       VOLUME  XXX111                             APRIL  1,  1957-GuN~   RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                ?&J~~E~ER  13

                                                                       tains of Gilboa  ! And those of the household of Saul gather
II           MEDITAiION                                                thk broken bones and bodies of Saul and Jonathan. Listen
                                                                       to the plaint of David as he sings the dirge of Saul's and
                                                                       Jpnathan's  death.
                   THE FORSAKEN KING                                       Evidently there were those that could pray and make
              "But, they cried out, Away with Him, away with           confession in those days, for the Lord now gives to His
              Him; crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I         people a king in His lovingkindness.
              `crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We           And that king is David, the man after the heart of God.
              have. no king but Caesar. Then delivered he Him
              therefore unto them to be crucified." John 19:15, 16a        Look at that hero !
                                                                           He battles the enemies of the Lord and of the Lord's
       Quite a long time  before the events of my text took            chosen people. He sings the songs of Zion. He crawls in
place, Jehovah had a controversy with His people. And the               the dust before God. And  works righteousness. He is a
subject of this quarrel was a king. Israel desired a king.             good king.
They looked around them and noted the giants who led the                   But, alas, he ii not THE King of Zion.
heathen nations in battle. They heard the songs and  the                   He. is a weak copy of the real King of Zion. A weak
praises which were sung to those heroes of old, and . . . .            copy at his very best.
yearned for such heroes. They would have their pageants                    No, God has something better in store for the chosen
also. Hip, hip, hoorah!                                                 Israel. The better David is coming.
       Samuel! Give us a king such  ai the heathens have                   For Him Israel is waiting. Oh, when will Goel arrive?
around us, so that he may go in and out among us.
       And Samuel fretted.                                                                        +  *  +  *
       But Jehovah was angry with His people.
       And He explained the matter to kind and able Samuel                 Will, at long last the real King, of Zion appears, with
they have not forsaken you : they have forsaken Me ! !                 healing in His wings. Jesus is born,  glows, appears  in
                                                                       public,, preaches, heals, reveals the everlasting Father, gives
       They are tired of My rule among them.                            Divine. answers on -earth, manifests the very heavens and
       And the fools do not know what they asked for.                  heavenly power, and . . . .  ? Does Israel acknowledge its
       And I will give them a king.                                     KING?
                                                                           Israel forsakes Him!          .
       But it shall be a king in My anger.                                 And this forsaking is so terrible that it chills the very
       And Saul was given.                                              bones.
                              * * 8  *                                     The context of my text tells us that it was the preparation
                                                                        of the Passover  ! The very hour of the day is mentioned.
      There is a proverb  which  the Dutch quote very often             And the Triune God uses a heathen to announce the King
 Through harm and shame one becomes wise!                               of kings to Israel : Pilate raises his voice to the choicest  of.
       Such was the case with Israel of those days.                     Israel, the  .chief priests that led the multitude : Behold, o
                                                                        Israel, behold your King !
       They- had their king, but what a king !                             Of  courie, we know that Pilate was not serious about
       The end was shame and disgrace. Remember the  moun-              this announcement. We know that he derided the Jews whom



                                                                            ,'

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

     he despised. He meant to say: Behold this miserable Man!              Our human nature, as we live it today, stood. before
     And he pointed to Jesus who stood there: bleeding, spit           Pilate and said : `Aron ! `Aron !
     upon, scourged, beaten, a thoroughly miserable creature :             We are not one bit better than those chief priests, and
     Ecce Homo !                                                       that multitude. We have no use for righteousness, holiness
        But nevertheless, the King of kings is announced to Israel.    and real goodness and real love and lovingkindness.
     And it was prophesied in their own scriptures that Goel               It may seem so, but it is not so. It may seem as though
     would come exactly as they see Him before Pilate. All they        we have regard for truth and righteousness and all those
     have to do is turn to Isaiah 53, and also the last verses of      other shining virtues, but it is not so.
     Isaiah 52. All they have to do is to look upon the rivers of          Just let conflicting interests arise; and we crucify Christ.
     the blood of the innocent animals throughout their own            Let the right (I mean, of course, the wrong) circumstances
     history, and they will see the Christ of God.                     appear, and we will crucify Christ. And if you say: but how
        It certainly was the preparation of the Passover 1             is that possible  ? Is not  .Jesus safely in heaven ? Then my
'       Remember? Blood on the posts of the doors  ? And the           answer is: we will do so in His suffering people.. There is
     angel of the wrath of God passed over when he saw the             some remaining suffering of Christ that needs must be
     blood ?                                                           suffered, and so Christ is crucified in His own. And there-
        The King of. the Jews ?                                        fore *the Holy Ghost sayed : Grieve not the Spirit ! That can
        Indeed. He had proved Himself to be the> King of kings.        only mean the Spirit of Christ as He dwells in the church.
     Nothing stopped His glorious reign. Death and the grave              iBut take it from one who knows : we often crucify Jesus.
     obeyed Him. Devils trembled at His very presence. Disease         Then Jesus is in our way. Then we say : `Aron ! `Aron !
     and misery fled at His approach. Indeed, He. proved  .His            If it only is plain to you, to me, to all of God's people, that
     Kingship.                                                         we are not very far removed from that howling mob. Ever
        And what does Israel do at this juncture ?                     wept bitterly  ?
        They utterly forsake their King !                                                        * 9  *  *

                                   `* * :k  *
                                                       /                   But let us watch and listen to Pilate.
        And this forsaking is absolute.                                    He asks wonderingly: Shall I crucify your King?
        They shout with emphasis, for they shout twice : "Aron  !          Now, today, after so many centuries of the exegesis of
     Aron !"                                                           the Holy Spirit, I tremble when I read this question. And
                                                                       I realize that we have here the emphasis of the Godhead. It
        And this little word is. a form of a verb which means that     shall become very plain that God is righteous and that man
     you take the object away, even as  .you take a dead and           is crooked. It shall become plain that Israel utterly rejects.
     offensive body away from your sight. Pick Him up and              its King and Christ and God.
     throw Him away in such a manner that we never see Him
     again ! That's the meaning.                                           God wants to emphasize the filthiness of the human race.
                                                                       They are required to supply the answer to Divine Examina-
        They utterly forsake their King.                               tion.
        And that such is the meaning of their shout is clear               It is true that Jesus would again be rejected if He should
     from that which they add : "Crucify Him !"                        appear today. We would by nature reject Jesus Christ, the
        Who would not tremble here ?                                   Face of God.
            Crucifixion is not only the most horrible death, but it        Notice : the ckief  priests answered.
     expresses utter contempt for the sufferer. To be crucified            Those chief priests were men who were permeated with
_ means that you are not worthy to have a place on the earth.          the Word of God. They were the cream of the crop. They
     You specify that the sufierer  is neither worthy of being on      were the leaders of the chosen people of God.
     the earth nor in the heavens. To be crucified means that you
     are rejected by everyone, and deemed unworthy a place in              A priest is about the loveliest occupation a man might
     the Universe.                                                     aspire to.
            `Aron ! `Aron !                                                The outstanding point about a priest is love. A priest, ac-
                                                                       cording to Divine ordinance, is love personified. A priest is
            Oh, it was the preparation of the Passover alright!        a man who is supposed to be concerned about the sins of the
            But we did not realize it at that time.                    people. Hence, a priest must pray. He must go to God with
            I s a y : W E !   _                                        all the sins of the poor people of God on his heart. And
        For humanity stood before Pilate, and rejected the King        standing before God he must ask for forgiveness. A priest
     of kings.                                                         must bring a loving sacrifice to God.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B~EARER                                                                                   291

   If you translate this appraisal in New Testament  la&
guage, it means that a deacon must be a lovely person. He                              THeSTANDARD   B E A R E R
must be filled with mercy and pity all the day long. He                 Semi-wwn~hly,~  except monthly during June, July  a&  August
must seek out those that suffer and are in great need. Then               Published by the REFORMED FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
he must.listen  to the sobs of the heart, and finally weep with         P. 0. Box  S81,  Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
those that weep. And in the name of Jesus he must alleviate                               Editor  - REV. HERMAN  H~EKSEMA
the suffering of the poor people of God.                                Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
                                                                        H.  Hoeksen&,  1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
    Now look at the chief priests. As far as their name is con-         ,A11 matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
cerned, they excel in pity and sympathy.                                G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
    But look at the monsters they have become. If ever pity             Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
                                                                        address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
was evoked, it certainly was Jesus who evoked it.                       RENEWALS:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
    They should have embraced Him, bathed His wounds in                 ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                        to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
healing balm, an hold Him aloft to God for mercy.                                           Subscription price: $4.00 per year
    Instead they shout: We have no King but Caesar!                     Entered  as  Second   Clms matter at Grand  R@id.s, Michigan
    That shout, correctly interpreted, `means : We adore the
devil but hate God !
    Caesar is the representative of fallen humanity, the
world, in subjection tom the devil.
   Well, him they choose. And Christ, Salvation, God they                                            CONTE-NT3
reject.                                                            MEDITATIONS
                          *  * *  *                                        The Forsaken  King......................................289
                                                                                 Rev; G. Vos
    How marvelous are the ways of God !
    How unsearchable are His judgments!                            ENTORIALS  -
                                                                           The Free  Offer..........................................292
   Yes, it was the preparation of the Passover.                                  Rev. H. Hoeksema
    Jesus was being prepared to be the Lamb of God.                QUESTION  Box.......................................~........293
    Shades of Egypt.                                                             Rev. H. Hoeksema
    The firstborn of the Egyptians choked and died.
    But Israel sang for joy.                                       OUR  DOCIRINE-
                                                                            The Book of Revelation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .296
    And why?                                                                     Rev. H. Hoeksema
   The Lamb of God, the Firstborn of the Father gave His           CHURCH AND STATE IN THE LIGHT IT ARTICLE 36.. . . . _ . . . . . . . . . .300
life in prophecy, in a figure, in a shadow.                                      Rev. M. Schipper
    The fulfilment would come, has come, is here among us.         F
    Blessed is he who hears!                                        ROM HOLY  WRIT-
                                                                            Exposition od I Corinthians 12:Pll..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .303
                                                          G.V.                   Rev. G. Lubbers

                                                                   CONTENDING FOR T&E  FAITH -
                                                                           `The Church and the Sacraments.. . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..305
                        Announcement                                             Rev. H. Veldman
    Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will         THE VOICE OF OUR  FATHERS-
meet on Wednesday, April 3, at 9 A. M., in the Hudsonville                 The Exposition o$f the Canons of Dordrecht.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .307
Prot. Ref. Church-. Will all consistories resorting in Classis                   Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
East kindly take note.                                             DECENCY AND  ORDER-
                                M. Schipper,  Stated Clerk                  Sundry Matters on Article 28.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .309
                                                                                 Rev, G.  Vanden  Berg

                                                                   ALL AROUND  Us-
                                                                            More Refleotions  on Doctrinal Sensitivity.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .311
                   Teachers Meeting                                              Rev. M. Schipper

   The Sunday School teachers mass meeting will be held
Friday, April 26, in the Hope Church at 8 p. m.


  2%                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                     Christ, and therefore cannot be saved: much less can men,
             E D I T O R I A L %                                     not professing the Christian religion, be saved in any ,other
                                                                     way whatsoever, be they ever so diligent to frame their
                                                                     lives according to the light of nature and the law of that
                          The Free Offer                             religion they do profess; and to assert and maintain that
      In "De Wachter," an organ of the Christian Reformed            they may is very pernicious and to be detested."
  Church, one of the editors, in a very brief paragraph, at-             Does God -"desire" the repentance and salvation of all,
  tempts to express his condemnation of my position on "the          even of the reprobate  ? Is not this very sentence a denial
  free offer.", I refuse to reflect on this for two reasons. In      of the doctrine of reprobation ? I ask : 1. Does God "desire"
  the first place, because he presents no arguments whatsoever       the salvation and repentance of those whom He hardens and
  on my position. In the second place, he leaves a wrong im-         does He also, evidently, not "desire" to save and to have
  pression on what I wrote.                                          them come to repentance ? For we read in Rom. 9 :18 : "there-
      Let this be sufficient.                                        fore hath he mercy to whom he will have mercy, and whom
      I am willing, as anyone knows, to answer any real argu-        he will he hardeneth." Is not this "will" of God to harden
  nients.  But I have not the time or the desire to reflect on       the reprobate the same as the "desire" to harden them? Or
  any silly little editorials one may be pleased to publish.         are there, perhaps, two "desires" in God, one desire that they
      In my last editorial on the subject of "the free offer" I      come to repentance and be saved, the other that they never
  discussed or was discussing the proposition of the authors of      come to repentance but be hardened and damned? That, of
  "The Free Offer" that God "desires the salvation of the            course, is, principally, a denial of the truth that God is one.
  reprobate by their repentance. The one "desire" is insepar-        That gives ustwo  gods. That issheer dualism. No, but God
  able from the other.                                               is one, and that one God has one will. And that will of God
      In this connection, I called attention to the calling. Our     is also. His desire, for the desire..of  ..God cannot be in conflict
  confessions do not speak of a "desire" on the part of God,         with His will. That one will and desire of God is to harden
  but of His calling. In the external calling He calls to faith      the reprobate. 2. This is also evident from the contrast in
  and repentance all that hear the preaching of the gospel. In       the text we just quoted. The contrast is between the will
  the' internal calling, He applies this outward calling of the      to have mercy and the will to harden. Now, the will to
  gospel to the hearts of those that hear by His Spirit so that      have mercy is surely the desire in God that the elect come
  they actually repent and believe. This He never does to the        to repentance and be blessed with all the blessings of salva-
  reprobate, but only to the elect.                                  tion. By the same token, however, because of the sharp
     This is the teaching, not only of. our confessions, but of      contrast in the text, the will to harden means that there is
  all the Reformed Symbols, also of the Westminster Con-             no desire in God that the reprobate come to repentance and
' fession to which the authors of "The Free Offer" are sup-          be saved in the way of repentance. 3. But how do those `on
  posed to subscribe. Also this confession of faith does not,        whom He will have mercy ever come to repentance, and why
  and never would or could, speak of a desire of God to save         is it that those whom He wills to harden do not and cannot
  the reprobate. Instead, it speaks of the calling in this wise : come  `to repentance  ? Is this of their own free will  ? That
     "All those whom Gods hath predestinated unto life, and          would be a denial of the sovereign grace of God and of the
  those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, efficacy of the saving calling of God. For no man can come
  effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit, out of that state     to Christ, and no. man can ever come to repentance except
  of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and        the Father draw. Him. Also this error is implied in the
  salvation by Jesus Christ ; enlightening, their minds, spirit-     teaching that God will have all men, even the reprobate, come
  ually and savingly, to understand the things of God ; taking       to repentance and be saved in the way of repentance. All
  away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of        men are by nature dead in sin and trespasses. Hence, either
  flesh  ; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power deter-    they come to repentance by the efficacious grace of the Al-
  mining them to that `which is good, and effectually drawing        mighty or they are always hardened and that, too, by God,
  them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being       even through the ,external  calling of the gospel. How, then,
  made willing by his grace."                                        is it possible that God can "desire" the repentance of the re-
     This is the effectual calling that comes, according to this     probate and their salvation while He does `not give them.
 article, not to the reprobate, but only to those that are           grace to repent? 4. Finally, do the authors of "The Free
 predestinated unto life.                                            Offer" mean to teach that there is a possibility of repentance
     This chapter of  the, Westminster also mentions the ex-         and salvation apart from the preaching of the gospel ? I can
  ternal calling as follows :                                        hardly believe this.  $.ut what then ? Is it not true that by
     "Others, not elected, although they may be called by            far the majority of the reprobate never hear the gospel? In
 the ministry of the Word, and may have some common                  the old dispensation the gospel and the knowledge of salva-
  operations of the Spirit, yet they never truly come  unto1
                          :.                                         tion was limited to comparatively very few.' For many a


