     VOL`UME  XXX111                           FEBRUARY 15, 1957  L  GUANO RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                NU~IBER 10

                                                                               It seems to me that we should put the question in this
              MEDIT'ATION                                                  way first: what does the idea pf water tell us in the natural
                                                                      I    sense ?
       THE  RIVER  OF  THE  WATER  OF  LIFE                                    Putting the' question that way I' would say that the idea
              "`And he shewed  me a pure river of water of life, clear     of natural water is as clear as crystal. Water is one of the
              as crystal, proceeding o,ut of. the throne of                two things that are absolutely essential to life, natural life.
                                                                God and    It is indispensable to man on earth. We can spare many
              of  the Lamb." - Rev. 22:l.                                  things but tiota water. And the second essential is bread.
     There is perhaps no imagery quite so vivid in its speech If you have dry bread' and water you have' in these two
 as the language of water. It is a figure that is often em-                things the two requisites for life on earth.
 ployed by the .Holy Ghost in the Holy Scriptures. Both in                     And as it is in the natural sense so also in the spiritual
 the Old and the New Testament we note its speech. One of                  sense: spiritual bread and spiritual water are necessary for
 the very first Psalms that we learn in our earliest infancy               spiritual life.
 is the beautiful 42nd psalm with its central theme of the
 thirst for streams of living water.. But also in other portions               For it is evident that bread and water as used in Scripture
 of the Old Testament do we find its language; Think, for                  mean the same thing. Attend for instance on this text in
 instance, of Isa. 44 :3 : "For I will pour water upon him that            John : "And Jesus said &to them: I am the bread of life:
 is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground." Also the vision               he that  cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he believeth
 of Joel in his prophecy of Pentecost we hear language that on Me shall never thirst." Here we see plainly that bread
 reminds us of water: `IAnd it shall come to pass afterwards,              and water have the same spiritual meaning. Coming to
 that I will pozcr out My Spirit . . ." And who does not know              Christ and believing on Him are presented in this text as
 the voices of Isaiah `when he speaks in almost New Testa-                 eating and drinking Christ.
 ment language of the blessings of salvation: "Ho, every one
 that thirsteth, come ye to the waters . . ."?                                                      8  *  *  *
    So also in the New Testament. More than once we have
 heard our Lord Jesus say: "If anjr man thirst, let him come                  This leads us to the next question: is there a text or
unto Me and drink." So also to the Samaritan woman: "But                   texts in God's Word that tell us what the exact meaning
 whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him;. shall             is of this spiritual brea4 and water 7 And the answer is yes.
 never thirst; but thi water that I shall give him, shall be               You find it in the' Old `Testament in Isaiah 44 :3, half of
 in him a well of water springing up into `everlasting life."              which we quoted already. I will now quote the whole text:
 And;finally,  we hear the same speech of water in the visions             t`For  I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods
 of John who received the revel$ion  of Jesus Christ on the                upon the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed
 isle of Patmos. Time and again does this apostle speak of                 and My blessing upon thy offspring." It ought to be clear
 water. Note the first verse of chapter 22: "And he shewed                 as crystal to anyone that in the second clause of the text we
 me a- pure river of water of Iife, clear as crystil, proceding            find the explanation of the first. Water and floods stand for
 out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."                                God's Spirit and His blessings.
                                                                              Wt hear the same thing in John 7 :37b and 39. There we
                            *  *  *  *
                                                                           read : "If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink.
    The question ~arises : what iS the meaning of the speech               But this spake He of the Spirit which they that believe on
 of water?                                                                 Him should `receive."

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

    So we may safely conclude that the vivid speech of water' glad. The sorrowing and sighing will flee away when you
which is employed in God's Word in a spiritual sense stands           walk on the brink of the river and drink of its pure water.
for the Holy Spirit and His blessings. And more particularly,             Moreover, this river, or rather its water is clear as
the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ.                              crystal. That is a further descriptive qualification of the
    That water is often portrayed as finding its recipient            same. And I would say that it stresses the fact that this
through the further imagery of a river or of streams of the           water is as virtuous as God is. Using a different imagery,
river. It is called "the river of God" or "the river of God's         the Bible states that God is light and in Him is no darkness
pleasures" ; also the Bible speaks of this river as having            at all. That is saying the same thing as when we read here
streams that make glad the city of God. And finally there is          that the river of water of life is clear as crystal. It means
again that text in Rev. 22 which speaks of this same river            that it is as virtuous as God is virtuous. It means that if,
of God: the river of the water of life.                               you drink it, you receive the communicable attributes of God.
                                                                      You drink in peace and joy and holiness and righteousness
                               *  *  +  *                             and life and light and faith and hope and love and all the
                                                                      virtues that are bound up in the Holy Spirit of Christ.
    When next we would ask what the meaning is of this
speech of a river then I would say that it seems to mean                 What a river !
distribution. I would base this opinion on Isaiah 66:12a,                One more thing I would like to accentuate before we will
where we read: "For thus saith the Lord,, I  VJZXZ  en-tend           ask a few questions as to its origin. `And that is this that the
peace  to her  like a  river and the glory of  tlw  Gentiles  like    text calls this river the river of Z;fe.
a. flowing stream . . .  ."                                              That means the same thing as when this river is called
    In this text we find the explanation ofl the idea there is        the river of God's pleasures. God's pleasure or His good-
in the river. So it is indeed also .in the natural. The Lord          pleasure is His life. It is the pleasurable life of His cov-
distributes water to the land by rivers. At least, it is one of       enant and it stresses the fact that when you drink of this
the modes of distributing water to lands and peoples.                 water you will get drunk of the same kind of pleasure as
    So we may say that when the Bible speaks of the river             God enjoys in His own covenant life. Of course, you will
of the water of life the extending of `the Holy Spirit with all       enjoy it in the measure and the quality of the creature. But
His blessings is meant.                                               tit is nevertheless the life of God's covenant, the life 06 love
                                                                      and of friendship. In love we shall know Him and in friend-
    Further we note that two qualifications are given in Rev.         ship we shall tell Him all our heart. Does not the Bible say
22 :l of this blessed river. First that this river is pure.           that this is life eternal that they (and that is you) shall
    It seems to me that this means that there are no foreign          know Thee and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent?
elements in this water. There is no darkness or evil in the
Holy Spirit as He is given to Christ and as Christ extends                                       *  *  *  *
that Spirit to the Church. You are absolutely safe in drink-             Now another question. Where  doeS the river spring?
ing this water. When traveling through our country we note            Where is its source ?
sometimes that when entering a city or village there are
found advertisements of the drinking water that read: The                And the text gives the answer: It proceeds from the
watersupply of this city is tested and approved and therefore         throne of God and of the Lamb.
pure. Then these people mean that there are no colonies                   No* we must not make the mistake to think that there
of bacteri?  in the water or an undue amount of obnoxious             are two sources : God and the Lamb. We might get that im-
minerals. They mean that the elements in such water are of            pression. And the reason'is that these two. names are placed
the right kind and of the right proportions.                          alongside one another and connected by the co-ordinate con-
    So also with the water of the Spirit of Christ and His            junction and. We use that conjunction to co-ordinate things
blessings. You are safe in drinking of this water. It will            and persons  and actions and conditions, etc. That is : by
not harm yoti at all. There are no impure elements in it              using the word avtd we place things and persons alongside
that would endanger your soul. And as to its positive                 of one another. But that is not the idea here. John uses
meaning, the qualification pztre, certainly means that the            here a Hebraistic way of expression. We will point to two
eleemnts of that water are justi the thing you have need of.          others in Scripture. First to John  14:l. There we read:
`They are the elements that belong to your nature. And also,          "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God,, believe
they comprise the medicine for your condition and state.              also in Me." Here the Lord does not mean: You must not
They are a pure medicine against all your ills. This river            only believe in God, the Triune, but jrou qust alongside of
will for instance extend peace to you like a river. And the           that commendable action also believe in Me, the Saviour !
streams of this river are so pure that they will make you             But he means this, and then you have at the same time


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                  219

the central theme of that which follows .in the chapter, - He
means to say: Believe in God, by believing in Me.                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
    The same use of the co-ordinate conjunction we find in                Semi-monthly, except  month.ly   &wing   Jzcw,  July  aml August
the same chapter verse 6. There Jesus says: I am the way,                    Published by the RFSORMED  FREE PUEX.I~RIN~  ASSOCIATION
                                                                          P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
the truth and the life!                                                                      Editor  -  REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA
    Now, does this mean that Christ is the Way, that is                   Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
one concept. And alongside of this concept, I am also the                 H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,  Grarid  Rapids 7,  Micli.
truth and the life ? No, but' evidently Jesus means to say :              All matters relatiJe  to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                          G.  ,Pipe,  1463  `Ardmore  St:, S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
I am the Way through being the Truth and the Life. That                   .Announcements  and Obituaries  rrrust  be mailed to the above
this is so is plain from that which follows: No one cometh                address and will be published at a fee of  $l.OO.for  each notice.
unto the Father but by Me.                     -i                         RENEWALS:  Unless a definite request  fosr  discontinuance is re-
                                                                          ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
    So also in the text under discussion.                                 to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
    The river of the water of life proceedeth from the throne                                 Subscription price: $4.00 per year
of God through the Lamb: It means that the oceans of living               Entered  as  Second  Clms  IrLatter  at  -Grand   R@ids, Michigan
water are first of all in God;, the Triune God. All the pleasures
of life eternal  as are bound up in the illimitable Spirit of Life
are in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. But
 the floodgates, the Fountain head, the opening through
 which they gush forth is the Lamb.                                                                     C O N T E N T S

    Note  the  name  of the  Saviour in  this connection. The          MEDITATION-
 sacrificial Lamb. You may say : the floodgates through which                 The River of the Water of Life.:........................217
the waters of eternal life are extended to me js Golgotha.                          Rev. G.  Vos
    And here again we arrive at the central theme' of the              EDITORIALS -
 whole  iBible:  Christ Jesus and Him crucified. The water                    Election and Reprobation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ . .220
                                                                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema
 of God's pleasures shall always be' characterized by Golgotha.
 It shall sweeten the water, it shall make you sing and warble         QUESTION  Box................................................ZZl
 for evermore. It is through the manifestation of a love that                       Rev. H. Hoeksema
 beggars description that you go to heavep.  God, the triune
 God reveals through the Lamb just how wondrously gracious             ON THE THEORY OF C~MMO'N  GRACE.. . . . . . . . . :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223
                                                                                    R&.  H. Hoeksema
 and lovely He is.
    And, finally, who are the blessed that may drink? .                FROM HOLY WRIT-
                                                                              Exposition od Matthew 11:25-30 (5) . . . . : . . . . . . . _ . . . . , . . .228
    Note just thrte words of the text : He sheweth me.                              Rev. G. Lubbers
    Need I say more? No, but I would pray to  God : Oh,                IN H IS   FEAR -
 my God, show it to me, even me!                                              Respect an Obedience (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .230
                                                              (;.v.                 Rev. J. A. Heys

                                                                       CONTENDING  FCPR THE FAITH -
                                                                               The ChuKh and tie Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2.32
                                                                                    Rev. H.  Veldman
                  LONGING  AFTER,GOD                                   THE  VOICIZ   CVF OUR FATHERS  -
                                                                              Tihe Exposition of the Canons of Dosrdrecht..  . . . . . . . . . . . . .234
      As pants the hart for streams oi living water,                                Rev. H. C.  Hoeksenia
        So longs my soul, 0 living Gbd, for Thee ;
      I thirst for Thee, for Thee my hearti is yearning;               DECENCY AND ORDER-
        When shall .I come Thy gracious face to see ?                          The Church and the State (Cont.) . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,237
                                                                                    Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg

      Why, 0 my soul, art thou cast down within me,                    ALL  AROUN~P   Us  -
                                                                               Crumbs from &e Master's Tab&.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239
        Why art thou troubled and oppressed with grief?                             Rev. M.  Schipper
      Hope thou in God, the God of thy salvation,
        Hope, and thy,God will surely send relief.
                                                     Psalm 42 :l, 4

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

                                                                             1. That salvation and damnation is brought in direct
                E  D.I T 0 R  LA  L  %                                   connection with God's decree of election and reprobation.
                                                                         For he that believes is saved and he that does not believe
                                                                         is damned. No one can believe of himself: faith is a gift 
                   Election   and  Reprobation                           God. That he bestows that gift on some and not on others
                                                                         is due, not to anything in man, but only to God's decree of
         In our last article under the above subject we said that        election and reprobation. Berkouwer must have nothing of
     also the Reformed confessions teach that "just as God works         this truth.' .
     out His own counsel of election by enlightening the minds
     of the elect and by softening their hearts, so ,God also works          2. That God, according to His counsel of election,
     out of His own counsel of reprobation by leaving others in          softens the heart of the elect and inclines them to believe.
     their darkness (infra) and hardening whomsoever He will"            This is what is meant by sovereign grace of salvation. On
     (Rom. 9 :lS) .                                                      the other hand, He leaves the reprobate in their own wicked-
         That this is the teaching of the confessions with respect       ness and obduracy. This is also according to the counsel of
     to the reprobate we have already shown in a former connec-          predestination. This is. what is meant by sovereign harden-
     tion.                                                               ing and reprobation. Again I say: Berkouwer must have
         We still wish to show, however, that the confessions also       nothing of this clearly expressed truth.
     maintain that God is absolutely sovereign with regard to the            3. That in this discrimination among men, according to
     salvation of the elect and that He works out His counsel of         which God bestows faith on the one and not on the other,
     election by sovereignly applying salvation to them.                 enlightens and softens the hearts of some and leaves others
         The two, namely, the sovereign application of salvation         in their hardness of heart, is displayed the counsel of predesti-
     to the hearts of the elect, and the equally sovereign hardening     nation, of election and reprobation. Berkouwer virtually
     of the hearts of the reprobate, stand in inseparable relation       denies this. His book does not harmonize with the Re-
     to each other. If you maintain the former you must  also1           formed confessions.
     maintain the latter. If you do not want to maintain the latter          This is also the teaching of Canons I, 7, which does not
     you cannot possibly teach and subscribe to the former. In           speak of the hardening of the reprobate, but only of election
     the latter case you must not only teach a measure of freewill       and of the application  of election by the sovereign grace of
     in regard to the hardening of the reprobate, but also maintain      God. It reads as follows:  c
     that the application of all the blessings of salvation depends,        "Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby,
     on the `willingness of the sinner to accept "the general offer      before the foundation of the world, he hath out of mere grace,
     of the gospel." This is what, principally, Berkouwer                according to the sovereign good pleasure of his own will,
     teaches in his book on "The Election of God."                       chosen from the whole human race, which had fallen through
         But this is not the teaching of the Reformed confessions.       their own fault, from their primitive state of rectitude, into
         Let us quote a few articles from the Canons of Dordrecht        sin and destruction, a certain number to redemption in Christ,
     which were composed and adopted by the church particularly          whom he from eternity appointed the Mediator and Head of
     to emphasize and to set forth the doctrine of sovereign grace       `the elect, and the foundation of salvation.
     over against all that teach the free-will of the sinner and also       ,"This elect number, though by nature neither better nor
     over against those that would camouflage the' doctrine of           more deserving than others, but with them involved in one
     election and reprobation as, to my mind, Berkouwer does.            common misery, God hath decreed to give to Christ, to be
         We quote first from I, 6:                                       saved by him, and effectually to call and draw them to his
         "That some receive the gift of faith from God and others        `communion by his Word and Spirit, to bestow' upon them
     do not proceeds from God's eternal decree, `For known unto,         true faith, justification and sanctification; and having power-'
     God are all his works from the beginning of the world,' Acts        fully preserved  .them in the fellowship of his Son, finally to
     15 :lS. `Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own        glorify them for the demonstration of his mercy, and for the
     will,' Eph. 1 :ll. According to which decree he graciously          praise of his glorious grace ; as it is written : `According- as
     softens the hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines    he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world;
     them to believe, while he leaves the non-elect in his just judg-    that we should be holy and without blame before him in love 
     ment to their own wickedness and obduracy. And herein is            having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
-    especially displayed the profound, the merciful, and at the         Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of
     same time the righteous discrimination between men,  equally        his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he
     involved in ruin ; or that decree of election and reprobation,      hath made us accepted in the beloved.' Eph. 1 :4, 5, 6. And
     revealed in the Word of God, which though men of perverse,          lelsewhere:  `Whom he did predestinate, them he also called,
     impure and unstable minds wrest to their own destruction,           and whom he called them he also justified, and whom he
     yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation."       justified them he also glorified.' Rom. S:30."
         Notice here :                                                      Also this article plainly teaches, not only that the grace


