        VOLUME XXX111                            APRIL 15, 1957-GRAND  TC\~rns, MICHIGAN                                                        NUMBER  14

                                                                                Remember the little Lamb standing as if slain in the
              MEDIT.ATION                                                / midst of the  throne of God ? And if in the midst of the
                                                                    -1 throne it must needs be in the vey heart of  God!  For God is
                                                                            on that throne.
             REYILING THE DYING CHRIST                                          And that is correct.
               "And they that passed by reviled Him, wagging                    Jesus hanging on the Cross is the  sweetest  and the` most
               their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the           beautiful.Thing  God has ever revealed, both in creation and
               Temple, and buildest it in three days, save  T,hyself.
               If Thou be the Son of God, come down from the               in recreation.
               cross."  - Matt.  27:39,  40.                                    Jesus hanging on the cross, derided and reviled by  .the
                                                                            world and the church, and nevertheless dying fbr His own,
        How characteristic of fallen humanity are  those passers-           is. the most wondrous spectacle we will ever see.
 by!
                                                                                All things in heaven and earth, in hell and anywhere are,
        It was none of their business, but they must needs stop a           became, and shall be because of this Holy Thing of which
 while, and as they stop, revile the  dying Christ,                         the angels sang.
        Ko, they are not the only miserable creatures who mock                  It shows all the virtues of God. It pinpoints all that is
Jesus. They all did. But here they are mentioned especially.                glorious in our Father above.
        Yes, all mock Jesus.                                                    It shall make you sing forever before the throne. Gud
        Chief of  th&m  all were the elders, the chief priests, the         will never let you forget His loving heart that would die in
 lawyers, the Scribes and the Pharisees. All that was called                Christ: the Death of the Son of God!                           L
 the cream of the crop surrounded the Cross of Golgotha, and                    As though you would !
 derided the Son of God.
                                                                                You  and 
        Neither were they  alotie in their godless work. Also the                            I  and all the host of the elect shall sing unto
                                                                            all eternity : Thou hast bought 
 mob was guilty of this heinous crime. The mob, which con-                                                             us  unto God by Thy blood !
 sisted of  .Jews mostly, but also' some Greeks, and Romans.                    And all the while we will be pointing to that bleeding
 Iideed,  we may assume that representatives of many nations                little Lamb in the midst of the throne of God!
 were present around that cross. Was it not the greatest of all                 But  the passers-by revile this most beauteous Holy
 holy days of the church which  biought  these representatives              Thing !
 frqm all the surrounded nations to the feast of the Passover?                  Horror of horrors!
 Do you remember the many nations that are mentioned a
 few weeks hence, at the feast of Pentecost?               .                                            :i;     4:      :,:     *     -
        It must have been a motley throng around that cross.
        And that is as it should be. The  wovld must be there.                  Why did not God come and destroy the whole world  ?
 This moment is a very special moment.
                                                                                He did not, and for the same  -reason why Jesus Saw,
        This moment is the most' important in all the history of            heard, suffered, and .  _ . . remained nailed to the cruel
 th `world. Never shall there be a more  pregnabt  hour on the
   1
 clock of the Universe.                                                     cross !
        `I may even say that this moment is that which is most                  But of that later.
 important in all eternity.                                                     First those passers-by.


                                                                                         I
II    314                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
         Yes, they  have their hour.                                         around the cross. They will then sow, reap, buy and sell,
         All classes of people have their hour : they also  must   `be       marry and give in marriage, etc. And that shall be their sin.
      represented.                                                           They shall act as the dumb  brute  which is insensible to  ai1
                                                                             spiritual data.
         The passers-by are a special class. And yet, when we                                           *
      study them, they are not so special after all.                            Oh, the horror of  thos_e  passers-by!

         No, we do not know  for'certain  who they were.                                               * *  9  *
             Some say that they were Galileans.
         Others identify  th&m as of the dispersion.                            But here they reviled the dying Christ.
         They are neither the one nor the other.                                And how perverted is their-judgment!
         They were simply, as is stated, passers-by.                            They tell  a. lie in a double sense.
         They are the world  in their coldness, indifference, cold              The Lord never said : "I  ,will destroy the  temple   !"
      bloodedness, and utmost- contempt for the things that are                 He had announced Himself as the Rebuilder of the
      important, great, majestic.                                            Temple. When we destroyed it. We always destroy the
                                                                             temple of God: in Paradise, in Moses' day and also in
         I think that a man like Simon of Cyrene was a fitting               Christ's day. The temple is the House of God: man plus
      representative of this sort of people.                                 God.               *
         The rest of Jerusalem was at least interested in this                  The Lord said : You destroy, but I build it.
      bleeding Stranger of Galilee. They congregated on this
      Thursday and Friday and ran in great multitudes 4rom the                  And, second, the Lord had not spoken of the edifice on
      place where the Sanhedrin congregated to Pilate's hall of              Zion's mount, but He spake of His body. He was the Temple
      judgment, to  Herod's  palace, and back again, ever growing            of  ihe living God. In Him God and man are united. And
      and ever more clamorous.                                               Him they broke. And even  now? while, they are reviling. Him,
                                                                             He is rebuilding it.
         But not these passers-by.
                                                                                They were liars in a double sense.
         They just  happen  to find themselves at `this spot, this
      Calvary.                                                                  The cross of Jesus is the very foundation of the rebuilt
                                                                             temple of God, and more than that, it is the foundation of the
         Don't you ever believe it! They were here by  God's,                glorified! exalted Temple of God, that cannot even be likened
      appointment.  The. passers-by have a date with God. God                to the edifice on Mount Zion.
      will have cursed humanity before this Spectacle in all their
      rotten nuances. The whole world must be there.                            That cross is the God of our salvation, reconciling the
                                                                             world  tinto Himself.
         We have heard of them before.
                                                                                Presently He will send the Holy Spirit which He will
             When a poor man cast a shadow of the Cross before,              receive from His Father and then He shall draw all the
      we see them also. I have in mind the passers-by in the days            elect unto Himself, so that the Temple may be full to over-
      of Jeremiah's lamentations. The Book in the Bible that gave
      utterance before of the dying Christ's roaring.                        flowing.
                                                                                And that rebuilt, glorified, and exalted Temple shall be
             "Is it  nothing  to you, all that pass  by?  behold, and see    beautiful indeed. To see a preview you must read the won-
      if their be any sorrow like unto My sorrow. which is done              derful Revelation of John.  (I mean, of course, of Jesus
      unto Me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted Me in the day
      of His fierce anger." Lamentations 1  :12.                             Christ).
             Dear reader, in that text you have the suffering of Christ         But the passer-by is simply a passer-by. What could he
      as He suffered in His elect before His coming.                         know of the glories that are  crystalizing before his very  eye  ?
             Oh yes, we know these passers-by. They are the godless             He is blind to God, to Christ, to. spiritual values.
      world from a special point of view.                                       Poor, miserable  passer?by.               _

             And would you know it  ? they are a class that are more                                   *  *    :k *
      numerous now than at any other time in God's  his&y.
         Today the-world stands in the sign of these passers-by.                "If thou be the Son of God, come down from that Cross  !"
             More and more we begin to see their faces, and more and             That means : Thou art not the Son of God, and therefore,
      more we see the world such as it will be when Jesus returns.           Thou  canst  not come down.
      Then the whole world will be as those indifferent specimen                 It seems that they have inquired round about that cross.


                                                                      .'                                                        "                                                                 :
                                             THE.   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                    315


    That was already plain when we examined their double
lie. They must have said: why is this man on the cross?                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
What has he done ? And there are always willing informers.               Semi-mo~~thly,  except  .nmnthly  during June,  July  awd  Augzcst
They must have told them about the  accuSations before                     Published by the, &ORMED FREE PUBL&NC  ASSOCIATION
Pilate. Hence, this cry.                                                 I'. 0. Box  SSI, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
                                                                                               Editor  -REV. HERMAN  H~EKSEMA
     And so we have the blindness of sin in this reviling cry.           Communications relative to contents should be addressed to Rev.
                                                                         H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
     Change the  Viewpoint : we destroyed the temple  ;  the             All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
temple must be built on perfect righteousness, and loving                G. Pipe,  1463. Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
obedience to God  ; we cannot do it; only God-is able  ; hence,          Amiouncem.ents and  Obistuaries  must be mailed to the above
He is the Son of God rebuilding the Temple of God.                       address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
                                                                         RENEWALS  : Unless a. definite request, for discontinuance -is re-
     Why cannot Jesus, come down from the cross ?                        ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes  the subscription
                                                                         to continue without the  -forma& of a renewal order.
     Oh, He could, if you would only take into account His                                       Subscription price: $4.00 per year
exalted Godhead and power. Did He not say at one  poim:                  Entered  as  Seco+ld   CEars matter  at Grand Rapids, Michigan
I can pray My Father and He will send me 12 legions of
angels ?                                                                                                                                                                          I

     But again: why could not Jesus come down from the                                                       C O N T E N T S
c r o s s ?                                                           MEDITATION-
                                                                             Reviling the Dying Christ.-. . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                     . . . ...313
     The answer is a beautiful story, my friends.                                   Rev. G. Vos

     The theological reason is the  unf&homable  love of God.         EMTORIALS-
God will have His love known.  And I do not mean first of all                T h e   F r e e   O f f e r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .     . . . . . . . . . 3iG
                                                                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema
His love for us.
                                                                      OUR  DOCTRINE-
     I have in mind this idea: the only reason why we have                   The Book of Revelation.. . . . 1.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .                              . . . . . . . . . 31s
creation and recreation is the fact that God wanted to display,                     Rev. H. Hoeksema
manifest, reveal how inexpressably lovely and beautiful He            FEATURE  ARTKLE-
is. And His wisdom devised the way of sin and  grace:  Ancl                  The Lion in the Old Testament. . . . . . . . . . , . . .                                  . . . . . . . . .320'
Jesus our Saviour serves that glorious purpose. And Jesus                           Rev.  ,G. Lanting
knew it. And so He will not come down: Halleluja!                     FROM HOLY  WRIT-
     The Christological reason is the salvation of the church.               Exposition of I  Corinth&  12:12-U.. . . . . .                                            . . . . . . . . . 322
                                                                                    Rev. G. Lubbers
How could we be saved if Jesus came down ?
                                                                      1~ HIS FEAR-
     Moreover, there is that wondefrul text. in Heb. 12. Jesus               Keep  1.t A Thing of Beauty.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                              . . . . . . . . . . 3.24
endured the Cross and despised- the shame because of the                            Rev. J. A.  Heys
reward of glory that was set before Him.                              CONTENDING  FOR  THE  FAITH-
                                                                             The Church and the Sacraments.. . . . . . . . . . . .                                     . . . . . . . ..3M
     This same bleeding Christ shall receive a name that is                         Rev. H. Veldman
above every name.                                                     THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS-
     No, do not pass by.                                                     The  Expo,sition   oQ the Cinons  8o.f  Dordreuht. .                                      ..> . . . . . . 328
                                                                                    Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
     Stand before that cross and sing!                                DECENCY  AND-ORDER -
                                                                             Ecclesiastical Assemblies . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . .                     . . . . . . . . . 331
     It  -is the splendid spectacle of surpassing beauty of` God !                  Rev. G.  Vtiden Berg                                  _
                                                              G.V.    ALL AROUND  Us-
                                                                             The Rising  Strellgth  of Christianity. . . . . . . .                                     . . . . . . . . .333
                                                                             What  o#f the Godless?. . . _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                            . . . . . . . . .333
                                                                             Current Thoughts  0811 Church and State. . . . .                                          . . . . . . . . .334
                                                                                    Rev. M.  Schipper

                    `- Teachers Meeting                               C O N T R I B U T I O N S -
                                                                             Missionary Notes . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._. . .335
                                                                                    Rev. G. Lubbers
     The Sunday School teachers mass meeting will be held                    The  le;te;;lial of  *he  Chri:stian Reformed  Churcli. . . . . . .  .336
                                                                                       . . ,
Friday, April 26, in the Hope Church at  8 p. m.