                                             `T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           293

century  ,it was confined to the nation of Israel. But also in     by the Holy Spirit from preaching the Word in Asia and
the new dispensation, though the preaching of the gospel is        from passing over into Bythinia ? But as the continuance of
no longer confined to any particular nation, it reaches, in        this argument would render us to prolix, we will be content
comparison with the whole human race, comparatively few.           with taking one position more: that God, after having thus
How, then, is this possible if God "desires" the repentance        lighted the candle of eternal life of the Jews alone, suffered
and salvation of the reprobate  ?                                  the Gentiles to wander for many ages in the darkness of
   To me it is evident that the authors of "The Free Offer"        ignorance ; and that, at length, this special gift and blessing
do not like the doctrine of reprobation.                           were promised to the church : `But the Lord shall arise upon
   They camouflage it.                                             thee  : and his glory shall be seen upon thee' (Isa. 60  :2).
   The authors of the pamphlet also quote Calvin. To say           Now let Pighius boast, if he can, that God willeth all men
that God desires the salvation of the reprobate irrespective of to. be saved. The above arguments, founded on the  Scrip-
their repentance and their faith is, they say, inconceivable.      tures, prove that even the external preaching of the doctrine
And then they write: "For it would. mean, as Calvin says,          of salvation, which is very inferior to the illumination of the
`to renounce the difference between good and evil.' "              Spirit, was not made of God common to all ,men."
   Now, the authors do not furnish the reference so that I            I would say, in the words of Calvin, "now let the authors
cannot check up on the context in which Calvin writes this.        of "The Free Offer" boast that God willeth or desireth that
   But of one thing I am perfectly confident: Calvin would         all men, even the reprobate, shall be saved.
never write. that God desires the repentance and salvation            I have an idea that Calvin -would  be amazed if he knew
of the reprobate as do the authors of this pamphlet.               that his name was used to defend the doctrine of  Pighiua
   Often he writes the very opposite.                              and of the Arminians.
   At this t&e, I want to refer to only one passage in. this                                                                H.H.
connection. ,It is found in Calvin's Ca.lvinis+~~,  pp. 103 ff.
   "The difficulty which according to Pighius, lies in that
other place of Paul, where the apostle affirms that `God will
all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth'                           QUESTION BOX
(I Tim. 2 :4), is solved in one moment, and by one question,          Mr. B. J. M. of Redlands, Cal., asks:
namely, How does God wish all men to come to the knowl-               In regard to the question I asked in the Stkdard  Bearer
edge of the truth: For Paul couples this  salvafiion  and this of February 15, 1957, I ask you for a little more of your
-coming to the knowledge of  tlze twth together. Now I would       time and space.
ask, did the same will  ,of God stand the same from the               It has always been taught us that if someone comes with
beginning of the world or not? For if God willed or wished         a private matter to the consistory, that the consistory ask
(or "desired", H.H.) that his truth should be known to all         the brother if he has walked with the accused according to
Iflen,  how was it that, He did not proclaim and make known        Matt. 18, and if the answer is no, the consistory must  ad-
his law to the Gentiles also ? Why did He confine the light        monish  him that he. is doing wrong ; and that he is bringing
of life to Judaea? And what does Moses mean when he                gossip to the consistory, and the consistory may not listen
says: `For what nation is there so great who hath God so           to him. In as far as the consistory is concerned that `he is
nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we       the end of the matter.
call upon Him for. And what nation is there so great, that            As to your answer to the question :
hath statutes and judgments as all this law, which I set              1. I do not understand what you mean by $ztblic as far
before you this day? (Deut. IV, 7,  8). The divine  Law-           as the consistory is concerned.
giver surely here means that there was no other nation which          2. How can the consistory become guilty of the same
                                                                                                                               .'
hath statutes and laws by which it was ruled like unto that        sin when they do not inform the accused?
nation. And what does Moses here but extol the peculiar               3. How can the consistory act on a matter that does not
privilege of the race of Abraham ? To that responds the            belong there according to Church Order?
high  encomium  of David, pronounced on the same nation,              4. How can anything leave the consistory room if it is
`He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judg-        plain from Scripture and Church Order that it may not be
ments they have not known them.' (Ps. 147 :20). Nor must           laid before the consistory?
we disregard the express reason assigned by the Psalmist,             Answer :
`Because the Lord loved their fathers, therefore he chose             I wish to say, in the first place, that I do not know
their seed after them' (Deut. IV, 37). And why did God             anything about the case to whom brother M. is referring,
choose them ? Not because they were, in themselves more            although I surmise that he has in mind a concrete case and,
excellent than others, but because.it  pleased God to choose       most probably, his own consistory. I may, probably, also
them, `for His peculiar people.' What? Are we to suppose           surmise that he was the one that brought the matter to the
that the apostle did not know that he himself was prohibited       consistory, although, on the other hand, I can hardly believe


       294                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER

       that the brother, whom I know personally, would commit              to the consistory and you have your answer. The consistory
       such an error. Yet, I ask myself the question: how does he          had to inform the accused in order not to become party to
       know about this private case, if it is not his own ? How does       the backbiting of the accuser.
       he know what the consistory decided if he were not the                 4. The brother also asks how a consistory can act on a
       person that reported the case to the consistory ? Is the case,      matter that does not belong to them according .to Church
     perhaps, public by the way of gossip outside of the  con-             Order. My answer is : they did not. In fact, they must have
       sistory  ? I hope that you understand my problem. On the            decided that they could not treat the case because the accuser
       one hand; I can hardly believe that brother M. who, evidently,      did not act according to Matt. 18. They only treated the
       knows the Church Order, judging by his own questions,               accusation from a formal viewpoint and decided. the inform
       would commit the error of attempting to make a private              the accused of the matter. And this was correct, not only
       matter pending with the consistory. And, on the other hand,         as far as the consistory was concerned, but also with
       I cannot understand, if it is not his own case, how brother         reference to the accused. Would brother M. be pleased to
       M. can know anything about this private matter. I wish              know that someone lodged all kinds of accusations against
       that brother M. would answer this question for me.                  him with the consistory of which the consistory did not
          Further, I reply the following to the above questions:           inform him ? I do not believe it.
           1. The original question of brother M. was : "If someone           5. The brother finally asks how anything can pos-
       brings a private matter to the consistory, before walking with      sibly leave-the consistory room if it is plainly not a matter
       the accused according to Matt. 18 (Art. 72 Church Order)            for the consistory. If the brother means to refer to what is
       may the consistory inform the accused party of the matter ?"        called a "leak" in the consistory, my answer is: it should
       My answer was that the consistory is really under obligation        stay within the walls of the consistory. But if he refers to the
       to do so and I furnished three grounds for my answer : (1)          fact that the consistory informed the accused about the fact
       The accuser made private matter public as far as the  con-          that an accusation was lodged against him, my answer is
       sistory is concerned ; (2) The accuser is guilty of backbiting      given above.
       and, unless the accused is informed, the consistory would              But I know that I am a weak and short-sighted man.
       become a party to that sin. (3) The consistory has the              Brother M. may differ with me, of course. He may also
       calling to remove all offense from the congregation, also this      develop his own opinion in our paper. He may also ask
       offense of backbiting.                                              further questions. If he does, however, I would like to know
          2. Now the brother cannot understand what I meant when           whether he is the party that brought the accusation to the
       I wrote that, by reporting a private matter to the consistory,      consistory (which I still cannot believe), and, if not, how
      _ the accuser made the matter public as far as the consistory        does it happen that he knows all about this private case.
       is concerned. To me this is very simple. Suppose that the                                                                       H.H.
       case referred to in these questions is not brother M.`s own
       case. Then he is not supposed to know anything about it.               Mr. G. L., Jr., of Rock Valley,  Ia., asks :
       Suppose that the accuser tells brother M. about it, instead            How must we understand I Cor. 15 :29?
       of walking the way of Matt. 18. Then the matter is no longer           Answer :
       strictly private but public as far as brother M. is concerned.         In the text referred to we read the well-known words :
       The same is true of the `private matter brought to the con-         "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if
       sistory. By reporting the matter to the consistory, the ac-         the dead rise not at all ? why are they then baptized for the
       cuser made the private matter public, for now all the mem-          dead ?"
       bers of the consistory know it. It is true, the consistory might       This verse has enjoyed numerous interpretations and,
       ask the accuser before he has ever opened his mouth whether         therefore, I am not surprised that the Men's Society of the
       he has walked the way of  n/Iatt.  18. But that is, for many        Chr. Ref. Church of which G. L. is a member "got stuck
       reasons, a practical impossibility. The accuser and he only is      with it" as the brother writes. The difficulty of the passage
       to blame for making the matter public.                              does not lie in the words of the text, but rather in the fact
          3. The brother can neither understand how the  con-              that the apostle Paul could write them. Nevertheless, I shall
       sistory can become guilty of *the same sin, of backbiting, if       try to offer my own interpretation which is as follows :
       they not inform the accused. Also this is very simple. Again,          1. The meaning of the words is plain. To be baptized,
-      let me proceed on the supposition that it was not brother M.`s      undoubtedly, refers to the sacrament of baptism. To be bap-
       own case. Then the accuser was guilty of backbiting to              tized for the dead means to receive the sacrament of baptism
       brother M., and the latter certainly had the calling to ad-         in behalf of, for the benefit of the dead.
       monish him, but also to inform the brother whom the.back-              2. From this we learn that in the very earliest times it
       biter accused. Otherwise, brother M. would, at least, have          frequently happened that, when those that were converted
       become a party to the backbiting. To listen to a backbiter is       and confessed their faith in Christ, died before they had
       to become a party to his backbiting. Well, then, apply this         received the sacrament of baptism, the living believers that


                                        .   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                295

were left behind were baptized for them or in their behalf.           with God. For as many as have sinned without law (the
This was done, evidently, in the faith that baptism was es-           reprobate? H.H.) shall also perish without law (as  rep-
sential and absolutely necessary for salvation.                       robate?  H.H.) : and as many as have sinned in the law (who
    3. This custom was, evidently, not general, but it pre-           were reprobate in the law? H.H.) shall be judged by the law
vailed in some circles. Nor did it last very long.                    (shall be judged because they are reprobate? H.H.)"
                                                       Most likely
it was rooted but already at the time of the apostles. After             Let this be enough.
this it prevailed only with some sects. However, it seems                I might also ask how anyone that teaches that a man is
that at the time of the apostle Paul it was also practiced in         not punsihed or condemned because of his sin, but because
the church of Corinth.                                                of his reprobation, could ever preach on the basis of the
   4. The question is: did the apostle himself believe that           Heidelberg Catechism, for instance, on qu. 10:
baptism was absolutely indispensable for salvation and the               "Will God suffer such disobedience and rebellion (rep-
living could be baptized for the dead? We know better. From           robation ? H.H.) to go unpunished ?
all his epistles it is evident that this cannot have been his            "By no means  ; but is terribly displeased with our original
doctrine. Why, then, did he write these words here ? Why              as well as actual sins (reprobation? H.H.) ; and will punish
did he not condemn this error 7 The reason, to my mind is,            them in his just judgment temporally and  ,eternally, as  hk
that he did not consider the error of being baptized for the          hath declared, `Cursed is every one that continueth not in all
dead as serious and fundamental as the error of denying               things which are written in the book of the law, to do them
Othe resurrection of the dead. And since, evidently, some of          (the reprobate? H.H.)' "
those that agreed with the error of baptism for the dead
denied the resurrection, the apostle shows that this implies             Hence, we conclude that, if anyone teaches that a man is
a contradiction. They cannot believe the one and deny the             not punished or condemned because of his sin, but because of
other.                                                       H.H.     his reprobation, certainly does violence, both to Scripture
                                                                      and the Confessions.
   We still have two more questions of the Rev. E. E. of R.,             The last question reads as follows :
Wis. They are the following :                                            "Would you consider the following language to be `double-
   "In the light of all that has been said above, do we do            talk' and confusing : `God condemns a man, not on account
violence to Scripture or to the decrees of God when we say:           of his sin, but in the way of his sin. Yet, the DEEPEST
`God does not punish and condemn a man on account of his              CAUSE. for man's condemnation is the decree of  God's
sin, but becau.se of the decree of Rep+obation.' "                    Reprobation."
   Principally we already answered this question. But the                I would not know whether this would be  doubleitalk,
brother asks whether zve do mYolence to Scriptwe when we              but it certainly is not true. As I have repeatedly shown in
teach that a man is not punished and condemned for or on              my answer to the above questions, God condemns a man on
account of his sin, but because of the decree of reprobation.         account of his sin. That a man walks in the way of sin
                                                                      makes him worthy of condemnation. When we say that God
   My answer is: we certainly do: Scripture everywhere                condemns a man, not on account of his sin, but in the way of
teaches the very opposite. For this I could quote the Bible           sin, we leave the ilnpression that God leads a man into the
almost at random. But I will refer to only one passage, and           way of sin, that God is the author of his sin. And this we
ask the brother how he could possibly preach on this text
in such a way that, instead of the words that speak of sin in         must always avoid.
this passage, he substitutes "reprobation." I am referring               Well, I have tried to answer these difficult questions to
to Rom. 2 :5ff.                                                       the best of my ability, and in the light of Scripture and the
                                                                      Confessions.
   "But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest               May we continue to be interested in the truth.
up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revela-
tion of the righteous judgment of God: Who will render to                                                                      H.H.
every man according to his deeds (according to his reproba-
tion? H.H.) : To them who by patient  continuence  in well                             Eastern Ladies' League
doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal
life : But unto them that are contentious (that are reprobate ?          The Eastern Ladies' League will hold its spring meeting,
H.H.), and do not obey the truth (the reprobate? H.H.), but           April 2'5, at 8 P. M. in our Fourth Protestant Reformed
obey unrighteousness (the reprobate ? H.H.) indignation and           Church. Rev. G. Lanting will be the speaker.
wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man                   Reserve this date and enjoy an evening of Christian fel-
that doeth evil (that is a reprobate? H.H.), of the Jew' first,       lowship.
and also of the Gentile : . . . For there is no respect of persons                              Mrs. H. Velthouse, Vice Secretary