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                223

of God unto salvation is free and sovereign and that it is not      of God in Christ, through his Holy Spirit, and renewed in
based on the works of man, but also and emphatically that it        understanding, inclination, or will, and all his powers, in
is limited to a .certain  definite number, the number of the        order that he may rightly understand, will, and effect what
elect. Them,, and them only, he saves efficaciously. To be          is truly good, according to the Word of Christ, John XV :5 :
sure, also Berkouwer speaks of election. He even emphasizes         `without me ye can do nothing.' "
that election must have a place in the preaching of the gospel,         What is wrong with this ? Nothing, as far as it goes. It
although, at the same time he wants to present that gospel          is all of grace. Nothing is of man or of the works of man.
as a we&meaning offer of salvation on the part of, God to           Berkouwer subscribes to this, too. But again the question
all: in the preaching, the promise of God must be presented         is : who receive this grace of the Holy Spirit. And how do
as meant for all that hear. But when he tells us that, in:          they receive it? Do they receive it by way; of a free offer
the preaching of the gospel, election may not be ignored, he        on the part of God, as Berkouwer would have it, or do they
does not define or describe election as the predestination of       receive it irresistibly, which Berkouwer denominates determ-
a certain limited number, in distinction from others, the           inism.
reprobate, as do the Canons; this to him is a deterministic             Let us also read the next article:
mutilation of the doctrine of election. But he merely describes         "Art. 4.. This grace of God is the beginning, continu-
election "as that election of God, which does not rest on           ance, and accomplishment of all good, even to this extent, that
our works, but is election of free grace." To*such a defini-        the regenerate man himself, without prevenient or assisting,
tion of election any Arminian can subscribe. Also they              awakening, following, and co-operate grace, can neither think,
teach that election is, not of works, but of free grace. In         will, nor do good, nor withstand any temptations to evil ; so
their own five articles, to which the Canons are a refutation,      fhat all good deeds or movements, that can be conceived,
they teach :                                                        must. be ascribed to the grace of God in Christ . . .."
   "Art. 1. That God by an eternal, unchangeable purpose                Nothing wrong with this either, as far as it goes.
in Jesus Christ his Son, before the foundation of the world,            But this is not the end. The article continues :
bath' determined out of the fallen, sinful race of men, to save         "But as respect the mode of the operation of this grace,
in Christ for Christ's sake, and through Christ, those who,         it is not irresistible, inasmuch as it is, written concerning
through the grace of the Holy ,Ghost, shall believe on his          many,, that they have resisted the Holy Ghost. Acts VII, and
Son Jesus, and shall persevere in this faith and obedience of       -elsewhere in many places."
faith, through his grace, even to the end."                             There you have it. The grace of God is not irresistible.
   What is the difference between this and a preaching of           Man hardens his own heart. To teach otherwise would be
the gospel as Berkouwer recommends and this teaching of the         sheer determinism.
Arminians ? There is, principally no difference whatever, as            That.is the teaching of the Arminians.
everyone can see. According to Berkouwer, election must                 And, fundamentally, this is also the conception of Ber-
be described "as that election of God, which does not rest on       kouwer.                                                    H.H.
our works, but is election of free grace." According to the
Arminians, election is that eternal and unchangeable purpose                              QUESTION  BOX
of God according to which He saves those who believe in                 B. J. M. of Redlands, California, asks:
Christ through free grace and who, through that same
grace, persevere in the faith and the obedience of faith. It            If someone brings a private matter to the consistory, be-
is all of grace. But, according to  !B,erkouwer  and the  Ar-       fore walking with the accused according to Matt. 18, (Art.
minians, that grace is freely offered to all with the invitation    72 Church Order) may the consistory inform the accused
to accept, while, according to the Canons, it  is not an offer      party of the matter?
`to all men, but the sovereign, free gift of God, bestowed on        A n s w e r :
a limited number of men, the elect, sovereignly chosen from             In my opinion, the consistory may not only do this, but
before the foundation of the world, while others, the reprobate     is really obliged to do so, for the following reasons:
are rejected.                                                           1. By reporting the matter to the consistory and thus
   This is the Reformed view of election and reprobation,           violating art. 72 of the Church Order, the accuser, whether
which to Berkouwer is determinism and a deterministic mu-           wittingly or unwittingly, has already made the private matter-
tilation of the doctrine of election.                               public, at least as far as the consistory is concerned.
   The Remonstrance of the Arminians, 1610, teach further :             2. By not, dealing privately with the accused, the accuser
   "Art. 3. `That man has not saving grace of himself, nor          was guilty of backbiting, and if the consistory does not
of the energy .of his freewill, inasmuch as he, in the state of     inform the accused, they themselves would become guilty of
apostacy and sin, can of and by himself neither think, will,        the- same sin.
or do anything that is truly good (such as saving faith                 3. The consistory has the calling to see to it that the
eminently is) ; but that it is needful that he ,be born again       offences, both the first sin, reported to the consistory by the

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

accuser, and that of backbiting, are removed from the con-         that is born in the house, or bought with money of any
gregation in the proper way.                                       stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy
   From the above we may also learn how important it is to         .house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs
observe Matt. 18 and art. 72 of the Church Order, and not          be circumcised ; and my covenant shall be in your flesh for
hastily to report private matters to the consistory. We un-        an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child
derstand, of course, that Matt. 18, to which art. 72 of the        whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall
Church Order refers, is based on the principle of brotherly        .be cut off from his people ; he hat11 broken my covenant."
love, and anyone who reports a matter to the consistory,              We may note here that the sign of circumcision was,
without first speaking to the brother concerned, violates this     indeed, emphatically given as a sign of the co,venant so that
most important principle.                                 H.H.     itself! is even called God's covenant. And we may also note
                                                                   that it was not strictly limited to Israel but that it included
 Mrs. G. Vanden  Berg and Mrs. C. Haak, Vice President
and Secretary of the Ladies' Society of Oak Lawn, Ill., ask.,      the strangers that were bought with money and thus re-
                                                                   ceived a place among the seed of Abraham.
in the name of the above mentioned society, the following
questions :                                                           As far as the sign of circumcision as such is concerned,
                                                                   it consisted of the cutting away part of the organ of procrea-
   Since Circumcision and Holy {Baptism are both signs
and seals of the covenant and since, on the basis of Scripture,    tion of the male child of the covenant when he was eight days
both are administered to the seed of believing parents in the      old. What is the meaning of this sign as such ?
line of the covenant, why:                                            According to some it signified, on the one hand, that after
   1. Is baptism administered to both, male and female,            the sin of Adam, spiritual and ethical corruption of the
when circumcision in the Old Dispensation in the very nature       human nature which had been inherited from our first father,
of things was administered only to the male child ?                was concentrated, as it were, especially on the sexual organs,
   2. Was it not essential that the female child in the Old        even as it is evident that sin manifests itself particularly in
Dispensation receive the sign of the covenant?                     the corruption of sexual life. On the other hand, circumcision
   3. What reason is there, if any, that female children           signified that, for the redemption and sanctification of the
receive the sign of baptism today and does this have any           human nature,, the purification of the sexual organ by which
significance as far as the place of the woman in the church        life is propagated is especially required. With this 1~ cannot
today is concerned as compared with the place of the woman         agree. My reasons are, first, that this explanation presents
in Israel in the Old Testament?                                    sin too much as, something physical and residing particularly
   We will appreciate some discussion and clarification of         $n the body; and, secondly, that, in that case, there is no
these points in the Standard  Bea$vr.                              explanation of the fact that only male children received the
   Answer :                                                        sign of the covenant.
   This, to my mind, is not an easy question. It chiefly con-         We would rather concentrate our attention on the idea
cerns the difference between circumcision and baptism as           of procreation.
signs of the covenant. I will attempt to answer the question          Israel must bring forth the holy seed, the seed of the
to the best of my ability. If the answer is, not satisfactory,     covenant. For God establishes his covenant in the line of
or should, perhaps, arouse -other questions, do not hesitate       continued generations as is perfectly evident from Gen. 17 
to come again.                                                     This holy seed is centrally Christ and culminates in Him as
   1. First of all, then, I will deal with the question con-       the apostle explains in Gal. 3 :16 : "Now to Abraham and
cerning the sign of circumcision and its significance.             his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to
   There can be no question about the fact that circumcision       seeds, as of many ; but as of one, And to thy seed, which
was a sign of the covenant as God established it with              is Christ."
Abraham -and his seed and, at the same time, with all the             But of themselves and by nature, they could not possibly
nations of the earth. Before the flood there was, as far as        bring forth the holy seed of the covenant. They were under
we know, no sign of the- covenant although the covenant            the curse and under the curse they could only bring forth
had been revealed immediately after the fall. After the flood,     children that were totally depraved, wholly incapable of
the sign of the rainbow had been given to Noah and his seed,       doing any good and inclined to all evil. By nature, therefore,
as a sign of the covenant. But to Abraham the covenant of          they. were uncircumcised in heart. But circumcision signifies
circumcision was given. This is evident from Gen. 17 :lO-14 :      circumcision of the heart, righteousness by faith and sancti-
"This is my covenant, which ye shall keep between me and           fication, as all Scripture, both in the Old and in the New
you and thy seed after thee: Every male child among you            Testament, plainly teaches. Thus we read in Deut. 30:6
shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of         "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the
your'foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt     heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine
me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circum-         heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." And
cised among you, every man child in your generations, he           in Rom. 4 :ll we read : "And he received the sign of circum-


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             223

 cision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had         ON  THE  THEORY   OF  COMMON   GRACE
yet being uncircumcised ; that he might be the father of all                                 (Concluded)
them that believe, though they be not circumcised  ; that right-,
 eousness  might be imputed to them also." Hence, only when             In the second place, the theory raises, in the light of Re-
 God would circumcise their hearts and the hearts of their           formed theology another problem, far'more serious than the
 seed could they bring forth the holy seed of the covenant.          one whose solution it pretends to offer. The question arises
 In the case of Christ this is further emphasized by the male        immediately: Does God show .grace to the wicked? As Dr.
 factor being eliminated altogether, for Christ was born of a        Kuyper emphasizes repeatedly when speaking of the covenant
 virgin.                                                             of grace : can God make a covenant with sinners ? As you all
     2. This, to my mind, is the reason why the female child         know, Dr. Kuyper repudiates the idea, to my mind correctly,
 did not have to be circumcised. Not only was it in the nature       as if the covenant of grace were established with the sinner.
 of the case that she could not be circumcised but it was not        He emphasizes for the very reason that God cannot establish
 necessary that she received the sign of the covenant. If, as.       a covenant with sinners, that the covenant of grace was
 we did, we concentrate our attention, with respect to circum-       established with Christ as the Mediator, and that His people
 cision, on the element of procreation of the holy seed, we          are chosen in Him. But we would ask the same question in
 may consider that the woman, who received the circumcised           connection with the theory of common grace. God establish
 seed, so the speak, shared with her husband the sign of             a covenant with sinners  ? You remember, that according  to:
 circumcision as a sign of the covenant so that it was not           Dr. Kuyper the covenant established with Noah is the cov-
 necessary that she should, personally, receive a separate sign.     enant of common grace, a covenant that is established with
     This, I think, answers the main thrust of your questions.       all men, outside of Christ Jesus. Now, then, how is this
     3. Baptism is come in the place of circumcision, and            possible ? There is a principle at stake here, so important
 both male and female are baptized. Why? Because circum-             that it strikes at the very root of orthodox  theolo,T. The
 cision is a typical sign: it looks forward to the realization of    sinner is guilty. He deserves nothing but God's wrath. God's
 the promise in Christ. Baptism, however, is the sign of ful-        justice demands satisfaction before he can bless that guilty
 fillment: it looks backward. Christ has come, has died for sinner with His grace. And now we assert, that God, without
 the sin of His people and was raised again for our, justifica-      satisfaction shows grace ? I have never received an answer
 tion. This is signified and sealed unto us in baptism. In           to the question how this must be harmonized with the right-
 circumcision, as sign of procreation of the holy seed of ,God's     eousness of God. The problem the theory of common grace
 covenant, the woman shared with her husband in the sign             promised to solve it failed to explain. But in the meantime a
 of the covenant. This is no longer the case, hence, both the        much more serious problem is raised, solution of which is
 man and the woman must be baptized.                                 absolutely necessary, You say, that these are but temporal
     As to your last question, whether the sign of baptism also      blessings ? This makes `no particle of difference to the prin-
 means that, under the new dispensation, the woman has a             ciple at stake. Fact is, that God assumes an attitude of grace
 greater place, a place of freedom in the church,, my answer         and good' will to the sinner that rises in rebellion against
 is that, for various reasons the woman occupies a greater           him, and this fact must be explained.
 place in the church under the new dispensation than in the             Thirdly, it remains to `me a mystery,,`how  a check upon
 old: For this I would like to refer you to Gal. 3 :21-29. But       sin can possible be productive of any good. The sinner is
 this is not really connected with the question as to the            dead in sin and misery. He is incapable of doing any good
 difference between circumcision and baptism, except in so           and inclined to all evil. That is the confession that is
 far as circumcision was a sign of the covenant under the            directly based on Scripture. The thoughts, the imaginations
 law.                                                                of man's heart are at all times only evil. The carnal mind is
     Well, this is my answer to your questions. If more ques-        enmity, mark, enmity against God. It is not subject to the
 tions are provoked~  by my reply, be free to send them to me.. law of God, neither indeed, can be. Now, given such a
                                                            H.H.     totally depraved man, who thinks of nothing but enmity
                                                                     against God and his law, whose thoughts, the imagination of
                           NOTICE!                                   whose heart are wholly and at all times corrupt. Given
    The Free Christian School Society of Edgerton, Minnesota,        further, that upon this totally depraved man some check or
 `is in need of two teachers for its next school term. One to        bridle is placed. Then I ask the question: how will that
 teach the lower grades one through four, the other as prin-         totally depraved man ever produce any good because of that
 cipal to teach the four upper grades, five through eight. Need      check. Again, the clearest illustration you have in Melchi-
 we plead 7 Please send enquires or applications to the Board        sedec.  There you have a totally depraved man, the thoughts
 of the Free Christian School Society.                               of whose heart are enmity against God. Yet, he is priest of
               H. Miersma, Secretary, Woodstock, Minnesota           the Most High God! Dr. Kuyper uses the illustration;of  a

