the dispensation of the              saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
Gospel.  Tett  ldz.en  - In the Hebrew text  1angztage.s  is  deli-    that every imagination of the thought of his heart was only
nite : out of all the, languages of the nations - The meaning          evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had
is : ten men out of the total of languages,. and not, ten men          made man op the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
out of each and every language, that is, as many times ten             And God said, "I will destroy man whom I have created
men as there are languages or nations. Yet the idea cannot             from the face of .the earth." Thus in approximately fifteen
be either that out of all nations there will be only ten men           *hundred  years this race so completely corrupted itself as
and no more with the desire in their hearts to seek Jehovah/           to forfeit its place on the face of the earth. At the time of
in Jerusalem. The ten men, in the action ascribed to them,             the flood the churcli of God numbered but eight souls and
represent the nations, the elect of God in the nations. For            even of this number one was `a profane man. That this race
all the na,tions  are the many peoples and strong nations of           was remarkable for its extreme wickedness is also evident
the previous verse that come to pray before the Lord in                from the reference to it in the epistles of the New Testament
Jerusalem, so that the ,nations  must be thought of as doing           writers. Jude describes the men of this world as "cloud
what the ten men are said to do.                                       without water, carrikd--away  by the wind ; trees whose fruit
  According to some, this Jew repreSents Christ. But this              withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots  ;
view rests on the wrong assumption that the reason the ten             raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame,
men want to go with this Jew to seek the Lord in Jerusalem is          wandering stars to whom is preserved the blackness forever."
that, having heard that the Lord is with him, they concluded.          Enoch  prophesied of these, saying, "Behold, the Lord cometlz
that it is only through him that they can have access to God.          with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon
TO  discern what this verse foretells, we must attend to its           all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all
imagery. This Jew is a natural offspring of Abraham. For               their ungodly deed, which they have ungodly committed,
he is called a Jew in distinction from the ten men,  who'              and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have
represent the nations. But he also belongs to the spiritual            spoken against him.  These  are murmurers, complainers,
seed of Abraham. He is a true Jew. For he comes to seek                walkjng after their own lusts, and their mouth speaketh great
the Lord in Jerusalem and to pray before the face of the               swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because
Lord. And the Lord is with him. And  he seeks the Lord                 of advantage." Jude 12. The apostle Peter refers to this
of hosts in the face of Chris+t. He had felt himself drawn ta          race as disobedient and as mocking with the signals of im-
Christ from the beginning. He saw Christ's miracles and                pending doom. I Pet. 3 :20. The description that Christ gives
was convinced that He was a teacher come from God.  Ere-               of this race is of the same tenor. Until the flood came, there
long he found himself hoping that He  miiht be the one                 were "eating and drinking and marrying and giving in mar-
who had come ti, deliver Israel. Christ's death on the cross;          riage." This world before the flood suffered a swift descent
had blasted that hope but the Spirit was poured out upon the           into the pit of unredeemable wickedness.
church, and he saw that Christ ought to have died and he                  Yet the exponents of common grace are able to discover

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

     in this  .race the signs of the so-called sin-checking grace of          2. The "sons of God are angels." Thus the report is to,
     God. The Scripture that is held to teach that God was by             the effect that angels actually had sexual intercourse with
     Fis Spirit so operative in that race reads, "And God said,           human women of flesh and blood, which resulted in the birth
     My Spirit shall not always strive with man for that he is,           of human children of flesh and blood. This view was pre-
     flesh." Gen.  6:3.                                                   valent in the old synagogues of the church. It was held by
            The correct interpretation of this Scripture. The striving    Philo,   Josephus and most of the Rabbinical writers. This
.    or contending of the Spirit must be made to apply to the             conception `is repulsive. It militates against all that we know
     prophetic labors of the men of God of that epoch, to the             of the angels from the Scriptures. At Mark 12 :25 it is in-
     preaching of these men- Abel,  Enoch,  and Noah. It was              directly asserted that the angels neither marry nor are
     through this preaching, testimony, witness, that the Spirit of       *given  in marriage. The text reads, "But when they - God's
     God contended with ungodly men and also hardened their               believing people-shall rise again from the dead, they neither
     hearts as that they repented not but hardened their hearts           mai-ry nor are given in marriage but are ai the angels which
     as a result. What the substance of this preaching was has            are in heaven.?'
     already been mentioned. It was a denunciation of the wanton              3. Then there is the conception according to which ,the
     ungodliness of that. race supplemented by a prediction of the        sons of God are the children of the aristrocratic  great in the
     day of divine vengeance. So did God contend with these               earth and the daughters of men the offspring of the plebes.
     men in the same way that He contends wi'ch the ungodly of            The exponents of this view appeal to the notice to the
     this day and age,  namely,  through the witness of His               effect that "there were giants in the earth in those days,"
     servants. This witness was scorned by the wicked of that!            ch.  6:4a.  These giants are held to be the aristrocrates of
     day as it is ever. They scoffed at Noah's prophecy. We know          whom it is reported that they took them wives from among
     this from the epistle of Peter. They said, "For where is the         the daughters of men. But the text lends no support to this
     promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep             identification. It reads, "There were giants in the earth in
     all things continue as they were from the beginning of crea-         those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came
     tion. For this they were willingly ignorant Of," the apostle         into the daughters of men, and they bare children to them,
     goes on to say, "that by the word of God the heavens were            the same became mighty men which were of old, men of re-
     of old, and the earth standing out of the water: whereby the         nown," ch. 6 :4. There is not the slightest suggestion here
     world that then was, being overflowed with water  per-               that the "giants" are the "sons of God" exclusively so and
     ishkd . .  ." II Pet. 3:3-5. So did the witness of God's             that these giants sons thus form a class of humans exclusive
     servants awaken in the hearts of those men a fierce resent-' of the men whose daughters ,these superior men eventtiklly
     ment. To those scoffers the Word of God was a savor  OP              mai-ried. The notice that there were giants in the earth
     death unto death. In this way .then did the Spirit contend           doubtless tells us that the humans of this precliluvi~  race
     with the world before the flood. @ut the defiance of that            were meri of superior power both physically and intellectuall;r.
     world grew in- intensity as the witness  of God's servants!          This interpretation has the support of the.notice that they
     grew in distinctness. It is this striving of the Spirit with,        lived to' be hundreds of years old. These giants, certainly,
     those men, through the preaching of the Word by God's                were found among the descendents of Seth as well as among
     servants, that forms one reason of the swift moral deteriora-        the descendants of Cain, or to express this in the terms of
     tion of the world before the flood. God hardened their hearts.       the view under con&deration,  among the aristrocrats as well
            The narrative presents .still another reason for the phe-     as among the plebes.
     nomenon in question, to wit, the intermarriage between the
     sons of God and the daughters of men. "And it came to' pass,             4. There is the view according to which the "sons of
     when men began to multiply. on the face of the earth, and            God" are the pious, that is, the Sethites, in contract with
     daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw              whom the daughters of men" denotk Cainite woman. This
     the daughters of men that there were fair; and they took             is the correct view.
     them wives of all that they chose." In respect to this verse,            5. Finally there is the view that the "sons of God" mean
     and in particular with respect to "the sons or children of           truly pious men in the line of Cain and' in the line ,of Seth,
     God" we find five principle views.                                   and that the "daughters of men" are wicked women in both
            1. There is the view that in this verse we have to do         ljnes. This view differs from the proceeding only in this
     with ancient Hebrew mythology. So Dr. Skinner, "Com-                 respect that it drops the idea that pious persons were found
     mentary on Genesis," p. 141. He says, "The disconnection             only in the line of Seth and wicked women only in the line
     of the narrative is probably due to drastic abrid&nent, either       of Cain. The dropping of this idea  mtist be held to be a
     by the original writer or by later editors, to whom its crudely      mistake in the light of the following consideration. From
     .n$hological  character was objectionable." The exponents of         all that is reported to us in the narrative about Cain and
     this view simply assuine  things here that they .cannot  prove,      his descendents, the conclusion is. inescapable that this line
     namely,. that the Hebrews had a mythology and that a frag-           was reprobated as to all its segments without a single ex-
     ment of it appears at this .place  in the narrative.                 ception.                                                G.M.O.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  181