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                                                                         The Lord further makes mention of a three-fold name
            O U R   D O C T R I N E                               II which they shall bear that thus overcome. They shall bear
                                                                     the name of God  ; they shall bear the name of the city of
                                                                     God ; and they shall bear the new name of Jesus. The name
                 THE BOOK OF REVELATION                              is the manifestation of their being. It is the expression of
                                                                     what they are. If, therefore, the Lord here promises that
                          CHAPTER  IX                                the faithful shall receive the name of God, He expresses that
   THE CHURCH WITH THE PROMISE OF AN OPEN DOOR                       the image of God shall have reached its highest possible
                       Revelation 3 9-l 3                            development. There shall be the highest possible degree
                                                                     of likeness between God's people and Himself, so that true
    But the Lord has still more promises. He does not only           and perfect covenant communion is possible, and they shall
come with promises for the present time, but also with               see Him as He  is.. We shall bear His name. We shall be
promises of glorious blessings for the future: "Him that             like Him. 0, no; we shall not be God, but the highest
overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God,             possible affinity that is conceivable in the creature- shall
and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the           exist between God and His people. And in that relation they
name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which            shall see Him face to face. And He shall speak to them as a
is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my            friend with his friends. They shall bear the name of the
God : and I will write upon him my new name."                        city of God. It is not necessary to go into detail as to the
    Let us notice, first of all, the important fact that this        reality and the meaning of this new Jerusalem. Suffice it
promise is given in general to him that overcometh. The              to say that it represents the society of the elect in glory, the
glory of the Messianic kingdom is preceded by the suffering          body of Christ, the complete assembly of all the saints. In
of this present time. And the rule remains without excep-            that society every individual shall have his own name. In-
tion that we must suffer with Christ in order to be glorified        dividuality shall not be lost. ,Yet, his name shall always be
together. Christ and His people have a common cause. They            the name of that city, that is, his individual being  `and
are inseparably united. But they also suffer a common lot            manifestation shall be in harmony with the general society of
in the world. If they have hated Him, they shall also hate           all the saints, so that all together they shall form' one grand
us. And if they have persecuted Him, they shall also perse-          harmony, manifesting the glory of God's grace. And besides,
cute those that are His. Hence, only for him that  over-             the communion of saints shall there be perfect, when they
cometh is this future promise. Not for him that is defeated,         shall all bear that common name of the city of God, the
not for him that falls by the wayside, not for him that              new Jerusalem that comet11  down out of heaven. Now that
succumbs to the devil, not for him that does not keep the            city is being prepared. And one by one the company of the
Word of Christ's patience, not for him that denies the name          elect are being gathered in heaven. But once it shall come
of Jesus, only for him that overcometh. For the unfaithful           down out of heaven from God into the new creation, there
the Word of the Lord has no promises. But him that over-             to live forever to the glory of the grace of the Almighty.
cometh shall be made a pillar in the temple of Christ's God.         And lastly, the Lord mentions His own new name. It is the
    Is it necessary to mention in this connection that there is      name that was given Him at His exaltation at the right
no reference here to a literal temple, made with hands. If           hand of God, a name of glory and power and strength and
temple is `taken literally, pillars must also be taken in the        majesty. It denotes our Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord of
same sense. And it would be a poor consolation indeed for            all. For in the new creation He shall be King forever. That
the people of God to learn that they all will be changed into,       name shall also be bestowed upon His saints, that is, they
pillars in the future. No, the sense is symbolical. Temple is        shall share in His glory. With Him they shall reign. With
symbolic of the dwelling of God with man, of His most                Him they shall walk in the light of God. With Him they
intimate communion, of the full realization of God's cov-            shall be prophets, priests, and kings of God forevermore;
enant of friendship. God's temple is His people, living in              Hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. What
most intimate communion and union with Himself. The                  doth the Spirit say ? In the first place, that the church is of
pillar is figure of abiding firmness. The Lord Himself sup-          little strength outwardly. This is true today as it was at the
plies the commentary of this expression when He adds : "and          time of the early church. In the task she is called to perform
he shall go out no more." To be made pillars in the temple           in the tribulation she will have to suffer, she may continu-
of God, therefore,, is to enter -lastingly and abidingly into the    ally bear in mind that she is of little strength. She need not,
eternal  .covenant  communion with God, the God of Jesus             she may not, rely on that strength. In the second place,
Christ our Lord. They that overcome in the presgnt  struggle,        the Lord is faithful and powerful. He has the key of David.
they that are firm in the hour of trial, shall finally enter         He opens, and no one shuts; He shuts, and no one opens.
into that eternal covenant communion with God which is               No one shall pluck us out of His hand. No one shall root
life eternal.                                                        us out of the kingdom. And in all our work in the kingdom


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   .                                            297

 of God, our reliance should be on Him alone. Of little               seven epistles. On the contrary, these letters rather picture
 strength itself, the church is mighty in her  mighty  Lord,          the seven-fold aspect of the church in general at any period
 faithful and true. In the third place, tribulation shall come,       of her history in the world. Taken in general, the church
 ,and temptation the church must expect. But in the midst             always presents this seven-fold aspect, and appears with a
 of tribulation and the suffering for Christ's sake, the vision       mixture of light and darkness, good and evil qualities,  at-'
 of the mighty King of kings may always be before us. He              tractive and repulsive features. The good qualities of the
 shall keep us so that we. shall never fall. And with our             church ascribed to her in the seven-fold picture are sounhness
 eyes on Him we may be sure of the victory. That victory              in doctrine, faithfulness in regard to discipline, an abounding
 may surely be our consolation. It shall be the victory of            in the work of the Lord, warmth and fulness of spiritual life,
 eternal glory in the new Jerusalem, in the temple of God             love, hope, and confidence, patience in suffering and  persecu-
 and His tabernacle with men, where we shall see Him face             `tion for Christ's sake. These features the Lord Jesus praises
 to face and love Him forever, as He hath loved US.                   and strengthens. On the other hand, there are the evil features
                                                                      of the church in the  world:   coolnes  of spiritual life, lack of
                          CHAPTER  x                                  love, laxity in discipline, a tendency to false mysticism, lack
                                                                      of zeal in the work of the Lord, and, as we shall see in con-
         THE CHURCH. NAUSEATING  TO THE  LORD                         nection with the letter to the Laodiceans, a combination of
                       Revelation 3 : 14-22                           all these evil features, manifesting itself as miserable luke-
                                                                      warmness. These evil features the Lord  strongiy  rebukes,
    Laodicea was an important city in Phrygia, southeast of           and in regard to them He admonishes to repent. In connec-
 Philadelphia on the river  Lycus. It was noted especially            tion with the evil He found in the churches, the Lord  al-
 for its industry and commerce, and therefore it was very             *ways approaches them with His threatening judgments and
 prosperous. The letter addressed by the apostle Paul to the          coming. But at the same time, He never fails to promise life
 Colossians was also intended for the church in Laodicea. For         and'glory to those that are faithful and that overcome in the
 in Colossians 2 :l'we read : "For I would that ye knew what          battle of faith.
 great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea." At
 the time when Paul addressed his letter to them, the church              Yet, although we strongly repudiate the idea of seven
 at Laodicea had been in danger of being led astray by ascetic,       definite periods represented in these letters, it must not be
 Judaizing philosophers. Against them the apostle warns in            overlooked, as we said in our last essay, that there is a certain'
 Colossians 2 :8 : "Beware lest any man spoil you through             intentional arrangement in the order in which the seven let-
 philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after        ters appear. The last church to be discussed is that of
 the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." And               Laodicea, a church most miserable in every respect. There
 this is further expressed in Colossians 2 :16-23 : "Let no man       is in this purposely arranged order an indication as to what
 therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect  to.         we may expect in the future. From a human point of view
.`an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days,"           the Word of God pictures that future not too bright. And
 etc. This philosophy did not only concern the question of            those -who live under the impression that toward the end of
meat and drink and holidays, but was also an emphasis on              time and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ the church
 voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, vs. 18. All            will appear in a most flourishing condition certainly find no
 these things, according to'the `apostle, have a show of wis-         support in Scripture. The order in which these letters occur
 dom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the             seems to indicate that we rather may expect a gradual decline,
 body  ; but after all have nothing to do with the service of         till the church presents the aspect of the congregation pf the
 Christ. For the saints are no longer subject to such ordin-          Laodiceans. From Ephesus to Laodicea appears to be the
 ances, seeing they are dead with Christ. vs. 20. At the time,        path the church will follow in her outward development. The
 however, when the Lord Jesus addressed this letter to the            evil element in the church will assert itself and develop more
 church of Laodicea, its outstanding sin was no longer this           and more, till the general aspect is such that the Lord is
 refraining from meat and drink, and voluntary humility, but          ready to spue the church out of His mouth.
 it consisted rather in spiritual self-complacency, accompanied           The general description of the Laodicean church you
 no doubt by a spirit of worldliness.                                 may find in the words, "Thou art neither cold nor hot.
    This letter closes the series of the seven epistles written       Therefore, because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor
 to the churches of Asia Minor. And with it our discussion            hot, I will, spue thee out of my mouth." This characteriza-
 of the seven-fold picture of the church `in general comes to         tion applies, no doubt, not only to the works of the church
 an end. We emphasized as our view, that we may not                   in the outward sense, but to her entire condition, internal as
 consider these seven letters as so many historical predictions       well as external. It is useless to make the attempt to analize
 concerning seven consecutive periods in the history of the           this description and give an interpretation of the various
 church,  SO  that  ,we will be able with tolerable  accuracy   to    elements, spiritualizing each one of them. This was done
 point out which period of history is presented in each of the        frequently, but exactly by such a procedure the point of the

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

  figure that is here `employed is lost sight of. To be hot was        ness  of- the condition of the church in Laodicea is emphasized
  then interpreted as being zealous in the work, of the Lord, and      still more when the Lord says that she is "poor, blind, naked."
  filled with true spiritual life. Naturally, to be cold was then      She is the very opposite of the church in Smyrna. The latter
  understood in the opposite sense of the word, and applied to         was rich; Laodicea is poor. She does not possess the riches
  a condition of absolute deadness' spiritually, to a complete         of grace. Faith, love, hope, patience, understanding of the
  lack of spiritual life. But, in the first place, the conclusion      truth, watchfulness, and a fighting of the battle of faith, - all
  would then seem to be quite inevitable that in the light of such,    these were sought in vain in the church of Laodicea. She
  an interpretation, the condition of lukewarmness .would  al-         was blind. Instead of being able to see the wretchedness of
  ways  .seem preferable to the state of being cold. But Jesus         her condition, she was wanting even in the knowledge of
  evidently prefers the latter above the former. For He says           self. She could not see her own misery. She was naked. In
  in this letter: "I would thou wert either cold or hot." Either       all the wretchedness of her condition, in all her sin and shame,
  of these is preferable to lukewarmness. Hence, such an in-           in all her misery and poverty, in all her blindness and con-
  terpretation seems in the nature of the case excluded and  im-       demnation, the church of Laodicea stood w.ithout  a cover for
  possible. In the second place, as we have stated already, the        her shame. In her bare misery she stood before the eyes of
  point of the figure is entirely overlooked in that interpreta-       Him that pierces and scrutinizes the darkest corners of the
 tion. The Lord employs a figure to describe the condition of          human soul. In a word, Laodicea was simply the picture of
  the church in Laodicea. It is the ,figure  of a drink of water.      misery.
  A hot drink is pleasing to the taste and recuperating in its            Nor is this all. Perhaps you would make `the remark
  effect. A cold drink is'refreshing and delicious. But a luke-        ,that there is nothing strange and extraordinary in this de-
  warm drink is disgusting to him that swallows it. It turns           scription of the church. Is it then not true of every church
  the stomach. It is sickening. It has a nauseating effect. Well,      that she is wretched and miserable and poor and blind and
  then, with this figure the Lord describes the general condi-         naked in herself? Does not the Christian daily apply this very
  tion of the church and the impression she makes upon Him.            description to himself? This, of course, is true. But the
  He simply says : "Your condition is such that you are nause-         nauseating condition and attitude of Laodica consisted exactly
  ating to me." That thi.s is the meaning is emphasized by the         in this, that she did not apply this to her own state and con-
  form in which the Lord puts the threatening judgment: "I             dition. She did not admit that she was wretched. Never
will spue thee out of my mouth." Literally the Lord says               would she recognize her own picture in this description by the
  in these words : "I am about to vomit thee out." The mean-           Lord. The very opposite is true. The testimony of the church
  ing, therefore, is very plain. We must not attempt to find a         regarding herself was exactly the opposite from the picture
  spiritual signification for every one of the terms `employed in      which Jesus drew of her. Jesus said that she was wretched
  the figure, but rather understand the figure in its general          and miserable ;- the church in Laodicea's idea of herself was
  meaning. And then it is plain thati the Lord means to say:           that she was rich. Jesus described her as being blind and
  "The church of Laodicea is so miserable that I cannot toler-         naked? the church's opinion of herself was that she was in-
  ate her any more. I am about to reject her in disgust."              creased with goods. Of course, all these expressions are to
         The question, however, arises : what is the. condition of     be taken in the spiritual sense of the word. It may be true
  this church that makes her so -nauseating to the Lord ? Christ       that Laodicea was also rich in goods according to the world.
  Himself gives the answer. He tells us that the church is             ,It may very well be true that she had many possessions; and
  "wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked."               that her goods increased in the material sense of the word.
  This, first of all. Of course, all these terms refer  .to the        ,Earthly riches and spiritual poverty often accompany each
  spiritual condition of the church.' Hardly could we find a           other. And also in the spiritual sphere it is true that it is
  more emphatic description of miserableness in Scripture than         very difficult to. remain strong in faith and rich in spiritual
  the one here presented of the church in Laodicea. The word           life  at the same time that we increase in riches in the material
  here used in the original for "wretched" is the same as that         sense, in the riches of the world. Nevertheless, in these words
  employed by the apostle Paul when, at the close of Romans            the church of Laodicea is described in her state of- spiritual
  7, he exclaims : "0 wretched man that I am ! Who shall               self-satisfaction. They were well satisfied with their own
  deliver me from the body of this death ?" There is no reason         condition. They thought themselves to be a strong church.
  why we should not understand the word here in the same               Such followed exactly from their blindness : they never saw
  sense. Laodicea was wretched in herself. She was sinful and          their own misery and their lack of every spiritual good. They
  condemned. In, herself she was nothing but the object of the         formed quite an opinion of themselves. Spiritual poverty and'
  wrath of God.' In the day of judgment she would never be             spiritual pride went together. I take it that here, as in the
  able to make both ends meet. That is why she was at the same         church of Sardis, the angel of the church was chiefly and
  time miserable, that is, according to the miserable, "an object      principally at fault, in the first place. The development of
  of pity." She was to be pitied. Unless the mercy of God had          the church is often thus, that the. leader, the angel, the min-
  compassion on her, she would be utterly lost. The wretched-          ister of the church, becomes lax and unfaithful and falls