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

lion in .a cage. The cage is the power of common .grace. iBut       of friendship and received the grace of God, the dominion of
does the lion reveal himself as a sheep because of .the cage ?      that king was blessed with him and for his sake.
How a mere check upon sin can possibly be productive of any             Sin changes the relation. Ada& was created with a
good at all is to me a mystery. In vain have I looked for           uniquely free will. Not as if he were neutral, so that he
an explanation of this problem. In the light of all this, we        faced neither God nor the devil. Thus the popular impression
may well conclude that the theory of common grace is by             of Adam's freedom often is. God had made of him a sort
no means as simple as it looks at first sight. It does not          of a neutral being. God stood at his right and the devil at
explain what it promised to solve. It raises significant            his left, but man was facing neither. He was created thus
problems that seem to me incapable of solution.                     that he was adapted to face God. But he had the power to
       II. But we must hasten to present to you in general lines    turn either way. But this is an error: No, once more, God
our own view of the matter. And then we state in the first          had made man not simply the creature in his image, but he
place, that there is but one kind of grace. You will under-         had placed that creature from the beginning in such a 
stand`that it is not doing justice to our view to say that we       tion to Himself that with His whole nature he-faced God.
believe in special grace only. The term special grace pre-          But Adam's freewill signifies, that he had the power to face
supposes common grade. They that hold to the theory of              about and turn the direction of his entire being toward the
common grace limit the sphere of the special grace to the           devil. This is actually what took place. Man turned his neck
salvation of the elect only. To believe in that sense of the        upon God. Thru Adam's sin the human nature radically
word in special grace alone would, indeed, mean a separation        faced about in enmity against God and `friendship toward
of nature and grace and would lead to anabaptism. The               the devil. In that relation man could no more receive the
world, then, goes to destruction under the dreadful weight          favor of God. The Most High is unchangeable. The creature
of God's curse. But from that world God saves a few elect. that stands in' harmonious relation of friendship with Him
That is not our view. And to forestall any such impression          receives blessing from Him. But just as inexorable a fact
we state from the ~outset,  that we simply speak of grace.          it is, that the creature who turns in enmity against God, who
There is but one grace. Essentially this grace of God is His        opposes Him must receive the curse. That Adam was
favor, his good will, his covenant-friendship. &tan, who was        separated from God thru his sin does not express the whole
created after the image of God was a creature that was              truth. No creature, even in hell,, is absolutely separated  from
with his whole being adapted to receive this grace, to live in      the Omnipresent. No, but the same God that blessed Adam
such a relation of friendship to his God. Just because he           with his favor as long as he faced Him in friendship, now
was made after the likeness of God, in other words, because         turned against Him with His cursing wrath. And what was
of the very fact that in man there is a creaturely, finite like-    true in regard to, the flowing of God's friendship and favor
ness of the infinite God, man is adapted to live in a creaturely    and blessing upon all creation for man's sake as long as he
sense on a level with the Most High, to commune with Him            stood in his state of rectitude, is true also with respect to the
as a friend with his friend. But still more. He was not Terely      cursing wrath of God. Creation is cursed because of the sin
adapted to this relation of friendship to God, but he was in        of man. Thru.man the world was a kingdom of God. Thru
very deed placed in that living covenant relationship. Adam         the same man the world became a kingdom of the devil.
was created with positive knowledge of God, righteousness
and holiness. He was not a neutral creature, that had to               It is perfectly evident, that there wotild haSe been no hope
work himself into the relation of friendship with God. He           for man and for the world under the destructive power of
had life. He possessed knowledge. He was righteous and              the Almighty's curse, had it not been for the immediate
holy. He received the grace of God. His whole  nature the           operation of grace. But the moment man sinned grace
operation of his entire being, with mind and heart and soul `operated. The same friendship, the same covenant grace that
and strength turned in the direction of his God. God assumed        operated before the fall was victorious even thru the fall,
the positive attitude of friendship, favor and good will toward     though in different form and with greater. splendor. It now
Adam, and with his entire nature Adam responded, by                 manifested itself as redeeming grace, as grace that was
turning in friendship toward his God. It was in that relation       greater than sin and "the devil, as grace that was powerful
of friendship that Adam received blessing from God. It is           to overcome both. Adam was not sent to hell. The  world
God's favor that blesses. And since Adam was not an is-             was not made desolate. And it is perfectly evident that this
olated creature but along a thousand lines was organically          is due only to God's grace. For it is only in that grace that
connected with the, world in which he was placed ; since,           man and the world can receive blessing from God. But it is
moreover, he was given a place in that world as king under          by no means evident, that this could only be what is called
God,. as the servant of the Most High who was to have               common grace. Repeatedly the statement is made, that were
dominion over all things under the sovereignty of the Creator,      it not for the immediate operation of the common &ace
all the world received blessing from God in man, the friend         God the whole world,. man included would have been sent
of God. As long as the king stood in the positive relation          to everlasting woe and destruction and desolation. We 


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             i25

fess that we fail to see this necessity. Did not God have             principle that the reprobate, the iicked,  the unregenerate
his eternal counsel? Was it not according to that counsel             receive no grace from God at all, and that for the simple
that the human race, organically considered, as the elect race        reason that they receive no grace subjectively. This is per-
 was given to Christ? Was it. not according to that counsel           haps the most important point in our discussion and our
 that ultimately all things should be gtithered  together again       meaning must be made entirely clear. We do, 01 course, not
 in one, namely Christ Jesus ? Was if; then, not according            deny, that the reprobate develop with the elect. They
 to that counsel that all creation should be redeemed by Christ       certainly do. They are in this dispensation organically con-
Jesus, that for its&sin He should .suffer, that its curse He          nected with the elect in Christ. The elect and the reprobate
-should  bear, that its misery He should remove? And if back          were together created in Adam. Adam is their natural
 of creation and back of sin and back of the curse stood the          father and their natural root. In Adam the whole human
Mediator, annointed from all eternity, destined to be heir of         nature is present, and he is bearer of that entire human
 all things, why, pray,~  is there any necessity of presupposing      nature. We do not deny that because Adam is saved in
 the  qperation   -of a certain common grace] that does not           Christ, the reprobate as tie11 as the elect develop from him.
 flow %-om Him and that is not based on his atoning work ?            We do not deny that also in the wicked the powers and
 We.fqil  to see. And, therefore, we maintain that back of the        talents of human nature come to development in science
fall stood Christ, the Head of the covenant, to whom  ali             and art and industry and inventions of all, kind. We readily
 the world was given from eternity. . It was He that covered          grant once more that in them they even come to  gryattr
 the world `from the very moment of th@ fall with His own             development than in the elect. Neither do we deny that the
 person. It was the operation of grace thru Him that saved            reprobate live in the same world with the elect, that they
 Adam, the human race and all the world from destruction.             receive the same rain and the same sunshine, that they enjoy
 Adam, and in him fhe human race; and with the human                  the same products of the world's harvest. The forms  of
 race the world falls on the Christ that stood back of it all and     life develop along both lines, the line of the reprobate as
is thus saved from ruin.                                              :well as the line of the elect. The institutions of the home,
    Hence, there is but one grace. That one grace is the              the various relationships of society, the institution of the
covenant-favor of God. That one grace flows toward Adam               state, and in the new dispensation even the institution of the
directly as long he stands in the state of rectitude. That            church in its outward  sense exist for both. They even listen
 same grace, however, now flows upon the human race and               to the same `Word of God,. and they partake of the same
 upon the world as redeeming grace, victorious over the               sacraments. They are baptized with the same baptism out-
 power of sin and death, thru Christ Jesus, the head of the           wardly, and; they eat of the same bread and the same wine
new covenant. It  ii for his sake that humanity, that the world       they drink. This therefore, we do not deny. We go a step
 is spared after the fall. It is because of this grace that           further and say that we do not deny that these things are
 humanity develops; that the rain falls and the sun shines,           good in themselves. `They certainly are. The powers given
 that the powers of nature are brought to light and develop-          to man in creation are good. And metaphysically considered,
 ment and service, that the institutions of the home, of society,     apart from its-sinful character, the ingenuity and power' dis-
 of the. state continue and come to development. In a word,           plqyed by man in the. history of the world are  good.  The
 it is because Adam falls on Christ Jesus, that he is not de-         material upon which he exercises that ingenuity is good. To
 stroyed, but becomes the father and root of the organism, qf         .take the illustration of Greek art. The marble and ivory that
 the human race and all that this implies.                            constituted the material f6r Greek sculpture is good. And
    Tdus far, I think there can be no difficulty. It may be           nietaphysically considered, the aesthetic taste and ingenuity
 supposed that it is entirely clear' that the grace in Christ         displayed in,the art of sculpture is a go&gift.  Rain and sun-
 Jesus  do& not need the help of any other  .grace  to save           shine are good in themselves. Gold and silver are gdod.
 the world and bring humanity and the world to development            The institutions of the home and of the state and of the
 even in time. If that grace is powerful to redeem the world,         church are good. As long as you consider these things in the
it is certainly powerful  tP keep the world till the time of .full    abstract, metaphysically, as they were created by  God and
 reclemption  has come.. But, you object, that thus we must           as they come from God, they are all good. Nothing evil comes
 come to the conclusion that alI humanity, the wicked and             from God. But, and this is the principle that must be clearly
 the righteous alike receive this grace of Christ Jesus. For.         seen: to the unregenerate they are a curse. Just because the
 there are two peoples in the  wofld, the wicked and the              unregenerate receives no grace subjectively, just because, in
 righteous, believer and unbelievers, the elect and the rep-          other words, his whole corr,upt, totally depraved nature turns
 robate. And if there is but one grace, and if all the develop,       against God at all times  and against all that comes from God,
 ment of this present life is due to the operation of this grace,     these things, in themselves good are to him at all times a
 the conclusion would seem inevita;ble  that grace is universal       cvrse. And, then,, the principle works according to the
 and that all men receive what we now call special grace.             proportion of the greatness of the gifts. The greater the
    Now  ?his  ye deny. And  her& we wish to  ekpress  the            gifts the greater the development of sin and corruption, the