                                                                     the foregoing context. Too often that is done by those who
            F~ROM  HOLY  W R I T   /Ido not subject themselves, as Ministers of the Word of God,
i                                                                    to that very Word which they purport to teach. They then
                                                                     take this passage from the immediate context and place it
             Expqsition of Matthew 11:25-30                          in their own doctrinal prejudice of Arminianism and Pela-
                                                                     gianism.
                              I I I .                                    How do they go about this ?
                                                                         There really is no strict uniformity in  the manner of
                       (Matthew 1 138)                               these exegetical and theological charlatans. They refuse to  c
                                                                     submit themselves to sound rules of exegesis, and distort
     Twice we have now called a.ttention to this section of          these portions of Scripture to their own destruction, while at
the words of Jesus as they are recorded here by Matthew. It          the same time they rob the saints of the "solid comfort"
can do no harm to briefly recapitulate what we have thus             which these passages were intended to give them. They are
far noticed in our consideration of the former vdrses, the           the false shepherds, who, instead of feeding the flock of
verses 25-27.                                                        God, sheer the flock for their own lust and desires. They
     First o? we noticed, that it was the very peculiar "season"     are really theological quacks, confidently affirming whereof
in Christ's labors in Galilee of the nations, when both faith        they neither know nor understand. They fly the Reformed
and unbelief had come to a very marked manifestation. The            flag while at the.same time they smuggle the Pelagian cargo
believers, the "babes" had seen the Kingdom, about to be             into the church, deceiving the simple and the unlearned. A
manifested as proclaimed by both John the Baptist, and by            great plague they are under the sun.
Jesus Himself. And as the "violent" they would take  ZLS                Exegetically they either corrupt the entire teaching of
by force; with holy impatience they reached out for this             Christ in the corrtext, or do as the negro preacher, who told
King\dom  to be realized in the Son of God. On the other             his flock, when he came to the difficult part of the text, "let's
hand, the unbelievers, the `(wise and the prudent" had re-           boldly face the difficulty and pass on." They speak very
jected both John the Baptist and Christ. They had ac-                learned about the "apparent contradiction" o,r of the "two-
cused the former of "having a devil" and the latter of "being        track theology," while accusing, those, who would interpret
a friend of publicans and sinners and a glutton and a wine-          Scripture in the light of Scripture and adhering to the
bibber."                                                             "regula  fideit," of proceding with a rationalistic principle.
     But wisdom is justified of the children of wisdom.              This latter is as untrue, as it is convenient for opponent of
                                                                     sovereign grace to affirm.
     And it was at the "time" when Jesus lifted up His voice
and thanked God, the Father, Lord of heaven and earth,                  And thus this passage must be contorted in its sense so
that He had hid these mysteries of the Kingdom from the              as to fit in the rationalistic and irrationalistic framework of
wise and from the prudent, and that He had revealed them             the opponents of the sovereign grace, that the Son reveals
unto the "babes." He had revealed it unto that which is              the Father to whovvLsoever   `HQ tills. (ei mee ho Huios kai
nothing that He might put to confusion and utter shame that          Izooi ean boztleetai ho Huios apokalupsai).
which is something.                                                     The arminian slogan of the "whosoever" gospel is exactly
     This "revealing unto the babes" is really the work of           pelagianism,  Satan's "error out of hell," because they disjoin
the Son of God in the flesh. All things have been delivered          this "wl~osoever" from the "whomsoever." We will let them
unto Him from His Father. And only those to "whom-                   both stand. We will not nullify the latte? by' the subterfuge
soever he willeth" to reveal the Father, they do and shall           of "apparent contradiction," but will believe that we here.
know the Father in His saving love and complete salvation.           see the unity of the works of God, so that we zmrk out what?
                                                                     He  works  in us. And although even this is  `incomprehen-
     Thus was the line of thought in the foregoing essays on         sible" to us, so that we cannot trace out this work of God,.
this passage of Holy Writ.                                           we shall not equate. "incomprehensibility" with "apparent
     ,We now come to the very familiar verse of Scripture,           contradiction." The latter, if it is to be workable in our
which reads as follows: "Come unto me all ye that labor              reasonable service, simply means that the error of Pelagianism
a.nd are hea.vy laden, and I will give yozt rest (refreshment) ."    is introduced under pious subterfuge. The former means that
(Verse 28)                                                           we cannot wholly understand the very harmony of all God's
     It should be observed that Jesus does not,introduce  a new      works, even  wlzh revealed  to us.
subject here is this verse, which is not intimately inter-              And, therefore, we shall place the "whomsoever" of
woven into the fabric of .the teaching of the foregoing verses.      verse 27 next to the "whosoever" as implicit in verse $3, and
We are here not dealing with a mere aphorism which is left           bow before the adorable harmony of God's works, and not
to any man to interpret independantly and disjoined from             nonetkeless,  but rather therefore confess the incomprehens-


182                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER

ibility of God in the Ontological Trinity as well as in the           do not receive "refreshment of soul" will utterly be bowed
trihitarian works of His counsel and providence.                      down. Their punishment is new- every morning. They long
       With the foregoing,in  mind we will then notice, that we       for rest, refreshment.  "
do not attempt to destroy the "problem" of the relationship              A parallel passage Scripture affords us in Isaiah 55 :l,
.between  the sovereignty of God and the "responsiveness" of          "HO every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and
man, but rather let it stand as revealed, and say, with Paul,         he that hath no money, come ye buy and eat ; yea, come, buy
to ourselves and to every man: "But who art thou, 0 man,              wine and milk, without money and without price."
that answereth against God  ?"                                           Here to those who are "called" are certainly in their
       That is deepest meekness and lowlimindedness whereby           concrete  addressableness  not every one in the world, nor
we find rest for our souls.                                           every one in Israel, but very evidently "only those that
       He that would do it `otherwise will find that God is a         thirst," and are blessed in their very thirst and hunger, be-
terrible antagonist, who will not be called to answer in our          cause they are the fit objects of the water and bread of life.
little, puny court of judgment for his dealing. For who                  And so also here in Matthew 11:28,  "come all ye that
has been His counselor?!                                              are weary and heavy laden" refers in its concrete address-
       And now briefly to the text, verse 28.                         ableness, together with the content of what is promised to
                                                                      the "believing and coming ones," only to those, who, because
       We notice that Jesus says, "Come unto me all ye that           of the effectual calling according to the purpose of the Father,
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."                 see themselves and their entire lot, as being, by nature and
       We notice that Jesus is here directing this `texhortation,"    in themselves, hopeless.
to come to him, to a very definite class of people. If this              And to these, and to these only, is rest promised. Surely
were not so he would, no doubt, have said, "come unto me              this  fire&zing of the promised rest went out to all, without
everyone." Thus the "whosoever"-gospel preachers would                distinction, to whom God in His good-pleasure sent it. And
have it. And then  they  supply: "if you will  to  bsliezre and       it did not return void to Him. It was a savor of death unto
come." And do this, as was said, because they disjoin the             death in those perishing, while it was a savor of life unto
"whosoever" from the "whomsoever" of verse 27.                        life in those being saved. However, in this se&at3 preaching
       However, Jesus says, "all who are weary and heavy              "refreshment" is only promised to the "weary and heavy
laden." And, again, the Arminian preacher of today, though            laden" in the way of their "coming." Thus do they learn
he fly the Reformed flag, will say: that is it exactly! And           to "know the Father," and thus is the "Father revealed to
every man, woman or child in the race of Adam is "weary               them,," as the "whomsoever" to whom the Son wills to re-
and heavy laden." All are under the burden of the sin and             veal the Father.
guilt of Adam, and that, too, whether they are aware of it               Coming to Jesus here certainly means: to appropriate
or not ! And so the "call" goes out to all ; all are promised         Christ by Faith. The "call" of Jesus is the efficacious means
"rest" if only they "come." And such they will contend,               whereby Christ is "conferred" to the weary and heavy laden.
even though Jesus thanks God that he hides "rest and                  And in this conferring, the Son reveals the Father to them,
peace" from the wise and prudent. These wise and prudent              as the "babes."
are, too, weary and heavy laden. That is the solution of
the Arminian. And when you object he accuses you of not                  Am I heavy laden 7 Are you? Then certainly heed this
being willing to "preach" to all, since you will not concede          call of Jesus, to come to him, learn from Him. He fully has
that all men are "weary and heavy laden." It is then rather           paid for all of our sins. And nothing need be added. In
comforting to know that Scripture teaches that there are              Him the Father's love is revealed to us. For that love does
people, even in the church, who say to themselves that they           not consist in this that we first love God, but that he first
are "rich and enriched and in need of nothing," who do not            loved us and sent His Son a propitiation for our sins !
at all feel that they are hell-bound.                                    And He is certainly able to give us spiritual refreshment
                                                                      we need, for all things have been placed into His hand, been
       Certainly the term weary, means to labor with toil, to be      "delivered" to Him! He is able and he is willing. And
perplexed by the problems of life, its griefs, sorrows, dis-          He works in us the will and to do by His admonitions, ex-
appointments, and the hopelessness of it all from the view-           hortation to "come.?? And coming we receive, yes, grace for
point of the justice of God. And these people are such that           grace.
this becomes a matter that becomes more and more a heavy
burden, a completely heavy burden up to the present moment.              Thus the "whosoever-gospel" is in perfect harmony with
Notice the perfect passive participle : pephortismenoi. The           the "whomsoever I will to reveal" gospel.
perfect tense indicates in  greek: completed action up to the            It is still imcomprehensible,  while we see the unity and"
present moment. Hence, those in Jesus day and in every                harmony of God's work revealed to us -yea, even while we
age, who see the hopelessness of bearing the load of sin, death       taste and see that the Lord is God and is only good !
and the curse upon all of life. And these are such that if they                                                                  G.L;