                                       j  T H E   - S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                299

away first of all; and the congregation gradually follows.         m5serable.?  A terrible blow it must have been to that
I imagine that the angel of Laodicea was a well-satisfied,         profoundly self-satisfied church of Laodicea, when the mes-
easy-going, good-for-nothing sort of  man. He must have            sage came to her: "I will spue `thee out of my mouth." But
been a man that always spoke of peace where there was no           would -to  God  .that the church of today might hear this
peace. He lacked the courage to lay his finger on sore spots.      same message, that she might be stirred  up  from her  self-
He was no fighter. He attempted to find out what the opinion       satisfied condition and stung to the quick.
of his people was before he expressed his own. And so he               Let us learn. what message must Abe brought to such a
gradually flattered them into their self-satisfied condition.      church as that of Laodicea. First of all, we may notice that
He preached no sin and condemnation ; or, if he did, he knew       the Lord Jesus emphasizes strongly that not their opinion of          -
how to do it in such a way that nobody could possibly be           self, but His opinion of them, is true and reliable. This He
offended. He left the people blind and poor and naked, and         does in His Self-announcement. Says He : "These things
he- told them that they were rich and that their goods in-         saith the Amen, the faithful and  true witness." "Amen"
creased. Thus, I imagine, was the angel  of the church in          denotes that which is firm, abiding, true. It is that on which
Laodicea. Small wonder, then, that the congregation fol-           one may rely. Hence, the latter phrase, "the faithful and
lowed. But however this may be, it was exactly this  awfill        true witness," may be considered as a sort of commentary
contrast between their actual condition and the opinion they       and explanation of the name "Amen." Just because the
had of themselves that made them perfectly nauseating, and         Lord is the Amen in Himself, He is also such in His testi-
that at the same time made their condition so hopeless. For        mony. His witness is true and faithful. He never makes a
indeed, the publican, that knows and confesses his wretched-       mistake.  Ehror is out of the question with Him. Neither
ness; is justified ; but what hope is there fbr the miserable      must it be expected that He will become unfaithful, and
pharisee, who thanks God for his own goodness ?                    cater to the good-will of men. And the result is  that, His
   It may perhaps seem a severe indictment, but personally         testimony is perfectly in harmony with the condition of the
we have not the slightest doubt that the church of today           church in Laodicea.  The members of the church may cer-
begins to reveal an alarming degree of similarity with the         tainly rely upon it, that if His testimony concerning them
church of Laodicea. Also in the church of today there is           clashes with their own opinion of self, .it is because the latter,
a goodly measure of self-satisfaction and self-righteousness.      and not the former, is erroneous. This the Laodiceans must
The church cries out more loudly than ever: "We are rich           hear, in the first place. They were filled with `conceit. They
and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." I am          had been flattered into the delusion that they were rich and
speaking of what..calls  itself the church in the modern world.    in need of nothing: No easily would they exchange this
Christianity of today boasts that she is waking up to the great    view for that of someone else.  .If their minister had preached
task of the church of all ages. We speak of big things. We         this gospel of wretchedness and misery and poverty and
are going to bring righteousness and peace in society and          blindness and nakedness to them at this time, likely it is that
state, and' thus usher in the kingdom -of dad. It appears that     they would have deposed him. And therefore, Jesus comes
man intends to do so in his own power, which, by the way,          first of all with the gentle reminder that it is the faithful and
already miserably fails. The word spoken to the church in          true witness speaking, the Amen, upon which they may rely.
Philadelphia,  "Thou  hast little  strength," is no more under-    And the same method holds true for the church of today.
stodd. In  t&e second place, our age is characterized by a         The church must again hear the Word of God. She  mtist
sad, but very emphatic lack of the  l&owledge  of sin and          again understand that from her pulpit it is not; to a private
misery. The church knows  not that  she is wretched and            and personal opinion, but the authoritative voice of the Amen
miserable and poor and naked. And also today, we take it           that is speaking. If she does not, there is no hope for her.
that the leaders, the ministers of the gospel, are to blame           In the second place, the Lord reveals Himself as the rich
primarily. Sin is no more preiched.  Of depravity and misery,      and all-sufficient One. Already in the expression, "the be-
of sin and guilt, we hear  no. more. And the `result is that       ginning of the creation of God," this truth is suggested. The
also the gospel of the cross, the gospel of the righteousness      meaning of this phrase is, of course, not that Jesus is the
of Christ by faith in Him alone, is fast disappearing from         first of the creatures, and therefore Himself a creature. For
our pulpits. Christ of Galilee, not of Calvary, is  ,preached.     this would conflict with all that the Word of God reveals of
The Christ that loved and did well, the social  Christ, is         Immanuel.  He is from eternity to eternity God.  Btit the
held up as our example. But  ,the Servant of Jehovah, the          meaning is rather that He is the principle of all that  was
Suffering Servant, Who was punished for our transgression2         created. In that sense He is the firstborn of every creature.
and bruised for our iniquities, is lost out of sight. I am         All things are made by Him and through Him, the eternal
speaking, I  repeal,  of the church in the modern world in         Word. He is the fountain of all that exists. And because
general. Is it a wonder that the church is asleep, that she        He is the beginning of all things that are made, they all
imagines that she is rich and in need of nothing, while in         subsist in Him and by Him.
actual fact she is poor and blind and naked, wretched and                                                                      H.H.


 300                                         T H E   STANDARD   B,EARER

        CHURCH AND STATE IN THE LIGHT OF                             that this is to be found in the licentious practices of certain
                         ARTICLE 36                                  religious groups, known as Anabaptists, which refused to
                                                                     acknowledge the power of the state and attempted to establish
         (The following essay was delivered 17~ the undersigned      a kingdom of God of their own. This is not the place, nor is it
         several years ago before a  covtzbined  meeting of the      the purpose of this essay to describe in detail the. practices
         Men's Societies of South Holland and Oak Lawn.              of these fanatical groups; but a sentence or two will suffice
         And it is here given to kelp fill the department usually
        filled by the Rev. G. M. Ophoff who is providentially        to show what they did and how it became the'occasion for
         hindered beca:use of illness.)                              the writing of Article ,36.
                                                                        As early as 152.4, a certain Thomas- Munster, Johann
    We have been asked to deliver a paper on Article 36 of           Denk and Hans Hut ; and in 1536 men like Melchior Hoff-
 our Netherlands or Belgic  Confession wherein it was especi-        man of Friesland, Jan Mathys, a baker of Harlem and Jan
 ally desired that we express our opinion. regarding the             Beukelssen, a. tailor of Leyden, began what is know as `the
 propriety or impropriety of the footnote which has been             Munster revolution. Melchior Hoffman claimed to have
 added to this article by the Synod of the Christian Reformed        prophetic inspiration and declared that Strassburg-  had been
 Church in the year 191'0.                                           divinely designated as the new Jerusalem where he  .the
    We might begin by saying that the article as such with-          prophet of the New Dispensation should suffer imprisonment
 out the footnote has born perhaps more than any other of the        for six months and then the end of the world would come,
 articles of faith in the Confession the brunt of attack by          and all who opposed the "saints" (the Anabaptists) would
 criticism. The footnote is simply the result of one of these        be destroyed. Jan Mathys, the baker of Harlem, gave him-
 attacks. Though we had not  ariy first-hand material in our         self forth as the prophet Enoch,  and soon spread a fanatical
 possession to prove these statements, indirectly we learned         propaganda widely through the Netherlands and adjdining
from various sources that these statements are true and that         parts of Germany., The baker with his colleague, the tailor
the criticism made by the Christian Reformed Church was              of Leyden, Jan Beukelssen by name, declared that God had
 already expressed by the Reformed Synods in the Nether-             rejected Strassburg by reason of its unbelief and had chosen
 lands in the year 1905. Subsequently we learned from these          Munster ai the new Jerusalem in its stead. Radicals flocked
same sources that as late `as the years 1938 and 1943, the           thither in large numbers. They gained the mastery of the
 Christian Reformed Church in America has offered criticism          city and drove out those who would not accept the new
upon their own criticism, and have attempted to remove the           order. Mathys was  &lled in the battle when the bishop of
footriote'by one Synod and to put it back by another. The            Munster laid seige to the city. Jan Beukelssen was proclaimed
point we wish to make is that there is still in the midst of         king. Polygamy was established, community of goods en-
these churches a question ai to the propriety or impropriety         forced, all opponents bloodily put down. In Amsterdam, on
of the footnote attached to this article by the Synod of 1910. one occasion, these fanitical groups en&ding men and wo-
 It is small wonder then, that this question could arise in          men, ran naked down the streets, and when the police ap-
your midst and that. you would like to discuss the problem           prehended them and put them in prison they refused to
involved.                                     B                      dress, saying, they were the "naked truth."
   In the treatment of our subject we feel that it would be             If you consider that in 1517 the Rkformation was initiated
advantageous to consider it from the following points of view        by Martin Luther and that it was soon after that these
shall this essay serve its purpose, to induce  `you  *to enter       revolutionary sects arose, it can easily be understood how .
into a free discussion of the problem. We desire first of all to     that the governments of those days would conclude that the
give a brief statement concerning the occasion that prompted         Reformation was no reformation at all, but a revolution and
the inclusion of this article  in the Confession. We feel that       uprising against all authority and power of the state. The
this is necessary shall we be able to understand the article         Refprmed fathers, therefore, had to show that their Reforma-
itself. In the second place, a fair understanding of the contents    tion was not identical at all with these revolutionary up-
of the article will be necessary to decide upon the proprietjr       risings. Hence, the article respecting the attitude towards
of the footnote. Thirdly, you will expect our own criticism          magistrates. The existing governments, having classified the
of the footnote which was added to this article. And finally,        Reformers and Anabaptists alike, unrighteously brought a
for the benefit of a good discussion we hope will follow, we         heavy hand to bear upon the faithful Reformers, causing
propose to present to you several propositions respecting            them to suffer unrighteously. Against this unrighteous treat-
the article with its footnote in order that we may be guided         ment, they protested, while at the same time they carefully
somewhat in our discussion.                                          expressed their  .submission   .and obedience to the existing
    First of all,' then, as to the occasion that prompted the        orders of the state.
inclusion of Article 36 `in our Confession, which also to  a            As to the contents of the article itself, we notice that it
great extent controlled the wording of this article. We              may be divided into four parts. The first states that God has
gather -from the article itself as well as from other sources        instituted government. How  it is instituted of God, the


                           .-                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                301