          316                                        T    H    E      STAN-DARD   FEARER
                                                                     -.-_

                                                                             ungodly that never repent, but also that it is manifestation
                    E D I T O R I A L %                                      of the love of God to them that He bestows these gifts  ?
                                                                                 This, to my mind, is essential.
                                                                                We do not believe that Scripture contradicts itself. We
                               The Free Offer                                do not believe that any particular passage of Holy Writ can
                                                                             be in conflict with the current teaching of the Word of God.
             It is rather striking that, in the pamphlet "The  Frei:         It has always been the Reformed method of exegesis to
          Offer," the same Scriptural passages,  iti -part, are offered      explain a certain passage in the light of the whole of
         as proof as the Christian Reformed Synod of 1924 adduced            Scripture.
         as proof for the "Three Points" of "common grace." To                   It is easy to ignore this sound rule, explain a particular
         me, this is a rather clear indication that so-called common         text without paying attention to the rest of Scripture, and
         grace and the Arminian presentation of the gospel are               then give one's own rather philosophical interpretation of
         closely related.                                                    the text, and arrive at all kinds of heretical conclusions;
             The first text the  authors  of "The Free Offer" quote and      but this is thoroughly unsound.
         attempt to exegete is Matt. 5  344-48.  They admit that this           This is exactly what the authors of "The Free Offer"
         passage does not deal with "the free offer of the gospel"           do in regard to the text in  M.att. 5  :44-48  and Luke 6  :35,  36.
         but, according to them, "it tells us something regarding               According to them, these texts teach :
          God's benevolence that has bearing upon all manifestations             1. That God loves the wicked that never comes to re-
         of divine grace." When  God makes His sun  to shine and             pentance.
         sends rain on the good and on the evil, it is, according to            2. That it is in this love to the wicked that, do not repent
         them, evident that both, elect and reprobate, are the objects       that God bestows the things of this present life on them.
         of God's grace and lovingkindness. Let me quote them a                 Both these propositions are thoroughly false when
         little more fully:                                                  judged in the light of the current teaching of Scripture. And
             "The `disciples are to love their enemies in order that         I wish to prove the very opposite on these propositions in
         they may be the sons of their Father; they must imitate             the light of all of Holy Writ, namely:
         their Father. Clearly implied is the thought that God, the              1. That' God does not love but hate the wicked that never
         Father, loves his enemies and that it is because he loves           come to repentance.
         his enemies that he `makes his sun  tise upon them and sends           2.  That God bestows all the things of this present life
. .      them rain. This is just saying that the kindness bestowed           upon the wicked that do not repent, not in His love or favor,
         in sunshine and rain is the expression of divine love, that         but in His wrath and for the purpose of destroying them
         back of the bestowal there  is. an attitude on the part of          f o r e v e r .
         God, called love, which constrains him to bestow these tokens          This is the  current  teaching of Scripture.
         of his lovingkindness. This informs us that the gifts be-              Note, as to 1 :
         stowed by God are not simply gifts which have the effect
         of good and blessing to those who are the recipients but that           "The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou  hatest all
         they are also a manifestation or expression of lovingkindness       workers of iniquity," Ps. 5  5. "God  judge&  the righteous,
         and goodness in the heart or will of God with reference to          and God is angry with the wicked every day." Ps. 7  :ll.
         those who are the recipients. The enjoyment on the  part            "The wicked shall  be turned into hell, and all the nations
         of the recipients has its ground as well as its source in this      that forget God." Ps. 9  :17. "The Lord is in his holy temple,
         lovingkindness of which the gifts enjoyed are the expres-           the Lord's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids
                                                                             try, the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous: but
         sion. In other words, these  are gifts and are enjoyed be-          the wicked and him that loveth violence his  soul  hateth.
         cause there is in a true and high sense benevolence in the          Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and
         heart of God."                                                      an horrible tempest : this shall be the portion of their-cup."
             The authors also refer to and quote the similar passage         Ps. 11 :4-G. "Thine hand. shall find out all thine enemies :
         in Luke  6135,  36, for the same purpose and with  the same         thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt
         explanation, viz. that God loves all His enemies.                   make them as a fiery  oven in the time of thine anger: the
             The first question we must ask in this connection is : is it    Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall
       the current teaching of Scripture that God loves all His              devour them. Their fruit shalt thou  d&troy  from the earth,
         enemies, that He loves not only the elect but also the repro-       and their seed from among the children of men. For they
         bate, that He loves not  only the wicked that repent, but also      intended evil against thee:  they imagined a mischievous de-
         the wicked that do not repent as the authors of "The Free           vice, which they are not able to perform." Ps. 21 :S-11. "The
         Offer" literally state ? Cf. p. 7. Is it the current teaching of    eyes of the  Lbrd   ,are upon the righteous, and his ears are
         Holy Writ that God not only bestows good gifts upon the             open unto their  cry.. The face of the Lord is against them


I

                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R .                                              317

      that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from  the          for reward, and take away the righteousness of the  righteotis
      the earth." Ps.  34:15, 16.                                         from him! Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and
         Thus I could continue and quote from virtually all the           the flame  consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rot-
      psalms.                                                             tenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they
         But let us turn to other books of Scripture.                     have cast away the Law of the Lord of hosts, and despised
         "Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his             the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore is the anger
      ways. For the froward is  abo&nation  to the Lord  ; but his        of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched
      secret is with the righteous. The curse of the Lord is in the       forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the
      house of the wicked, but he blesseth the habitation of the          hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst
      just." Prov. 3 :31-33.         .                                    of the streets.    For all this his anger is not turned away,
                                                                          but his hand is stretched out still." Isa. 5  :20-25.
         I can hardly refrain from making some comments on                    This, indeed, is the fundamental note of all the prophets
      this' passage of Holy Writ in connection with the teaching          of the Old Testament. God's favor is upon the righteous;
      of the authors of "The Free Offer." But I better refrain            He hates all the  wqrkers  of iniquity.
      because it is my purpose just to let Scripture speak its own            There is no common grace for the righteous and the
      sufficiently clear language. But I would like to ask them:          wicked alike.
      is the oppressor or the froward the object of God's`favor at            Is it, perhaps,  diffel'ent in the New Testament?
      the same time that he is an abomination to the Lord ? Does              God forbid ! Scripture does not contradict itself. Always
      He bless the house of the wicked at the same time that His
     curse is there ?                                                     it speaks the same language.
                                                                              It is only the righteous: the poor in spirit, they that
         The same antithetical note is heard in the entire book of        mourn, the meek, they that hunger and thirst after the righ-.
      Proverbs, as is well known. Always the fools, the unright-          teousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers,
      eous, the wicked are presented as an abomination of the             that are blessed and enjoy the favor of God,  Matt.  5:3-g.
      Lord and always they  arti the objects of His curse, never of       The rest are cursed and are under the wrath of God. For:
      His love and favor. Just let me quote a few more passages.          "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's
          "The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to          clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall
      famish: but he casteth away the substance of the wicked . .         know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns
      <Blessings are upon the head of the just: but violence cover-       or figs from thistles ? Even so every good tree bringeth
      eth the mouth of the wicked . . . `The way of the Lord is           forth  good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
      strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the            A good tree cannot. bring forth evil fruit; neither can a  car-
      workers of iniquity."  Prov: 10  :3, 6, 29.  "A good man  ob-       rupt tree bring forth good  frui!. Every tree that bringeth
      taineth favor of the Lord :  but a man of wicked devices will he    not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the oven.
      condemn . . . Lying lips are an abomination to the  Lor:j :         Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one
      but they that deal truly are  *his delight."  Pro;. 12  :2, 22.     that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
      "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord:         of heaven : but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
      but the prayer of the upright is his delight. The way of the        in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord,
      wicked is an abomination unto the Lord: but he loveth him           have we' not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name have
      that followeth after righteousness . . . The thoughts of the        ,cast  out devils ? and in thy name have done many wonderful
      wicked are an abomination to the Lord : but the words of            works  ? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew
      the pure are pleasant words." Prov. 15  :S, 9, 26.                  you  ; depart from me ye that work iniquity."  Watt.  7 :15-23.
          But why quote  mo& from this book  .of Scripture. All               These are the words of the Lord Himself. Are they any
      know that it must have nothing of a love or favor of God            different from the passages we quoted from the Old Testa-
      to the wicked.                                                      ment?  All emphasize the same truth: that God's favor and
          Is it necessary to quote from the prophets  ? Their funda-      love is on the righteous and that He hates all the workers
      mental note is ever the same: "Say ye to the righteous that         of iniquity.
      it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their        More of this  next time, the Lord willing.
      doings. Woe unto the wicked ! it shall be ill with him: for                                                                    H.H.
      the reward of his hands shall be given  hiin." Isa. 3  :lO,  11.
      Or again : "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil  ;
      that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put
      bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that                                 Men's League
      are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!             The Eastern Men's League will be held in our Hope
      Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine. and men of             Protestant Reformed Church on Thursday April 18, at
      strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked           s p. 117.                                  John  Dykstra, Sec.