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              183
             -  -..._-

                                                                  deference Webster explains the difference between deference
             I N   H I S   F E A R                                and respect and has this to say of respect, "Respect implies       ,
                                                                  regard for something, especially a person or quality,  `as
                                                                  worthy of honor and confidence."
               Respect and Obedience                                  It must be admitted that we are living in a world where-
   "Let's go down stairs, Harold."                                in disrespect is growing rapidly. The little boy who called
   "Come on Harold. I'm getting hungry."                          his father by his first name is a glaring example of such
   These are samples of the speech of a little boy of some        disrespect. And the father of that child showed plainly
four or five years of age that repeatedly came our way as         sthat he did not care to have his child show any special
the Rev. H. Velclman and the undersigned sat in the dome          regard for him. and to consider him worthy of the honor of
car of the train that was bringing us home from our recent        being placed over, him by God as his parent and as the
tour to the west coast to conduct church visitation in our        authority at whose feet he was to learn authority. We plan
churches there.                                                   to say more about that later; but this lack of respect ex-
   There is nothing wrong with that speech, you might be          plains also the lack'of obedience. Where there is no  respecti
inclined to say. The little boy was hungry. At his age he         for the authorities, there is likewise no obedience before
could not be as interested in the passing scenery as an older     these, authorities.
boy might be. And surely at that age an empty stomach                 This fact became all too plain both in the subsequent
would not allow him to enjoy anything of what might be seen       actions of Harold's little boy and also of the younger sister
from the vantage point of a dome car. He wanted to go             of that boy. We were, indeed, grateful that we did not
down to the diner ; and how can you blame him ?                   need to spend two nights in the same car with parents and
   Indeed, but the point is that at times you also heard          their children. When a child does not learn authority at
other sentences which this little lad directed to this same       home and does not learn respect at home he will never learn
party that sat next to him. The point is that this other party    it and will be a plague to the authorities and a disrespectful
was a man whom we would judge to be in his thirties. And          person all his life.
these other sentences were very revealing. At first the fact          Harold, undoubtedly, wanted his child to consider him-
that he called this man by his first name did not bother          self to be on the same level with father. He called his boy
us as much as it did a little later on. We figured that it        .by his first name and did not mind at all that his child did
might possibly have been his cousin or that `we had mis-          likewise. He did not want his child to look again. If his
judged the age of this man, who was perhaps the brother of        child saw him as another male, somewhat taller and older
this child. But a little while later we heard these sentences     than himself, yet otherwise a human being as himself, that
from the mouth of that same child to that same man, "Look,        is all that Harold desired. That his child, seeing all these
Daddy, there is a deer crossing the river! Why is the train       things which they had in common, would also look again and
stopping now, Daddy ?"                                            see that there was a difference between them, a difference put
   Harold was his father !                                        there by God, a difference that God also gives command to
   And Harold permitted his child to call him by his first        preserve, was not at all his wish.
name. Harold answered his child when he spoke so dis-                And although, as we said, lack of respect explains also
respectfully to his father and encouraged him in this be-         lack of obedience, respect is a thing that must be present in
haviour. Harold did not mind it in the least, although the        children over against their parents even after they have be-
Word of God tells children to honor their fathers and their       come parents themselves and are no longer under the
mothers.                                                          authority of their parents. The fifth commandment still says
   We were reminded of this incident a few weeks ago when         to those who are themselves grandparents, "Honor thy father
we attended a Parent-Teacher meeting where the matter of          and thy mother." Though the matter of obedience is no
respect was touched upon briefly. And we decided to write         longer in force here, we must still honor them and look at
a few lines about this matter of respect since it is not only     them as being our superiors in that they have begotten us.
a very timely subject but also certainly belongs to the               The Scriptures strongly underscore the truth of this fact.
matter of In His Fear.                                            In Genesis 22 :7, for example, we read of Abraham and Isaac
   Webster tells us that to respect means to consider worthy      climbing up the mount where Abraham has been instructed
of esteem and that the word comes from the latin preposition      to offer up Isaac. Isaac says, "My father . . . Behold the
re which means again or  ba.ck and from the verb to  100x1.       fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt
Thus its essential meaning is to look again or to look back,      offering  ?" In Genesis 27 6 Rebekah  as a God-fearing wife
The noun  respect,  according to Webster, in the sense in         who trains her children in the matter of respect speaks to
which we use it in this article, means  esteeutz,   defere&al     Jacob and says, "Behold I heard thy father speak unto Esau
regard; also honor.                                               thy brother." We wish to write more about that later, also,
   The synonyms of respect are deference, reverence, com-         but at this juncture let us point out that the parents attitude
plaisance, submission and consideration. Under the word           towards each other in the presence of their children also

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

  teaches the children; and when parents refer to each other by        Proverba  24:23 we read, "It is not good to have respect of
  their first names when speaking to their children, they must         persons in judgment." And again in Proverbs 28 :21, "To-
  expect their children to do the same thing. That undoubtedly         have .respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread
  happened in Harold's family. It did not in Isaac's family            that man will transgress." James speaks of the same thing
  Rebekah speaks to Jacob of his father; and Isaac speaks.             in James 2:1-3 where we read, "My brethren, have not the
  to Jacob, somewhat later in the chapter, of Rebekah and              faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with,
  calls her his mother. In this same chapter Jacob calls Isaac         respect of persons. For if there came unto your assembly a
  his father, Genesis 27:lS. Joseph calls Jacob his father in          man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come
  Genesis  4S:lS.  Jacob laid his right hand on the head of            in also a poor man in vile raiment : And ye have respect to\
  Joseph's second son's head instead of on the head of his             him that weareth the gay clothing and say unto him, Sitr
  firstborn. Joseph says unto his father, "Not so, my father:          thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou
  for this is the firstborn ; put thy right hand upon his head."       there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then
 .-Here you have a clear point of defense for the statement above      partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil
  that even after we are no longer under the authority of our          thoughts ?'
  parents, we must still show them respect. Joseph not only                This, of course, in no wise alters anything we have al-
: was a father himself and no longer living under the roof and         ready written. Respect of persons or respect that is due unto1
  authority of his father  ; he was the ruler of the whole land        him because of the position wherein it pleased God to place
  of Egypt to whom his father had to come for food. He-was,            him in relation to us are two different matters. James con-
  the authority over his father. Yet Joseph shows respect unto,        demns respect of persons but not respect for those .placed
  him through whom God brought him into being and calls  him)          over us by God. But even then in this word respect there
  .his father. In the parable of the lost son Jesus recognizes this    still is the idea of "regard for something, especially a person
  same principle of respect when He presents, in Luke 15 :12,          or quality, as worthy of honor and confidence." Only with
  this youngest son as saying, "Father, give me the portion of         respect of persons there is a wrong regard. Harold's little
  goods that falleth to me." Peter speaks of another phase of          four year old boy must not refrain from calling his father by
  respect when in I Peter 3 5, 6 he speaks of the respect that         his first name simply because of Harold's person but be-
  Sarah showed unto Abraham. There Peter speaks of obe-                cause of his position of authority over  hin~`as  given by God
  dience and links respect and obedience properly together             Himself. As Paul writes to the Thessalonians, "And we
  when he writer, "Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling               beseech you, brethren,. to know them which labour among
  him lord." For, to be sure, respect is not simply to be              you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you ; And
  practiced in the relationship between parents and'their chil-        `to esteem them very highly for their work's sake," I Thes-
  dren. It also includes the relationship between parents and          salonians 5 :12, 13.                                    I
  the children of other parents, the relationship between hus-            Paul speaks of esteem and of knowing them that labour
  band and wife, lord and servant, the authorities and those           amongst US. Who would deny that knowing and seeing go
  placed under them by God. In that passage in I Peter the             hand in hand ? Respect, therefore, means not only looking
  meaning of the apostle is not that the obedience of Sarah            fagain but that through a second and more careful look we
  consisted therein that she called him lord. It consisted in          learn to know a deeper relationship than that which the
  much-more as Peter infers in the preceeding  verses when             first look would indicate. And it means that we behave ac-
  he writes, "Likewise ye.wives,  be in subjection to your own         cording to that second look and not merely by the first
 .husbands  . . . whose adorning let it not be that outward            look. In that sense, too, we read of God having respect
  .adorning  of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or of         unto Abel. and to his offering. Of this phase we will speak,
  putting on of apparel ; But let it be the hidden man of the          the Lord willing, next time.
  heart . . . even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit . . .                                                              J.A.H,
  for in this manner in the old time the holy women also,
  who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in                                                -      -
                                                           subjec-
  tion unto their husbands." And the reference, no doubt,                               SATISFACTroiN  IN GOD
  is to Genesis 1s :12 where Sarah speaks concerning Abrab&
 to herself and even then calls him not simply her husband                            0 Lord, my God, most earnestly
 but her lord. We quote: "Therefore Sarah laughed within                                My heart would seek Thy face,
 herself, saying, after I am waxed old shall I have pleasure?                         Within Thy holy house once more
 my lord being old also  ?" Other examples of respect can                               To see Thy glorious grace.
 easily be found in Holy Writ.                                                        IApart from Thee I long and thirst,
     The word respect likewise appears on the pages of the                              And nought can satisfy ;
  Scriptures. It appears there in a sense that  might  seem                           I wander in a desert land
 to overthrow all that which we have written above. For                                 Where all the streams are dry.
 repeatedly we are told not to have respect of persons. In                                                                Psalm 63 :l