  article does not say. It merely states the fact. The Heidel-        spiritual weapons only. 5. That the church is autonomous
  berg Catechism, as you know, connects it with the fifth             and there is personal liberty of conscience in matters per-
  Commandment, and the authority of the parents. This is un-          taining to the service of God.
  doubtedly correct. Government was not instituted at a certain          The Christian Reformed Church in America  expresses-
  period, but developed organically. The purpose for which            further in the footnote its agreement with the above  state75
  God has instituted government, according to the article, is         ments, and declares moreover that they conceive of the duty
  for the restraint of dissolute men and for the maintenance of       of magistrates within their own sphere to uphold the first
  good order and decency among men.                                   table of the Law as well as the second, and further, that
     The second part of the article declares how God would            both church and state as institutions of God and Christ
  realize this purpose, namely, by giving the magistrate the          have mutual rights and duties and reciprocal obligations
  sword. With that power of the sword he was to punish evil           to meet. However, they may not encroach upon each other's
  doers and protect the good. Also he was to protect the              territory. The church has rights of sovereignty in its own
  sacred-ministry, and all idolatry and false worship were to         sphere as well as the state.
  be removed and preve,nted,  the kingdom of antichrist was'to           In reply to the criticism of Article 36 offered in the
  be  destroyed,.and the kingdom of Christ to be promoted.            footnote, we express the following: 1. That the blanket
     The third part declares it to be the duty of everyone toI        statement that the church and state are ABSOLUTELY
  be subject to -the magistrates, paying tribute, honoring            separate, cannot be maintained. It must not be forgotten
  respecting and obeying them in all things not  repugant  to         that the church in the world has also an earthly and temporal
  the Word of God. All are to supplicate God in prayer for            side. Then, too, the state has to deal with spiritual as well
  them, that He may `rule and guide them in all their ways,           as mundane principles and relationships. The Christian
  that we may lead a. quiet and peaceable life in all godliness       Reformed Church also felt this when it declares in the foot-
  and honesty.                                                        note "that the magistracy has a divine duty towards the first;
                                                                      table of the Law as well as towards the second, and further-
     The last part is a statement of the rejection of the error       `more that both state and church as institutions of God and
  of the Anabaptists and other seditious groups who reject the        Christ have mutual rights and duties appointed them fronl
  higher. powers and magistrates, and who would subvert               -on high, and therefore have a very sacred RECIPROCAL
  justice, confounding decency and good order among men.
  So much as to the contents of the article as such.                  obligation to meet through the Holy Spirit, etc." 2. We are
                                                                      not prepared to say with finality as the footnote declares that
     Now it is the second part of the contents of this article        Article 36 proceeds on the principle of the Established
  that has caused so much dissatisfaction and criticism, and          Church. When we consider the occasion for the inclusion of
  which really is the occasion for the footnote added by the          Article 36 in the Confession as briefly stated at the beginning
  Christian Reformed Churches in 1910. It has been main-              of this essay, as well as the time in which it was written, we       1
  tained by the churches in the Netherlands and subsequently          question sincerely that the article assumes such a relationship
  also in America that the article proceeds on the basis  that        of church and state. Was it not a time of Reformation ? Had
  church and state are one, on the principle of the Established       not the Protestant Churches only lately been liberated from
 `Church. The part of the article referred to reads as follows:       the shackles of Roman Catholicism which had control also
  "And their office is, not only to have regard unto, and watch       of the State? Did not the very Reformation give the church
  for the welfare of the civil state, but also that they protect      the very freedom from all imposition from without? We
  the sacred ministry ; and thus may remove and prevent all           think it did. That the Protestant Churches, including the
  idolatry and  .false  worship  ; that the kingdom of antichrist     Reformed, later sought and obtained'the unity of church and
  may be thus destroyed and the kingdom of Christ promoted.           state, a condition that prevailed at the time of the Synod of
  They must therefore countenance the preaching of the Word           Dort convened in 1615-19,  does not make church and state
  of the Gospel everywhere, that God may be honored and               one at the time of Guido De Bres. Then, too, even if it was
  worshipped by everyone, as He commands in His Word."                true that church and state were one at the time the Confes-
  Over against this, the footnote expresses briefly the follow-       sion was written, that still does not mean that the contents
  ing : 1. That the phrase "and thus may remove and prevent           of the article is false that speaks of the duties of magistrates.
  all idolatry, etc." proceeds on the principle of the Established    We must not forget here that in this Confession we have
  Church. 2. That history  ,does not support the principle of         a believer pleading with the tyrannical and cruel magistrate
  state domination over the church. Rather, separation of the         who was persecuting the believers and who should know it
  two. 3. That it is contrary to the New Dispensation that            to be his duty to punish evildoers, not the righteous. 3.
  the state arbitrarily reform the church, and that the church        Surely we agree with the footnote that the church as well as
  be allowed to conduct its own affairs.  4: That the  N.  T.         the state also has individual duties and responsibilitBs,  and
church is not to be governed and extended by political                that church and state may not interfere with these individual
  measures of the state, but by its own office-bearers and            duties, Surely it is  .not the. duty of the state to preach the


302                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE.R
 -              -_  _..
 Gospel. That is the duty of the church alone. Politically it       Lord Jesus Himself are examples of this sufficient to prove
is also the duty of the church to discipline heretics and           this principle. Romans 13 is also conclusive on this matter.'
idolatry. But it is also our opinion that the state must count-        5. In close connection with the preceding principle, we
enance the preaching of the Gospel. And we hesitate to say          believe it is Scriptural what the Confession expresses con-
that the state has not also a duty in eradicating idolatry and      cerning "the duty of believers to make supplication for
 false worship. Must not the state uphold the Law that de-          magistrates in their prayers, that God may rule and guide
mands love of God, the .only true God ? We believe it should.       them in all their ways." This principle is undoubtedly based
       That our essay be not too long, and that we have ample       on the passage found in I Timothy 2 :l, 2, where we read :
 opportunity to have a good and sound discussion, we close          "I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers,
 with the following statements, or propositions which               intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men, for
                                                          ~6 be-
 lieve should govern our discussion:                                kings, and for all that are in authority ; that we may lead a
                                                .                   quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." Here
       1. To determine the meaning and implications of Article      it must be understood that this last expression "that we may
 36, it is above all things necessary to know and understand        lead a quiet and peaceable life, etc." belongs not to the
the occasion that prompted its formation. It was not the            contents of the prayer for magistrates. We do not pray for
Synod of Dordt, nor the conditions that prevailed at the time       kings that they may cause conditions that are quiet and
 of that Synod that prompted the writing of this article.           peaceable for us. Rather, the meaning is that he who can
 Rather, the author is Guido De Bres, a martyr who ~died  at        truly pray for the welfare of kings, etc., is already living a
 the hands of a tyranical.  state who in this article pleads for    quiet and peaceable life. He is not in rebellion against them
 justice and righteousness for the righteous, while at the same     Then, too, it should be noticed that the `text does not say
 time he confesses submission to the authority invested in the      that we should pray for  the king,  etc., but definitely "for
state.                                                              kings and for all that are in authority." We are not re-
       2. It is our opinion that church and state cannot be         quired to pray for a specific king, president or governor, but
 absolutely. separate. They have mutual responsibilities, and       for God's people, even those in authority. We must pray for
 very sacred reciprocal obligations to meet. This is due to         all of them; This is an element in prayer which is almost
 the fact that on the one, hand the church has an earthly side,     wholly forgotten today, especially in the pulpit. Where this
 and on the other, that the state has to do also with spiritual     attitude is reflected in our congregational, family and indivi-
                                                        ,
 principles.                                                        dual prayers, all Anabaptism, Communism, Bolshevism, and
                                                                    Socialism, which ,a11 are essentially Egoism, will be elemin-
       3. Though the separation is not absolute, there is never-    ated ; and the honor and authority of God in church or state
 theless separation between church and state. Each has its          will come to its own.
 own calling in its own sphere. The church, not the state, must                                      I thank you,
 preach the Gospel, while it is the duty of the state not to                                                    Rev. M.  Schipper
frown upon this preaching, but to protect the church while
it preaches. The church also has its own policy whereby it
 regulates and governs in its own sphere and punishes evil-                                  I N   M E M O R I A M
 doers by the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven.              The Men's Society of'the First Protestant Reformed Church,
While the state also has its own policy whereby it governs in       hereby wishes to extend its sincere sympathy to one of our
its own sphere and punishes evil-doers with the power of            members, Mr. Ryan Harkema, in the loss of his mother,
the sword. As we said before, we conceive the duty of the                            MRS. JENNIE HARKEMA
 state to be also that it uphold the first table of the  Law as
well as the second. Therefore, when in its own sphere here-            May our triune God comfort and sustain him in his sorrow.
tics such as the Anabaptists of Guido's days arise, who op-                                                D. Van Allen, President
posed all that is holy in church and state, it is the duty of                                              R. Kamminga, Secretary
the state to honor .the Law of God and preserve it by punish-
ing all who transgress it. We know this opinion does not                             WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
meet the approval of many, but our opinion will hold never-
theless until this principle is proven to be false.                    The Men's Society  od the First  Pro,testant Reformed Church,
                                                                    of which Mr. Bylsma is a member, wishes to congratulate
       4. It is the duty of the church as a body and believers                   MR. and MRS. EDWARD BYLSMA
as individuals to obey implicitly the authority of the state in
all matters not conflicting with the Word of God. And even          on their 60th wedding anniversary.
when the state is ungodly and makes ungodly demands, the               May our God bless them in the way that lies ahead, and may
                                                                    they experience that there is no peace apart from God.
believer protests while at the same time he submits to the                                                 D. Van Allen, -President
punishment the state may inflict. The apostle Paul and the                                                 R. Kamminga, Secretary


                                                .THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    3 0 3

                                                                        premise Paul calls attention to the "diversity" of the gifts,
           FROM HOL-Y  WRIT                                             as they come in the church by the one Spirit.
                                                                  Ii        Let us try to understand what this diversity of gifts im-
                                                                        plies for the church and why it is so explicitly stated that
           Exposition of, I Corinthians 12-14                           they all come from not simply one Spirit, but that they come
                                 III.                                   from the "same" Spirit. The emphasis does not fall in the
                                                                        term "same" (autos) on unity of the Spirit, but rather on
                           (i Cor.  12:4-11)                            the  iderttity of this Spirit. This "identity" is the basis for
                                                                        the unity of the Spirit's work and gifts in the midst of its
   Anyone who studies the Scriptures will understand that               diversity in the church. It is the reasoning from cause to
it is proper and according to the rule of faith that the                esect. The cause is one ! The efficient ca,u.se in all the mem-
spiritual gifts  in the church cannot be understood or seen in          bers is the  sat%e  ider~tic~l   Spirit.
their proper light except they be seen in their relationship                Further, it should not escape our notice that Paul does
to the "Lord Jesus"!                                                    not at all, give us any ea$a.rtation  and i`nterpretation  of these
   For the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the risen and glori-            various "spiritual gifts" mentioned in these verses. He
fied Lord in heaven ; all His content He takes out of Christ            merely mentions them, cites them. Hence,  he.gives us no
and gives it to the church. He dwells in Christ as in the               explicit statement concerning these gifts as to their inner
Head and in us as in the members of the church. Anyone                  nature. He merely mentions all of these gifts to show us.
who speaks of the name of Jesus must certainly bless this               both their  diversity  and their  com+zon  design!  And that
Name. And, without the Holy Spirit taking the confession                common design is the profit of all in the body of Christ.
out of Christ and putting it in our hearts, we cannot possibly              It stands to reason, that, whereas many of these gifts in
confess. this Name, nor understand our place in the body                the church were of a temporary nature - special gifts in the
of Christ so that the gifts in the church will come to their            church - it is rather difficult for us to pin-point their exact
divinely designed end !                                                 function in the church. This is not possible, we believe. Nor
   All the "gifts" in the church are given so that the one              is  #this necessary for the proper understanding of this pas-
Spirit, the same Lord and the one God who is in all, through            sage. We are given an interpretation of the diversity of
all and above all, `may come to be seen in the glory and                the gifts in the church, not simply for curious and inquisitive
majesty of His work, the manifold fulness of His grace!                 debate, but  .for the practical purpose of teaching us to
' The passage to which we will particularly call attention              properly use the gifts for  <the profit of all! All instruction
in this essay is the following: "`Now there are diversities of          of Paul is profitable for instruction, admonition, correction In
gifts,  bzt.t the  sa,me  Spirit. And there are differences of  ad-     righteousness, that the man of God be thoroughly furnished
minis&&ions,  but the same Lord. find there are  diversities            to every good work! Scripture does not have any teaching
_of operations, but it is the same God, who worketh all in all.         simply for the sake of teaching itself. It is never an end in
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to            itself. Not even the teaching of Paul. Even this letter itself
profit withal. For to the one is given by the Spirit the word           is a gift of God to the church, for the profit of all! Paul him-
of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same                 self is not an exception to the rule he here lays down. We
Spirit. To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the             have no dogmatics here,-but instruction in righteousness and
gifts of lzealing  by the sa.me Spirit; to another the working          concerning the proper behavior of the saints in the household
of  n&acles;  to another prophecy; to another discerning of             of God.
spirits; to another diverse, kinds of tongues; to another the               It is for this same reason, the practical purpose  -of this
interpretation  of tongues; b~ttt all these worketlz tht one and        passage for the conduct in the church, that we must not read
the  selfsame  Spirit,  dividing  to every man severally as  ke         more into these verses than Paul intended them to express.
will."     1                                                            We refer here, of course, to verses 4-6. Although these verses
                                                                        reflect the trinitarian character of God's works in the church,.
   Thus reads the Scripture passage under consideration.                they, nevertheless, do not contain a dogmatical presentation
    For the proper understanding of this passage we should              of the truth of the  ontological  trinity. They present to us
bear the following facts in mind:                                       the Tyinity,of  God in relationship to the gifts in the church!
    In the first `place we should remember that the most                    Bearing this in mind, we must remember that in the
general subject in these chapters 12-14 is the spiritual gifts in       verses 4-6, where Paul speaks of the "Spirit," the "Lord,"
the church of God in this world.                                        and of "God," we have the trinity revealed to us, m.a+jested
    Secondly, that Paul emphasizes the fact that all these              in the gifts (charismata) in the church !
spiritual gifts are placed in the church for the benefit of the             The "Spirit" here is certainly none else but the Holy
whole body of Christ. To demonstrate the `truth of this                 Spirit, the third person in the Trinity. Only he is here the