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

 -greater the curse. This is true of nations as well as of in-      good. We mean that sin has not reached its fullest develop-
 dividuals. The highest developed nations with regard to            ment. And this we admit. But the.fact  that sin in the life of
 culture wallowed most horribly in sin and corruption. We           the world, after six thousand years has not reached the 
 speak of Greek art and admire it. And, indeed, the human           ness of its development and manifestation is not due to any
 power that is exercised in art was present among the Greeks        check upon the course of sin from without. We must re-
 as among no other nation. But what did Greek art produce?          member, that God created the human race an organism. 
 A `gallery of idols. The greatest power of government was          did not create all the individuals of the human race at once.
 present in the Roman nation. [But it was Roman government          He created of that human race a root. That root was Adam.
 that killed Christ; it was Roman government that persecuted        In him was the whole human race, but in him the life of that
 the early church, it was Roman government that found its           `race with all its relationships did not come to fullest mani-
 culmination in the worship of Cesar. And, therefore, we            festation. In. Adam was the root of all human life. In him
 maintain, the unregenerate receive no grace. All things are        was the root of .the home, of life in society, of the state. But
 a curse to them. The nearer they live to the central current       this life of mankind could only develop gradually and organic-
 of grace the greater the curse becomes to them. Scripture          ally. For the same reason sin can only develop' along the
 announces this principle with regard to the Word of God            lines of organic development. Adam committed a root-sin.
 when it says, that the Word is a savour of life unto life, but     Sin could not come to much expression thru him. Surely, he
 also the saviour of death unto death. The Word is good. Yet,       was totally depraved the moment -he turned against God. It
 that "one Word, always good becomes a savour of death unto         was grace that saved him. But this total depravity could
 death. And as it is with the Word so it is. with all things.       express itself only in a very limited way. Adam could not
 The rain is good and the sunshine is good, the home is good        steal, kill, commit adultery, covet his neighbor's house or
 and the institution of the state is good, and all the powers of    wife. Sin, in other words, develops and comes to final mani-
 creation as they come from God are good. But the reprobate         festation only along the line of organic development. Ac-
 receive no grace and they turn all these things into evil and      cording as life develops, according as the various relationships
into a curse for themselves. If this is not born in mind you        of life come into existence, sin lays hold upon this life, and
 must draw the conclusion that even the devil receives grace.       enters into these relationships and corrupt all things. The
 He is allowed to work. `He is not cast into outer darkness as      man of sin could not come, till all of life ir$ the world have
 yet. He no doubt enjoys to go about like a roaring lion.           reached its fullest development, the number of man,, 666,
 He is ingenious. He is a great artist. He exercises authority      shall be realized, and upon all of life sin shall have had its
 and rules. Yet, the devil would never have been so great a         fullest influence. And this organic development of sin thru
 devil had he been cast out into the pool that burneth with         the history of the world is not halted or in any sense im-
 fire and sulpher from the -moment  of his insurrection. And        peded, but takes place as quickly as possible. Were Adam in
 lastly, if this principle is not clearly seen, you must also       paradise immediately after the fall sent to destruction, sin
 speak of a common curse. Just as the unregenerate receive          would, never have reached its fullest development. But now it
 the outwardly good things, so that elect people of God receive     is different. Just because the human race is permitted to
 the evil things. War, famine, pestilence, destruction and          develop, and exactly under the influence of what we call com-
 devastation are evils that strike the people of God together       mon grace sincomes to its full manifestation. It is exactly
 with the people of the world. Yet, these very evils are grace,     upon the good things of God that sin feeds. The greater the
 are turned into a good for the people of God. For them all         good the stronger the reaction of sin, the faster the develop-
 things work together for good. For the wicked all things           ment of the latter. It is, for -this same reason that Antichrist
 work together for evil.                                            will appear not from heathendom, but from the midst of
     You still object that sin is checked in its course, and        Christianity. The man of sin is the ultimate reaction of the
 that the unregenerate still do much good  ? This we deny most      corrupt nature against all that is of God. Hence, over against
 emphatically. And over against this statement we maintain,         the proposition that sin is halted we place the other that
 that the unregenerate do no good, that all their mind is enmity    sin develops as quickly as possible -along the organic line of
 against God, and that sin develops as fast as possible. Nay,       ,development  of the human race.
 we wish to go a step further and assert, that sin develops            There is, of course, in the world of sin a certain imitation
 more fully and more quickly exactly because of what is             of, and borrowing from what the people of God possess thru
 called common grace. When we say that there is still much,         special revelation. The outward influence of Christianity in
 good in the world of the unregenerate we do not express our        the world of today is very visible. Thus it was in the an-
 own meaning correctly. As `long as you hold that man is            cient world. 1 have no doubt,, that what is now discovered in
 totally depraved, as long as you believe with scripture, that      such ancient documents as the code of Hammurabi must be
 man's whole nature turns continually against God and his           explained in the same way. It is a reflection of the light- of
 law, as long as you accept that man by nature is not subject       special revelation upon the world of darkness, which how-
 to the law of God, you must conclude that he performs no,          ever, the world corrupts and turns into darkness itself. And.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  227

  the same is true today. In the .world of Christendom where           a revelation of God in nature. God became plainly manifest.
  people have long discarded the fundamentals of the Christian         But in the imagination of their senseless heart they corrupted
  faith, where the light of special revelation is ignored and          the light into darkness. A strange form of grace, indeed!
  despised, they still `continue to employ the terms that are          And as far as Acts 14 is concerned we have the same idea
  borrowed from that special revelation. They still speak of           expressed : "Who in the generations gone by suffered all
  righteousness and peace and brotherhood and love and  chris-         the nations to walk in their own ways, and yet he left not
  tian sympathy. Yea, they often assume a leading position in          himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you
  .the Christian world and would feign enlighten us as to the          from heaven rains and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts.
  essence of the Christian religion. But it is plain, nevertheless,    with food and gladness." The same contrast `is expressed.
  that the light of Christianity as they possess it, or rather         God worked good from heaven. He always does. He left not
  seem to possess it, is not due to any influence of grace within      himself without witness,, therefore. But in spite of this, wit-
  them or upon them. It is simply the infidel world, borrowing         ness of God the nations walked in their .own ways, and. God
  the outward form of Christianity and turning its real light          let them walk therein. The good things of God were by them
  into darkness.                               /                       corrupted. And God certainly did not check them from
                                                                       walking in their own ways. -And it is this same idea that is
      I want to conclude by calling your attention to the fact,        expressed in the %onfession, Art. ~XIV and the Canons III,
  that the view I have developed in this paper is the view of the      IV, No. 4.
  Word of God. And to be entirely certain I will select the               Summarizing we maintain the following propositions :
  three passages which according to Dr. Kuyper are the clas-               1. There is but one grace, the grace which in the dis-
  sical passages for the conception of common grace. I refer           pensation of sin flows thru Jesus Christ as the Mediator of
  to John 1, Rom. 1 ,and Acts 14. In the first mentioned pas-          the covenant.
  sage we have the well-known prologue of St. John on the                 2. There are in the world-two peoples, the elect and the
  Logos in the world. The Word so John tells us is the light           reprobate, the regenerate and the unregenerate. They live
  of the world. the light of every man that cometh into the            under the same external influences in the same world.  But
  world. That Word Logos was in the world and the world                while all things are grace to the people of God all things are
  was made by Him. But what of the darkness ? Did man                  a curse to the people of the world.
  know the Logos ? Did they see the light `and live ? Empha-              3. Sin is not checked, but develops as fast as possible
  tically John denies this. "The light shineth in the darkness         along the organic line of the development of the human race,
  and the darkness comprehended it not," he assures us in the          and that exactly under the influence of the good things of
  5th verse `of this passage. And again : "He was in the world,        God.                                                        H.H.
  and the world was made thru him, and the world knew him
  not." There was light, therefore, but the darkness of sin
  knew not the light. Much. clearer and much more emphatic                              Notice about Rev. Ophoff
  is the passage from Rom. 1. There the apostle reasons that
  from the beginning of the world on, and therefore, up to his            At the time of this writing, our beloved brother, the Rev.
  own time, all thru the old dispensation the invisible things of      G. M. Ophoff, is still in the hospital. He has been operated
  God are clearly seen, being perceived thru the things that are       and the Lord has been with him. Moreover, the way it ap-
  made, even his everlasting power and divinity." It is not            pears at present, he may look forward to.complete recovery.
  thus,, therefore, that there was no revelation of God in nature.     For this we are all thankful to our God. n/Iay .the Lord spare
  There certainly was. The things of God are clearly seen thru         him for some time to come for his wife and family, but also
  the things that are made. God was manifest. The purpose of           for our churches which, as far as we can see,, still have need
  this manifestation of God in creation is stated by the apostle       of him.                                             The editor.
  in this wise: "that they may be without excuse." It is, in
' other words, because of this clear revelation of God in the                           Notice  for  Classis  W&t
  things that are made, that sin becomes clearly manifest as
  sin and inexcusable guilt.  .For what did man do ? Did they             Classis  West of the Protestant Reformed Churches will
  comprehend the light? Did they see God's revelation and              meet, the Lord willing, Wednesday, March, 20, 1957, in
  serve Him ? Listen : "Because that, knowing God, they                Doon,  Iowa.
  glorified him not as God,* neither gave thanks; but became              The consistories are reminded that all matters for the
  vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was dark-        classical agenda must be in the hands of the stated clerk not
  ened. Professing themselves  to, be wise they became fools and       later than thirty days before the date of Ci&is.
  changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of                               The Stated Clerk,
  an image of corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed                                                  Rev. H.  Veldman,
  beasts, and creeping things." The light was there. There was                                                 Edger-ton, Minnesota


        228                                          .THE         STANDAR`D                BEARER
                                                                              yoke is really  iwz/dicit   in  otir coming to Him. Possibly it is
                    F R O M   HOLYWlkIT                                       more correct to. say that the "taking up" of the `yoke is a
                                                                              further explanation of what is implied in the believing com-
                                                                              ing to Christ and to follow Him in life.
                      Expositioi of Matthew 11:25-30                             That it is not merely something additional to the "coming
                                                                              to me" is evident from the fact that in both cases .we find
(1                                       V:                                   "rest)' and "rest for our souls." Hence, we are of the convic-
                                                                              tion that this "taking L$" of the `yoke of Christ is a further
                                (Matthew 11:29,  30)                          explanation of the "coming to" Christ. If is ,somewhat  like in
                                                                              the Hebrew parallelism.
               We  now come to our final  ar'cicle  on this "Deautiful and       However, we  cannot',take  this yoke of Christ upon us
        instructive passage from the Word of God.                             except we "learn" something. We vvtust lea.rvrrt a very impor-
               Before we enter upon a more positive exposition of this        tant lesson. And this learning which is here spoken of is
        pa&age, we tiish to call attention to the fact, that, in our          far more, and diffe'rent  than what one can learn merely inteli
        former article, we noticed the fact, that, in our text, we have       lectually. It is a learning, which is foolishness to the natural
        a quotation from Jeremiah  6:16 where  the prophet speaks.            man. Only the  spiritual mzns can learn  it.. He has eyes to
        of the "old paths" in which Israel is to walk, and which              see and ears to hear. And he alone has a heart' to discern
        they are to seek, and thus they shall find rest for their SOURS.      `the wondrous and perplexing ways of God, God's pedagogi-
           We also notice that when Jesus here instructs the Israel           cal dealings with His children..
        of His day to "come to Him and find rest for their souls"                What must we learn then ?.
       this is'simply Israel asking aft&r the same "old paths"; only             We must learn the truth in Jesus. We must learn zvhrt
       now Israel, the babes, must seek this rest in the Word made            the Son of God, who reveals unto us the Father in his sov-.
       flesh, God-with-us, Immanuel. Such seeking and finding is              ereign good-pleasure, is. We must know what the spiritual-
       fundamentally a matter of the heart; it is a question of regen-        ethical qttals&y  of His heart is in relationship to `God. 
        eration, which shows itself in true conversion. And, there-           must learn tht he is meek and lowly of,. heart.        \
       fore, we are here dealing with a "soul-care" which is nei-                Just a word about the construction' here. The conjunc-
      ther the duty nor the proper sphere of a psychiatrist. For              tion  "oti" can in Greek be translated either by "because" or
       the Son of God works faith and conversion by His Spirit                by "that." If the former be the correct translation then the
       through the preaching ,of the Word and strengthens it by               fact that Jesus is meek and ldwly in heart is the reason and
       ihe use of the Sacraments, and not  by a eledro-therapy                ground why we should learn from him. This is in itself
        with the accompanying jargon of split personality, etc. There         quite possible:' If the latter be the correct rendering then the
       is a fundamental difference in the approach of the preacher            fact that Christ is, meek and lowly is the szbbqecf of the lesson
       of the Gospel and the devoted elder, and that of the physiciah,        which we must learn.
        whether he treats the patient "somatically" or "psycho-soma-             Now both. are good interpretations.
       tically." The latter only touches the body and the natural                They are both Scriptural teachings.
        soul while the former administers the means of grace through             The question, however, is whether the .con+text  allows for
        tihich  the Holy Spirit works the grace of meekness and               the interpretation which holds that Christ's nieekness   is
       lowliness of heart so that the humble, the babes, fitid rest for       grotind for our learning from him. After some consideration
       their souls,                                                           of this question we agree with those. who interpret the con-
           Just what application this has condretely  in life as per-         junction "oti" as being "recitative," that is; as introducing
       taining to the treatment of believing children of  God is an-          an object clause.' It is then the subject of the lesson which
        other question. That would call for a separate discussion.            we must learn. It is. the "aufgabe," it is Christ's assignment 
        Meanwhile the children in whom wisdom is justified need               to us; by which he will teach us an aspect of the Father in
       not wait for the "rest for their souls," which is received in          His dealings with us as sons in .the woyld.
        fhe *lay of learning "meekness." We will let no one inter-              We -hold to this interpretation, in' the first' place, because
       fere with their "rest" by the misapplication of a treatment            the real reason why we must learn from Him, according to
        which cannot possible be of benefit to their "souls."                 the context, is, that He reveals to us the Father; and we.are .
           Hence, we will press forward in this interpretation of             to hear Him, and hear  H&z alone! All the good-pleasure of
        Matthew  11:29,  30.                                                  God is in Him. Besides, according to this  .interpretation
           We first of all wish'to notice,, that the "taking up of the        the spiritual pedagogy becomes. quite real in the church.
       yoke" of Christ is not something merely  additional to  the            Thus there is something which the Belgic Confession calls
        f`coming to, me" of, verse 28. The "taking up" of Christ's            "study  tinto salvation." With the interpretation which holds,