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 185

II                                                                    committed by our Lord the care of the whole church (totius
           Contending For The Faith                               il ecclesiae cura) . . . ._. *B,ut although the keys of the kingdom
                                                                      of heaven and the power to bind and to loose, were intrusted
                                                                      to him, and the care and principality of the whole church
            The Church and the Sacraments                             (totius exclesiae  cura et principatus) , he is not called uni-
                                                                      versal bishop ; while my most holy fellow-priest (vir sanctis-
      VIEWS   DURING   THE   THIRD  PERIOD   (750-1517  A.D.)         simus consacerdos meus)  John dares to call himself universal
                                                                      bishop. I am compelled to exclaim : "0 tempora, 0 mores !"
                  THE  SUPR~~ACV   OF  THE  POPE
                                                                         We have no right to impeach Gregory's sincerity. But he
                 GREGORY   THE  GREAT   (590-604)                     was clearly inconsistent in disclaiming the name, and yet
                                                                      claiming the thing itself.
       When Eulogius (in our  preceeding  article we were                                           The real objection is to the
                                                                     pretension of a universal episcopate, not to the title. If we
quoting from Philip Shaff to the' effect that Gregory dis-           concede the former, the latter is perfectly legitimate. And
played in his correspondence with his rival a- singular com-         such universal power had already been claimed by Roman
bination of pride and humility- H.V.), in return for his
exaltation of his own see, afterwards addressed Gregory .as.         pontiffs before Gregory, such as Leo I, Felix, Gelasius, Hor-
"universal pope," he strongly repudiated the title, saying : "I      misdas, in language and acts  more haughty and self-sufficient
                                                                     than his.
have said that neither to me nor to any one else ought you
to write anything of the kind. And lo ! in the preface of your           No wonder, therefore, that the successors of Gregory,
letter you apply to me, who prohibited it, the proud title ofi       less humble and more consistent than he, had no scruple to
universal pope ; which thing I beg your most sweet Holiness          use equiyalent and even more arrogant titles than the one
to do no more, because what is given to others beyond what           against which he so solemnly protested with the warning:
reason requires is substracted  from you. I do not esteem that       "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the `humble."
an honor by which I know my brethren lose their honor.               But it is a very remarkable fact, that at the beginning of the
My honor iS that,,of  the universal Church., My honor is the         unfolding of the greatest power of the papacy one of the best
solid strength of &y brethren. I am then truly honored when          popes should have protested against the anti-Christian  pride
all and each are allowed `the honor that is due to them. For,        and usurpation of the system.
if your Holiness calls me universal pope, you deny yourself
to be that which you call me universally (that is, you own                               The Writings of Gregory.
yourself to be no pope). But no more of this: away with
words which inflate pride and wound charity !" He even                   With all the multiplicity of his cares, Gregory found
objects to the expression, "as thou hast commanded," which           time for literary labor. His books are not of great literary
had occurred in his correspondent's letter. "Which word,             merit, but were eminently popular and useful for the clergy of
commanded,' I pray you let me hear no more ; for I know              the middle ages.
what I am and what you are : in position you are my brethren,            His theology was based upon the four oecumenical coun-
in manners you are my fathers. I did not, therefore, com-            cils and the four Gospels, which he regarded as the  im-
mand, but desired only to indicate what seemed to me ex-             m&able pillars of orthodoxy (these four oecumenical coun-
pedient." (In tllese words Gregory apparently refuses to be          cils are the great councils of Nicea, of Constantinople, of.
called the universal pope ; and what we read here appears to         Ephesus, and of Chalcedon  - H.V.) ; he also accepted the
be a powerful refutation of the Roman Catholic claim with            condemnation of the three chapters by the fifth oecumenical
respect to the pope at Rome, that he, as the successor of the        council. He was a moderate Augustinian, .but with an en-
apostle Peter, m.ust be acknowledged as the head upon earth          tirely practical, unspeculative, uncritical, traditional and
of the entire Christian church throughout the world - H.V.)          superstitious bent of mind. His destruction of the Palatine
      On the other hand, it oannot be denied that Gregory,           Library, if it ever existed, is now rejected as a fable; but
while he protested in the strongest terms against the as-            It reflects his contempt for secular and classical studies as
sumption by the Eastern patriarchs of the anti-Christian  and        beneath the dignity of a Christian bishop. Yet in ecclesiastical
blasphemous title of universal bishop, claimed and exercised,        learning and pulpit eloquence he had no.superior in his age.
as far. as he had the opportunity and power, the authority
and oversight over the whole church of Christ, even in th&               Gregory is one of the great doctors or authoritative
East. "With respect to the church of Constantinople," he             fathers of the church. His views on sin and grace are almost
asks in one of his let&, "who doubt that it is subject t$            semi-pelagian. He makes predestination depend on fore-
the apostolic see ?" And in another letter : "I know not what        knohledge;  represents the fallen nature as sick only, not as
bishop is not subject to it, if fault is found in him." "To all      dead  ; lays great stress on the meritoriousness of good works,
who know the Gospels," he writes to emperor M&rice, "id              and is chiefly responsible for the doctrine of a purgatorial
is plain that to Peter, as the prince of all the apostles, was       fire, and masses for the benefit of the souls in purgatory


          186                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
           _-