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

                                                                      eyesalve, would be without it ? But above all, Jesus expresses
                 OUR-  D.OCTRINE                                   II here also in this counsel that they are in need of all these
                                                                      things, that they do not possess them although they so
c                                                                     sorely need them, that they ought to realize their need first
                  THE BOOK OF REVELATION                              of all. He that imagines he possesses all a merchant offers
                              C                                       does not buy. As long as  Laodicei  imagines that  she. is
                                   HAPTER  X                          rich, she will not buy gold. As long  ai she imagines that
              ' THE CHURCH NAUSEATING TO THE  LOVED                   she  is'clothed, she will not buy garments. As long as  she
                                                                      lives  .in the delusion that she can see, she will not buy  eye-
                           Revelation 3 : 14-22                       salve to anoint her eyes. Hence, in this admonition the
            Now the purpose is that in these words Jesus might        Lord presses the thought upon them that she is wanting  in
reveal Himself in His divine fulness. That He is the be-              all these  )things, that she must come to the realization of this
ginning of the creation of God points Him  ovt to us as the           want, and that in the consciousness of it she must come  to-
`eternal and all-sufficient One, Who possesses and controls           Him Who possesses what can fulfill her needs, in order that
all things in heaven and on earth, and at the same time as            she might receive all from Him.
the One by Whom and for  Whom, all things are created in                  Truly, this counsel may well be presented to the church
heaven and on earth. He therefore alone, and that too, as             of today. As  we have said, the church in general is growing
the Christ, is the beginning of all riches. He alone is the           more and more selfsufficient, and feels that she has need of
fount of all good for the church. But -also in the counsel            nothing. All she feels is that the world is in need of many
Jesus gives to the church of Laodicea He introduces Himself           things ; and she is bent upon increasing the whole world
as having in His possession exactly those things the church           with goods, but herself is satisfied. She does not feel the
so sorely needed. She was wretched and miserable, and her             need of gold and  eyesalve  and garments  ; yet she is poor  atid
misery consisted in this, that she was poor and blind and             blind and naked. Well may her attention be called to  <this
naked. But the Lord  Ijossesses gold tried by fire, spiritual         fact emphatically. The testimony must be heard again and
riches and glory, that make the possessor truly rich. The             again, that only in Christ is all grace and fulness of blessing,
Lord has eyesalve,  that will open the eyes of the blind:             and that outside of Him we lie in the midst of death. The
spiritual eyesalve, that will cause him that applies it to see        `testimony of the rich Christ and the poor sinner must go
the true light in Christ. The Lord has garments, spiritual            forth loudly and emphatically, in order that the church may
garments of righteousness and sanctification, that will truly         buy gold and  eyesalve  and garments to cover her nakedness.
cover them that buy them of Him  befGre God Almighty.                 If she does not hear this counsel, the church will turn to
He, therefore, is the fulness of  *the church. The church must        destruction, and be swallowed  UP  by the world.
rid herself of the notion that she is rich in self, and she  must         But will the church of Laodicea listen, and heed this
confess that Jesus Christ alone is her riches and fulness.            counsel of her Lord? We do not receive the impression
       Thirdly, we notice that Jesus approaches them with the         that she will. Of course, she  tiould return only the power of
advice, the earnest appeal, to come to Him and buy these              the grace of her Lord, that is writing this letter unto her.
precious articles of gold and  eyesalve  and garments. Of             But there seems to be very little hope. Time and again in
course, we cannot and do not interpret these words as if the          the history of the church, we find that there is a return from
blessings of grace could be bought with a price we have `in           apostacy and a quickening by the power of the grace of
our possession. That would be an absolutely false and un-             Christ. But naturally, the time will come that she will re-
scriptural interpretation and conclusion. It is true, gold and        pent no more, and only judgment can be expected. Through-
eyesalve  and garments here represent the riches of grace, as         out the letter we get the impression that such is the con-
they are all in Christ Jesus our Lord. They represent those           dition of the church in Laodicea. Notice, in the first place,
riches which the church of Laodicea so sorely needed and              that the announcement of judgment upon the church as a
lacked. And they are blessings of grace in the most absolute          whole is unconditional and absolute. In  other letters the
sense of the word. The sinner has nothing wherewith he                threat of judgment was always contingent  upon  impenitence.
would be able to buy them. How  could anyone that is poor             If *they would not repent, the Lord would visit them with His
buy gold and garments and  eyesalve  ? Hence, when Jesus              punishment. But here the judgment and punishment seem
speaks here of buying, He simply employs the figure of the            inevitable. The Lord simply  says:  `<Because  thou art luke-
merchant consistently. There is in the very  cqntradiction            warm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my
that is implied in these words a certain irony. Laodicea              mouth." He will utterly reject, cast out, this miserable
thought that she was rich. Well, then, let her buy what she           church. There seems no hope for her. The impression there-
needs mostly. Who that is rich and increased with goods               fore is that the church will not repent.
walks about without garments? What wealthy man is with-                   In the second. place, we may notice that the admonition
out gold ? Who that is blind, and has the opportunity to buy          to  repent   and the promise in case of repentance and  faithful-


                                          T H E   STANDAKI-,   B E A K E R                                                    319

ness is addressed to individuals in the church, rather than        munion of friendship which is the central, the most essential
to the church as a whole. Of course, there will always  bk a       idea  of-the covenant. He will  sip with them. In Him they
faithful remnant in the Church of Christ. Even to the end          will sup with the Father and the Son through the Spirit.
of the world there  will be the elect of God, even though the      They shall be restored to that intimate communion with the
church outwardly  ltiay apostatize and become unfaithful and       Triune God which is life. From all this, however, it is quite
miserable. And it is to these that the Lord addresses Hi&-         apparent that the church as a whole is  lost, and that` only
self evidently. In the first place, this is plain from the ex-     the individual faithful, the individual people of God, within
pression, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be             the church shall be saved.
zealous therefore, and repent." The thought evidently is              Lastly, the Lord concludes also this letter with a promise
that even in the most miserable church of Laodicea there are       for him that  overcol&eth  and is faithful unto the end: "To
still of Christ's true pepole. They have perhaps fallen asleep,    him that overcometh will  -I grant -to sit with me in my
overcome by the deadening atmosphere that is prevailing in         `throne, even as I also overcame and am set down- with my
the church of Laodicea. And the Lord comes to them with            Father in his throne." If in the former promise the Lord
His admonition to wake up to new zeal and to repent. They          assured His people of the communion of the covenant, sym-
must manifest themselves as His people.' They must wake            bolized in supping with Him, in this passage He promises
up to the situation. And being zealous for their Lord, they        the faithful that they  tihall enter into the kingdom eternal
must witness against the  unfaithfuln&s  of the church. They       and reign with Him forever. Closely are these two truths
must not remain asleep with the rest of the church. And            related. Man was created a covenant being, destined as the
therefore the Lord rebuke's and chastens them, that they may       image-bearer of God to have most intimate communion with
come to repentance. This is  .even more evident when the           Him. In that relation of friendship of man to God, however,
Lord adds : "Behold, `I stand at the door, and knock : if any      he was at the  same time to have dominion over all things.
man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to            In communion with God, standing in relation to Him  as a
him, and will sup with him, and he with me." There cer-            friend to his Friend, man was to reign over the works of God.
tainly is no need to change the manner and object of the           But through his sin and fall in Adam as the head of the race,
address here, as if Jesus were now standing at the  `door of       man fell out of that relation to God, became God's enemy,
th,e heart of the sinner. We are  sndoubtedly  well aware as       and at the same time was destined to slavery, the slavery  vf
to how this interpretation is quite popular. Jesus is presented    sin. In Christ Jesus, however, the  relation of the covenant
here as standing at the door of the sinner's heart, begging        is restored and elevated to the highest possible level. He
that the sinner may open the door, to let Jesus in. But            comes to  s&fer and bear our condemnation. He overcomes
this representation of the matter finds no support in the'text.    as the suffering Servant, and is faithful unto death. He
Evidently Jesus is standing not at thk door of the heart, but      restores our human nature to that height of glory and per-
at  the'door  of  ;he church in Laodicea. That church had be-      fection where the perfect communion of the covenant is again
come  ,unfaithful. That church had `cast Him out. He was           possible, and realized in the highest possible sense of the
now standing outside. Within  fhere  are,. however, those          word. At the same time, in Christ the dominion over all
whom He loves and whom He would rebuke and chasten,                things is again restored to man. He overcame and was ex-
that they may come to repentance and wake up to a new              alted. So shall all that overcome with Him be exalted. And
zeal. Therefore He addresses them from without. He ad-             all that overcome' shall participate in that glory at the
monishes them to wake up. And He promises them who                 moment they pass from the church militant  intd the church
woulcl hear His voice and let Him in, that He will sup with        triumphant. True, the final glory still abides until the day of
them. Once more, the church as a whole seems hopelessly            the Lord Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, it remains true that
lost. It is miserable beyond redemption. He will spue her          even, as Christ now reigns in glory, so principally the be-
out of His `mouth. But His own beloved, the elect of God,          lievers in  Chiist also reign with Him through faith, even in
must not perish with the rest. Hence, He calls them. And           the present world. And it is also true that even immediately
He promises them that they shall have communion with Him,          after death they shall be given part with that glory of our
the communion of the covenant.  Thai communion they now            Lord and reign with Him as kings. And that glory and that
miss. For in theii present condition they cannot exercise          reign and that dominion shall be perfected in the new crea-
conscious communion with their Lord. But if they  repent           tion, after Christ has come to judge the quick and the dead.
and wake  LIP  to a new zeal, they shall again be receptive for    What a tremendous difference! Here the people of God
all the blessings of His grace. And wake up the remnant            `belong to the despised, to the poor, to those that are perse-
according to the election of grace surely will, when the Lord      cuted, to those that  are without glory. There they shall share
applies by His powerful grace His Word of admonition unto          in Christ's own glory, there they shall reign as kings, there
their hearts. The supper is symbol of friendly communion.          they shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of the Father, and
When therefore the  Lprd  promises that He will sup with           all creation shall be subject unto them through Christ Jesus
His people, He assures them of that most intimate  com-            their Lord.                                             s H.H.