                                          ..  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                          2       2    9

 that the rea.son  for learning from Christ that He is meek and             Says Trench "Meekness is that temper, of spirit (notice"
 lowly you learn the ground for the learning, but you. have             spirit and not merely "soul" G. L.) in which we accept his
 really nothing to learn. Now the lesson is clear.                      dealings with us as good, and,, therefore, without disputing
    And what must we then learn abbut  the truth in Jesus ?             or resisting, and is rooted in lowlimindedness, does not fight
 We must really learn what a well-developed and matured                 and struggle against God nor contend with Him."
 Christian is, as he lives out of Christ by faith, as a living mem-         Such meekness in the text is closely associated with "low-
 ber in the body of'which Christ is the Head. The German                liness of heart."
 translates this thought, as expressed in Eph. 4 very beauti-,              We  .should notice, therefore, that both  "meek&s and
 fully in "wie ein redhtschaffenes  wesen in Jesu ist !"                "lowlimindedness" is a matter of the hmv-t. From the heart
    And learning this lesson we are the militant Christian  in          are the issues of life. With the heart one believes ; in this
 the world,  -fighting the good fight against sin and all unbelief.     heart God shkds  His love abroad. As the heart is so is the
    Then we must learn, first of all, in order to take Christ's         man. It is the spiritual center of man. From the unregen-
 yoke upon us, to walk in the "old paths" : that Christ is              erate heart proceeds adultery, fornication, whispering, back-
 "meek."                                                                biting, and all manner of bitterness. And frdm the heart also
    It is of very great importance that we understand what              proceeds the good fruit of the Holy Spirit in thankfulness.
 "meekness" is. Unless we understand this we will never
 really take Christ's yoke upon `us atid find that it is an easy,          And lowliminded, or lowliness of heart, is certainly a
 a useful" profitable one, and find rest for our souls exactly          virtue which is wholly unknown even in the vocabulary of
 because we have and are taking it z$. If we db not under-              the Greeks. They could speak of large souledness, magnan-
 stand what qeekness is, and what it is in Christ, we shall             imity, but did not know what lowlimindedness was. The
 forevermore fret in the vain attempt to get rid of every yoke,         reason was that they did not know of ,God, who alone is
 tid say with the world .of unbelievers : let us shake off the          ,great  ! Him they did not worship! They did not kneel and
 chains of the ,Almighty ; I refuse to humble myself under the          worship at His foot-stool!
 mighty hand of God !  '                                                    Now such lowlimindedness is also a matter of the heart.
    But when we learn what "meekness" is in Christ, the                 It is not merely a matter of the `intellect. It is a matter of
 Head, and in us Hib member>, then and then only will we                both mind and will as they are motivated by a heart in
 love the ."yoke bf Christ."                                            which the love of God reigns.                               -.
    The Gentiles, who did not know the Gospel, also em-                     Such was Jesus. The man Jesus, the Son of God in our
 ployed the term which in the New Testament denotes "meek-              flesh !
ness." However, they gave a' wholly different meaning td                    He humbled himself even into the depths of hell. &cl
 the  terti  `fmeekness." It really did not denote any  positive        from. out of the depths and anguish of hell he cried: Thou
 z&tzte  in relationship to God. For them it was simply the             alone art great and marvelous, o, God! He said: Not my
 happy mean between two extremes, that is, between the ex-              will, but thine be done. He was lowly. He did this bearing
 treme of quickness to `anger and lack of all ability to anger.         the burden of our sins. He was that meek arid lowly of
 It was really the ethics of unbelief which says : not too wicked       heart !
.less we die to soon, and not too pious less one get little out of          And now that is what we must learn in Him.
 life. It really meant  nothing more than: Poise, self-control.             We must see that he became servant, willing to bend the
 It only took in the scope of the term the outward act and              `knee to God. And the same mind is to be in us.
 manifestation, and it said nothing about the deeper motives.
 Thus Plato made it the opposite of                                        And when we learn this' secret of grace, this mystery of
                                        uvztawwd  .fierceness.  Thus
 &shop  Trench informs us.                                              faith, that Christ, who is our life, is meekness and lowliness
                                                                        of heart - ah then we have not learned the "sweet mystery
    In the New Testament, however, the term "meekness"                  of life," but we have found the pearl of great price, the key
 has a new content. It is the content of the Word made flesh,           YO happiness, yea, happiness itstlf !
 of God in the flesh, learning obedience to God from that
 which He suffered. It is the Son in the flesh who has the                  Then we see that the "yoke" is not hard and galling. His
 hearing ear, of whom it was written in the Scroll "behold I            commandments are then not grievous. It is a light, a pleas-
 come to do Thy will, o God."                                           iant, a useful yoke. And the burden is not heavy !  What
    And, therefore, meekness is first -of all not merely man's          one then &es. is performed in love for the neighbor.                .
outward behavior, nor merely man's relation to his fellow-                  We then love G6d whom we. have not seen, and, there-
 men (Carnegie's "How To Make Friends") nor is it a                     fork, will reveal this ip .the meekness of -wisdom. toward. one
 matter of natztral disfosition.  Some men are not born with            another.                                               _
 innate meekness in distinction from others. Meekness is a                  Surely wisdom. is then justified of her children !            '  I .
 matter of the grace-of God in regeneration!                                And God is all and in all !                   r               G . L .


 230                                        T H E   STAN.DAR~D   B E A R E R

                                                                    obedience which is nothing less than  keepilig  God's com-
                I N   HISFEAR                                       mandments.
 I                                                                     A point in case is found in the life of the Apostle Paul
                                                                    when he appeared before the high priest Ananias, who com-
                 Respect   and  Obedience                          manded those that stood by to smite Paul on the mouth for
                               i3)                                  having said that he lived in good conscience before God until
                                                                    that day. Paul replied to this with the words, "God shall
        "Fear God, and keep His commandments." 5                   `smite  thee, thou whited wall : for  sitteSt thou to judge me
      That is "the conclusion of the whole matter" according        after the, law, and commandest thou me to be smitten con-
 to Solomon in the wisdon- that God gave so abundantly             trary to the law  ?", Acts 23  :2, 3. When told that he was
 unto him.                                                         addressing the high priest Paul hastened to add, "I wist
        In Ecclesiates 12  :13 where we find these words of        not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written,
 Solomon we find this reason added to the obseivation  that the     Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people." This
concluSion of the whole matter which he had been studying          again is a reference to Exodus, 22 :28, "Thou shalt not revile
is that we should fear God and keep His commandments,              the judges, nor curse the ruler of thy people." .That respect
 "for this is the whole duty of man."                              for those whom God has placed over us we have in mind.
      We are not interested in a worldly, outward politeness.          A child, surely, who calls his parents by his first name
 The purpose of our writing. is `not to conduct a "clinic" of      does not have that respect whiCh  God -demands. Such a child
proper etiquette for addressing those of superior age and           does not judge his parents to have the honor that God has
social standing. We called your attention before this to the       given to him. Such a child does not render to God the honor
lack of ~respect that Harold's four year old son displayed by      that is due to Him. He lacks the fear of the Lord. The
calling his father by his first name. An avowed unbeliever         .same may be said of much of the behaviour not only of chil-
could-frown on  s&h behaviour and call the child impolite and      dren but also of adults in our modern age that rebels against
accuse his parents of failing to teach their child the "refine-    authority, rule and regulation. The primary cause of the
ment add polish" that` our social order so greatly desires         disrespect that today is lauded as liberty and freedrjm
today. With these things we have no interest at the moment         exactly that "there is no fear of God before their. eyes,"
in these articles.                                                 Psalm 36:l.
      It & our firm conviction that a child who learns the Fear        Consider that before- any disobedience entered into this.
of the Lord will respect  all those whom God ha? placed over       world man's respect for God had to be taken from him. His
him ; and. his behaviour will be such' that, though he might       fear of the Lord had first to be changed into the proud and
blunder in some of the man-made rules, practices, and reg-         haughty opinion of self that he had the right to be like God 
ulations of a man-made social order, he will not be an offen-      and then to attain to this proud goal he would transgress
sive child but one that will conduct himself honorably before      the command of God.
all men.                                                               The plan of action of Satan was a carefully devised one.
      When' therefore, tie write about "Respect and Obe-           And though his goal was to make man break God's com-
dience" we have in mind what Solomon wrote in the verse            mandment, he began by breaking down Adam's respect for
which we quoted above. Respect and Obedience to a child            God. Truly, in this light, Solomon speaks the words of
of God means "F'ear dad and keep His commandments."                wisdom' when he  declare%,  "Fear God and keep His  com-
What is more, in these words of Solomon ,we believe we             mandvents.  For this is the whole duty of. man." And surely
have the. proper relationship betweefi  respect and obedience.     it follows that before man can keep God's commandments,
Solomon is not -expressSing  two unrelated matters that we         the fear of God must be in him. So in the relationship be-
are called upon to do by God Himself when he states that           tween men, respect for those whom God has placed over us
the whole duty .of man. is to .fear God and keep His com-          is essential for obedience  td God.
`mandments.. Rathkr are these two .so related that the only            And where there is no fear of God; there will not be this
way to keep His commandments is to fear Him as God.                respect for those whom God has placed over us in autho.rity.
The same thing we have in mind when we write concerning            Webster makes a fine point of it that respect means, "regard
respect and obedience. Without respect  there will be no           for something, especially a person or quality, as worthy of
obedience. The respect which we have in mind is that re-           honor or confidence ; it ,does not imply, and is sometimes
spect for those whom God is ,pleased  to place over us .and        even contrasted with, warmth of feeling ; as, he won the
which can be practiced only as we fear Him. And the obe-           respect of all." Indeed, often one whom God has placed over
dience which we have in .mind is not ,compliancer  to change-      us behaves so that you would lo& all respect for him. If,
able, sentimental rules of etiquette, and decorum -devised         then, we do not' have the fear df Gbd in our hearts we will
by the minds of carnal, godless, man-exalting men but that         sin because these authorities l&e sinfully. We must have
                                                                                                                      .,


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        ._       231

respect for the authority God has been pleased to exercise         His commandments. Our parents we must honor, the au-
through men even when we cannot' help but lose all respect         thorities in the state we must obey and those who are over
for the Jnan personally.                                           us in the Church we must honor with obedience in the fear
    Respect in the home as the children are obliged to show        of the Lord. Otherwise whatever we do is sin.
it unto their parents requires the fear of God. Respect in           Harold's boy undoubtedly made a breach of etiquette ;
the state for the authorities that God has ordained requires       and by calling his father by his first name performed an act
fear of God. Respect for the offices of Christ in the Church       that brought frowns of disapproval from unregenerated, un-
require the fear of the Lord.                                      believing men.
    In all these spheres there is that which unregenerated            But that is not the serious thing about his behaviour.
men do and is called obedience by them. In all these spheres       Harold's little boy sinn.ed against God !
there is that which men call respect. Yet that behaviour              He did not honor his father as God commands him. to do
called obe`dience  and that attitude that is called respect is     in the fifth commandment. And Harold and his wife, plainly
carnal and an abomination in God's sight. When we .obey            made no attempt to train their child to keep God's command-
men for man's sake, we ignore God, and that surely does            ments.
.not please Him at all. Rather does it fill the Almighty with         We want to leave it just exactly that strong!
wrath when men rule out His* existence by obeying man for             The form in which the fifth commandment is presented
man's sake. And having respect for men in the fear of man          to `us by God Himself gives us to understand that keeping
does not please God. It is respect for the authorities because,    God's commandments and learning His fear begins in the
they represent Him and His authority that pleases Him. All         home. Of course the commandment means that we should
other honor and respect that is shown to men displeases Him        honor all those that are in authority over us. But the prin-
and is visited in His righteous wrath.                             ciple upon which the commandment is based is that, when
    We are sometimes amazed while at the same time pro-            as children we do not know any other authorities than father
voked at  the. respect that is shown to man where the primary      and mother, we must be taught to honor and respect those in
consideration should be the honor of God. We are amazed            authority. A little child, before he can even be taught the
that man can practice such folly and provoked because of           fear of God's name and knows no rule yet but father's and
the wickedness of it. One such act of wrong respect and            mother's rule must very definitely be taught obedience and
foolish behaviour is the act of refraining from cursing and        respect to father and mother. We can begin too late with that
swearing in the presence of a minister, an officebearer in the     rather than too soon.
church or a parent.
    What are these more than God ?                                    Therefore we said that Harold and his wife made no
    If we feel free to take His name in vain while there is no     .attempt  t6 teach their child to keep God's commandments
minister, office bearel' or parent within hearing distance, we     and used the  plural. He who does not teach his child to
surely should not stop our wickedness merely for the sake of       obey authority .does not teach his child to observve the first
man! What folly to be cautious while another sinful crea-          table of the law; nor does he teach his child to respect. the
ture of the dust is within range of hearing and to be bold to      good name, lives, and property of others.
shout it out when the Living,, Righteous God hears it and             We must fear God in `order to keep His commandnTent%
hates it far more deeply than any man ever could ! What               If we fail to teach our children to honor those whom God
wickedness to show respect for the presence of man (or             is pleased to place,over  us we do not teach them God's fear.
perhaps of a woman) and to have no concern for the honor              Then we encourage them in the way of disobedience.
and glory of God! We say "or perhaps  of. a woman" be-                                                                       J . A . H .
cause Jhere, too, what men might hesitate to say because
"there is a woman" around they will be bold to say in the
h e a r i n g   o f   G o d !                                                  OUR UNSLEEPING GUARDIAN
    Fear God and keep His commandments.
    ,But let us not raise men to the level of God or even exalt                 To the hills I lift my eyes ;
them above God, so that his presence makes the difference                       Whence shall help for me arise ?
between -clean and holy speech and cursing and swearing.                        From the Lord shall come my aid,
Let us have respect for men that is rooted in the fear of the                   Who the heaven and earth has made.
Lord. That is .why the flippant remark, "The minister must                      He will guide through dangers all,
be going by, it is so quiet" expresses a wicked thought. We                     Will not suffer thee to fall ;
niust not avoid sin because of men. When our behaviour is                       He Who safe His people keeps
due only because of the fear of men it is sinful behaviour                      Slumbers not and hever sleeps.
even though `we may be obeyin-g men. Fear God an'& keep                                                               Pialm 121 :I