           (this is surely interesting, inasmuch as these teachings of            necessity to. exemplify the highest. For that voice best pen-
          Gregory surely constitute the teachings of the Roman C&h-               etrates the hearts of hearers which the life of the speaker
          olic Church of today - H.V.)                                            commends, because what he commends in his speech he
                 His Latin style is not classical, but  exclesiastical and        helps to @-actice by his example." He advises to combine
          monl<ish  (peculiar of a monk - H.V.) ; it abounds in barbar-           meditation and action. "Our Lord," he says, "continued
          isms (the usage of words or expressions not approved or                 in prayer on the mountain, but wrought miracles in the
           standard in a language - H.V.) ; it is prolix (wearisomely             cities; showing to pastors that while aspiring to the highest,
           long and verbose - H.V.) and chatty, but occasionally sen-             they should mingle in sympathy with the necessities of the
           tentious and rising to a rhetorical pathos, which he bo,rrowed         infirm. The more kindly charity descends to the lowest, the
           from the prophets of the Old Testament.                                more vigorously it recurs to the highest." The spiritual
                 Being ignorant of the Hebrew and Greek languages, and            ruler should never be so absorbed in external cares as to
          of Oriental history and customs (although for some time a               forget the inner life of the soul, nor neglect external' things
           resident of Constantinople), Gregory lacked the first qualifi-         in the care for his inner life. "The word of doctrine fails
          cations for a grammatical and historical interpretation.                to penetrate the mind of the needy, unless commended by
                 The allegorical part is an exegetical curiosity: he reads        the hand of compassion."
           between or beneath the lines of that wonderful poem the                   Four books of D,iaZope: he wrote on the lives and mira-
     a     history of Christ and a whole system of theology natural               cles of St. Benedict of Nursia and other Italian saints, and
           and revealed. The names of persons and things, the num-                on the immortality of the soul. These dialogues between
           bers, and even the syllables, are filled' with mystic meaning          Gregory and the Roman archdeacon Peter abound in in-
           (and the following examples of Gregory's way of interpret-             credible marvels and visions of the state of departed souls.
           ing Scripture, although not of major significance as far as            He acknowledges, however, that he knew these stories only
           the purpose of this quotation is concerned, inasmuch as we             from hearsay, and defends his recording them by the exam-
          are dealing with the supremacy of the pope, may be of in-               ple of Mark and Luke, who reported the gospel from what
          terest to our readers - H.V.). Job represents Christ; his               they heard of the eyewitnesses. His veracity, therefore, is
           wife the carnal nature  ; his seven sons (seven being the num-         not at stake ; ,but it is strange that a man of his intelligence
           ber of perfection) represent the apostles, and hence  the              and good sense should believe such grot&que and childish
           clergy ; his three daughters the three .classes of the faithful        marvels. The Dialogues are the chief source of the mediae-
           laity who are to worship the Trinity  ; his friends the heretics  ;    val.superstitions  about purgatory. King Alfred ordered them
           the seven thousand sheep the perfect Christians; the three             to be translated into the Anglo-Saxon. (end of quotation
           thousand camels the heathen and Samaritans; the five hun-              from Philip Sch& concerning Gregory - H.V.)
           dred yoke of oxen and the five hundred she-asses again the                Gregory, strongly upheld the claim of the bishops of
          heathen, because the prophet Isaiah says: "The ox knowetb               Rome over the entire Church as successors of the apostle
          his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth noti          Peter. It was Pope -G;egory  whose work in behalf of mis-
          know, my people doth not consider."                                     sions, as we saw, had such far-reaching results. To him has
                 Among his many writings is also a treatise -0.n the duties.      also been ascribed the style of church music known as the
          and responsibilities of the ministerial office, in justification        Gregorian chant. Gregory taught that the Lord's Supper
           of his reluctance to undertake the burden of the papal dig-            is a repetition of the sacrifice of Christ, that the saints can
          nity (we wish to quote this from the writing of Philip                  be of help to us, and that there is a purgatory. He stood
           Schaff  because of its interesting suggestions which need no           for all the things which form the most distinctive traits of
          explanation  - H.V.) . It is more practical than Chrysos-               the Church of the Middle Ages.
          tom's "Priesthood." It  tias held in the highest esteem in                                                                        H.V.
          the Middle Ages, translated into Greek by order of the
          emperor Maurice, and into Anglo-Saxon by King Alfred,
          and given to the bishops in France at their ordination, to-                              LONGING AFTER GOD
          gether with the book of canons, as a guide in the discharge
          of their duties. Gregory, according to the spirit of his age,             As pants the hart for streams of living water,
          enjoins strict celibacy even upon sub-deacons. But other-                   So longs my  squl, 0 living God, for Thee;
          wise he gives most excellent advice suitable to all times. He             I thirst for Thee, for Thee my heart is yearning;
          makes preaching one of the chief duties of pastors, in the                  When shall I come Thy gracious face to see ?
          discharge of which he himself set a good example. He warns,
          them to guard against the besetting sin of pride at the very              Why, 0 my soul, art thou cast down within me,
          outset; for they will not easily learn humility in a high posi-             Why art thou troubled and oppressed with grief?
          tion. They should preach by their lives as well as their                  Hope thou in God, the God of thy salvation,
          words. "He who, by the necessity or his position, is re-                    Hope, and  thk God will surely send relief.
          quired to speak the highest things, is compelled by the same                                                             Psalm 42 :l, 4




I


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               187

                                                                     indeed used by `the Remonstrants to contradict the truth
 11  The  `uoice of Our Fathers                                      of man's total depravity, -in order in the second, con-
                                                                     trasting, part of this fourth article to maintain that this real
                                                                     fact concerning the natural man does not at all change the
                The Canons of Dordrecht                              truth of his total depravity. Such is the plain language of
                                                                     this article: "There is indeed in nian after the fall a residual
                            PART  TWO                                light `of nature, by benefit of which he retains a kind of
                                                                     knowledge concerning God, etc. . . . Bud . . ." It is within
                  EXPOSITION   OF  THE  CANONS                       these limits, therefore, that this knowledge of the natural
                                                                     man, which he retains by virtue of the residue of natural
           THIRD  AND  FOURTH   HEADS   OF  DOCTRINE                 light that is in him, must be defined.
                                                                        First of all, then, man retains a certain knowledge con-
   OF  TI-IE  CORRUPTION   OF  MAN,   HIS  CONVERSION   TO  GOD,     cerning God. It is of this knowledge that the apostle Paul
                  AND  THE  MANNER  THEREOF                          speaks in  Remans  1:19, 20: "Because that which may be
                                                                     known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed  it
                      Article 4 (continued)                          unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation
                                                                     of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
     In the second place, our fathers carefully define and           that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that
  delineate the limits of this natural light. For we are told        they are without excuse." Here, therefore, we have a concise
  that through these glimmerings of natural light, man "retains' Scriptural delineation of the natural man's knowledge con-
  some knowledge of God, of natural things, and of the differ-       cerning God. God Himself sees to it that man has this
  ence between things good and evil (honorable and base), and        knowledge. For : "That which may be known. of God is
  show a kind of regard for virtue and external order."              manifest in them ; for God bath sltezved  it unto them." The
     The question is : what is meant by this knowledge ? Wh$         invisble things of God are, according to the text, that which
is included in it? Do the fathers indeed mean to maintain            may be known of God and which is manifest in them and
 here something that stands, to an extent at least, in contradic-    which God shews unto them. Those invisible things are
 tion of that which they stated previously? Do they mean toI         God's virtues, or attributes, as' they are in themselves in-
 present here something which mitigates to an extent the             visible, hid, knowable only when God Himself makes them,
  condemning judgment expressed in Article 3, that all men           known. From the creation of the world on, God has made
  are conceived in sin and by nature children of wrath, in-          known, in such a way that the creature can receive this
 capable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin, and in          manifestation, His invisible things. And He has ddne this
  bondage thereto, so that without the regenerating grace  oE        through the things that are made. Through the things that
 the Holy Spirit they are neither able nor willing to return         are made God speaks concerning tiimself. Thus thl: Scrip-
  to God, to reform the depravity of their nature, nor even to       tures also tell us : "The heavens declare the glory of God,
  dispose themselves to reformation? Does the statement of           and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day
  Article 4 contradict to a degree the viciousness of the vicious    uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth forth knowl-
  nature spoken of `in Article 2 ? And does `this knowledge          edge." Through the things that are made, therefore, the
  which man retains by virtue of this residual natural light         invisible things of God are set forth, objectively revealed.
  mean that man's blindness of mind, horrible darkness, vanity       The speech of the things that are made is that God is,
  and perverseness of judgment is after all not total? Such          that He is God, that He is the Lord that must be worshipped
  indeed would seem to be the only conclusion of those who           and feared. For the apostle further defines those invisible
  find in this fourth article evidence of a certain common grace     things of God as "his eternal power and Godhead." God's
  of God. And such would seem to be the implication of               everlasting power,. His infinite and incomprehensible ability
  Article 4 when we take cognizance of the term "however,"           to do things, to execute His will, is plainly declared in all
  which appears in our English tianslation. It would seem as         His works. The things that are made testify to a power that
  though there is a contrast between Article 4 and the preced-       man can never imitate, a power that is eternal, distinctively
  ing. This, however, is not true. The Latin qttidem is more         divine. And, in fact, God makes known through the things
  correctly translated by the Dutch,  "We1 is waar," or by the       that are made His unique, divine glory, His Godhead, - z!l
  English, "indeed." And the contrast is not between Article         His divine attributes in their characteristic divinity. More-
  4 and Article 3. But the contrast which the fathers draw           over, the apostle refers not only`to the fact that these invisible
  is to be found in Article 4 itself. In the first part of the       (things of God are objectively revealed through the things
  article the fathers of Dordt take into account a certain real      that are made ; but he speaks of them as being clearly seen,
  fact concerning the natural  man, -a fact which might seem         contemplated, even to the extent that they are "understood."
  to some at least at first glance to contradict the truth of        Man sees the things that are made with the physical eye. And
  total depravity posited in Article 3, and a fact which was         back of his physical eye is the light of the mind, of the