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

 Spirit of the exalted and glorified Christ-in the church, mak-            Only when our lives are such that we see the import
 ing this church the temple of God in the Holy Spirit. In              of God over all in these gifts, shall the Spirit be 9mnifesting
 this church the Holy' Spirit gives to each one as he wills.           Himself in and through us to the profit of all.
He is the sole dispenser of gifts. There are no gifts but                  When looking at the catalogue of "spiritual gifts" as
 what they are from this same identical Spirit, the Spirit of          given by Paul in these verses, we notice that Paul has really
 the  risen Lord. He, the risen Lord, received the promise of          three groups of gifts.
 the Spirit. And through this Spirit these gifts are given,                The first group we might call the gifts of  bisdoutz and
 constantly  given to the church.                                      knozaledge. See verse 10; Both are given by the same Spirit,
        The Holy Spirit energizes each of these various gifts in       and come from the same Lord, and therefore, are in His
 the church. From Him, as the agent, do all these gifts come           service. That Paul places them in this order is worthy of
 to the saints. He is the efficient cause!                             notice. He speaks here of "wisdom," which is evidently the
        Such is the emphasis of Paul.                                  virtue in the church whereby we walk in the fear of the
        However, it should not be overlooked that since the Spirit     Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning the principle of
 is the Spirit of the risen Lord, all of these gifts are'ipso facto    wisdom. And in the light of this wisdom, which sees all
 gifts, which `are of  a  ministeri~ng  character. For they are        things in the light of God, "knowledge" must be placed as
 gifts of him who came not to be ministered to, but who came           being of an administering kind. Both are from the Holy
 to be a servant, giving his life a ransom for many.  HOW              Spirit, and deal with the  sanctified intellect  of the church.
 could these gifts, coming from this Lord through the Spirit,              The second group is a group which falls under the gifts
 be ought else but a.dministra.tions?!                                 of "faith." In this group we find gifts of healing, work&g of
                                                                       powers, prophecy and the d,i.scerning  of spirits. Although we
        For this reason it is stated that these "administrations"      are somewhat in the dark about the meaning of "faith" here,
.are of and for the same Lord. These  a&&&ration  are                  it seems to be according to the rule of faith to maintain that
 not to be conceived of as being apart from  spirihlal  gifts.         in our text "faith" refers to  saz&zg  faith. It is not merely
 Rather they ,are an aspect of these gifts. Every gift is there        a faith which holds for true all that God has revealed in his
 for the profit- of all. It is a gift through which the Holy           word. It is rather a faith, which is vouchsafed in its reality
 Spirit, as the Spirit of the risen Lord, qualifies the saints to      by the gifts of healing, etc. For these "gifts of healing" and
 use their gifts for the salvation and benefit of the saints. They     "working of powers" stand in the service of "prophecy"
 both are wrought by the same Spirit and both come from one            and the "discerning of the spirits." And they all therefore,
 Lord. In the use of these gifts none is Lord and master,              presuppose faith in Christ, as a manifestation'of the energy
 but all are servants one of another. It is well to bear this          of the Spirit, which is for the profit of ,a11 !
 in mind. It needed underscoring in the church at Corinth.                In close connection with the foregoing group is .also the
   From this vantage-point it should not be difficult to under-        third group which falls under the "speaking with tongues,"
 stand why Paul also adds : there are d*iversities of operations.      giving utterance to the wisdom and knowledge, to the faith
 The term "operations" really means : enwgies, powers.                 in manifesting itself in the prophetical word, as corroborated
 These energies do not refer to any entity next to or in ad-           by these gifts of healing and .the working of miracles. This
 dition to the spiritual gifts or ministries. What they refer          speaking with tongues will receive further consideration in
 to is the divine energy, which is displayed in  them  all. 0,         the next few issues of this series of articles. We here wish
 Othe greatness of the energy in these spiritual gifts and ad-         to simply remark that this speaking with tongues was,
 ministrations. Without these energies they would be mean-             evidently, not speaking in any  known  tongues, that is, known
 ingless and powerless. They could not be to be the profit of          by men and belonging to any of the Indo-Germanic languages;
 any member in the church. But now they are, indeed, to the            but rather a speech wholly different from any language ever
 profit of all!                                                        employed on earth by men, or in heaven by angels !
   In these gifts of the Spirit of the risen Lord we see the               And this all is simply thus in the church at Corinth be-
 one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the God and ,Father             cause the Holy Spirit gave unto each as he wills.
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, energizing the church, working into
 her both to will and to do, so that she may work out her                  There is nothing `arbitrary or haphazard in all the work-
 salvation with fear and trembling !                                   ings of the Holy Spirit. There is wise purpose, choice and
                                                                       selection.
        Here, therefore, we ,have  the only. real basis for a godly        Nothing is left to man. All-is of God, who worketh all
 walk. All is from  Go'd. Yet, it is from Him in such a  way           things in all through the- Holy Spirit. No man should, there-
 that it is in Christ and'through the Holy Spirit  1  ..Here  we       fore, conduct himself with these gifts as if he had not received
 take off the shoes from our feet. All is holy ground.                 them, either in  inflated;pride  or contrary to their objective
        May we not be as fools, who rush in where angels fear          design.
 to tread !                                                                                              .:                       G. L.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER-                                                      305
I/                                                                     church, caused a great schism in the East (905). Leo him-
             Contending F,or .The Faith                             // self had forbidden not only tetragamy, but even trigamy.
                                                                       The Patriarch Nicholas  Mysticus  solemnly protested, and
                                                                       was deposed (906  j,  but Pope Sergius III  (904-911),  in-
             The Church and the Sacraments                             stead of siding with suffering virtue as Pope Nicolas  .had
                                                                       done, sanctioned the fourth marriage (which was not for-
      VIEWS  DURING'THE  THIRD PERIOD  (750-1517 A.D.)                 bidden in the West) and the deposition of the conscientious
                                                                       patriarch.
                 THE SUPREMACY OF THE POPE                                Leo on his death-bed restored the deposed patriarch
                                                                       (912). A Synod of Constantinople in 920, at which Pope
                THE GREAT SCHISM OF  IO.54  (3)                        John X was represented, declared a fourth marriage illegal,
       But when the pope's eyes were opened, he sent the bishop        and made no. concessions to Rome. The Emperor Con-
Marinus to Constantinople to declare invalid what the legates          stantine, Leo's son, prohibited a fourth mariage by an edict;
had done contrary to, his instructions. For this Marinus was           thereby casting a tacit imputation on his own birth. The
shut up in prison for thirty days. After his return Pope               Greek church regards marriage as a sacrament, and a neces-
John VIII solemnly pronounced the anathema on Photius,                 sary means for the propagation of the race, but a second
who had dared to deceive and degrade the holy see, and had             marriage is prohibited to the clergy, a third marriage is
added new frauds to the old. Marinus renewed the anathema              tolerated in laymen  -as a sort of legal concubinage, and a
after he was elected pope (852 j . Photius denied the validi@          fourth is condemned as a sin and a scandal. The pope ac-
of his election, and developed an extraordinary literary               quiesced, and the schism slumbered during the dark century.
activity.                                                              The venal Pope John XIX (1024) was ready for an enorm-
      But after the death of the Emperor Basilius  (886))  he          ous  sum to renounce all the claim of superiority. over the
was again deposed by Leo VI, miscalled the Wise or the                 Eastern patriarchs, but .was forced to break off the negotia-
Philosopher, to make room for his youngest brother Stephen,            tions when his treasonable plan was discovered.
at that time only sixteen years of age. Photius spent the last                            Cemlarius   a.nd Leo IX.
five years of his life in a cloister, and died 891. For learning,
energy, position, and influence, he is one of the most remark-            Michael Cerularius (or Caerularius), who was patriarch
able men in the history of Eastern Christianity. He formu-             from 1043 to 1059, renewed and completed the schism.
lated the doctrinal basis of the schism, checked the papal             Heretofore the mutual anathemas were hurled only against
despotism, and secured the independence of the Greek church.           the contending heads and their party ; now the churches ex-
He announced in an Encyclical of 866 : "God be praised for            communicated each other. The Emperor Constantinus Mo-
all time to come! The Russins  have received a bishop, and            nachus  courted the friendship of the pope for political reasons,
show a lively zeal for Christian worship." Roman writers              but his patriarch checkmated him. Cerularius,,  in connection
have declared this to -be a lie, but history has proved it to be      with the learned Bulgarian metropolitan Leo of Achrida,
an anticipation of an important,fact,  the conversion of a new        addresed in 1053 a letter to John, bishop of Trani, in Apulia
nation which was to become the chief support of the Eastern            (then subject to the Eastern rule), and through him to all
church, and the most formidable rival of the papacy.                  the bishops of France and to the pope himself, charging
      Greek and Roman historians are apt to trace the guilt           the churches of the West that, following the practice of the
of the schism exclusively to one party, and to charge the             Jews, and contrary to the usage of Christ, they employ in
other with unholy ambition and intrigue  ; but we must                the eucharist unleavened bread ; that they fast on Saturday
acknowledge on the one hand the righteous zeal of Nicolas             in Lent  ; that they eat blood and things. strangled'in violation
for the cause of the injured Ignatius, and on the other hand          of the decree of the Council of Jerusalem (Acts, chapter 15) ;
the many virtues of Photius tried in misfortune, as `well as          and that during the fast they do not sing the hallelujah.
his brilliant learning in theology, philology, philosophy, and        He invented the new name Azymites  for the heresy of using
history ; while we deplore and denounce the schism as a sin           unleavened bread instead of common bread. (The Feast of
and disgrace of both churches.                                        Passover was the feast of unleavened bread, during which
                                                                      the Jews were to eat unleavened bread. The Greeks (the
PROGRESS AND COMPLETION OF THE SCHISM. CERULARIUS.                    Eastern Church) insist that our Lord in instituting the
      We shall briefly sketch the progress and consolidation of       eucharist after the Passover-meal used true, nourishing bread
the schism.                                                           as the sign `of the new dispensation of joy and gladness;
                                                                      while the lifeless, unleavened bread belongs to the Jewish
                The  differ-ence about  Tetragamy                     dispensation. The Latins (the Western Church) argued that
      The fourth marriage of the emperor Leo the Philosopher          Christ during the feast of the  passover  could not get any
(886-912),  which was forbidden by the laws of the Greek              other but unleavened bread - H.V.). Nothing was said


306                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
- -
about the procession of the Spirit. This letter is only extant         had to endure from the Western barbarians. Churches and
in the Latin translation of Cardinal Humbert.                          monasteries were robbed and desecrated, the Greek service
       Pope Leo IX sent three legates under the lead of the            mocked, the clergy persecuted, and every law of decency
imperious Humbert  to Constantinople, with counter-charges             set at defiance. In Constantinople  `(a prostitute was seated
to the effect that Cerularius arrogated to himself the title-of        on the throne of the' patriarch ; and that daughter of Belial,
"oecumenical"  patriarch  ; that he wished to subject the              as she is styled, sung and danced in the church to ridicule
patriarchs of Alexandria and of Antioch  ; that the Greeks             the hymns and processions of the Orientals." Even Pope
rebaptized the Latins ;' that, like the Nicolaitans, they per-         Innocent III accused the pilgrims that they spared in their
mitted  their priests to `live in wedlock ; that. they neglected       lust neither age nor sex, nor religious profession, and that
to baptize their children before the eighth day after birth ;          they committed fornication, adultery, and incest in open day,
that, like the Pneumatomacchi or TReomachi, they cut out of            "abandoning matrons and virgins dedicated to God .to the
the symbol the Procession of the Spirit from the Son. The              lewdness of grooms." And yet this great pope insulted the
legates were lodged in the imperial palace, but Cerularius             Eastern church by the establishment of a Latin hierarchy
avoided all intercourse with them. Finally, on the 16th of             on the ruins of the Byzantine empire.
July, 1054, they excommunicated the patriarch and all those
who should persistently censure the faith of the church of                            Fmitless attempts a.t Reunion
Rome or its mode of offering the holy sacrifice. They placed
the writ on the altar of the church of Hagia Sophia with the              The Greek emperors, hard pressed by the terrible Turks,
words: God saw and judged.                                             who treatened to overthrow their-throne, sought from time
       Cerularius, supported by his clergy and the people, im-         to time by negotiations with the pope to secure the powerful
mediately answered by a synodical  counter-anathema on the             aid of the West. But all the projects of reunion split on the
papal legates, and accused them of fraud. In a letter to Peter,        rock of papal absolutism and Greek obstinacy.
the patriarch of Antioch (who at first acted the part of a
mediator), he charged Rome with other scandals, namely,                             The Council of Lyons. A. D. 1274
that two brothers were allowed to espouse two sisters; that               Michael Palaeologus  `(1260-1282),,  who  ,expelled  the
bishops wore rings and engaged in warfare  ; that baptism              Latins from Constantinople (July 2.5,  1261), restored the
was administered by a single immersion ; that salt was put             Greek patriarchate, but entered into negotiations with Pope
in the mouth of the baptized ; that the images and relics of           Urban IV to avert the danger of a new crusade for the
saints were not honored ; and that Gregory the Theologian,             reconquest of Constantinople. A general council (the 14th
Basil, and Chrysostom were not numbered among the saints.              of the Latins) was held at Lyons in 1273 and 1274  w&h
The Filioque was also ,mentioned.                                      great solemnity and splendor for the purpose of effecting a
       The charge of the martial spirit of the bishops was well        reunion. Five hundred Latin bishops, seventy abbots, and
founded in that semi-barbarous age. Cerularius was  all-               about a thousand other ecclesiastics were present, together
powerful for several years; he dethroned one emperor and               with ambasadors from England, France, Germany, and other
crowned another, but died in exile (1059).                             countries. Palaeologus sent a large embassy, but'only  three
       The patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and `Jerusalem           were saved from shipwreck, Bermanus, ex-patriarch of Con-
adhered to the see of Constantinople. Thus the schism  be-             stantinople, Theophanes, metropolitan of Nicaea, and the
.tween the Christian East and West was completed. The                  chancellor of the empire. The pope opened the Synod (May
number of episcopal sees `at that time was nearly equal on             7, 1274) by the celebration of high mass; and declared the
both sides, but in the course of years the Latin church far            threefold object of the Synod to be: help for Jerusalem,
outgrew th.e East.                                                     union with the Greeks, and reform of the church.  Bona-
                                                                       Ventura preached the sermon. Thomas Aquinas, the prince
           The  L,ativt  Evv&re in the East.  1204-1261                of schoolmen, who had defended the Latin doctrine of the
       During the Crusades the schism was deepened  by. the            double procession, was to attend, but had died on the journey
brutal atrocities of the French and Venatian soldiers in the           to Lyons (March 7,  1274),  in his 49th year. The imperial
pillage of Constantinople  (1204),  the establishment of a             delegates were treated with marked courtesy, abjured the
Latin empire, and the appointment by the pope of Latin                 schism, submitted to the pope and accepted the distinctive
bishops in Greek, sees. A certain Roman cardinal admits                tenets of the Roman church.
that it was largely through the guilt of the Latin emperors               But the Eastern patriarchs were not represented, the
that the hatred of-the Greeks at -the conquest of Constantin-          people abhorred the union with Rome, and the death of
ople, 1204, assumed gigantic dimensions. Although this                 the despotic Michael Palaeologus (1282) was also the death
artificial empire lasted only half a century  (1204-1261),  it left    of the Latin party, and the formal revocation of the act of
a legacy of burning hatred in memories of horrible desecra-            submission to the pope.
tions and innumerable insults and outrages, which the East                                                                      H.`C'.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           307