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

            THE LION IN THE OLD TESTAMENT                              as well as God's people, the prophets, the judges, the psalm-
                                                                       ists. and is noted even in comparison with the Lbrd Himself.
         One of the more impressive of the beasts of the field         It is further referred to in connection with suffering and
  known to, and most often mentioned by the authors of the             destruction, victory and defeat; it  is seen in visions and
  Old Testament Scriptures, is the proverbial King of  Beasts,         dreams, is represented by images and as well appears in
 the lion. Though inhabiting the wilder regions of Biblical            adtual  historical narratives. .And worthy of mention in this
  lands, it was frequently driven from its lair by either flood        connection is the fact that,  in the New Testament, both
 or its ravenous hunger to roam the more domesticated regions          Christ and the devil are. though from different aspects,
 in search of prey. Besides its usual prey of deer, antelope,          compared with the lion. But even in the Old Testament alone,
 and the like, it was also known to attack the shepherds'              the lion predominates also over the lamb, mentioned as the
 flocks upon  lllountainside and in the valleys, the beast of          lamb is almost always literally, and then too, almost always
 burden at pasture and upon the highways, and even men.                in connection with the ceremonial life of Israel.
 `Relentlessly and noiselessly stalking its prey until the op-
 portune moment, with a heart-rending and fear-inspiring                   The presence of the lion in the land of Palestine is shown
 roar it would attack its. unsuspecting victim, and would, al-         in the historical narratives in which the lion actually appears,
 most without exception bring it to  the ground, only then to          most of which are well-known to all of  us. Such familiar
 rend and tear the carcass, with powerful jaws and  dagger-            incidents include Samson's empty-handed slaying of the lion
 like teeth, until  .wholly devoured. And with none like it in         in the vineyards of Tininath (Judges 14  5, 6) ; David's com-
 power and fierceness among the brute beasts to  coinpare  to,         bat with a lion in defense of his flock (I Sam. 17  :23)   ; the
 or challenge its terrible and bestial excellence, the imposing        slaughter of a lion in a pit in winter by one of David's notable
 and indomitable figure of the lion has left a deep and abiding        companions in hiding  (II.Saml  23  :20)   ; and the tribe of lions
 impression upon all acquainted with it; and in turn, has              which, sent by the Lord, descended upon godless  Samaria
 drawn from the authors of Holy Writ its proverbial share of           and killed some of them  (II Kings  17:25),  as well as the
 mention in the Old Testament.                                         destruction of the disobedient prophet by a lion, mentioned
                                                                       in I Kings 13, and Daniel's experience in the lion's den
     Although the actual appearance of the lion in the historical      (Dan. 6).
narratives  doe5  not occur until a much later date, Scriptural
 mention of the lion is made as early as some three hundred                Not too far removed  frdm the above literal mention of the
 years after the flood. Already then, Job and Eliphaz his              lion are the passages that refer to the lion as represented by
 friend, generally considered as contemporaries of Abraham,            images upon the stairs ascending to the throne of Solomon,
 refer to this noblest of beasts. Eliphaz, the first to allude to      (I Kings 10  :19, 20)  ; its likeness as seen in the visions of
 the lion, gives notice to its "roaring" and "fierce voice" as         Ezekiel (1  :lO;,   10:14),  and of Daniel (7  :4). Further, in
 well as to the exceptionally long and sharp "teeth" (Job              this connection, we call attention to the passages depicting
 4:lO).  Job, on the other hand, indicating the fierceness and         the radical change that shall have come about with the re-
 relentlessness with which his afflictions came and prevailed          newal of the creation, and in which God Himself declares
 upon him, accuses God of hunting him "as a fierce lion"               that in the new heavens and earth "The lion shall eat straw
 (Job  `10   :16).  :B?th of these references to the lion point to     like the `ox" (Is.  11:7),   and "the lion and the calf and the
 the fact that, already at this early date subsequent to the           fatling together  ; and a little child shall lead them" (Is. 11  :6).
 flood, the repute of the lion was well established. And from          And agajn "no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous
 this we rather easily conclude its impressive history to have         beast . . . . ." -(Is. 35  :9a), "The wolf and the lamb shall feed
 its beginning as early, at least, as the release of the animals       toge*ther, and the lion shall eat straw  like the bullock" (Is.
 from the ark.                                                         65 :25).
     The -frequent allusions to lions by the sacred writers, and          These passages to which we have referred above are
 the familiar acquaintance with their habits evinced by them,          only some of the approximately fifty in which the lion is
 as well as the  Variety  of names by which the various circum-        mentioned, loosely speaking, literally. And from these pas-
 stances of the lion's growth are distinguished, shows how             sages we learn comparatively little about the true nature of
 common this noble beast was in former times in Palestine.             this fierce and indomitable  King of Beasts.  It is only when
 In the Old Testament alone the lion is mentioned  apprpxi-            we view it in the light of the other remaining passages of
 mately one hundred and fifty times; is outnumbered only by            the Old Testament Scriptures that' we learn to know this
 the meek and timid lamb, which receives mention about one             imposing figure, that we begin to comprehend the  tremend-
 hundred and eighty times. Predominating in all  .other  re-           ous impress the lion left upon the Old Testament saints,  ancl
 spects, it is spoken of in twenty-seven of the thirty-nine Old        also, that we begin to understand the purpose of God in
 Testament books  ; the lamb in only sixteen. It receives men-         giving to this creature such a prominent  place in the lives of
 tion in many and various contexts, is alluded to as it is in  con-    the sacred writers, not to  merition  His people in general.
-nection with the righteous and the wicked, heathen nations            And these remaining passages are about one hundred, in


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   321

  number; in them the lion is made mention of by way  of                  this'-fierceness of the lion to the, mind of  the. weeping prophet
  comparison  ; from them we learn much about its notable                 Jeremiah when  lamentingly he expresses that the Lord was
  characteristics.  *                                                     to me as a roaring lion in secret places. .He hath turned
      That the lion was known to possess a strength superior              aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces" (Lamentations
  to that of any other beast of the field is clearly stated in Prov.      3  :lO, 11). Equally as able as Jeremiah, and despairing of
  30  :30,  "A lion which is strongest among beasts . . .  "; is          a son to follow him upon the throne of his father David,
  clearly indicated in Judges  14:lS  where, in answer to the             Hezekiah could say, "I reckoned till the morning that, as a
  riddle of Samson, the  Philistine%  state "What is stronger than        lion, so will he break all my bones: from day to night wilt
  a lion  ?", positively implying that there is no beast stronger.        thou make an end of  me" (Is. 38  :13). Moreover, when the
  Again this superiority is alluded to by David, when, unable             Lord declares to Israel "I will be to them as a lion," and,
  to find a more suitable comparison with which to express his            "I will destroy them as a lion"  ((Hosea  13  :7,  8)) we cannot
  own high esteem for the prowess of Saul and Jonathan,                   but conclude that Israel was well aware of  .the fierce and
  declares "they were stronger than lions" (II Sam.  1:23).               awful ways of the lion, and consequently, fully understood
      The cunning and relentlessness with which the lion                  the terrible implications of this Word of the Lord. For, the
  stalked its prey is depicted to us when in the Psalms we                lion, unexcelled in fierceness, will "not lie down until he
  read  of the wicked that "He lieth in wait secretly as a lion           eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain"  (Num.
  in his den" ( 10  :9),,  ethat "like as a lion that is greedy of his    23 :24b).
  prey, and as a young lion (only recently come to full                      Combinging  these various predominant characteristics of
  strength) lurking in secret places" (17  :12). Job evidently            this most  awsome  of beasts, we have before  us a clear picture
  alludes to these same characteristics of the lion when, of God,         of the lion as it lived before the minds of those instrumental
  he says "Thou  huntest  me as a fierce lion" (Job 19  :16).             in setting forth the Word of God. Relentless in pursuit,
      The fearlessness with which this brute beast was en-                fearless in attack: fierce and awful in battle, terrible in
  dowed is implied in such passage as Prov. 30  :3,0 where it             victory. Driven on by an insatiable hunger, armed with in-
  is said *that the lion "turneth not away from any"; as Isaiah           vincible strength, bold and undaunted before man or  beast,
  31  :4, `where of the lion it is noted that "when a multitude           it roamed both forest and field, both hill and plain. Van-
  of shepherds is called against him, he will not be afraid of            quished never, but conqueror ever, this majestic beast ruled
  their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them  ;" and            supreme, the  King of Beasts.
  again, as II Samuel  17:10, where reference is made to  *                  Such is the lion in the Old Testament!
  valient men "whose heart is as the heart of a lion."                       And with this portrayal of the lion in the Old Testament
      Another of the notable characteristics in which the lion            before us we can begin to grasp the meaning of the Word
  excels is the thunderous roar it utters at the moment it at-            of God as it comes to  ,us in the prophecy of Micah, "The
  tacks its intended victim, supplanting strength with weakness           remnant of Jacob shall be  amon,m the Gentiles, in the midst
  and boldness with fear. And well-known this awful, bestial              of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest,
  thunder must have been to the authors of the Scriptures for             as a young lion among the flocks of sheep. who, if he go
  they compare with it the speaking of God,  f`The lion hath              through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and
  roared, who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken, who                 none shall deliver" (5  :8, 9)  ; and as the same Word comes
  can but prophesy  ?" (Amos 3  :S)  ; they allude to it when re-         to  us in Rev. 5  :5, where it is said of the victorious Christ,
  marking that "The king's wrath is as the roaring of the lion"           "Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah . . .  ." But this is
  (Prov. 19  :12), and "The fear of a king is as the roaring              also true with respect to all the passages of Scripture in
  of the lion  ;  whoso provoketh him to anger forfeiteth his life"       which the Word of God comes to  us by way of comparison
  (Prov. 20  :2  ).                                                       with the lion.
      Furthermore, the incomparable fierceness with which the                                                                  G. Lanting
  lion" (vs.  13), causing him to cry to the Lord, "save me
  claws, crushing its limbs with vise-like jaws, and bearing
  it down torn and bleeding-as well as- the ravenous greed
  with which it rends and devours its victim until wholly con-                              Eastern Ladies' League
sumed  - all this was only too real to David when, in the                    The Eastern Ladies' League will hold its spring meeting,
  Messianic 22nd Psalm, he depicts the wicked as gaping                   April 25, at  8 P. M. in our Fourth Protestant Reformed
  "upon me with their  mouthsf'  as a ravening and a roaring              Church. Rev. G.  Laming  will speak on the topic, "Covenant
  lion" (vs.  13), causing hi  mto cry to the Lord, "save me              Mothers and the Teen Ager's Problem."
  from the lion's mouth," "lest he tear my  soul  like a lion,               Reserve this date and enjoy an evening of Christian fel-
  rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver" (Ps.              lowship.
  22  :21 and 7  :2 respectively). And no less real and vivid is                                  Mrs. H. Velthouse, Vice Secretary

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

    II                                                                       as body and our bodies, but he pin-points. the comparison
                 F R O M   HOLY WRIT                                    II down to  zvht  our body is and what  Christ  is. Thus we read
                                                                             in verse 12, "Thus  a.Zso  Clzrist"!  Not simply the  chu&h~
                                                                             has many members as one body, but  Clwist  is one body and
                   Exposition of I Corinthiqns 12-14                         has many members.
                                          IV.                                        Then, too, we ought to observe that in this passage not
                               (I Corinthians 12 : 12-27)                    all kinds of points of comparison are made. Only one point
                                                                             is stressed in this comparison as being relevant. It is the
            In the former article we noticed that in the one church          point of  Chiist  being one  body,  and yet many  members.
     of God there  are spiritual gifts. (Charismata). These gifts            And we can see this reality concerning  Chist  in our very
     are all in the church by  *the operation of the Holy Spirit,            body in which we must tarry this three-score years and
    as the Spirit of the risen Lord. There is not one gift, which            ten.
     does not come from the risen Lord  tl;lrough the Holy Spirit,              Just how are we to understand that Christ is one and
     and, therefore, doks not stand in his service or must not be            the many members  ?
     for the benefit of the entire body of Christ!                                   The answer to this question certainly must be; that, first
            It is all, in the  body- of Christ, as the Holy Spirit deter-    of all, Christ is the Head of the church.         The Church  is
     mines to give to each member.                                           gathered, defended and preserved by Him out of the entire
            Nothing in the church has its origin, and, therefore, its.       human race, a church elected unto everlasting life. And
     purpose in man and his selfish purposes. All is out of,                 each member is brought to be ingrafted into Christ by a
     through and unto God. To Him be the power and the glory                 true and living faith. Thus we read in verse 27, "Now ye
f o r e v e r ,   A m e n !                                                  are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof." Of
            That all must, indeed, be just so with  these  gifts in the      Ithis church we are members severally, not because we are
     church follows from the very  natzkre  of the church itself.            ingrafted into  one another,  but because we are ingrafted
            That is Paul's instruction here in I Cor. 12 :12-27, which       into the body. The body is there first, and then the mem-
     reads as follows: "For as the body is one and hath many                 bers. This is the very opposite of  Arminianism,  and all
     members, and all the members  oi that one body, being many,             Pelagianism!  With the latter the body grows  OLIN of the
     are one body: so also is Christ . . .  ." (Since the passage  is        members. But with the Scriptural and- Reformed position
     quite lengthy I suggest that the reader look this up in his             the members are ingrafted into the body, of which Christ
     own Bible).                                                             is the Head. The entire body grows out of Christ.  Ephe-
            Even a hasty reading of this passage indicates that Paul         siani 4  :15, 16 reads, "Even Christ : from whom the whole
     is here drawing a comparison between our physical-psychical             body fitly joined together and compacted by that which
     body and Christ. This  nletaphor  of the human body is a                every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working
     very choice one with the apostle. He employs the same                   in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body
     figure of speech in  Remans 12  :4, where he seeks to establish         unto the building up of itself in love." Such is the Scrip-
     the same practical teaching concerning the proper use of and            tural notion of the body of Christ.
     attitude toward *the spiritual gifts in the church. In both                     However,. it should also be observed that Paul has  a
     instances the  unity  of the body precedes the  en-ercizes  of the      very practical purpose in mind in writing these Chapters to
     gifts in the body. Were the church in its oneness and in  its           the Corinthians.
     manifoldness not a manifestation of Christ in his offices  ifi                  They must be thoroughly furnished as living members.
     the church, all admonition for the proper use of the charis-            in Christ, as man of God, to every good work!
     m&a would be void of solid foundation. God's work  would                        This means that as members of Christ they must walk in
     then simply be the highest arbitrariness, and right might               the  ofice of all believers, as  prophets,  phests  and  kings  of
     just as well be wrong, and justice injustice.                           God. The living members of Christ's body have a calling
            But now all is different !                                       toward one another. They must know themselves duty
            Now the point of comparison is bedded'in the solid rock          bound "readily and cheerfully to employ his gifts for the
     of God's wisdom in the Church  ; it is all a matter of seeing           advantage and -salvation of other members." Heidelberg
     what God hath wrought in the Church as the Architect and                Catechism, Question 55.
     Builder, from whom all fatherhobd in heaven and on earth                        It is for this reason, in our judgment, that Paul here
     is named!                                                               speaks particularly of  Ch-ist.  For Christ is Head, but  as
            Let us now take notice of the following particulars  iq          sztck he is also the o&e-bearer, the Anointed of God. He
     the text.                                                               is the appointed Head of the Church. He reveals the secret
            In the first place, we should notice just what the  poinf        counsel of God concerning our redemption to the church.
     of comparison  is in the text. Strictly speaking, Paul does             He emphatically does such in the spiritual gifts, the Charis-
     not simply draw a formal comparison between the Church                  mata of prophesying, speaking with tongues, etc. He is the