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

 II                                                                         They agree moreover in most of the post-oecumenical or
           Contending For The Faith                                /I mediaeval doctrines against which the evangelical Reforma-
                                                                        tion protested, namely: the authority of ecclesiastical tradi-
                The Church and the Sacranients                          tion as a joint rule of faith with the holy Scriptures ; the.
                                                                        worship' of the Virgin Mary, of the saints, their pictures
 VIEWS DURING THE THIRD PERIOD  (750-1517 A.D.)                         (not statues), and relics'; justification by faith and good
                                                                        works, as joint conditions ; the merit of good works, espe- 
           *             J%.E  SUPREMACY OF THE POPE                    cially voluntary celibacy and poverty ; the seven sacraments
                   THE  GREAT   `SCHISM   OF  1054 (1).                 or mysteries (with minor differences as to confirmation,,
                                                                        and extreme unction or chrisma)  ; baptismal regeneration
  The  Consenstis  pnd  Disienstbs   Eietzween  the Greek and Latin,    and the necessity of water-baptism for salvation ; transub-
        ,.  Chawdzes.                                                   stantiation and the consequent adoration of the sacramental
                                                                        elements ; the sacrifice of the mass for the living and the dead,
         No two churches in the world are at this day so much           with prayers for the dead  ; priestly absolution by divine
  alike, and yet so averse to each other as the Oriental or Greek;      authority ; three orders of the ministry, and the necessity of
  and the Occidental or Roman. They hold, as an inheritance             an episcopal hierarchy up to the patriarchal dignity ; and a
  frorri  the patristic (pertaining to the Church Fathers) age,         vast number of religious rites and ceremonies.
  essentially the same body of doctrine, the same canons of
  discipline, the same form of `worship ; and yet their antag-           In the doctrine of purgatory, the Greek Church is less
  onism seems irreconcilable.' The very affinity breeds jealousy        expiicit, yet agrees with the Roman in assuming a middle
  and friction. They are equally exclusive : the Oriental Church        state of purification, and the efficacy of prayers and masses
  cla&ns  exclusive ortkodoscy, &d looks upon Western Chris-            for the departed. The dogma of  tiansubstantiatibn,  too, is
  tendom as heretical; the Roman Church claims exclusive                nbt so clearly formulated` in the Greek creed as in the
  catlaolicity,  and considers all other churches as heretical  or      Roman, but the difference is very small. As to the Holy
  schismatical sects. The one is proud of her creed, the other          Scriptures,  ,the Greek Church has never prohibited the
  of her dominion. In all the points of controversy between             popular use, and the Russian Church even favors the free
  Romanism  and Protestantism the Greek  Church is much:                circulation of her authorized vernacular version. But the
  nearer the Romans, and yet there is no m&-e prospect of n             traditions of the Greek Church are as strong a barrier against
  union. between them than df a union between Rome and                  the exercise of private  j;ldgment  and exegetical progress as
  Geneva, or Moscow and Oxford. The Pope and the. Czar                  those of Rome.
  are the most powerful rival-despots in Christendom: Where                 II. The dissensus of the churches covers the followjng
  the two churches meet in closest proximity, over the tradi-           points :
 tional spots of the birth and tomb) of our Satriour, at Beth-              1. The procession of the Holy Spirit: the East teaching
  lehem and Jerusalem, they hate each other most bitterly, and          the single procession from the Father only, the West (since
 their ignorant and bigoted monks have to be kept from vio-             Augustin), the double procession from the Father and the
 lent collision by Mohammedan soldiers.                                 Son (Filioque). This doctrine of the Filioque, incidentally,
       ' I. Let us first briefly glance at the consensus.               is a tremendously important doctrine, inasmuch as it main-
         Both churches own the Nicene creed (with the exceptidn         tains the absolute equality between the Father and the Son,
  of the Filioque), and all the doctrinal decrees pf the seven          teaching that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and
oecum&ical Synods from A. D. 325 to 787, including the                  the Son (H. V.).
 worship of images. The Filiogue Controversy was a dispute,                 2. The universal authority and infallibility of the pope,
 which concerned one of ihe principal differences between               which is.asserted  by the Roman, denied by the Greek Church.
 the Eastern and the Western Churches, arising. from the fact           The former is a papal monarchy, the latter a partiarchal
 that the latter adds the word jiliogzte  to its creed. The Apos-       oligarchy (a form of government in which the  absoiute
 tles' Creed `has simply, "An? in the Holy Ghost," to which             authority and power is restricted to a few-H.V.). There
 the Constantinopolitan Creed added, "Who proceedeth from               are', according to the Greek theory, five patriarchs of equal
 the father." There  t'ne Greek Church stopped, while the               rights, the pope of Rome, the patriarchs of Constantinople,
 Latin Church, without the sanction of an ecumenical coun-              Alexandrian, Antioch,  and Jerusalem. They were sometimes
 cil, or even consultation with the Greek- Church, added, "and          compared to the five senses in the bddy.  To them was after-
 the Son" (filioque). The Greek Church protested as soon                wards added the patriarch of Moscow for the Russian church
 `as it discovered the.addition  ; and attempts which have since        (which is now governed by the "Holy Synod"). To the
 been made to reestablish union. between the two churches               bishop of Rome  `was formerly conceded a primacy of honor,
 have  been wrecked chiefly on this word.                               but this primacy passed with the seat of empire to the


                                              T H E   STA'NDARD   B E A R E R                                                 233

 patriarch of Constantinople, who therefore signed himself            Distinct from the Orthodox Church are the  O,riental
 "Archbishop of New Rome and, Ecumenical Patriarch.                Schismatics,   the  Nestorhs,  Armenians,  Jaco  bites,  Copts,
     3. Tht immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, pro-         and  Abyssinians,   who separated from the former on the
 claimed as a dogma by the pope in 1854, disowned by the           ground of christological controversies. The Maronites of
 East, which, however, in the  practice  of Mariolatry fully       Mount Lebanon were originally also schismatics, but sub-
 equals the West.                                                  mitted to the pope during the Crusades.
     4. The marriage of the lower clergy, allowed by the              The  United  Gfreeks   acknowledge the supremacy of the
 Eastern, forbidden by the Roman Church (yet conceded by           pope,, but retain certain peculiarities of the Oriental Church,
 the pope to the United Greeks).                                   as the marriage of the lower clergy, the native language in
     5.. The withdrawal of the cup from the laity. In the Greek    worship. They are found in lower Italy, Austria, Russia, and
 Church the laymen receive the consecrated bread dipped in         Poland.
 the wine and administered with a golden spoon.                       The Bztlgarinm, who likewise call themselves orthodox,
     6. A number of minor ceremonies peculiar to the Eastern       ground of christological controversies. The Maronites of
 Church, such as trine immersion in baptism, the use of            1Mount Lebanon were originally also schismatics, but sub-
 leavened bread in the  eucharist,  -infant-communion, the re-     mitted to the pope during the Crusades.
 petition of the holy unction in sickness.
     Notwithstanding these differences the Roman Church has                         The Causes of Separation.
 always been obliged to recognize the Greek Church as es-             Church history, like the world's history, moves with the
 sentially orthodox, though schismatic. And, certainly, the        sun from East to West. In the first six centuries the Eastern
 differences are insignificant as compared with the agreement.     or Greek church represented the main current of life and
 The separation and antagonism must therefore be explained         progress. In the middle ages the Latin church chiefly as-
 fully as *much  and more from an alienation. of spirit and        sumed the task of Christianizing and civilizing the new races
 change of condition.                                              which came upon the stage. The Greek church has had no
                                                                   Middle Ages in the usual sense, and therefore no Reforma-
            Note on the Eastern Orthodox  Chwch.                   tion. She planted Christianity among the Slavonic races,
   For-the  sake of brevity the usual terminology is employed      but they were isolated from the progress of European history,
 in this chapter, but the proper name of the Greek Church is       and have not materially affected either the doctrine or polity
 the HOLY ORIENTAL ORTHODOX APOSTOLIC                              or cultus of the church. Their conversion was an external
 CHURCH. The terms mostly in use in that church are                expansion, not an internal development.
 Orthodox  and  Orienta,l   (Eastern). The term  Greek  is used       The Greek and Latin churches were never organically
 in Turkey only of the Greeks proper (the Hellens)  ; but the      united under one government, but differed considerably from
 great majority of Oriental Christians in Turkey and Russia        the beginning in nationality, language, and various cere-
 belong to the Slavonic race., The Greek is the original and       monies. These differences, however, did not interfere with
 classical language of the Oriental Church, in which the most      the general harmony of faith and Christian life, nor present
important works are written  ; but it has been practically         cooperation against common foes. As long and as far as the
 superseded in Asiatic Turkey by the Arabic, in Russia and         genuine spirit of Christianity directed them, the diversity
 European Turkey by the Slavonic.                                  was an element of strength to the common cause.
     The Oriental or Orthodox Church now embraces three               Having quoted Philip Schaff  until now, and intending.to
 distinct divisions :                                              continue these quotations in subsequent articles, we wish to
     1. The Orthodox Church. in Turkey (European Turkey            make a few remarks. The reader may recall that the learned
 and the Greek islands, Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine)           author designated the differences between the' Western and
 under the patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch,      Eastern Church as insignificant in  comparision  with the
 and Jerusalem.                                                    points of agreement between. And he also states that the
     2. The state church of Russia, formerly under the patri-      \Roman Church has been obliged io recognize the Greek
 arch of Constantinople, then under the patriarch of Moscow,,      Church as essentially orthodox, though schismatic.  NOW,  in
 since 1725 under the Holy Synod of St. Petersburg and the         the first place we wish to remark t I at we question whether
 headship  of the Czar. This is by far the largest and most                                             $
                                                                   a church can be schismatic and conti ue to remain orthodox.
 important branch.                                                 Secondly, the reason for the orthodo `y of the Roman Catholic
     3. The church of the kingdom of Greece under the Holy                                             "i
                                                                   Church lies in its hierarchical form of church government, its
 Synod of Greece (since 1833).                                     `being ruled by powers without rath?1- than by inner spiritual
    There are also Greek Christians in Egypt, the Sinaitic         forces. And, thirdly, the denial of the "Filioque" is by no
 Peninsula (the monks of the Convent of St. Catharine), the        means an insignificant departure from the truth.
 islands of the Aegean Sea, in Malta, Servia, Austria, etc.                                                                  H.V.

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

I!                                                                   as he is unable through natural light to obtain saving grace.
           The Voice of Our Fathers                                   But the comparison speaks of the entire explanation,, ac-
                                                                      counting (ratio), of the law.
                 The% Canons of Dordrecht                                First of all, we must observe what is here compared. The
                                                                      comparison is between natural light and the law. It is be-
                             PART TWO                                 tween what is often called "general revelation" and "special
                   EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                          revelation," -terms which have their disadvantages, but
            THIRD AND FOURTH HEADS OF DOCTRINE                       which we may here use for the sake of distinction. For, you
                                                                      understand, there is a difference between the light of nature
 OF  THE CORRUPTION OF MAN,  HIS  CONVERSION TO GOD,                 and the law, a difference which the fathers also note. All
                   AND THE MANNER THEREOF                            men have the light of nature ; but the law was delivered by
                      Article  5 (continued  j                        God to His peculiar people the Jews by the  .hand of Moses.
       We must keep in mind the subject. This article does not       In other words, the fathers point out that if you would make
deal with the relation of the Christian to the law. Even then,       a comparison here, there is already a distinction which pre-
of course, there is much of truth in what this article states.       cedes the very giving of the law. The law was not given
Certainly, also the Christian,, who is already in possession of      to all men. And therefore, the law could not possibly serve
the grace of salvation, does not obta.ia  grace, and does not        for the obtaining of saving grace for all men. Besides, how
even obtain more grace and further grace, by keeping the             is it to be explained that God gave the law only to some?
law. Certainly, the Christian discovers through the law the          This very fact already presupposes a gbod pleasure of God,
greatness of sin, even after his conversion, so that he con-         According to which He revealed His law to some, but not to
tinually  grows  in the knowledge of his sin, and confesses with     others. In the third place, do not overldok the fact that
the  Heidelberg  Ca,techism,  Qu.  114, that "even the holiest       the Jews, God's  "peculiar  people," are the church of the old
men, while in this life, have only a small beginning of (this j      dispensation, the very same church to whom the promise of
obedience." And that ,sa.me Christian realizes that he has           salvation was given. And the law came four hundred thirty
need of the preaching of the law, "that all our lifetime we          years after the promise, was imposed upon the promise.
may learn. more and more to know our sinful nature, and              And this fact must certainly not be ignored in any considera-
thus become the more earnest in seeking the remission of             tion of the law. But nevertheless, we may make the com-
sin, and righteousness in Christ." Catechism, Qu. 115. The           parison. All men have natural light; the whole nation of
Christian therefore certainly realizes too that in the law itself    Israel had the law. Furthermore, there  is an objective aspect
there is no remedy pointed out for sin, and that the law             both to this general revelation and this special revelation to
as such imparts no strength to extricate him from his misery.        God's peculiar people, the Jews, the church. The objective
He will acknowledge that the law as such leaves the trans-           element in the one is God's testimony through the things
gressor' under the curse. But above all, the Christian will          that are made; the objective element in the other is God's
understan'd  and view the law as an integral part of the gospel      testimony in the Scriptures. Finally, we must note that both
of grace. He hears, and desires to hear, the commandments            indeed shed light upon man,, upon his way, upon his deeds.
of his God, but always in the light of the gospel as it is           Through the light of nature, man has the light of a natural
briefly proclaimed even in the very introduction of the              knowledge of God, of things about him, and of the difference
Decalogue : "I am Jehovah thy God, which  bath brought               between things good and evil. Through the light of the ob-
thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."         jective testimony of the Decalogue light is also shed. That
That, you must remember, is the gospel. The law of the Ten           law speaks of God and of man. That law speaks of the
Commandments is addressed not to the natural man, but to             difference between good and evil. Hence, it is indeed 
the saved man. The keeping of the law follows the obtaining          sible to make a comparison.
of saving grace ; it does not precede it. For only in the grace          In the second place, we must note the point of comparison.
of salvation is the possibility of keeping the law.                  As we pointed out, it concerns the natural man,. unregenrated,
      However, the question here concerns the natural man,           unconverted, devoid of grace.  6 And it concerns the question
and his relation to the law. Can he, the natural man, who is         whether he is able to obtain the grace of salvation.
devoid of any grace whatsoever, obtain through the law the               And in the third place, we must note the conclusion:
grace of God unto salvation ?                                            1. Neither by the light of nature nor by the light of the
      We must note that the opening propositiofi  of this article    law is man able to obtain saving grace.
is a comparison :. what is true of the light of nature, is also         2. Both by the light of nature and by the light of the law
true of the law.. This. is a very important comparison too.          man is left without excuse. For the article we are now
It applies not only to the conclusion, namely,  that the naturai     treating tells us that the law leaves the transgressor under
man is unable through the law to obtain saving grace, just           the curse.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   235