                                                                   answer to this attack upon the morality of the sovereignly
          The Voice of 0,ur Fathers                           II predestinating God as He represents Himseif in the proclama-
                                                              v tion of the gospel that this eighth article of Canons III and
                                                                   IW is proposed.
              The Canons of  Doidrecht                                We must remember, moreover, that this attack is not
                            PART TWO                               aimed `at the general proclamation of the gospel, but at the
                  EXPOSITIOS   OF  TBE CANONS                      sovereign  predestination of God. By this apparent dilemma
           THIRD  AND FOURTH HEADS OF DOCTRINE                     the Arminian means to compel us to let go the truth of
 O                                                                 sovereign election and reprobation. He says it is ei"ther : . .
      F  TIXE  CORRUPTION OF MAN, HIS CONVERSION TO GOD,           or. If we maintain the truth of sovereign election and limited
                  AND  TIE MANNER THEREOF                          atonement, we must preach the gospel of that limited salva-
                     Article 8 (continued)                         tion only to those for whom it is divinely intended, namely
                                                                   the elect. If, on the other hand, we maintain that the gospel
      We have already stated that it is important to understand    must be proclaimed `to elect and reprobate alike, then we must
the background of this article and to note the Arminian ac-        no longer attempt to maintain that there is both in God's
cusation to which this article of the Canons is intended to        decree and in Christ's atonement salvation only for the elect.
be an answer, In our discussion of the translation we briefly      And, he maintains, since it is impossible to abandon the
pointed to this background. And on this we wish to elaborate       idea of promiscuous gospel-preaching, you must abandon the
now, and to call attention to the seriousness of the issue.        doctrine of salvation-for-the-sovereignly-elect-only.
First of all, we may note that the issue concerns the preach-         Now it is passing strange, yea, incomprehensible, that
ing of the gospel, and that too, to men without distinction.       there are those who in the name of the Reformed truth, in
elect and reprobate alike. With the Arminians, of course,          fact, under the very guise of the article we are discussing
this presents no problem whatsoever : they have a general          succumb  to this Arminian attack, accept this  Arm&an
gospel, and are free to proclaim it to all men. However, rt        dilemma, .and cheerfully take refuge in the claim of "mystery"
is -obvious to both Reformed and Arminian that also accord-        in.order to escape being impaled on the horns of said dilem-
ing to the Reformed view the gospel must be proclaimed             ma. For what do they do? They calmly change "seriously"
promiscuously. This is obvious for the simple reason that          to  "well-meaningly,"  first of all. Thus they -introduce the
no man can single out the elect and preach only to them.           idea of a general grace in the preaching of the gospel. And
Besides, of course, it is a fact that the Reformed preacher as     they present the gospel as though God intends the salvation
well as the Arminian preaches to a mixed audience, con-            of all who hear the preaching. God  well-meaningly,  that is,
sisting of both elect and reprobate. And we must well under-       with every intention of their salvation, calls all men to whom
stand that such is also our calling. We may not preach and         the gospel is proclaimed. Thus the calling as a work of salva-.
may not wish to preach only to the elect. It is God's purpose      tion becomes general, comes on the part of God to all men, is
that the gospel shall be proclaimed also to the reprobate. In      corrupted into an offer, well-meaning on the part of God, to
the second place, we must notice that this preaching of the        all men, the acceptance of which depends on the free will of
gospel is of God. We feel this immediately when we read            man. And thus the Arminian dilemma is accepted. For the  '
the article. It deals not with the seriousness and veracity of     one horn of that dilemma the Reformed man has already
a human word and a human calling, but with the seriousness         accepted, namely, the truth of sovereign election and limited
and truth of God's Word and God's calling in the gospel.           atonement (a limited gospel). And the other horn, namely,
It is true that men preach the gospel, but only in the sense       that God yet causes the gospel to be proclaimed as though all
that they are instruments, ambassadors, They represent God.        may be saved and as though He desires the salvation of 211
Hence, the preaching and the message of that preaching are         is accepted by this corruption of the call of the gospel into
of God. Through the preaching of the gospel God speaks             a general, well-meant offer of salvation. The Arminian now
and makes known His Word and His will. It is this point            has every, right to say to such a "Reformed" man : "The
that we must clearly see. Hence, when the Arminian attacks         way of escape from that dilemma is to abandon your doctrine
our right to preach the gospel without distinction, his attack     of sovereign predestination. Don't you see that you involve
is really aimed at our conception of God. He charges that          yourself in a plain and inescapable contradiction  ? Don't you
the God of the Reformed faith is an immoral .monster,  Who         see that the God of your doctrinal presentation is unethical,
though He wills, according to His sovereign decree, the            is not upright, is a liar ?" But as we said, having accepted
salvation of a certain definite number of persons, and in-         this dilemma, this "Reformed" man blithely claims to escape
tends to save and does save only them, yet causes the gospel       its sharp horns by calling a contradiction a mystery.  I  say
of salvation in Christ to be proclaimed to all men without         again : this is incomprehensible. Yet this is exactly what has
distinction, as though they ,a11  `may be saved. And it is in      been done in the Christian Reformed Churches and in other


          30s                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER

          Reformed circles. And it has been done under the guise of              Or: God through the call of the gospel calls His elect unto
r         this very paragraph of our Canons. One can scarcely read               salvation.
          a commentary on this article in which that word "seriously"                In the third place, we must consider the contents of this
          is not changed into "well-meaningly" at some point along               call of the gospel. To that call of the gospel belongs the
          the line. And the `Christian Reformed Churches in  1924                preaching of Christ crucified in all His  fulness,  first of all.
          cited this' article in support of the First Point of Common            In that connection, we must bear in mind that to the content
          Grace in the same sense, as is obvious also from their writings        of the gospel-call belongs the proclamation of God's sovereign
          in `defense of the Three Points.                                       good pleasure also. So surely as God makes known in His
                 Now is that truly the meaning of this article? Did the          Word the good pleasure of His will, so surely it must also
          fathers a&ually  mean to' give ground to the Arminians here ?          be proclaimed in the gospel. Nor must it be camouflaged and
          Do they indeed mean to maintain the Arminian line in regard            covered up. It is inherently false to assert that one cannot
          to the call of the gospel and at the same time the Reformed            go to the mission field with the gospel of predestinating
          line in regard to the counsel of predestination and the                grace, for the simple reason that it is of the essence of the
          atonement of Christ ?                                                  gospel of Christ according to the Scriptures. In the third
                 It may be true that this article is not characterized by        place, to the call of the gospel belongs the call to faith and
          exemplary clarity. But its language is certainly plain enough          repentance. And it is in that call to faith and repentance that
          to determine that *there is no slightest tinge of Arminianism          you find the point of contact between Christ crucified and
          in it. On the very face of it, it is false to maintain that this       the heart of the sinner to whom the gospel is preached. Only
          paragraph teaches a general, well-meant offer of salvation to          it must be remembered that the call to faith and repentance
          ail who hear the gospel. Such would be contrary to the                 is a calling of God, and therefore it is not to be character-
          whole tenor-of the  Cano,ns,  and it cannot possibly be distilled      ized as an invitation, but as Canons II,.5 has it, as a denmvzd,
          from this article.                                                     or a command. In the fourth place, therefore, it must also
                 Let us engage in a little analysis of the thought here.         be stated that in the  tail of the gospel God even promises
                 &irst of an, let it be noted that the paragraph deals not       to all those coming to him and believing rest of soul and
          with the will of God's decree, but with the will of His com-           ,eternal life. This is the same language  `as that of Canons
          mand, or His ethical will. And it is from this point of view           II, 5, that the promise of the gospel is that whosoever'believ-
          that the fathers here look at the call of the gospel.  `1 he gospel    eth in Christ crucified shall not perish, but have everlasting
          is viewed here not trom the point  ot view  ot the tact tnat           life. But it must be noted that while this promise is gener-
          in it God declares His good pleasulve,  weibehagen,  beneplaci-        ally proclaimed, it is not a general promise, but, in fact,
          tuvtz,  but from the viewpoint of "what is pleasing to him,            quite particular, for the elect alone: for it is a promise only
          wa.t  Hem aangenaam  is, q&d sibi gratum sit." .hence, as we           to those who come to Him and believe.
          have noted, the article also deals with the seriousness, and
          that too, in the sense of the veracity, truthrumess,  and mth-             Now the question is : is there.anything  not serious about
          tumess  of God in the call of the gospel.                              all this? Is there anything in this call of the gospel that is
                 In the second place,  ,the fathers are here speaking of a       not according to truth ? In the gospel God calls all to faith
          calling that proceeds from God through the preachmg  ot the            ,and repentance. And God is serious about it: no man has
          gospel to all who hear, both elect and reprobate. This 1s some-        the right before God to remain in his sin and unbelief. Is
          times termed "the external `calling." However, the fathers             that not in complete harmony with the truth of God ? God
     \    do not use this term ; and to use it is, in my opinion, both           in the gospel presents to the sinner the way of sin as a way
          mistaken and confusing. It is better to speak of an external           that displeases Him and makes him the object of His wrath,
          and an internal aspect of the one saving calling, and to in-           as a way in which he heaps to himself treasures of wrath
          sist that they are. co-extensive  :' with a saving calling God         in the day of the revelation of God's righteous judgment.
          calls only His elect, whether you view that calling from its           And in that same gospel God presents the way of faith and
          external or its internal aspect. The fathers speak of those who        repentance as a way that is pleasing to Him, as the way of
          are called by the gospel. And it is plain both from this               life eternal and glory. Is not God serious about this? And
          article and from the two following that they have in mind a            is not this gospel entirely in harmony with the truth of
          calling that can be and actually is obeyed or disobeyed. And           God ? In the gospel God opens for him that repents the way
          it is true that *the saving calling is irresistible : .it cannot be dis-' of reconciliation to God, the way of return to the heart of
          obeyed, but is always obeyed. Now it may be said that the call         God, and assures him that repents and believes that he will
          of the gospel and the saving calling in its external aspect are        never be cast out, and promises him eternal life. But in that
          alike in form and contents. Nevertheless, we must distinguish,         same gospel God declares to the impenitent and unbelieving
          in order to maintain the efficacious and particular character of       that the wrath of God abideth on him. Is not God serious
          the calling unto salvation. And then we may say that the               about this ? Is not this gospel entirely according to truth ?
          soztnd of the calling, externally considered, proceeds to all.                             (Co&med   on page 310)


                                             ,THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               309

                                                                    the state for the retention and possession of their property.
              DECENCY and ORDER                                     The schismatic action of that element that formerly belonged
                                                                    with our churches has made us realize anew the .importance
                                                                    of this matter. Concerning this a great deal can be written.
              Sundry Matters on Article 28                          We will, however, refrain except that we wish to state: (19
                                                                    that it is certainly evident, in the light of Article 28 of our
     Having written at length concerning the relation of the        church order, that the course which our churches have taken
 church and the state in general, we will now return once           with respect to the possession of their properties is not
 more to the 28th Article of the Church Order. Consider-            only Gglzt but a matter of duty; (2) that only the blind are
 able time has elapsed since we began to treat this article and     unable to see, especially in the light of the history since
 so the reader will kindly pardon when we recapitulate just         1953, that these schismatics have "departed from the disci-
 a little.                                                          pline, rules, and usages of the Protestant Reformed Churches
     You will remember that we quoted the article from the          `in the U. S. A." and, therefore, lost all moral and legal
 original church order as adopted by the Synod of Dordrecht.        claim to any properties of said churches even though they
 in the years 1618-19  and found it to be quite different from      succeed in obtaining some of them through false witness and
 the present redaction which was first adopted in the revision      theft. God will judge ! (3) that the oft referred to passage ,
 of 1914. The original article maintains the principle of           of I Corinthians 6:1-S in no way conflicts with the principle
 church subjection to the state; the same which was found           `of Art. 28 of the church order nor have our churches vio-
 in the original 36th Article of our Netherlands Confession.        lated this passage in the action taken as is sometimes alleged.
 The function of the State, in addition to its task of caring       For a further clarification of this we refer our readers to
 for the civil state, is then to `protect the sacred ministry,      Standard Bearer, Vol. 30, pages 126, 127.
 remove and prevent all idolatry and false worship, etc."              Secondly, proper incorporation is necessary in order that
     Although it is easily understood that this view should         legal protection may be sought, if necessary, for "the peace
 be common in a country like the Netherlands where the State,       and order of the meetings of the church." This, too, some-
 functioning sometimes  rather.freely  in matters of the church,    times becomes necessary, as for example, (and this actually
 appointing and calling ministers, etc., nevertheless, we can-      happened) when a church is located next to the residence of
 not agree with it for reasons stated in our former writings.       ungodly people who make a practice of loudly hammering
 When the church allows the government to thus act, we              on roofs and wrecked automobiles during the time of services
 believe the royal government over His church is being in-          and, when `they are decently told to quiet down, assault the
 fringed upon. Civil magistrates are then engaged in labors         office-bearers of the church and inflict bodily injury: Such
 that belong only to the spiritual trustees of Christ's church.     circumstances demand action by the civil authorities and
 This is wrong indeed!      .                                       although also unincorporate  groups are entitled to and may
     Though, therefore, we disagree with the basic note of          also seek protection by the civil magistrates, it is, never-
 this original article, we may add that there are various ele-      theless, better to obtain proper incorporation. The latter is
 ments found in it which are commendable and it is a loss           imperative where physical property is involved.
 to our church order that these have not been preserved in             Since the beginning of the present decade there has bpn
 it. The article may be divided into two parts. The first           a striving in -Reformed circles to considerably revise the
 speaks of duties of the government in relation to the church       present church order. In 1951 a committee was appointed
 and the second speaks of the duties of the office bearers of       by the Christian Reformed Synod to work on this project.
 the church, particularly with respect to their impressing          That committee is reporting to the Synod this year and has
 upon the membership of the church its duty toward govern-          completed a first draft of a proposed revision. In this revi-
 ment. Both of these points are lost in the present church          sion, printed in the Banner of November 30, 1956, the com-
order and since Scripture itself speaks especially of the           mittee suggests that the present Article  25 be numbered
 latter relationship rather frequently, we feel it would have       Article 33 and be changed as follows :
 been more proper to have in the revised article a corrected           "Art. 33. Consistories shall provide for the proper in-
 and clarified statement concerning this matter in addition         corporation of their congregations so that they can claim
 to what we now have.                                               legal protection for the retention of their properties. How-
     Our present article speaks of a different matter. The          ever, even at the risk of losing their church properties, con:
 main thrust of the article speaks of the duty of cons&tories       sistories shall never permit the least infringement upon the
 to see to it that their churches are properly incorporated         royal government of Christ over His Church."
 with the state and that for two reasons:           /                   From this it is `evident that the authors of this revision
     Firstly, this is necessary in order that where the occasion    also understood the main thrust of the present Article 28 to
  may arise, they may seek in a legal way the protection of         refer to the matter of `incorporation, Fact is, they make this