                                           THj3  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      323

only High Priest who gave His life for us, and who also             things in their proper perspective and relationship to Christ
ever lives to intercede  ior- us before the throne of God in        and to God.
heaven. And he is -eternal King, who rules us by his word               This was portrayed by Christ  iYhen he washed the feet
and Spirit !                                                        of his disciples in the'night in. which he was betrayed.
    And  Clwist  is  not. divided. His office is fundamentally          Blessed is he, who knowing this, also doeth it.
one, although there is a diversity in the office, namely,               Wherefore let it be clearly understood, says  Paul, that
prophet, priest and king! However, the prophet in Christ            not what we  "say" concerning reality determines  truth,  .but
does not say to  the priest, I do not need you. Nor does the        what God in Christ has constituted. That is the truth!
King in him say to the prophet : "since I am not the prophet,       Hence, it is very well possible for the foolish "foot", to  say:
I am not part of the Anointing of the office." Christ is not        Since I am not the hand, another member, having another
divided in all his office. And he also maintained and still         place in the body, I am not of the body. But such an asser-
maintains it out of heaven in its undivided, yet diverse unity !    tion can- very well be  gainsaid with a  s&ple  question : Is it,
    This point ought to be clearly seen and appreciated for         therefore, not of the body  ? How absurd such foot would
what  it is worth. -We should see the relevancy of this point       be. Just so foolish is all envy for the place' of the other
in relationship to the fact that, in the body ecclesiastica         member in the church. And there is a great amount of  such
there is also no division, schism in the function of Christ         folly under the sun in God's church. Who of us does. not
through the members! Where such division-reigns it is not           need to crucify also this sinful member, the workings of
Christ reigning, who  ?s all in all *through the energizing         sin in his flesh  ? !
work of the Spirit.                                                     The same is true of the more noble member the ear. It
    For when the Son of God gathers his church out of the           does not have the same function as the eye. But the fact
entire human  race, he makes of her a new creature. Fun-            that it is not "eye" but "ear" does that make it  tf-zte  that it
damentally she is cut off from the old  Adamic race, lying          is not of the body ? To ask this question is to answer it.
under sin's curse and damnation, and ingrafted  ,into  Christ!          For did not God so constitute the body that it could not
Through one and the self-same Spirit  `this occurs in all. And      be "body" without having several members  ? Had God de-
thus through the one prophet, priest and king. Hence, we            termined to save only one  so~zl,   then there would be no
are simply as God wills us to be, and, therefore, has consti-       body..  `But now he hath determined to save many, many
tuted us in the Lord.                                               people. And each must have his Divinely determined place
   Here, too, we are as Christ determines what we                   in the body. And in the mind of God this is the manifesta-
should be in our walk with  &sped  to one another. Oniy             tion of Christ, in whom all the fulness of  the Godhead dwells
the thoroughly Reformed man, who believes sovereign elec-           bodily.
tion, limited atonement, total depravity, efficacious calling           Let us then stand on higher ground when we see the
and certain preservation of the saints, can have a solid basis      diversity in the unity in the body of Christ. Philosophers
and a strong motive for a godly walk `in the church.         _      may ponder and spin their theories about the one and the
   Against this background -the  several  observations of Paul             .
                                                                    many , it is natural light in them, glimmerings of the same,
concerning the "body" and its "members" will come to                let it be well understood.! But Christians, who have an eye
stand in bold relief.                                               of faith, for the mystery of godliness that is great in the
   By virtue  o,f being members of Christ, and partakers of         church,  they'd0  not speak of this as a mere logical abstrac-
his anointing by faith, it is true-that  each member needs the      tion, but in  concrete,  see this one  and many of the Trinity
other member in his office of all believers, as well as in the      and of the offices of Christ in the very fabric of their spiritual
special offices and gifts. Thus God has, indeed, tempered the       existence !
body! The term for "temper" in the Greek is  "sugkeran-                 Then there is no schism in the body. Each has a care
numi," to mingle together, to  mix. together, so that one part      for the other. Such is  Clwist  in our life. That is what it
qualifies the other.                                                means to say : and what I now live I live- by -the faith of  the
   This truth is such that the less honorable members share         Son of God.  -
in the  hondr of those more honorable and more gifted. This             Then when one member suffers all suffer. And when
is of a very practical nature. Suppose that I am a Christian        one rejoices, all the members rejoice  together  (sunchairei).
with one talent, and my brother or sister in Christ has re-             Here we see something new  sunder the sun. Yes, we
ceived more than one talent. Then I also receive that other         see' only a small beginning of the new obedience!  Yet so
talent from the Lord in my brother and sister. Thus the             (let it be  rioticed)  that we do not only live according to
body is mingled.                                                    SORM but according to all of God's commandments.
   Now this should be a remedy to end all strife concerning            Yes; spiritual gifts in the church.
who is or will be the greatest. He that is least is the great-          For the profit of all. Then  th&re  will be no schism !
est, and lives at that vantage-point where he can see all                                                                          G.L.

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

                                                                        ,picturecl  in most beautiful language. We see how beautiful
                     I N   H I S   F E A R                              Christ's bride is in His eyes; how greatly He loves her and
                                                                        longs for the  day. when they shall everlastingly be united
                                                                        in the new creation.
                      Keep it a Thing of Beauty!                            Jesus Himself spoke of this union and used more than
                                                                        once in His parables the wedding scene to instruct His
         What  do we mean ?                                             Church in the things of His kingdom. He told the parable
         What  do we have in mind ?                                     of the ten virgins who purposed to go to the wedding re-
                                                                        ception and to rejoice with the bride and bridegroom. He
             The thing whose beauty we ought to preserve is a thing     spoke of the wedding feast of the king's son.
      whose beauty is frequently mentioned in Scripture.
                                                                            His own presence at the wedding celebration' at  Cana
         We have in mind the beauty of the marriage ceremony. of Galilee places the stamp of approval upon our custom of
      and celebration.                                                  gathering after the ceremony to rejoice and celebrate with
        And today we see so  n~~~ch  creeping into these wedding        the bridegroom and his bride.
      ceremonies and receptions that is anything but activity per-         And in Revelation 21 the  fulfilment of all God's cove-
      formed in His fear. Often the weddings of young people            nant promises is. pictured by means of the figure of the
      in the congregations resemble so closely the weddings of' bride. and bridegroom in their love for each other. John
      the world that its beauty is gone and we return home dis-         declares that in his vision he was carried away to see the
     gusted and sick at heart at what we have experienced.              bride, the Lamb's wife: What is then shown unto Him is
         Scripture, surely, does not condemn either a public- cere-     the great city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven
     mony nor a reception to celebrate and commemorate the              from God. It is the Church which is Christ's bride. In
     wedding.                                                           chapter 22 the bride is reported as praying to Christ, the
         The marriage bond is' one of the most beautiful figures        bridegroom, "Come."
     used in Scripture to express and present the relationship             In all this there is not simply approval upon making the
     between Christ and His Church.  And' this fact ought to be         event one to be remembered when two covenant youths are
     evident in every wedding of those  who,profess  to belong to       united in the bond of holy matrimony. There is also a cer-
     His, Church.                                                       tain beauty, spiritual beauty, a holiness, a wonder of Gods
         We read of the marriage bond already in Paradise when          grace that is breathed through all this testimony from God's
     God made Eve from the rib of Adam to be an help meet               word. The wedding ceremony and the celebration are beau-
     for him. All the animals were created male and female.             tiful things, events of great spiritual significance and may
     All had companions. But  -Adam stood all alone. Then God           be conducted without fear that we are disobeying the ordi-
     caused a deep sleep to' come over him and from his rib             nances of God.
     created Eve.                                                          But we must keep them such.
.        Eve was made to be an help  that was meet or fit for              They must be conducted in His fear.
     Adam. 0, she was an help mate. She was a mate who
     would help him in many different ways. But the meaning                They must not militate against the truth which God ex-
     of the words of Moses in the narrative of this creative work       presses in the use of the figure in Holy  Writ, For they are
     of God is that Eve was made to be suitable, fit  - and in that     beautiful events and are kept beautiful only when they are
     sense meet -to be his `help. You may find that Webster             conducted in His fear.
     gives this meaning also to the word meet. Without giving it           The  .weclcling  day is one that is looked for with eager
     much thought and through careless reading we soon form             anticipation by bride and "groom" and even by all the at-
     the opinion that it means nothing more than an help mate.          tendants. Much preparation and thought is given to the de-
     But in order truly to be Adam's helper, Eve must be so             tails of its ceremony and reception. Plans are carefully
     created that she is meet, suitable, fit for the work.              made and much time is given to strive to have all things
         And God  created  man and woman thus that it might  .be        work smoothly. Yet the spiritual touch is very often ignored.
     a picture of the relationship wherein His Church and Christ           A wedding ceremony must have a soloist with songs for
     would stand. He did not find this relationship and see the         the occasion.
     possibility of using it to teach us of the union between Christ       These songs all too often fit better with the wedding of
     and His Church. God finds nothing. He creates things and           the unbelievers than with the holy bonds of matrimony
     designs all things in infinite wisdom.                             wherein covenant young people are united. Many of these
         This thought is further carried on in Holy Writ and we         "wedding songs" are so superficial and lacking in any real
     see in the Song of Solomon the love of Christ for His bride        meaning that it certainly is the melody of the song that must