     l&S ,                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D .   B E A R E R

     understanding, by which he is adapted to interpret and to            which man clearly sees and understands the invisible things
     understand fhe manifestation of God in the things which he           of God, namely, His eternal power and Godhead. The more,
     sees, This purely intellectual power to discern the eternal          therefore, that man understands and discovers concerning
     power and divinity of God in the things that are made is             things natural, the more clearly he is confronted by the,
     his natural light. And, even though this natural light is            `testimony of God through the things that are made. And in-
     greatly reduced through the corrupting power of sin and              deed, sometimes it appears as though man is able to under-
I    death, man has not entirely lost it. He retains a residue. Hi3       stand and to discover much concerning the things natural,
     sin and his depravity is not intellectual ignorance. He has          and to put them to much use.
     not lost the power of intellection. He is not in total natural
     darkness. On the contrary, he has retained enough of this                     But again, we must notice that there is in this knowledge
     power so that he is aware of God, and so that he has in              of things natural as suclz no spiritual, ethical concent  whatso-
     his deepest  izonsciousness,  or sub-consciousness, the testimony    ever. The question as to whether there remains in fallen man
     of  Gsd's eternal power and of His infinitely glorious at-           any good, and whether he performs any good, and the ques-
     tributes. If this were not true, man could not even oppose           tion as to whether he is the object of the favor of God is
     God. If this were not true, he could not even be held a              not answered by the fact that he is able to live and to en-
     sinner in the  judgtient  of God. But now he knows God               large upon the scope of his earthly life, and by the fact that
     in the sense that he knows that God is, and that He is God,          he has a knowledge of things natural. Considered abstractly,
     and that He is to be glorified and thanked.                          such a man, with such a knowledge, may be either a good;
                                                                          man or an evil man, may be eitherthe object of God's favor
         Once again we must notice that in this knowledge con-            or the object of God's wrath. But the latter are determined
     cerning God (IS sz4.ch there is absolutely no question of grace      by his spiritual, ethical relation to the living God.
     or lack of grace. Such a man, with such knowledge of God,
     can be  e&her  the object of God's favor or the object of                     The third element of this re&nant of natural light, men-
     God's wrath. Apart from Christ, the fact that man has only           tioned in the article, is a knowledge of the differerice be-
     glimmerings, remnants, of this natural,`intellectual  power to,      tween things good and evil. This knowledge, let us under-
     know things concerning God bespeaks no divine favor what-            stand, the natural man has even apart from any special
     soever. On the contrary, those very remnants can only serve          revelation of the  law  of God and apart from any contact
     as a constant reminder of the wrath of God that stripped him         with the Word of God as it is revealed in Holy Writ. Thus
     of the largest part of even this natural knowledge. Again,           we read in Romans 2 :14, 15 : "For when the Gentiles, which
     it would have been far better for man, considered apart              have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the
     from Christ, if he had been totally stripped of this knowledge.      law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
     Then indeed he would know nothing concerning God. But                Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their
     then too he could not be `held responsible to glorify and to!        conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean,
     than& God. And then he could not be the object of `the               while accusing or else excusing one another." Here we are
     visitation of God's consuming wrath. Then he would be like           taught, first of all, that the Gentiles do by nature the things
     the dumb beast.. But at least a beast does not go to hell!           contained in the law, or, literally, "the things of the law."
                                                                          Notice that the apostle does not say that they keep the,
        In the second place, by this same natural light man retains       commandments, that they perform the precepts of thk law.
     a certain knowledge concerning things natural. He was                This would be quite impossible, for, according to the, con-
     created with such power to know things natural. It belongs           text, the apostle is speaking of those who sin and perish
     to his very creaturely make-up. He was created a royal               without the law. But the Gentiles do by nature the things
     creature, king of the earthly creation. He was created to            which properly belong to the function of the law, the things
     have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of         which `the law normally does, wherever it exists as an ob-
     the air, and over every living -thing that moveth upon the           jective code of precepts. What is that which the law does?
     earth. Created he was to subdue the earth. And even in his,          The law draws the lines of demarcation between good and
     rebellion and depravity also this power he does not entirely         evil in every department of life. The law says "Thou shalt"
     lose. By the light of that knowledge, fallen man is ab,le tot        and "Thou shalt not," with respect to the various spheres of
     live his present earthly life.  `By it he is able to understand      man's life. And the Gentiles, who are without the law as a
     and to use the earth and its fulness. By that light he develops      code, do those things of the law by nature. Without a
     the sciences, and discovers the hidden powers of creation,           .specially revealed code, the Gentiles determine for them-
     and puts them to his use, and invents the wonders of the             selves where the lines of demarcation run between good and
     modern world. Furthermore, we may even say that there ia             evil.
     a certain relation between his knowledge of. things natural
     and his knowledge concerning God. For after all, the things,                                   (to be continued)
     natural are the same as the things that are made, through                                                                    H . C . H .


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 189

                                                                      Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah, should have taken this
           DECENCY and ORDER                                          attitude : `We are civil rulers or leaders and so we must have
                                                                      nothing to do with determining the religious worship of the
                                                                      people. They must have absolute religious freedom to do as
              The Church and the State                                they `wish ; and although we personally may not agree with
                                                                      their ideas of worship, yet they have the `right' to `enjoy'
                          (Continued)                                 whatever form of religious worship they may choose for
    In the final major argument against the doctrine of               themselves."
the separation of Church and State, the editor of the Con-                Some of the examples of civil magistrates, within and
tedw reasons that the Old Testament nation of Israel is               outside of the kingdom of Israel, engaging in religious
an example to the nations of, the world and, "from the be-            activities are worthy of mention in this connection. Cyrus,
ginning the national life and the religious life of the Israelites    king of Persia, issues a decree to rebuild the temple in Jeru-
were bound together."                                                 salem not only but he even made available tax-money for
    This argument is too lengthy to reproduce in its entirety         this purpose. (Ezra 1:1-S). Some years later Darius, one
but we shall mention a few of the salient points. Several             of his successors, did likewise. (Ezra 6 :l-12). Nehemiah,
passages of Scripture are quoted to show: firstly, "that the          the civil ruler in Jerusalem, enacted several religious reforms
civil magistrate is a minister or servant of God and that he          among which are to be mentioned : (a) He cast out of the
has been placed in his office of authority and power by the           house of God the heathen enemy of the Jews, Tobiah, to
sovereign decree and act of God"; secondly,. "that God is.            whom Eliashib the priest had given an apartment, and
the supreme ruler of the nations, that Christ, is the King of         restored the articles that rightly belonged to God's house,
kings, and that, for this reason, all nations are under obilga-       (b) He restored various offices of which their incumbents,
tion to God and Christ." From this the conclusion is drawn            such as the Levites and singers, had been deprived, (c) He
that the civil magistrate has not only the right but the              stopped Sabbath day violations, (d) He resolutely cleansed
obligation as well to establish religious policy and to exercise      mixed marriages between Jewish men and heathen women,
authority in ecclesiastical affairs.                                  and (e) He rearranged the Levites' work, and satisfactorily
   All of this is concluded from the fact that many examples          settled matters." (N h
                                                                                             e emiah 13) David, the king, made
of kings in Israel (civil rulers) exercising themselves in            preparations for the building of the temple and laid out huge
ecclesiastical affairs can be cited. Writes  MacKay, "God;            sums from the king's treasury for this work. Later it was
Himself joined Church and State in Israel and ordained that           excuted by His son Solomon. Hezekiah and Josiah re-
the civil rulers should take a principal part in promoting            established the true worship of God .after  periods of decline
the spiritual welfare of the people. If we accept as our guide        and apostasy. The reinstituted the celebration of the Pass-
the Scriptural record of the kings who reigned in Jerusalem,          over and took their stand for the true service of God op-
especially the kings blessed of God such as David, Solomon,           posing false worship and idolatry. Much more could- be
Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah, we' are bound to               added yet but the reader can find it for himself in his Old
arrive at the same conclusion as to the relationship between          Testament Bible.
Church and State that the Westminster divines reached."                  Concerning all of this MacKay writes : "If the godly kings
(Note - This conclusion is the same as that expressed in              of Judah had acted according to the modern North American
the original 28th Article of our Church Order and in Article          idea of religious freedom the true worship of God would
36 of our Belgic Confession prior to the decision of the              soon have been overwhelmed by the rising flood of false
Synod of 1910).                                                       worship. It would have disappeared beneath a great mass of
   The editor further points out from these examples that             abominable and corrupt worship. This is exactly what is
if the doctrine of separation of Church and State is correct,         now happening to the true worship of God in North America
these Biblical examples must be'in error when they, function-         and other regions where our doctrine of `full, free and un-
ing as civil magistrates, made "religious covenants of one            questioned' religious liberty, so-called, has been adopted.
kind or another with God on behalf, of the nation," and               Never in the history of mankind has there been a more
further when they "condemned the worship of the golden                perfect plan devised for the nourishment and spread of false
calf,  Baa1 worship, the worship of Molech, the queen of              religions than for the State to put them on an equality with
heaven, the sun, moon and planets, and various other forms            the true religion and to grant them the full, free and un-
of worship which the people chose for themselves by exer-             questioned `right' to enjoy and propagate their false religions.
cising `religious freedom.' "                                         It is a fact that false systems of religion spread much faster
   He adds, "These men were wrong in uprooting all forms              than the Truth. They do that under the most difficult con-
of false worship by cutting down, burning, breaking in                ditions, -how much more do they flourish when they have
pieces or otherwise destroying the people's groves, shrines           the State's `blessing' upon them, as they do in North Amer-
and idols. According to North America's way of thinking,              ica ! We can imagine the degenerate condition that any farm.
Moses and the godly kings such as David, Solomon, Asa,                would soon reach if.the farmer were to put weeds, briars and