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

      the sole point of the article and state as the only reason for      when the reality is only. camouflage and the church degen-
      incorporation "the protection and retention of their prop-          erates into a tax-free business corporation, we, believe the
      erties." No mention is made of the phrase, "for the peace           state would be within her proper right to interfere, forbid
      and order of their meetings," which is found in our present         certain prevalent practices, or impose the same tax it does
      redaction and neither are any of the commendable features,          upon other corporations. It seems as though there is room
      of the original article reinserted in this proposed revision.       for a revision in the laws governing incorporation and pro-'
      Personally, we would like to see that done even at the ex-          vision ought to be made whereby churches and other re-
,     pense of necessitating a longer article.                            ligious, tax-free organizations be incorporated differently
          As to the matter of incorporation itself we may note that       than business corporations. Then provisions could be made
      its necessity arises from the fact that the church institution-     in the laws governing church-incorporation wherein the
      ally in this present world has a material or earthly side. The      church would have to abide by its spiritual calling or fall
      spiritual essence of the church, of course, needs no other          under separate incorporation wherein it would also become
      incorporation than that which she has in Christ. Regarding          subject to proper taxes., Perhaps something along this line
      her temporal, physical properties and the general admin-            will develope in the future for  Icertain legislators are well
      istration of the material affairs of her organization, how-         aware of some of the abuses perpetrated by tax-free organi-
      ever, it is proper that she incorporate with the state for the      zations and have begun to speak out against them. Of course,
      state not only has concern but also proper jurisdiction over        there is also the possibility that because of these violators the
      these matters. As Monsma and Van  Dellen  point out,                innocent will be penalized by having all the tax exemptions
      "Civil authorities, for instance, may insist for the safety of      taken from this. There is also a trend favoring this position.
      all concerned, that the general rules of fire prevention be         Whatever happens it is certainly not a matter that interferes
      observed as we erect our church buildings. For the protec-          with the royal  .government  of Christ over His Church and
      tion of the health of the church members, as well as for the        we, therefore, can also submit to the established law even
      community, they have a right to insist on proper sanitation.        though such a change would materially affect the heavy
      In matters as these the state authorities have a certain God-       financial burden placed upon our churches. Surely we may
      given responsibility, also regarding churches." To these            and should speak up and write to our representatives in.
      may yet be added matters of building code, zoning ordinances        congress about things such as this so that the evil-doers may
      affecting the churches, taxation, and others. With respect to       be punished and the righteous. protected. And, as churches,
      all such things the church must give due recognition to the         we may and should give to Caesar what is his and be ex-
      rightful demands of the state.                                      tremely careful that we do not give to him what is Christ's
         There is, however, an important condition annexed to                                                                  G.  Vanden Berg.
      this article. The church may under no .circumstances suffer
      the royal government of Christ to be infringed upon, She                            THE VOICE  O'F OUR FATHERS
      may not permit the state-power to interfere with matters of                                (Co&wed   fi-om  page 308)
      faith and confession. These she holds sacred and the privi-
      lege to maintain them is her God-given duty and right. Tt           And does not God always act according to this gospel in
      does not belong to the state nor-may it be exercised by her.        His judgment, so that those that believe and repent are
      Ere, therefore, she will permit the state to interfere in these     saved, `while those who continue unbelieving and impenitent
      matters the faithful church will suffer the loss of all things      are damned ?
      for she realizes that she is certainly able to maintain her             No, there is absolutely nothing false or deceitful in that
      spiritual essence without properties, etc., but if she succumbs     call of the gospel.
     .before the unjust demands of an ungodly state she will lose            Nor is there anything general' in it. It is a particular
      her spiritual identity and become as salt that has lost its         gospel that is generally proclaimed.
      savor. If incorporation becomes thus penalized, .she will re-:         And its seriousness and veracity is not at all affected by
      main unincorporated ! She must !-                                   the fact that there are some who are unable to heed the
         From all of this it is evident that there is an area in which    call. The inability of man to repent and believe by nature
     the church stands directly related to the state. The former          does not change the seriousness and the truth of God's Word
     takes cognizance of and acknowledges this in the matter of           one iota.
     her incorporation. We believe that many churches horribly               Such, then, is the truth concerning the call of the gospel,
     abuse certain privileges which are given to her as a corpo-          according to our Reformed confessions. The question con-
      ration of the state. For example, the matter of relief from         cerning the harmony of this truth with that of sovereign
     ' property taxation. The state recognizes the church as a non-       predestination is not touched on in this article, and may 5e
     profit organization designed to minister to the spiritual rather     dealt with  in. another connection.
     than to the material needs of man. This is all very well but                                                                    H . C . H .


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR,ER                                     f,            311

`i                                                                         the professor could be defended, he refused to participate in
II                ALL AROUND US                                            his own defense at the Synod of 1922 on  <the ground that
                                                                           certain members of that Synod by their denial of the doctrine
                                                                           of common grace were disqualified from passing judgment on
 Mol;e Reflections on Doctritial  Sensitivity.                             his teaching. That stymied the defense. Synod found Janssen
         In the last issue of the Standard Bearer we called atten-         guilty of some of the charges alleged against him. However
 tion to an article appearing in the February, 1957,  issue of             much one may regret certain aspects of the procedure in that
      torch  und  tmmpet  on the subject of "Doctrinal Sensitivity"        case, the church must be credited with unwillingness to tol-
      written by, Professor Henry R. Van Til of Calvin College.            erate so much as the semblance of Modernism."
      His article appeared in a series of articles in this periodical         Though both men are reflecting on doctrinal sensitivity.
      entitled "The Pillars of the Church," written by various             it appears to the undersigned that there is a considerable dif-
      authors.                                                             ference in the doctrinal sensitivity of Van Til and Kuiper
         In the March issue of torch and trumpet Professor R. B.           relative to the Janssen case. The latter leaves the impression
      Kuiper, past president of both Calvin College and Seminary,          he is not so sure that the church did the right thing when
      continues the series,. writing an article entitled "Calvin Col-      it deposed the modernist professor in 1922. And this im-
      lege and Seminary." In iti he endeavors to show that these           pression is strengthened by what Kuiper gives us in the very
      institutions serve as pillars of the church, i.e., the Christian     next paragraph of his article.
      Reformed Church: Because his article throughout reveals                 "Janssen had alerted the church to the presence in its
      that he is deeply conscious of the principle that the Word of        ministry of deniers of the Reformed doctrine of common
      God is to permeate all.the instruction given in and by these         grace. Without delay the church took action. Under the
      institutions which he considers the pillars of his church, we        guidance of a seminary professor the 1924 Synod drew up
      have named this present article "More reflections on doc-            its famous three points on the doctrine in question, and soon
      trinal sensitivity."                                                 thereafter certain ministers who could not subscribe to them
          Our general impression from the reading of Kuiper's              were disposed."
      article, of which we can give the reader only a few snatches            The reader will judge that Kuiper in the last quoted para-
      here and there, is that he is quite a bit more conservative in       graph carries no scruples at all with respect to the deposition
      his criticism of the church than was the Rev.IVan Til. And           of the deniers of common grace. The church in his judgment
      perhaps we should say, also a bit more positive. Frankly,            did absolutely right in this instance. But in the Janssen case
      when I read Van Til's article, the impression was left with          he is not so sure. The very language he uses seems to indi-
      me that in his opinion there is not much hope for the future         cate this. Notice, he says, "Dr. Janssen . . . was said by his
      of the Christian Reformed Church. But when I read  Kui-              colleagues to have been influenced unduly by the higher
      per's article there seems to be much hope for the future of          criticism." According to Kuiper, Janssen may have had "the
      this church. By this I do not mean that Kuiper is insensi-           semblance of Modernism," and therefore "the church must
      tive to the dangers that threaten the future continuance of          be credited with unwillingness to tolerate so much as the
      his church. His article reflects that he is seriously conscious      semblance of Modernism" ; but Kuiper is not convinced that
      of these dangers. But I mean by this that he does not, like          Janssen was a modernist.
      Van Til, point, to specific evils .that have practically infested        Moreover, he states, "Unfortunately that matter was
      his church. And one feels when he reads Kuiper's article             never threshed out thoroughly." He uses  .that word "un-
      that the latter does not see eye to eye with Van Til with            fortunately" because he is convinced that Janssen could have
      respect to their `criticism of the same evils. I have in mind        been exonerated if the able ministers who defended him had
      particularly the Janssen case of 1922.                               been allowed to carry out their defense. What Kuiper ,should
          Relative to the Janssen case, writes Van Til, "Case num-         have written is that in his opinion here was a case where
      ber three. Another man writes a dissertation and tells the           the church was over-sensitive doctrinally. They should have
      world that the Christian Reformed Church in the deposition           kept the Modernist in  .the seminary. But the deniers of
      of  Jar&n  has snuffed out the progressive spirit and has            common grace who uncovered the Modernist must by all
      become  .reactionary  as a result. This indicates lack of  doc-      means get out. It seems that Kuiper is not doctrinally sen-
      trinal sensitivity with respect to the purity of the Word."          sitive enough to discern that the very doctrine of common
          Kuiper, on the other hand, relative to this same case,           grace leaves the churcl;  wide open to Modernism.
      writes : "The early twenties brought another doctrinal issue             It is also doubtful that Professor Van Til sees this incon-
      to the fore. Dr. Ralph Janssen,' Professor of Old Testament          sistency between the acceptance of, common grace and the
      in Calvin Seminary, was said by his colleagues to have been          denial of Modernism. I would be very interested to hear
      influenced unduly. by the higher criticism. Unfortunately            what he has to say on this point.. But I must return to the
      that matter was never threshed out thoroughly. Although              article of Professor Kuiper.
      several of our ablest ministers inclined to the opinion that             He certainly sounds the right note when he calls atten-


                   u                -.. .-                                   _-_-- --__.
312                                           T H E S T A N D A R D B E A R E  R  :2-.-i  Z.&L+
-
tion  to- the necessity of a twofold  ,emphasis.   Writes  he,     graduating from college, do not know the fundamentals as
"Among the emphases which the Christian Reformed Church            they should and consequently are unable to teach them to
has the right to expect of its schools, two loom very large.       their pupils. . .  ." At this point the writer calls attention
They are learning or scholarship and orthodoxy or loyalty          to "two aspects of scholarship with reference to which there
to the Word of God. And these two must go hand in hand.            has for some time been room for improvement at Calvin
Never may they be divorced."                                       Seminary. Not enough attention has been paid to contem-
       Kuiper in the naming of these points posits learning or     porary thought. Specifically, biblical criticism has received
scholarship first, then orthodoxy. But in his treatment of         too scant attention, and it took our seminary too long to
these two points he properly first calls our attention to the      wake up to the peril of Barthianism. Also, generally speak-
"Insistence on Orthodoxy." Under his discussion of this            ing, the method of teaching has been too elementary. That
point he reminds the reader of several instances in the his-       is  `to say, the professors have too often done nearly all the
tory of his church .where insistence on orthodoxy was most         thinking for the students and have not stimulated their stu-
necessary. He recalls the supra-infra lapsarian controversy,       dents sufficiently to productive thought. That helps account
the Bultema and the Janssen case, the common grace con-            for it that too few graduates of the seminary aspire to the
troversy, and insists that in the treatment of these and other     pursuit of advanced studies, whether by themselves or in
cases the church and school gave evidence of a determina-          other schools."
tion to uphold the Reformed faith.                                     After discussing the subject of his article in "Retrospect,"
       In respect to the second matter, namely, the matter of      he then calls attention in the second main point to "Prospect,"
scholarship, Professor  ,Kuiper makes some rather startling        Here the writer assesses tha present position of these insti-
observations. He says : "In the opinion of the writer of this      tutions of-learning and then, looking forward, inquires as to
piece Calvin College and Seminary have in the past been less       the future.
insistent on scholarship than on orthodoxy. . . . The observa-         It is his claim that the Christian Reformed Church "still
tion may-  be added that academic degrees are not nearly al-       is one of the most orthodox churches on the face of the
ways a reliable measure of scholarship.' This writer has sat       globe." But he hastens to ask, "Are there signs that it  Is
at the feet of truly  great scholars who had neither honorary      weakening ?" And again, "What will become of our church
nor earned doctorates, and he has met Doctors of Philosophy        in the next hundred years ?' He reminds his readers that
who were incredibly stupid. Almost anyone can by going             "many an erstwhile sound church has degenerated into a
to school long `enough acquire a doctor's degree. And, sad         false church, a synagogue of Satan. Such a fate may over-
to say, even at so highly regarded a school as the Free Re-        take the Christian Reformed Church. Nay, it may be said
formed University of Amsterdam the requirements for the            unhesitatingly that precisely that is bound `to occur unless
Th.D. degree are not as rigid as they ought to be." He             the Christian Reformed Church -strives to retain its sound-
refers to the report in a certain magazine of an interview         ness. And it is the sacred duty of Calvin College and Semi-
with a professor of the University of Illinois who insists that    nary to take an active part, even to play a leading role, in
the modern methods of education have as their consequence          that striving. They can do so by vigorously promoting
that few young Americans are today receiving a truly broad         Christian learning."
and thorough liberal education. Kuiper agrees with the pro-            At this point in his article Professor Kuiper offers eight
fessor and says. further, "Undeniable facts substantiate his       suggestions which he believes will aid these institutions, Cal-
criticism. And, sad to say, the deterioration which he ob-         vin College and Seminary, in the performance of their task.
serves has affected, not only the public school system of            We are sorry there is not sufficient space to reflect on
these United States, but to some extent also our Christian         each of these suggestions. Briefly, they emphasize the neces-
Schools. . . . Today Calvin College is compelled to teach          sity of a higher standard of scholarship and they insist on
many courses on the high school level. If the reader will          doctrinal sensitivity. Like Van Til, Kuiper warns against the
permit a personal note, the graduates of Calvin College's          fear of controversy. Writes he, "if Calvin- College and Sem-
pre-seminary course today know no more Latin, Greek, and           inary are `to continue to serve the Christian Reformed Church
German than the writer knew when he graduated from `prep' as pillars, they will have to remain orthodox not only, but
school . . . in 1903; and more than a few students at Calvin       they will have to he so insistent on sound doctrine as to con-
Seminary are unable to write a sermon without flagrant             stitute bulwarks of orthodoxy . . . . Some, it would seem,
errors of grammar and misspellings, or to deliver a sermon         are `so fed up' with doctrinal controversy' as to be willing
without unpardonable  mispronunciations.~  Obviously the col-      to forego a little truth in the interest of peace."
lege pre-seminary course needs to be revised, and fortu-               Though we cannot agree with' all the professor writes,
nately that is being contemplated.  (But that alone will not       the general tenor of his article is quite acceptable to us, and
solve the problem. One of the saddest aspects of the pres-         we believe it is also of serious application to our own in-
ent situation is that some of our prospective teachers, on         stitutions.                                               M.S.