                                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   -                                                325

 have given it its appeal. We can understand that in the                           different language. Were this a sinful thing utterly  clevoicl
 unspiritual world which has nothing of true value such                            of the fear of the Lord, God Himself, surely, would not
 songs will be chosen for wedding ceremonies. There nothing                        use this practice to illustrate the preparation of the Church
 is clone in His fear; and the beauty of the marriage bond as                      for Christ's return. We read in Revelation  21:2, "And I
 the picture of the union of Christ with His  bi-icle  is not                      John saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming clown
 understood nor appreciated. We can expect to hear at such                         front God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for
weddings the utterly superficial and `sickly- sentimental. "I                      her husband." Or if you please, we read in Isaiah 49  :lS,
 Love  You  Truly." There is not a breath. of God's fear  in                       "Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather
 the whole song. And when it is sung at the wedding of a                           thenlselves  together, and  conle to thee. As I live, saith the
 covenant young couple, one feels transported on the wings                         Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an
 of the song into the world.. How much more beautiful is it                        ornament, and bind  bthem  on thee, as a bride  cloeth." Or
 and what a reverent spirit prevails when the beautiful                            again  iron1 the  salne book of prophecy chapter 61  :lO, "I
 strains of the well known and often sung Lorcl's Prayer fill                      will greatly rejoice in the Lord,  nly soul shall be joyful in
 the church auditorium.                                                            nly God; for He hath clothed me with the  garlnents.  of
                                                                                   salvation, He hath covered  nle with the robe of righteous-
    The same thing  nlay be said of the wedding reception  -                       ness, as a  briclegroonl clecketh himself with ornaments, and
 although we intend to write  nlore  fully about that next                         as a bride  adorn&h herself with jewels."
 time. How often are not the songs utterly silly and void of
 the beauty of the event as pictured in Holy Writ. How  nluch                          We  nlay note that the bridegroonl is also presented here
 nlore  significant and full of the spirit of the Word of God                      as wearing special attire for this  .beautiful  event. And we
 when we are united in singing thus  front the  Psahms:                            nlay  a&l that for a bridal party to be dressed for the oc-
                                                                                   casion  - provided it is  nloclest  apparel  ancl  beconling  a child
               Blest the  nlan that fears Jehovah                                  of God-is not to be forbidden either. Jesus says to His
                  Walking ever in His ways;                                        disciples in Matthew 9  :15, "Can the children of the  bricle-
               By thy toil thoushalt be prospered                                 chamber  nlourn, as long as the bridegroonl is with  then1  ?"
                  And be happy all thy clays.                                      And the joy which is the children of the bridal processions
                                                                                  nlay surely be displayed in modest, beautiful clothing.
                                                                                       i
               In thy wife thou shalt have gladness,                                  Or, if you please, as we read in  Jerenliah  2  :32,  "Can a
                  She shall fill thy home with good,                              nlaicl forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?" Surely
              Happy in her loving service                                         the inference is that God does not demand it either of the
                  And the joys of motherhood.                                      bride that she leave her attire behind as a thing that as
                                                                                   such is not in His fear.
              Joyful children, sons and daughters,                                    Indeed, these things can  be-  very wicked and always are
                  Shall about thy table meet,                                     when they are practiced by the unbeliever. For then he
               Olive plants, in strength and beauty,                              always  ends in these things rather than in God. The true
                  Full of hope and  pronlise  sweet.                              beauty of the wedding ceremony and reception is lost or
                                                                                  rather deliberately kept out of them.
              Thou   shalt see God's kingdom  ,prosper
                  All thy clays, till life shall cease,                               Beautiful attire, beautiful flowers and beautiful  nlusic
              Thou shalt see thy children's children  ;                           have  nleaning only as we are  nlarriecl in the Lord. And that
                  On Thy people, Lord, be peace.                                  nieans  that we do not for convenience sake or for brevity
                                                                                  agree to have just any  fornl read to suit our earthly fancies.
    Then you see the beauty of a covenant marriage. Then                          It  nleans  that we want the word of God brought to our at-
                                                                                  tention while we are  g.atherecl for this sacred and beautiful
you have not ruled God out' of it  ;. but you have celebrated                     event of being united `in the bonds of holy  nlatrinlony  as
and observed these things in His fear.                                            covenant children of God.
    S u c h   a   w e d d i n g   i s   b e a u t i f u l .          _                The  imarriage  forlm that is read  nlust be one that keeps
    Of course, the bride  nlay adorn herself in the traditional                   the beauty, the spiritual loveliness of the marriage.
white wedding gown, if she so desires.                                                Give careful attention to this matter.                      .'
    Of course, we  nlay  nlake it a thing of external beauty                          It is a  nlatter  all too easily overlooked or decided on a
as well as to  elnphasize  the spiritual beauty of it.                            utilitarian and carnal basis rather than in His fear.
    It is certainly not to be maintained that a church wedding                        Keep the wedding  cerenrony  a thing of spiritual beauty.
with beautiful clothing, with beautiful flowers and beautiful
nlusic cannot be in His fear. The  .Scriptures speak quite a                                                                                    J.A.H.


                                             _.
  3'6                                               `I` i-t E S  T  ;\  N  D  A  R  11 B E A 1< E 1~
                  -  _ --
  II                                                                          put an end fo all political schemes of reunion, but opened
              Contending For The Faith                                   I! the way for papal propagandism in the East. The division
                                                                              of the church facilitated that catastrophe which delivered the
                                                                              fairest lands *to the blasting influence of Islam, and keeps it
               The Church and the Sacraments                                  in power to this clay, although it is slowly waning. The
                                                                              Turk has no objection to fights among the despised Chris-
        VIEWS DURING THE THIRD PERIOD  (750-1517 A.D.)                        tians, provided they only injure themselves and  do not
                                                                              touch the Koran. He is tolerant from intolerance. The
                    THE SUPREMACY OF  THE POPE                                Greeks hate the pope and the  Filioqrte  as much as they hare
                  THE GREAT SCHISM OF  1054  (4).                             the false prophet of Mecca; while the pope loves his own
                                                                              power more than the common cause of Christianity, and
        THE COUNCIL AT  FERRARA-FLORENCE.   A.D. 1438-1439.                   would  rather see  <the Sultan rule in the city of Constantine
         Another attempt at reunion was made by John VII.                     than a rival patriarch or the Czar of  schislmatic  Russia.
  Palaeologus in the Council of Ferrara, which was convened                       During the nineteenth century the schism has been in-
  by Pope Eugenius IV in opposition to the reformatory Coun-                  tensified by the creation of. two. new dogmas, -the im-
  cil of Basle. It was attended by the emperor, the patriarch                 maculate conception of Mary (1854) and the infallibility  of
  of Constantinople, and twenty-one Eastern prelates, among                  the pope (1870)  ., When Pius IX invited the Eastern patri-
  them the learned Bessarion of Nicaea, Mark of Ephesus,                     archs to attend the Vatican Council, they indignantly re-
  Dionysius of Sardis, Isidor of Kieff. The chief points of                  fused, and renewed their old protest against the antichristian
  controversy were discussed: the procession of the Spirit,                  usurpation of the papacy and the heretical  Filioque.  They
  purgatory; the use of unleavened bread, and the supremacy                   could not submit to the Vatican decrees without stultifying
  of the pope. Bessarion became a convert to the Western                     their whole history and committing  lmoral suicide. Papal
  doctrine, and was rewarded by a cardinal's hat. He was                     absolutism and Eastern stagnation are insuperable barriers
  twice near being elected pope (died 1472). The decree of                   to the reunion of the divided churches, which can only be
  the council: published July 6, 1439, embodies his views, and               brought about by great events and by the wonder-working
  was a complete surrender to the pope with scarcely a saving                power of the Spirit of God.
. clause for the canonical rights and privileges of the Eastern                                 Gregory VII and the  Pdpacy
  patriarchs. The Greek formula on the procession,  er  Patw
  per  >iZ&tz-  (out of the Father through the Son- H.V. j                       Before we proceed with the description of Gregory  ancl
  was declared to be identical with the Latin  Fflioque,:  the pope          the Papacy as set forth by Philip  Schaff,  the following
  was acknowledged not only as the successor of Peter and                    quotation concerning Gregory VII from "The Church in
  Vicar of Christ, but also as "the head of the whole church                 History" by B.  I(.  Kuiper  may be' of interest, and we quote
  and father and teacher of all Christians," but with variations             the following :
  in the Greek texts. The document of reunion was signed by                      "No one on seeing Hilclebrand (Gregory VII  -  H.V.j
the pope, the emperor, many archbishops and bishops, the                     would have gotten the idea that he was an unusual man. His
  representatives of all the Eastern patriarchs except that of               figure was very small, his voice weak, and his whole appear-
  Constantinople, who had previously died at Florence, but                   ance unimpressive. Yet he was one of the most remarkable
  had left as his last sentence a disputed submission to the                 characters of all the Middle Ages. He had a powerful mind,
  catholic and apostolic church of old Rome. For the triumph                 an inflexible will, dauntless courage, and a fiery soul.
  of his cause the pope could easily promise material aid to.                    Like Pope Nicholas I  (ch. 12, sec.  4j, and so many
  his Eastern ally, to pay the expenses of the deputation, to                other aspiring men of  mediaeval  times, Hildebrand had come
  support three hundred soldiers for the protection of Con-                  under the spell of St. Augustine's greatest book,  The City
  stantinople, and to send, if necessary, an army and navy for               of God. In the monastery in Rome he had become imbued
  the defense of the emperor against his enemies.                            with the Cluny reform ideas. Throughout his life the ideas
        But when t-he humiliating terms of the reunion were                  and ideals derived from  ,these sources were his inspiration.
  divulged, the East and Russia rose in rebellion against the                They aroused in  hilm all the  treimendous energies which lay
  Latinizers as traitors to `the orthodox faith ; the compliant              hidden within his nature.
 patriarchs openly recanted, and the new patriarch of Con-                       The highest ideal of his life was derived from Augustine's
 stantinople, Metrophanes, now called in derision  Metro-                    City  of  God, That ideal was the establishment of the King-
 phonus  or Matricide, was forced to resign.                                 dom of God on earth. Hildebrand believed that the divinely
                                                                             prepared and appointed agency for the realization of this
                After  t h e   f,a.ll  o f   Consta.hnople.                  ideal is the Church. He furthermore believed that the head
         The capture of Constantinople by the Mohammedan                     of the Church on earth is the pope as Christ's vicar  (rep-
 Turks (1453) and the overthrow of the Byzantine empire                      resentative). In his view the pope  is. above all-above