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

thistles on an equality with wheat, barley and tomatoes, giv-        by undermining the rights of others, and (3) It is logica.lly
ing the obnoxious growths `full, free and unquestioned liberty' wrong, for you are contradicting yourself by saying, on the
to grow and spread as they wish. North America has indeed.           one hand, that the Roman Catholic Church is on an equality
become a `farm' over which every kind of weed, briar and             with the Presbyterian Church, and on the other hand you are
thistle of false doctrine has spread until it has become al-         saying that it is anythin g but equal to your own church."
most impossible to discover the good plants of Truth. Try               Thus the church looses her fight except where she can
to find in any degree - if you can - the ancient and apostolic       combat the lies of atheism. and the ignorance of pagans. For
doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of God along with the           the rest she must be content to say, if she wishes to honor her
related doctrine of unequal and unconditional election, with-        government and maintain any degree of consistency, that all
out which there can be no Christian faith, in the midst of the       churches and all beliefs are good and none are bad. And what
flourishing weeds and thistles of Roman Catholicism (now             does this position lead to ? The following quotation expresses
growing faster than ever and making up nearly one half of            the answer as the Editor of The Contender sees it.
Canada's population and one fifth of the United States),                "The great outdoors tells us that a good thing and a bad
Modernism and Unitarianism, Arminianism  and Baptistism,             thing cannot be regarded as equal. A tree that's worm and in-
Premillinialism and Dispensationalism, Pentecostalism, Sev-          sect-eaten and produces bad fruit cannot be in the same class
enth Day Adventism, Spiritualism,  Universalism, Jehovah's           as a tree that is healthy and gives choice fruit. A deforested,
Witnesses, Christian Science, Mormonism and so on."                  run-down, washed-out tract of land cannot be considered
       The author we have been quoting contends that Scripture       equal to a well-watered, fertile, beautiful region. Any
supports the "original Presbyterian doctrine of the State            governmental agriculture bureau which would make no dis-
acknowledging and supporting the  Reformed<  faith, that is,         tinction between good and bad produce, and class worthless
for the `establishment' of the true religion by the State." That     land with valuable property would soon be given a thorough
being the case it follows that the. Civil State has a Divine         shake-up. But, strange to say, when it comes to religion, the
mandate to eradicate by means of force, if necessary, every          government (which we must remember is ordained of God
false religious sect and, apostate church. Were the State            whether it acknowledges it or not, or even whether it realizes
to. assume such power today, a religious persecution un-             it or not) puts all religions on an equality making no distinc-
paralleled in history would take place and, were this to be          tion between a `good tree' and a `corrupt tree,' no difference
sanctioned by God in heaven, it would be imperative that a           between grapevines and thorny brambles, or figs and thistles
~TZI.B  Josiah or Hezekiah be seated at the head of the govern-      as Christ did in the Sermon on the Mount, - Matt. 7 :16, 17.
ment of the United States or Canada. To direct the faithful          And everywhere in Protestant circles this Equality standard
church toward an expectation of such a revival is, I believe,        is praised as just and right. No wonder the ordinary citizen
misleading but rather we shall, D.V., a bit later write of the       can see no difference between truth and error ! The Equality
reality of Scripture for which the faithful must even now be         doctrine has blinded his mind. And as long as this Equality
prepared and according to which those. who adhere to and             doctrine is maintained by government and church leaders,
maintain without compromise the c`tvz~e Reformed Faith" will         there will be no possibility of our citizens seeing any differ-
be the objects of the persecution instigated by "the man of          ence between truth and error."
sin, the son of perdition" who, by all that isfalse and apostate,       Next time, D.V., we will begin our evaluation of these
will be exalted and honored.                                         arguments in an attempt to arrive at the truth concerning
       First we must mention yet one more reason the editor of       the matter of the Church and State !
The Contende'er is opposed to the doctrine of separation be-                                                               G.v.d.B.
tween church and state.' This argument, if I understand it
correctly, is that the doctrine that all religions have equal                ENTREATY AND HOPEFUL TRUST
rights which, as MacKay sees it, is synonymous with the
doctrine of the separation of church and state, the calling                     Lord, hear me when I pray,
of the church to oppose and fight false doctrine is denied.                       And answer me in grace;
For he writes: "If all religions have equal rights to enjoy                     Oft as I hear Thee say,
whatsoever they believe and to propagate their doctrines                          Come ye and seek My face,
then it is wrong for any one religion to oppose another : (1)                   My heart and lips their answer speak,
It is legally wrong, for if the government says, for example,                   Thy face, Jehovah, will I seek.
that the Roman Catholic Church has just as much right to                        Hide not Thy face from me,
enjoy its religion as has the Presbyterian Church, then you                       In wrath turn not away,
are opposing the spirit of the law by saying that  RomAn                        My help and Saviour be,
Catholicism is a false, wicked and dangerous system of re-                        Forsake me not, I pray ;
ligion  ; (2) It is wzo?*aZZy wrong, for if Roman Catholics have                Should father, mother, both forsake,
such rights, then you are acting unjustly in trying to persuade                 The Lord on me will pity take.
people that this Church is an undesirable organization,  there-                                                      Psalm 27:1, 2.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 191