   3. Both the light of nature and the light of the law the       misery. The law demands. And ai it demands, `it exposes,
natural man renders wholly polluted and holds in unright-         convicts, condemns. And it does no more. Hence, being weak
eousness. In the present article this is not stated, but it is    `through the flesh, it leaves the transgressor under the curse.
implied in the comparis&,.  and it is certainly true.             Here the Canons make a partial quotation of Romans S:3.
   4. Both the light of nature and the light of the law dis-      The flesh is the human nature in which sin is committed.
cover the greatness of sin and cgnvict man thereof, so that he    And through the flesh the law is weak, that is, it stands
stands responsible before God.                                    powerless to do anything else than curse man. It cannot
                                                                  save him. If  the law were to do anything to save him, it
   All this becomes plain if we but consider th'e law for a       would have to be able to condemn not the sinner,, but the
moment. Why cannot the law save ? What does the law do ?          spiritual dominion of sin in the sinner. The law must, with
   The law can only demand. It says "Thou shalt . . ." and,       its "Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
"Thou shalt not . . ." And centrally, its demand is that man      whcih are written in the book of the law to do them," assign
shall love the Lord his God with all his heart, with all his      the guilty sinner to the power and dominion of sin and
mind, with all his soul, and with all his strength. If. man       death. The law exactly stands on the side of sin in its
obeys this demand, the law holds forth to him freedom and         claim to rule the sinner. And when our mistress sin claims
life: "The man that doeth them shall live in them." If man        that she has the right to make of the human nature her
disobeys, the law curses him unto death, a death which in-        dominion, then the law upholds her in this claim. Man is
cludes the spiritual slavery to sin: "Cursed is every one that    guilty. And upon the basis of this guilt he is justly assigned
continueth not in all things which are written in the book of     to the dominion of sin and death. And therefore the law
the law to do them." More than this demand there is not in        leaves the transgressor under the curse.
the law.                                                             There is no possible way for the natural man to obtain
   Hence, the law discovers sin, and discovers the greatness      the grace of salvation through the law.
of sin,, and more and more convinces man thereof. This               Finally, we must'remark that if the law is even to be a
certainly follows. When a man comes into contact with thati       teacher of misery in the real, spiritual sense of the word,
standard of the law, he finds tliat he is not in harmony with     grace is necessary. Even as it is true that the natural man
that s$andard. And the more the law is applied to him and         is able intellectually to understand the law and its sentence
to his life and walk, the more he stands exposed as a sinner.     of condemnation upon him, and therefore stands convicted
Still more: he stands convicted of sin before his own con-        as a sinner also before his own consciousness,. so it is also
sciousness also. We found this to be the case with the man        `true that more than that mere intellectual understanding
who has only natural light, and who by natural light knows        is necessary if a man is to have true, spiritual conviction of
the difference between good and evil. This is still more          sin, so that he confesses his sin, is sorry for it, and cries
the case with the natural man as he comes into contact with       out to God for mercy. For this knowledge of our misery, the
the Decalogue. He has more light, is accordingly more             knowledge of which the Heidelberg Catechisvvt  speaks in its
clear!y a sinner, and stands more responsible before the bar      first section, more than the -objective revelation of the Dee:
of God's justice. We must remember this. The trouble with         alogue in the Scriptures is necessary. A man must not have
the natural man is not that he is intellectually a fool. He       only the mirror of the law to behold himself. He is in need
is not ignorant of the law. He can understand the law when        of eyes to see the image of himself in the law. He needs grace
it says : "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," or when      in order that, beholding himself in the mirror of the law, he
it says: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." He understands         will not straightway forget what manner of man he is, but
this far more clearly than the Gentiles, which have not the       will confess, "I am  th'at sinner. 0 God, be  merciful unto
law, but which do by nature the things of the law, and which      me !" `And therefore we must remember that also through
are a law unto themselves.  Butt the natural man stands           the law there is a two-fold operation of God: an operation
spiritually at enmity against God and His law. He will not        of grace in the elect,, and an operation of wrath and harden-
obey it, cannot obey it, and cannot will to obey it. In fact?     ing in the reprobate. The latter, discovering their sin in the
the promulgation of the law excites him to sin. The m6re the      light of God's law, rave and rage the more in sin and enmity
law of God obligates him to live holily, and threatens trans-     against God; the former, beholding themselves in the mirror
gression with death, the more the natural man, unwilling and      of the law, become confessing and sorrowing sinners, and
unable to keep the law, sets himself `against it and hardens      are driven out by the law to seek their salvation in the &-ee
himself in sin.                                                   grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
    At the same time, the law points out no remedy for sin.             Article 6. What  therefore neither the light of nature. nor
                                                                        the law 
It speaks neither of salvation nor of a Savior. It does not                         could do, that God performs by the operation of the
                                                                        Holy Spirit through the word or ministry of reconciliation:
eqen indicate a possible way of ,salvation. Nor does it impart          which is the glad tidings concerning the Messiah, by means
strength to him that hears the law to extricate him from his            whereof, it hath pleased God to save such as believe, as well
                                                                        under the Old, as under the New Testament.

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

       We have but one minor correction to make in the above        this, that they both taught that somehow man himself ob-
translation. In stead of "good tidings" the translation might       tains the grace, of God unto salvation. This is the perfidy of
as well have been "gospel" or "evangel.`! Apart from this,          Arminianism.  It speaks of grace, but at the same time
the above version is faithful to the original Latin.                denies grace, making it ultimately dependent on man's will
                                                                    and man's work. And we must understand that then grace
       This article forms the transition from the subject of the    is no more grace. Hence, the fathers strive to emphasize that
corruption of man to that of his conversion, and it sets forth      as far as man is concerned, there is no way out. Grace is
the fundamental proposition of this entire section of the           free, and must be left free. There is no possible way for
 Canons, namely, that salvation is of the Lord alone. From          corrupt man to become worthy in himself of the grace of God,
this point of view it is an important paragraph, even though        to merit the grace of God, to attain to that saving grace. He
it is brief and intentionally lacking in detail. The details are    can do so neither by the light of nature, nor by the law. All
supplied in the articles that follow and which explain this         man can ever do is to stand as a guilty, corrupt, damnworthy
main proposition. Let us briefly note the setting and the           sinner, inexcusable before God. Such is the setting of this
implications of this article.                                       article, as its opening words also indicate.

       In the first place, we must bear in mind that the present       But now, if such is man's situation by nature, how is he
 section of our Canons  deals with salvation as far as its sub-     saved ? To this question the article we are now discussing
 jective application is concerned. The  first section dealt with    gives the answer. And notice that the answer is really that
 predestination. Over against the Arminian error of condi-          what'man cannot do, God does. Moreover, notice that the
 tional election,, the Great Synod maintains sovereign predesti-    article connects this work of God with His good pleasure,
nation. The second section dealt with the atonement. Over           that is, with His sovereign counsel of predestination : "It 
against the Arminian error of so-called general atonement,          pleased God to save such as believe . . ." In connection here-
 which actually is no atonement at all, the fathers of Dordt        with the fathers already make mention of the agency and
 maintain that Christ died for the elect alone, and that by         means of this divine work of salvation, namely, the operation
 His death He merited all the blessings of. salvation, including    of the Holy Spirit and the ministry of reconciliation, or the
 faith, for them, and for them only. Now we have arrived            gospel concerning the Messiah. As we said, the details follow.
at the third main issue. The Arminians teach, quite in har-         But it is important to note here already that over against the
 mony, of course, with their teachings concerning predestina-       Arminians,, who always came with all kinds of false accusa-
 tion and atonement, that the natural man obtains actual,           tions on these matters, the fathers take pains to mention the
 personal possession of salvation in Christ through his own.        preaching of the gospel and faith along with the operation
 free will,, whereby he fulfills the conditions of faith and        of the Holy Spirit. These are some of the matters at issue.
 repentance. His conversion is, at least as far as its beginning    And concerning them the remaining articles of this chapter
 is concerned, to be `ascribed to himself. Over against this,       will give full explanation. What is the significance of the
 the fathers maintain, first of all, that the natural man is        preaching of the gospel? What is the relation between the
 wholly corrupt, conceived in sin, by nature a child of wrath,      gospel and faith? How is the gospel effective unto salvation 
 incapable of saving good, prone to evil, dead in sin, in bond-     What about those who do not believe the gospel ? What is
 age thereto, so that without the regenerating grace of the         the nature of the operation of the Holy Spirit through the
 Holy Spirit, he is neither able nor willing to return to           gospel in the corrupt sinner? On these matters, and others,
 God, to reform the depravity of his nature, nor to dispose         the Reformed Christian must have a clear understanding,
 himself to reformation. This is indeed the foundation-stone        lest he fall into the Arminian lie.
 of any true doctrine of man's conversion. There is no danger,
 if this truth be maintained, that man's conversion can be              Finally, the article adds that God's way of salvation was
 ascribed to himself. `On this basis there is no possibility of     never any different than here stated. It is not true that in the
 conversion outside of the.grace  of God. And thus the fathers      old dispensation men were saved by the law and its works,
 found it necessary also,`. over against the rather general         while in the new dispensation they are saved through the
 teachings of the Arminians concerning the corruption of man,       gospel. Always, both under the old and under the new
 - teachings which were confusing. just because -they had           dispensation God performed the work of salvation by the
 the sound of truth,-to be very painstakingly specific on this      power of the Holy Spirit through the word or ministry of
 subject of man's corruption. They sought -to lay a sound           reconciliation. God Himself, and He alone, -whether you
 foundation. Next, .because  the Arminians liked to employ the      speak of that aspect which is called the operation of the Holy
 language of the truth, as heretics always do, and because they     Spirit, or whether you speak of that aspect of His work
 persisted in speakin,u of God's grace even while they boasted      which is called the ministry of reconciliation through Jesus
 of man's goodness,: the fathers found it necessary to gainsay      Christ, - God Himself saves His people from the beginning
 two further errors of the Arminians, errors which agreed in        to the end of the world.                                 H.C.H.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  237
 I/                                                                    heathen that the Lord reigneth." In Revelation 1 :5 Christ is
              DECENCY and ORDER                                     II called, "The Prince of the kings of the earth" and in Revela-
                                                                       tion 17:14,, "He is Lord of lords, and King of kings."
                 The  Church and  the State                                Nor can it be denied that many of the kings in Israel
                            (Continued)                                exercised themselves directly in religious affairs. This was
       In evaluating the position of the Rev. M. MacKay on the         shown in our previous article and, as was then pointed out,
  question of the proper relation of the church and state, it may      this does not even have to be confined to Israel's kings for
  be well to firstly point out that there are many things which        alsd men like Cyrus and Darius. did so. That kings in the
  the author writes in which we wholly doncur.  His emphasis           Old  Test&lent acted to promote the true worship of God is
  upon the doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of God and his         plain from many examples but that they also acted to promote
  expressed determination to maintain that truth at all costs is       false worship is evident from the example of king Nebuchad-
  very commendable. This characterizes more of the Reverend's          nezzar with his golden image and fiery furnace as we read
  writings and it is indeed refreshing and "soul-warming" to           in Daniel 3. Need we then be reminded that we are ap-
 .hear from voices outside our own churches that speak fervent-        proaching that'time in God's plan when "that man of sin be
  ly against any kind of repudiation of this important truth, in-      revealed, the son of perdition ; who opposeth and exalteth
 cluding the doctrine of common grace, as MacKay does. He              himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped ;
 correctly observes that Predestination, consisting of absolute        so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing  him-
  election and absolute reprobation, cannot be maintained with         self that he is God" (II Thess. 2 :3, 4). That political beast
 the doctrine df general grace. Where the latter is maintained         will also intermeddle in religious affairs ; the beast and false
 the former must and is denied. Likewise God's sovereign               prophet will combine forces (Revelation 13  :12)  ; the church
 determination of the eternal destiny of all His moral creatures       and, state will then be one and "will cause that as many as
 precludes the possibility of the so-called "offer of salvation to     would not worship the image of the beast should be killed"
 all men without distinction" (as well as the Promise of God           (Rev. 13  :15b). All  th           -
                                                                                                   ese actions of the God-fearing kings,
 to all). In this we happily extend to brother M&Kay the               such as David, Hezekiah and Josiah, as well as those actions
 hand of fellowship.                                                   of unbelieving despbts, whether they promoted the service of
       We can also agree with the Editor of  The  Contender            God as did Cyrus or whether they opposed it as did Nebuch-
 when he opposes the view of Roman Catholic domination of              adnezzar, only confirm the indisputable truth that "The king's
 the State for it is also our conviction that it is not tht            heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; He
 prerogative of any church to rule in civic affairs. And when          turneth it whithersoever He will" (Prov. 21 :l).
 MacKay in strong terms condemns the current conception of                All of this, however, does not mean that we agree with all
 the so-called "religious freedom" that places all religion, true      of the conclusions which the author of the articles we have
 or false, on the same par ; which gives atheism and Christianity      been quoting arrives at to give credence to his principle claim.
 the same legal sanction  ; which is the doctrine of appeasement       that the doctrine of the separation of the church and state is
 and compromise; `we agree that said philosophy cannot be              false. Let us consider some of these conclusions briefly be-
 sustained by `the teachings of the Bible. Although this er-           fore we express ourselves more fully on this matter.
 roneous conception is Constitutionally defended in our own               Firstly, MacKay concludes that the doctrine of the separa-
 country, we unhesitatingly brand it as false and agree with           tion of church and state necessitates a denial of the truth con-
 the editor when he points out that ii this practice were con-         cerning the absolute sovereignty of God. Writes he: `<So in
 sistently  persued, no church could criticize or oppose the false     reality anyone who holds to the doctrine of the separation of
 teachings of another church without committing a "legal,              Church and State does not believe in the absolute sovereignty
 moral and logical sin."                                               of God, but only in a limited sovereignty of God, -which is
       Neither do we wish to disagree with the author when, in         no sovereignty at all."
his last article, he holds forth the truth that the Scriptures            Only with the very last part of this statement can we
 teach : (1) The civil magistrate is a minister or servant of          agree. This quotation contains a very strong indictment. If
 God and that he has been placed in his office of authority and        it is true, our Protestant Reformed Churches are guilty of
 power by the sovereign decree and act of God, and (2) God             denying God's sovereignty in the thirty-sixth article of our
 is the supreme ruler of the riations, that Christ is the King of      Confession. This, however, we fail to see. MacKay leaves
 kings, and that, for this reason, all nations are under obliga-       with us the impression that God's'Sovereignty  is conditioned
 tion to God and Christ. We have no argument on these points           by or dependent upon man's acknowledgement of the same.
 for Scripture clearly expresses these truths in various places.       With this sort of conception of sovereignty we cannot agree
       Romans 13 :l, 4 : "For there is no power but of God ; the       for it seems to us that this would certainly be a limited
 powers that be are ordained of God . . . For he is the minister       sovereignty which indeed  "is no sovereignty at all." Writes
 of God to thee for good." Psalm  *96:10, "Say among the               MacKay : "Hence, the great basic truth of the Reformed faith,