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   UEARER                                                      327

princes, kings, and emperors. Everybody is subject to him.          once more into a blessing. The idea of abolishing the
The pope himself is answerable only to God.                         papacy did not occur to the mind of the Christians of that
   For the realization of these ideas  Hild.ebrand  had already     age as possible or desirable.
been working for more than twenty years as the power be-               At last the providential man for effecting this necessary
hind the throne of six popes. Now that he himself had be-           reformation appeared in the person of Hildebrand, who
come pope he continued to use all his marvelous energies            controlled five  succesive papal administrations for  twenty-
and powers in working for the realization of these ideas.           four years,  1049-1073,   *then  occupied the papal chair himself
   In doing this he was not moved by self-interest. Money           for twelve years,  1073-1035,  and was followed by like-minded
had no attraction for him. He could not be bribed or bought,        successors.  IHe is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of
as could so many bishops and other church dignitaries of his        popes, and one of the  most'remarkable  men in  histroy. He
day. Hildebrand was not moved by ambition or vain-glory.            excited in his age the highest admiration and the bitterest
No doubt his motives were not always entirely pure. Whose           hatred. Opinions about his principles and policy are still
are ? Sometimes he was unscrupulous in  ,the use of means  ;        divided; but it is impossible to deny his ability, energy,
that is, he was determined to gain his end, even if he had to       earnestness, and achievements..
employ a  .wrong  method in order to accomplish what he                Hildebrand was of humble and obscure origin, but fore-
beiieved to be a good thing. It is also true that he loved          ordained to be a prince of the Church. He was of smali
to rule. It was in his blood [is it not true that  `a person who    stature, and hence called "Hildebrandellus"' by his enemies,
loves to rule is also moved by ambition or vain-glory  7            but a giant in intellect and character. His figure was  un-'
- H.V.) But fundamentally he was moved by a sincere and             gainly and his voice feeble; but his eyes were bright and
strong desire to serve God and the Church, and thus promote         piercing, bespeaking penetration, a fiery spirit, and restless
the cause of God's Kingdom in this world.                  :.       activity. His early life is involved in obscurity. I-Ie only in-
   The popes have vast treasures at their disposal.  Hiide-         cider&ally alludes to it in his later Epistles, and loved to
brand could have lived a life of self-indulgence, luxury, and       connect it with the supernatural protection of St. Peter and
idleness -as some popes before and after him did too. In-           is unknown. The veneration of friends and the malice of
stead of that he was always immersed in hard and fatiguing          the Holy Virgin. With a monkish disregard of earthly rela-
labors. He lived very simply and was a real ascetic. He             tions, he never mentions his family. The year of his birth
gave  up  eating onions because he liked the taste.                 enemies surrounded his youth with legends and lies. He
   If Hildebrand had wished, he could have become pope              was the son of a peasant or goatherd, Bonizo, living near
before, but he had'heretofore declined the honor. At last the       Soana, a village in the marshes  of,Tuscany,  a few miles from
people of Rome thrust  ,the papal office upon him by surprise,      Orbitello. The oft-repeated tradition that he was the son
but even then he took his seat upon the papal chair oniy            of a carpenter seems to have originated in the desire to
reluctantly. And no wonder, for the times were difficult. H'e       draw a parallel between him and Jesus of Nazareth. Of his
foresaw that his duty as pope, as he understood that duty,          mother we know nothing. His name points to Lombard or
might involve him in severe struggles. As the story of his          German origin, and was explained by his contemporaries  as
pontificate which follows will show, he saw correctly."  -          hell-brand or firebrand. Odilo, the abbot of Cluny, saw
end of quote from  "T;lze   Church in  History."                    sparks of fire issuing from his  raiment, and predicted that,
    Concerning Hildebrand and his training Philip  Schaff           like John the Baptist, he would be "great in the sight of the
writes the following : "The papacy had reached its  lotvest         Lord." He entered the Benedictine order in the convent of St.
stage of weakness and degeneracy when at Sutri in 1046,             Mary on the Aventine at Rome, of which his maternal uncle
under the influence of Henry III, two popes were deposed            was abbot. Here he had a magnificent view of the eternal
and a third was forced to abdicate. But the worthless popes,        city. Here he was educated with Romans of the higher
who prostituted their office and outraged the feelings of           families. The convent was under the influence of the re-
Christendom during the tenth and the first half of the              formatory spirit of Cluny, and the home of its abbots on
eleventh century, could not overthrow the papacy any more           their pilgrimages to Rome.  .He exercised himself in severe
than idolatrous kings could overthrow the Jewish monarchy,          self-discipline, and in austerity and rigor he remained a monk
or wicked emperors the Roman Empire. In the public opin-            all his life. He cherished an enthusiastic veneration for the
ion of Europe, the papacy was still a necessary institution         Virgin Mary. The personal contemplation of the scandalous
established by Christ in the primacy of Peter for the govern-       contentions of the three rival popes and the fearful  im-
ment and administration of the Church. There was nothing            his earnest  soul  a deep disgust. He associated himself with
`to take its place. It needed only radical reformation in its       morality in the capital of Christendom must have raised in
head, which would be followed by a reformation of the               the party which prepared for a reformation of the  hierachy."
members. Good men all over Europe anxiously desired and             -end of quote. In following articles we will continue to
hoped that Providence'could intervene and rescue the chair          quote from Philip Schaff in his setting forth of Gregory VII
 of Peter from the hands of thieves and robbers, and turn it         and the Papacy.                                            H. V.


323                                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAKER                    -

                                                                                      its harmony with the whole of the truth as it is maintained
ii           The Voice of Our Fathers                                             II in the  Ca.rLons.
                                                                                          Negatively, we must observe, first of all, that the article
                                                                                      does not deal with the ultimate. the sovereign reason why
                     The Canons of Dordrecht                                          there are many called through the Gospel who nevertheless
                                      PART TWO                                        do not come and are not converted. The article does not
                                                                                      intend to deal with this subject. However, at the same time
                        EXPOSITION  OF  THE  CANONS                                   the article must not be read, in fact, cannot even be under-
              T H I R D   A N D  F O U R T H  H E A D S   O F  D O C T R I N E        stood, as though it means to ignore that sovereign, ultimate
      OF   T H E  CORRUPTION  OF   MAN , H I S  CONVERSION  TO GOD ,                  reason for the failure of many to come and be converted when
                        A N D   T H E  M A N N E R  T H E R E O F                     they are called by the ministry of the Gospel. If it were not
                                                                                      for the fact that the Reformed truth exactly emphasizes that
                 Article 9. It is not the fault of  .the gospel, nor of               there is such a sovereign reason, the question that is broached
                 Christ, offered therein, nor of God, who calls men by                in this article would not even be. treated. That sovereign
                 the gospel, and confers upon them various gifts, that                reason is plainly stated in the  Ca,nons, and, unless. we would
                 those who are called by the ministry of the word,
                 refuse to come, and be converted: the fault lies in                  accuse our fathers of  .theological double-talk, we must under-
                 themselves; some of whom when called, regardless of                  stand whatever is stated in the present paragraph only in the
                 their danger, reject the word of life; others, though                light of and within the limitations of their plain declarations
                 they receive it, suffer it not to make a lasting im-                 concerning the reason why many are unbelieving and go lost
                 pression on their heart; therefore, their joy, arising
                 only from a temporary faith, soon vanishes, and  they-               forever.
                 fall away; while others choke the seed of the word                      .Let  us  remind ourselves of the position which the fathers
                 by perplexing cares, and the pleasures of this world,                have taken thus far:
                 and produce no fruit.  -  T,his our Savior teaches in  the               1. In the First Head of Doctrine, Art. 6, the fathers
                 parable of the sower. Matt. 13.                                      maintain that the fact that "some do not receive the gift of
        The above  tran'slation, though in the main it conveys the                    faith" proceeds from God's eternal decree." Further, they
thought of the original, is nevertheless inaccurate in several                        maintain that according to this decree, God leaves the  non-
details. We can best make our corrections by offering  the,                           elect in His just judgment to their own wickedness and ob-
following translation of the entire article, which the reader                         duracy. Now these statements are negative, and, we may
may then compare with the accepted rendering :                                        add, infralapsarian. Undoubtedly the  supralapsarian   wo~~lcl
                 T'hat many who have been called through the min-                     speak. more positively of a divine act of hardening. But for
                 istry of the Gospel do not come. and are not con-                    our present purpose it makes no  .difference  whether you
                 verted,- of this the fault is not in the Gospel, nor                 a&me the infra-or supralapsarian position. The facts still
                 in the Christ  pffered  through the Gospel, nor in God               stand : a) That some do not receive the gift of faith proceeds
                who calls through the Gospel, and even bestows on                     from God's eternal decree. b) According to His decree, God
                 them various gifts, but in the called themselves, of
                whoni some, being careless, do not attend to the word                 leaves the non-elect in  <their  own wickedness and obduracy.
                 of life; others attend to it indeed, but do not allow                The fathers therefore have. carefully circumscribed, long be-
                it entrance into the heart,  End therefore after the                  fore they reached the question of Cartons III, IV, 9,  the-
                vanishink  joy of a temporary faith they fall away;                   limits wherein it may be stated that the "fault" of not com-
                others choke the seed of the word with the thorns of
                the cares and pleasures of the world, and bring  forth                ing and not being converted is "in the called themselves."
                no fruits; which our Savior teaches by the parable of                 One could quite properly paraphrase Canons I, 6 as follows :
                the seed, Matt. 13.                                                   "That some do not receive the  .gift of coming and being
        Probably the most important correction to note is that                        converted proceeds from God's eternal decree."
the article speaks of "many" that do not come and are not                                2. In  Cctnons I, 15 our fathers propound the following
converted. This is the "Latin,  ma&i,  and is, of course,  ac-                        truths: a) That not all, but some only are elected, while
cording to Scripture, which frequently emphasizes the fact                            others are passed by in  th@ eternal decree. Notice that
that the majority remain unconverted, while the "few"                                 these are the same who in the article under consideration do
are saved: "Many ara called, but few are chosen." "Many"                             not come and are not converted. b) These non-elect God  out
enter in at the wide gate and the broad way, while few there                          of His  sozrweign,   most  jut,  ,iweprehensible and  unchamge-
be that find the narrow gate and the strait way.                                      able good  plea$Lve hath decreed . . . .  not  20 bestow  ,u.pon
        Of this fact, that many who are called through the Gospel                     therm  sa.&g   faith  and'  the  grace  of  coffz~evsion. Once again,
do not come and are not converted,  the. present article gives                       notice that complete harmony exists between the language of
an explanation from a very limited and specific viewpoint.                           this article and that of the article we are at present discussing.
And we should very carefully observe the limitations of the                          Those upon whom God does not bestow the saving faith and
article, in order to understand its place in the Canons and                          the grace of conversion are the very same as those who  40