                                                                       sign his name under the Thee Points of 1924 adopted by
           A'LL  A R O U N D   U S                                     the Christian Reformed Synod of Kalamazoo.           1
                                                                          I have reason to believe that Van Til is sincere when he
                                                                       writes now that the doctrine of the Three Points is dso his,
Daa.ne  `Versus  Kan  T`il on  the  Ofer  a,nd  1924                   but I hope with Daane that he will clarify his position. I
                                                                       cannot agree with Daane that "it is gratifying to read that
    In the October 1, 1956 issue of The Standard Bearer we             Dr. Van Til agrees with the position of Professors Murray
commented on an article written by Dr. James Daane which               and Stonehouse, and also with my judgment that their posi-
appeared in the September, 1956 issue of  The Reforhed                 tion is in the tradition of the Three Points of 1924. It is
Journa.1  in which he complimented the Professors Murray               also gratifying to see Van Til declare that he himself agrees;
and Stonehouse of the Orthodox Presbyterian Seminary on                with the Three Points." Our reason for the latter is obvi-
their pamphlet entitled: TjLe Free O#er of the Gospel.                 ously that we declare the Three Points of 1924 to be false
    NTow, in the December, 1956 issue of  Tlze  Reformed               doctrines.
Jozi.l-nal,  in the department: Letters to the Journal, Dr. C.
Van- Til of the O.P. Seminary published a letter directed              Pa.thos  of  HzLnga?pian   Protestant&c
against the article of Dr. Daane, above referred to, to which             Under the above title M. Eugene Osterhaven writes in
Dr. Daane gives his reply.                                             the November  26,  1956 issue of  Claristia.nity Today.  Be-
    It appears that Dr. Daane in commenting on the pam-                cause the current news reports via Neswpapers, Magazines,
phlet of Murray and Stonehouse among other things charged              Radio, etc., are filled with inform&ion concerning the revolu-
"that there were those in the ministry of the O.P. Church              tion of the Hungarian nation which is struggling for free-
who opposed the idea of the free offer of the gospel to all            dom from the Red Regime now occupying that country,
who are addressed by it." Van Til concluded that Daane                 we thought our readers would be interested in reading the
had him in mind when he made that statement. Van `IX,                  short article above referred to. It may interest those of our
therefore, now wants it, to be known that he is in perfect             readers who do not already know ,that there are a consider-
agreement with Murray and Stonehouse on the subject of                 able number of Reformed Protestants who are in the very
Tl"te Free Offer of the Gospel,  and he is in complete agree-          center of the trouble that may in time bring about another
ment with the Three Pknts of 1924. Daane, on the other                 war. We quote most of the article without further comment :
hand, in his reply to Van Til, asserts that he is grateful "that           "The tragic developments in Hungary have involved a
Dr. Van Til agrees with the position of Professors Murray              large and flourishing Protestant community there.  Twenty-
and Stonehouse, and also with my judgment that their posi-             eight percent of the population is Protestant  ; of these, twenty
tion is in the tradition of the Thyee Points of 1924 ;" but Dr.        percent are Reformed and six percent Lutheran. They have
Daane~  asserts further that he finds it difficult to reconcile        been suffering with their compatriots in the recent attempts
this assertion of Dr. Van Til with his writings, especially            to throw off Soviet domination and gain freedom.
in his book, entitled: Covvtlqton Grace. Dr. Daane concludes
his reply with the following paragraph: "I conclude as I               SAGA OF SUFFERING
began. Dr. Van Til would render a valuable service if he                   Suffering is not a new experience for Hungarian Prot-
would in his writings show us how his position on common               estantism, however. Its history is a moving tale of glory
grace and on the general offer of the gospel relates to and can        and of woe. It is glorious because of the eagerness with which
be harmonized with 1924, and with that of Murray and                   a large majority of the population at one time accepted the
 Stonehouse. If'it can be done, I will be among the first to,          Reformation of the sixteenth century ; because of the centers
acknowledge it."                                                       of learning which it founded and has maintained for cen-
    It is rather interesting to see how Van Til with a large           turies: because of its impact upon Magyar culture; and
number of references to his writings rushes to assert that he          because of its loyalty to the faith through centuries of op-
is in perfect agreement with the position of Murray and                pression and persecution. It is a tale of woe because of the
 Stonehouse while at the same time maintaining the doctrinal           almost incredible sufferings imposed upon its adherents by
 Three Points of 1924 ; and that Daane, inspite  of Van Til's          Turk and Romanist who expressed only contempt, in those
 assertios  to the contrary, is still suspicious of the position of    centuries, for the Word of God and the re-forming people
 Van Til as set forth in his book Copw?pLon  Gr,ace.                   who sought to live by it.
    Dr. Daane is not the only one who holds Dr. C. Van Til                 The historian d'ilubigne  writes that `it was by a kind -
 in suspicion. Dr. William Masselink has also attacked the             of thunderclap that the Reformation began in Hungary.' Its
 views of Van Til as chiefly set forth in his book Copr~~~utzon        spread was so rapid that within a few years, by 1525, the
 Grace. Though it is now several years ago that I twice read           five royal, free cities in upper Hungary had already embraced
 the book, and though I then found the book difficult to               the faith  ,re-for?pLed  according to God's Word. The following
 understand because of its philosophical bent, I too confess           year, however, the first note was struck in a melancholy strain
 that it left the- impression with me that Van Til could not           which threatened to develop into the funeral dirge of  Hun-


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 192                                             T H E   STAN'DAR'D"-%EARER

garian Protestantism. For on the fateful twenty-ninth day                  and this congregation, that I desire' to be a loyal, obedient,
of August, Suleiman  the Magnificent, the Turkish Sultan                   and self-sacrificing member of- the Reformed Church. For
who was to cause all Europe to tremble, killed the Hungarian               this reason I promise and pledge that I shall attend
 King, the flower of the nobility, a long.line  of aristocrats, and        regularly the services of worship and the sacrament of the
annihilated the Hungarian army. The reverberations of the                  Lord's Supper; that I shall submit to ecclesiastical dis-
i battle of Mohacs were heard in every hamlet and peasant                  cipline ; that I shall rear my `children of the Reformed
home in the country and served as an ominous warning of                    faith in that faith ; and that I shall participate in the
difficulties ahead. For more than a century and a half the.:              `material support of my Church and in her benevolences
Turks dominated most of the country and the flower of Hun-                 according to my ability. In all these resolves I pray for
gary's youth and manhood sought to stem the Moslem ad-                    ~the effective help of God's Holy Spirit.
vance and save Europe.                                                     This unprecedented action of the Synod was a potent
    A more severe persecution, however, was experienced. factor in the strengthening of Hungary's evangelical wit-
at the hands of Jesuit and Habsburg representing respectively          ness . . . .
ecclesiastical and secular. imperialism both of which were in
the service of Rome. Whereas Turkish masters fought their              PROTESTANT VALOR
battles for the glory of Allah, the other, more devastating,               The  tragedy.of  that struggle has deepened in these last
oppression was done in the name of Jesus and might well                days and Hungarian Protestantism lies in agony with the
have destroyed the easternmost European rampart of Re-                 rest of the country. The complete story we do not yet know.
formation Christianity had not the Prussian, English and               But we do know that much of the leadership of the Small-
Dutch governments intervened in its behalf. Cut off from               landholders Party, overthrown in the revolution of 1945,
the rest of Protestant Europe, with the, help of God and               hated by the victorious Communists, and active in the most
occasional help from fellow Protestants, the Magyars main-             recent revolt, came from the Protestant Church.
tained a virile evangelical witness.        ~                              In 1848, an even century before the .Communist coup,
                                                                       there was another great war for independence with a finale
RAVAGES OF WAR                                                         similar to that which we have just witnessed. Led by  a
    A reading of the history of the Magyar Reformed Church             Protestant, Louis  Kossuth,  Hungary's greatest patriot, that
enables one to understand how it could survive during the              effort to achieve freedom from foreign domination seemed as-
past two decades of our era. Raped and looted by the vast              sured of success until crushed by the might of Russia which,
armies of two powerful countries, Germany and Russia,                  then as now, feared the popular demands for freedom by
during World War II., Hungary's condition became tragic. suppressed peoples. Again it has been Russia, the Com-
The  .lurid details can be read in such reliable reports as            munist rulers of which, by their own admission, have liquid-
those of the Swiss Legation in IBudapest  . . ..Almost  every          ated millions of their own countrymen to consolidate their
home, every shop, was entered and looted several times with            power which has- steam-rollered the heroic, and pathetic,
almost everything of value taken . . . During the war two              Hungarian quest for freedom.
complete harvests had been lost and the Central European                   In a moving address delivered `a decade ago, Dr. Charles
drought of 1947 ruined most of that one.                               Vincze, leading Hungarian-American pastor now deceased,
    The one bright spot in this picture was the witness of the         closed with these words :
Church in Hungary. Throughout the struggle there had been                  The Magyars of the past stormy centuries, while defend-
faithful preaching of the Word of God. The Reformed com-                   ing their own way of life and that of the Western World,
munity heeded the advice of its presiding superintendent  who'             against the onrushing hordes of Mohammed, used the
exhorted it, ringed about with apparently insuperable dif-                 Savior's name for a battle cry. `Jesus ! Jesus ! Jesus !' they
ficulties, to look `inward and upward.' In May, 1947, Synod                shouted, while facing the onslaught and laying down their I
of the Reformed Church solemnly declared that, in view of                  lives for -a West that never really knew or appreciated
the circumstances through which its members had passed,                    them or even cared to do so. In spite of all the unfavor-
all who desired to retain church membership should re-                     able experiences of the past, all the Magyars that are
affirm their faith with the following declaration:                      really Magyars turn once more toward the West and in
    I give thanks to God, my heavenly Father-,-for receiving               the name of Jesus ask for the kind of life which they so
    me into.His Holy Church, into the communion of the be-                 self-sacrificingly helped to preserve for the West.
    lievers of Jesus Christ, through the sacrament of baptism.
    I remember also my profession and vow made at  con&ma-                 That request has become a cry. It is a cry from a H,un-
    tion through which I gained admittance into the com-               gary which today is in the throes of..death. The free world
    municant fellowship of the congregation. And now, in               has heard it. May God give us the courage and strength to
    order to become a full-fledged member of the Church and            respond.?  ~                                                     .
    as a renewal of my confirmation vow, I declare before God                                                                      M.S.