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 namely, the absolute sovereignty of God over all men, is              hand, that without His will.they cannot so much as mode.J'
 den.ied before the eyes of men in the case of those nations who       (Lord's Day 10). They are but the ax in His hand where-
 refuse officially (by law) to acknowledge God to be the  God          with He heweth (Is. 10:15). His purposes they fulfill even
 of their nations."                                                    as did Pharaoh in hardened rebellion. So glorious is this
        Does this mean that if the United States would pass a          sovereignty that all the nations  are so held in God's power
 law or write an amendment to the Constitution to the effect           that, even though they in their deeds aim at thd destruction
that the God of the Reformed faith is acknowledged as the              of God's cause, in verity they move always in such a way that
 God of his nation, that would in effect make Him the Sover-           they serve His cause and further His purpose. It is no more
                                                                       the prerogative of the nations to determine whether God will
 .eign of this land? Or,. if the legislators forbear to do SO, God     be their sovereign than it is within the power of the sinner
 is not sovereign? We -do not follow that reasoning. Does it           to determine whether he will permit or not permit God to
 perhaps mean that because a nation does not express officially        save him. And,, "the nation and kingdom that will not serve
 that it acknowledges God, the church within that nation is            Him shall perish ; yea those nations shall be utterly: wasted"
 guilty of denying God's Sovereignty ? We do not believe that          (Is. 60 :12). God is not mocked. He does not ask the nations
 the author means this but to avoid misunderstanding let US            whether they will permit Him to be their Sovereign nor beg
 express briefly our view of this matter.                              them to acknowledge Him as such. He proclaims through
        Our view is that God's Sovereignty is absolute, con-           His church unto all the world, "I am God and there is none
 ditioned by nothing, dependent upon no pne. GOD IS GOD !              else" and "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker"
 His Sovereignty is unlimited. He does with all, creatures,            (Is. 45 :5, 9).
 small and great,' as it pleases Him irregardless of whether or           God's absolute sovereignty is an established FACET  that
not that creature acknowledges that He is God. As for na-              no creature or creatures can eclipse or abrogate in the least.
 tions, God sets them up and He casts them down at His                 Although it is not yet fully revealed so that "every knee is
 own pleasure. He exalts Capernaum to heaven and casts her             bent and every tongue confess& that He is Lord," neverthe-
 down into hell (Matt. 11:23). "For the indignation of the             less, the day is approaching when that shall be perfectly
 Lord,is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies ;        manifest and that in the gracious salvation of His elect
 He hath utterly destroyed them, He hath delivered them to             church as well as in the righteous judgment and damnation
 the slaughter" (Is. 34 :2). "Behold, the nations are as a drop        of the ungodly world. Certainly the purpose of Divine
 of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance ;       Predestination with its component parts of election and 
 behold, He taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And            irobation  is to manifest that absolute sovereignty of God 
 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof suf-        Whom and through Whom and to Whom are, all things, to
 ficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as           Whom be glory forever" (Rom. 11:36).
 nothing ; and they are counted to Him less than nothing, and             Hence, to bring this Sovereignty to its fullest manifesta-
 vanity" (Is.  40:1517). To these may be added countless               tion it must be evident also that man (and the nations) in his
 passages from Scripture. Go"d IS Lord of all the nations and          fallen state of sin and rebellion will not acknowledge the
 no act or lack of act by a Congress or Parliment or Kremlin           sovereignty of God. &Ian believes the lie for he is spiritually
 can alter this.                                                       the child of the father of lies. He denies God. He erects idols
        In this connection we recall the distinction  that is often    to his own fancy and presumptuously exalts himself-as God.
 made between Gdd's "Lordship of Power" and His "Lord-                 He makes a god of his belly and he serves his flesh. In his
 ship of Grace." The Idtter  is true only with respect to His          utter depravity, his mind is always enmity against God and
 Church. Over her He rules sovereignly by grace, making                his will is totally perverse. He is a rebel who willfully opposes
 IJis people willing subjects. His church He has not only              God. "The heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing 
 chosen from eternity but He also redeems her in Christ,               kings of the earth set thmeselves and the rulers take counsel
 gathers her, defends, delivers and preserves her through all          together  against the Lord and against His anointed" (Ps.
 the ages until that day comes in which she shall be glorified         2 :l, 2). Such is the situation in the present world.
 forever. This is His work of Sovereign Grace and so sovew-               Overagainst that world the church stands -not in unity
 eign is that grace that the "gates of hell cannot prevail against     -but in opposition. Boldly she proclaims "The Lord reign-
 His church:"                                                          eth." .B:y faith she maintains His Absolute S&ereignty  even
        On the other hand God is sovereign over the world by           though the things that are seen seemingly contradict her
 His Power. He is omnipotent Lord. Upon the ungodly,                   testimony. And she does not seek political asylum in.
 whether as individual or as nation, He bestows no grace.              world nor does she permit the worldly state to infringe upon
 Nevertheless He rules over them even though they will not             the royal government of Christ in her` midst. She fights the
 acknowledge Him, rebel against His rule and seek always to            Lord's battles as a spiritual entity in the midst of a worldly
 cast His yoke from them. This truth is expressed in the               state and is even now assured of her glorious victory, for 
 Catechism by these wbrds: "All creatures are so in His                King is Sovereign over all.                              G.V.D.B.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  239

                                                                      through the fall. The church was the bride of Jesus from
 11  - A L L   A R O U N D   U S                                 II everlasting; therefore he,. in order to redeem her from her
 v-                                                              u state of sin and degradation, assumes her nature, or as it is
                                                                      written : `Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of
 Cmmbs   f~owt  the Master's Table.                                   flesh and blood,, he also himself likewise took part. of the
       Such is the subject of a sermon which appeared in a little     same, that through death he might destroy him that had the
 magazine entitled Zion's Witness which a brother called to           power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who,
 my attention. The sermon was preached by Mr. Iinill at The           through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bond-
 Temperance Hall, Andover, England, on the evening of Janu-           age.' (Heb.  2:14, 15) . . . . In short, the Gospel is a revela-
 ary, 7th, 1874. It was based oq the text found in Romans             tion and a proclamation of the everlasting love of a covenant
 1:16,  "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : for it is     God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, fixed unalterably, upon a
 the power of God unto'salvation to every one that believeth."        portion of the fallen race of Adam before fhe world began,
       The form and method of his preaching is not above critic-      according to that beautiful golden chain of truth recorded in
 ism, but the sermon as to contents contains  s&e rather              the eight chapter of the Romans : `For whom he did foreknow,
 striking sayings which I feel our readers will find refreshing       he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his
 not only in the light of modern preaching but especially in          Son, ,etc. . . . .'
 the light of our recent controversy. Naturally, the sermon               "Some persons may say, `If, then, this church or pedple'
 is too long for me to quote all of it in my allotted space. We       were chosen in Christ to salvation from everlasting, so that
 therefore give you snatches here end there which indicate            there is no peradventure respecting their safety and ultimate
 what we have in mind. I quote :                                      glorification, whence arises the necessity of preaching what
       "We live in a solemn day of wide spreading em$y profes-        is called the Gospel ?' To this I reply, that God ordains both
 sion of Christianity.- Our Lo&s words are being fulfilled:           means and end. And `what, therefore, God hath joined to-
 `For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and        gether, let not man put asunder.' It pleases God `by the
 shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it             foolishness of preaching to save them that'believe.' Or, as it
 were possible, they shall deceive the very elect' (Matt. 24 :24).    might be said, by the ministry of the word of truth God is
 Also, when the words uttered by the prophet Isaiah are being         pleased to convey unto his chosen the knowledge of salvation
 fulfilled: `And in that day seven women shall take hold of           in its doctrines, promises, precepts, invitations, admonitions,
 one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our             and exhortations, as well as their individual and personal in-
 own apparel ; only let us be called by thy name, to take away        terest therein.
 our reproach' (Isa. 4 :l) . The greater part of the preaching            "Under the Old Testament dispensation, the prophets may
 in the present day is Q. gospel, not the Gospel, - a mixture         be called preachers for `the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of
 of free will and free grace. In this epistle, the apostle is led     prophecy.' Also'he was preached in the various types, offer-
 to show the utter impossibility of salvation by works, either        ings, ect., under the Mosaic or Levitical dispensation.
 in whole or in part. And in his epistle to the Galatians he              "But when the Great  Antitype  himself appeared, he
 give% an account of the way in which he became an apostle            preached in his own person his own Gospel..  Thus did that
  (`not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God          prophecy receive its fulfillment, which we find in Isa. 61  :l, 2,
 the Father, whd raised him from the dead.`) (,Gal; 1 :l) . . . .     3 : also we read of Christ ordaining and sending out his dis-
       "What, then, is the Gospel of Christ? It contains good         ciples to preach, giving them instruction where to go and
 news, glad tidings, to poor perishing sinners. It originated in      what to preach ; and at that time in order to establish their
 the sovereign good will and pleasure of Jehovah in his Trinity       authority, he gave them power to work miracles in his
I: of  Pers,ons -Father, Son, and Holy Ghost-who, for the             name . . . .
 :manifestation  of their own glorious attributes and perfections,        "The day of Pentecost was indeed a marvellous day, when
 kntered  into covenant to bring about and secure the redemp-         there was such a display of almighty power attending the
 `tion of a number of the fallen race of Adam, upon whom the          simple statement of Peter in reference to the crucifixion,
 love of God had been from everlasting fixed. In this blessed         death, and resurrection of the despised Nazarene, the Lord
 cdvenant  of life and peace, the Son of God -was set up from         Jesus . . . . Thus was the preaching of the Gospel made
 everlasting as Mediator, Testator, and Surety. The fall of           instrumental in conveying to them a knowledge of their state
 n&n, through the transgression`of Adam, hath passed upon             as sinners; and also of their salvation by believing in the
 all m&n, for that all have sinned. Consequently the whole of         Lord Jesus Christ. This is the Gospel of which the apostle
 Adam's posterity were involved in ruin, standing in them2            in my text declares he is not ashamed, having found it
 selves amenable to law and justice for their transgression.          brought salvation into his own soul. And this is the Gospel
       ?&t the union between the Lord Jesus Christ and the            which has been preached since that day up to the present
 objects of his everlasting love, was not broken or dissolved         time, by every one of those whom Christ by his Spirit, has


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taught the knowledge of their utter ruin bs the fail, and of                 "Not SO with the poor sinner in whose heart God, by his
their entire redemption therefrom by the person and work of               Spirit, begins to work. The axq (of the law) is laid to the
the Lord Jesus Christ, `counting them fait-hful, putting them             -root of the tree. It must come down. God brings down the
into the ministry.' `. . ,                                                high tree, but exalts the law tree. Nor does the Lord leave
                                                                          his work`thus  begun, but goes on to deepen in that man a
       "Seeing this is the case as respects good and gracious             conviction of sin, until he-is brought to see and feel he is
men, what can be said of those who stand up in this day as                utterly ruined both by original and actual transgression, and
professed preachers of the Gospel ? Men who have never                    as such, by the deeds of `the law, there can be no justification.
been even called by  .grace,  much less to the important and              In the stripping room a man learns the need of a better right-
solemn work of the ministry . . . . These are called by our' eousness than that of Scribes and Pharisees ; and -also being
Lord and Master, `Blind leaders of the blind.' These are those            under the sentence of condemnation, with a load of guilt upon
presumptuous characters whom Christ will address at the                   his conscience,, he finds all his efforts vain in removing that
last day with the awful words : `I never knew you ; depart                burden. There is but one way in which that condemnation
from me, ye workers of iniquity.' And yet they had the au-                and guilt can be taken away, and that is by the application
dacity to say to Christ, Have we not prophesied (or preach-               of the blood of atonement -the precious blood of Christ.
ed) in thy,  n&e and in thy name done many wonderful                      This, however, cannot be apprehended nor received but by
works ?' The apostle knew theni in his day, and styles them               faith, and this faith the gift of God . . . .
deceitful workers, transforming themselves as the apostles of
Christ; and no marvel, as Satan himself is transformed as an                 "He now can sing `the song of Moses and of the Lamb.'
angel of light. The enemy of souls is not just now going                  `Old things are passed away; all things are become new.'
about as a roaring lion, but as a deceiver, deceiving poor                Some people think none can know that they shall go to
sinners with an empty shbw,  a mere outward form of god-                  heaven before they leave this world; that a man cannot know
liness; thus `blinding the eyes of thelq that believe not, lest           ;he forgiveness of all his sins, for it would have a tendency .
the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image              to beget carelessness in attending to the means or ordinances
of God, should shine unto them.' The Gospel of  Chist,                    of God's house ; or that he might sin that grace may abound.
therefore, is  not  a. conditional  OY a contingent Gospel; that          Those who thus think or speak show plainly that they are as
is, it  is  not  ofered to  &mn  for  his  accept,ance   OY rejection;    yet unacquainted with the Gospel in the power of it . . . .
but it is `the  power of God  ,w.to  every one that  Zlelievetk.'
(Italics mine - M.S.) 0, say some, the word declares ttiat                   "Now, my friends, do you know this Gospel in its effects 
he that believeth shall be saved. That- is true ; nevertheless.           Wherever the Gospel comes in power, it not only saves but
faith is not a  cond*ition,   but a grace-a free-grace gift. It           san&ies. A man who rightly receives the Gospel desires to
is a fruit of the Spirit of God wrought in the hearts of God's            live and act under its influence. `For,' says the apostle Paul,
elect-the faith of the operation of God that worketh by                   `the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge
-love, purifieth the heart, and overcometh the world: `Ye are             that .if one died for all, then were all dead. And that he died
all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.' As many                for all, all they which live should not henceforth live unto
as were ordained unto eternal life believed. `And the election            themselves, but unto him that died for them, and rose again.'
hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.'                             The precepts are regarded equally with the.prompes,  know-
       ". . . . It may then be asked, how we shall know whether ing that, although our salvation does not depend m any 
we are believers in `the Lord Jesus Christ, and that this                 upon our works, yet notwithstanding, our comfortable walk-
Gospel of Christ has been to US the power of God unto sal-                ing with God and peace of conscience cannot be had or main-
vation ?                                                                  tained in a,breach  of any part of God's revealed will for our
       "This is to be known by its effects. `The grace of God,            obedience. Indeed, the child of God has a nature implanted
which bringeth salvation, teacheth us that, denying ungod-                in regeneration that-loves holiness . . . . But as grace in this
liness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously,            life does not annihilate or destroy sin, but subdues, resists,
an$ godly in this present evil world.'                                    opposes and overcomes `it, there must necessariiy be a daily
       `<                                                                 warfare between  tivo such opposites as sin and holiness, light
             . . . . Therefore, my friends, if you have known the         and darkness, good and evil. Nor will this warfare endflut
Gospel to be the power of God to your salvation,`a  mighty                with our natural life. It is, however, our mercy to find that
,work has been done in you, as well as a `wonderful work done             whilst sin `hath reigned unto death, even 
for you. When the word of God comes with power, it casts                                                                SO  might grace 
                                                                          through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our
out the devil and the reigning power of sin ; that whereas,               Lord.' (Rom. 5  :21).. Amen."
previous to this, the man was either wrapped up in a delusive,
empty profession, or living altogether in profanity. . . .