                                                THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    319

 not come and are not converted when they are called through               toward all who hear it, elect and reprobate alike, offers them
 the ministry of the gospel. And therefore, once again we                  all salvation, upon the condition that they come and be  con-
 emphasize: here the fathers strictly define the limits within             vel-ted,  and if then many do not come and are not converted,
which it must be said that the "fault" of not coming and not               no one has to add that it is their own fault that they are not
being converted lies in the called- themselves. And we may                 saved. Any Arminian believes that.  IBut, mark you well,
also emphasize that these same limits apply to the negative                you must also teach then that the sinner  hiinself  is the sole
 statement of  .III, IV,  9. that the "fault" is not  `(in God who         and sovereign reason for this failure to be converted and
calls through the gospel, and who confers upon them various                saved, as well as the sole fault; you must also teach that  It
g i f t s . "                                                              does not proceed from God's eternal decree that some, do not
    3. In the Second Head of Doctrine, Article S, the fathers              receive the gift of faith; you must also teach that Christ's
have taught something concerning the Christ Who is offered                 death, as far as God and His Christ were concerned, was
in the gospel: a) That it was the sovereign counsel and most               intended to be efficacious for all men, but that the efficacy
gracious will and purpose of God the Father, that the                     thereof is limited by the sovereign determination of the
quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death  of             sinner.
his Son should extend to all the elect, for bestowing  UPOU                   We call attention to this, because this is exactly the posi-
them alone the gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them             tion that many  taGe. And  they claim to do so on the basis
infallibly to salvation. Notice that while the non-elect are               of  Ca.xom  III,  Iv, 9. When the Canons speak of "fault,"
not. mentioned here, the article positively excludes them from            they take the bit in their mouth and run away with it, and
the quickening and saving efficacy of the most precious death             read the article as though it says "sole'reason" and "sovereign
of God's Son by using the limitation "alone." This again                  cause." When the  Canons  use the term "offered," they are
sharply defines the limits within which it must be said that              not mindful that the original term simply means "to present,
the fault of not coming and believing is not in the  .Christ              to set forth, to propose," nor are they mindful that the
Who is offered in the gospel,  but in the, called themselves..            "Christ offered in the  gqspel" is the Christ Who is described
The Christ offered in  <the gospel is the Christ of  Canons  II,          in the Second Head of Doctrine as a Christ for the elect
8,. the saving efficacy of Whose precious  .death was sover-              alone ; but by some magical hocus-pocus this offer becomes a
eignly destined to extend to the elect alone, and therefore               general, `well-meant offer. Thus it is, for example, in the
not to those described in III, IV, 9 as "not coming and being             exposition of  the  Canorts by Ds. T. Bos, page 156:  "Hzt
converted." b) That it was  the will of God that Christ by the            Evangelie  meet gepredikt  worden  aan  allen, en dat Evangelie
blood of the cross . . . should effectually redeem . . .  a.Zl  those,    is eene  welwwenende  atitnoodiging  van  `s  Heeren  wege tot
and  those  o.nly,  zvlzo  weYe  from  etcunity   chosh to  sahtion,' geloof en  bekeering."  (italics mine, H.C.H.) Thus it is also
up&d  given to  him by the Father;  that he should confer upon            when the Christian Reformed Churches  cite this article in
them faith, which together with all the other saving gifts of             support of the First Point of 1924. 0, I know, they will not
the Holy Spirit, (the coming and conversion of III, I-V, 9                accept the consequences outlined in the last part of the
included), he purchased for them by his death. Again the                  pl'evious  paragraph. They rather seek refuge in the alibi of
fathers clearly circumscribe the limits within which it may               "mystery." But those consequences are there. And with all
be said that the fault of this not coming and `not being con-             reverence, I maintain that if such is truly the idea of the
verted lies not in Christ, but in those who are called them-              preaching of the gospel, the holy angels and God Himself
selves.                                                          r        could- not escape those consequences any more  `than the be-
    Now in all honestly, do the fathers mean to teach by im-              liever can.
plication  the,very  opposite of all this in the article under con-           LMalte no mistake. The fathers did not, and did not in-
sideration  ? Do they actually mean now to teach that though              tend, -to throw out the baby with the bath. They had no
in His decree God determined that not all should receive                  intention whatsoever, when they adopted this article, to
the gift of faith and conversion, and though Christ's death,              ,adopt  the Arminian position. They had not forgotten their
according to God's decree, covered the elect only. that never-            own strict circumscription of the calling God as the decreeing
theless God well-meaningly `offers salvation in the call of the           God; of the offered Christ as  *the Christ of limited atonement,
.gospel to all who hear the preaching, that God is  well-                 when they came to consider the question of this negative re-
intentioned toward all those to whom the gospel is preached?              action of many to the call of the gospel.
Anyone who `has a  ?ind to read and understand the  Ca.nons                   On the contrary,  - and here we speak positively con-
must admit that this is utterly impossible. This would be                 cerning the background and the viewpoint of this article,  -
a flat contradiction. The Arminian controversy would never                the fathers deal in this paragraph solely with the question of
have arisen and the  Cirn,ons  would never have been com-                 the  fa&, or  guilt,  of not coming and not being converted
posed, had that been the doctrinal position of the fathers.               `in response to the call of the gospel. And they were forced
And especially this article would not have been written. After            to deal with this question by another one of the sordid and
all, if God in the preaching of the gospel is well-intentioned            back-handed accusations of the Arminians. We must bear in


` 3 3 0                                    `1`1~IE  S?;.ANNARD   UEAREK
 --                   --                                            -

mind that "fault.  culpa'J  is blameworthiness, guilt. And  it           rest of soul. God does still more. He bestows  on. men, also
was exactly because the fathers maintained that God is ab-               ungodly, reprobate men, all kinds of gifts. He bestows the
solutely sovereign also in regard to the unbelief of those               gift of  reas,on and understanding. He bestows the gift of dis-
that regard not the call of the gospel that the  Arminiaris              cernment between right and wrong. According to Hebrews
came with the false accusation that in the Reformed view                 6, those gifts are great and extensive. By them men are
God is the author of the  sin.of unbelief, and that God's is             "enlightened," they "have tasted of the heavenly gift, were
the guilt when many do not come and are not converted in                 made partakers of the Holy Ghost, have tasted the good word
response to the call of the gospel, and that the unbelieving             of God, and the powers of the world to come." They have in
and  unconverting  sinner cannot. at all be blamed. The idea             abundance all the natural gifts necessary to  undkrstand  the
is the same as that of the audaciously wicked question of the            call of the gospel. One might say  ,that God puts them,  -
objector in Romans 9:  "Why doth he yet find fault, for who              barring grace, -in the most advantageous position possible
hath resisted his will  ?" Notice, by the way, that this is an           with respect to the gospel.
objection that is traditionally brought only against those that             But still many fail to come and be converted. Why? The
maintain that God is absolutely sovereign from beginning to              fault, .the blame, lies in man's corrupt heart and mind and
end in the salvation of the elect and in the damnation of the            will. According to his own corrupt heart, -and remember;
reprobate.'                                                              he only is to be blamed that his heart is corrupt,  - man
    Now how do the fathers react to this accusation? Are                 despises and rejects the call of the gospel. Because of his
they quickly vanquished by the Arminian foe, and do they                 own corrupt heart, from which are the issues of his life, the
hasten to point out that the line of the truth is a  double-             sinner will not and cannot will to receive that which is for
track? Do they fall down dead before the Arminians blast,                his own eternal  .good, and he refuses to repent and believe,
and concede that the call of the gospel is a well-meant offer            regardless-of how clearly the gospel-call is sounded, regard-
of  salvatioti  to all ? Do they concede defeat, and grant that          less. of how beautiful is the Christ offered in the gospel,
God on His  part  is well-intentioned and gracious to all in             regardless of how seriously and truthfully the God and
the offer of  the gospel  ?                                              Father of our Lord Jesus Christ  calls, through the ministry
    By no means !                                                        of the gospel.
    They quietly and firmly answer the argument. The ob-                     This sin of unbelief, as is plain from the parable of the
jection was: "You deny the guilt of those who are called by              seed in  `Matthew  13, is manifested in various ways. In
the gospel, but who fail  -to come. and be converted." The               some it is a cold and complete indifference, so that the gospel
fathers' answer is : "We affirm  that-the blame of those who             `makes no effect upon them whatsoever. They are careless
do not. come and are not converted is in the called them-                and secure in their sin, and they never even stop to con-
selves." The objection was : "In your view the guilt must                sider the gospel call. Others reveal a temporary faith, paired
be laid either to the gospel, or to the Christ presented in the          with a superficial and vanishing joy, which becomes revealed
gospel, or to God who calls through  the gospel." The fathers'           as temporary and vanishing under  t&e  stress and strain of
answer is : "The guilt of the sin of failing to come and to be           persecution. In these  too- there is no true faith,  and the
converted in response to the call of the gospel is to be charged         wicked and corrupt heart must needs reveal its corruption
neither to the gospel, nor to Christ. nor to God."  S&h is the           sodner or later.  In still others that  same corrupt heart  be-
substance of this paragraph. And there is nothing difficult              com;s revealed in a preference for the things of the earth
to understand about it. Nor is there anything in it which                and the pleasures of the world. But never does the corrupt
contradicts the truth as the fathers have previously stated.it.          heart of the sinner want or receive the things of God and
    That guilt of unbelief and non-conversion cannot be in               His Christ. And thus it is through the very call of the
the gospel,  for? as stated in Article 8, that gospel is serious         gospel that the sin of unbelief and the guilt thereof is
and true  ; it never deceives. And besides, the gospel is clear          brought- to manifestation.
in its language, so that it is plainly understood by those to               Yes, and it is not through the Arminian gospel of a
whom it comes. The guilt cannot be in the Christ. offered,               Christ-for-all and a general, well-meant offer of salvation, but
set forth, in the gospel, because there is nothing repulsive in          through the Reformed gospel, the gospel of the `Scriptures,.
that Christ. He is the plain revelation of the only way of               the gospel of a sure and unfailing promise of eternal life to
salvation. In Him is set forth all the righteousness, justice,           all those repenting and coming to Christ, the gospel of a
truth, goodness, grace, and mercy of the living God. If Christ           most serious call to faith and repentance, the gospel of a
repels anyone, it must be the fault of the one who is repelled.          demand to repent anh believe that may not be disobeyed
And the guilt cannot be laid to God's charge, for God is com-            because it is God's demand,  -*through such a gospel it is
pletely serious  and. absolutely truthful in the gospel  tail.           that the responsibility for the sin of  uribelief and non-con-
He declares plainly that it is pleasing to Him that  n& re-              version is squarely laid at the door of the unrepentant sinner.
pent and believe. And He promises with an unbreakable
promise to all those who repent and believe eternal life and                                                                     H.C.H.


                                                T H E      STAluDAKD   LiEAKElZ.                                                     331
-~

                                                                      maintenance of the assemblies of the church and concerning
              DECENCY and ORDER                                       this point there is, as  fa? as we are aware, no particular
                                                                      dispute. Secondly, since  <the place to consider various ques-
                                                                      tions relating to consistories, classes and synods, is not the
                 Ecclesiastical. Assemblies                           present article but subsequent articles that deal with these
                                                                      assemblies more in detail. This, however, does not imply
       "Four kinds of ecclesiastical assemblies shall be main-        that Article 29 is of such insignificance that it could just as
tained: the consistory, the  classis,  (the particular synod),        well be elided  from the church order. Such is not the  case:
and the general synod."                                               The Christian Reformed Committee for Church Order re-
                         Article 29,  D.h.0.                          vision sees fit to retain it in the following  iorm:      .
                                                                         "Art. 26. The churches recognize and maintain the fol-
       In *this article the second of four major sections of the      lowing assemblies :  Consistories,  Classes, Particular Synods,
church order is introduced. This part, comprising Articles            and General Synods."
29-52 inclusive, deals with the various ecclesiastical assem-
blies. This section may be further  ,sub-divided  as follows :           Surely there  is. room under this article to raise more
                                                                      than a few questions.
       Articles 29-36 treat the general principles and regula-
tions which concern our ecclesiastical assemblies  ;                     The first of these questions concerns the number of  ec-
                                                                      ciesiastical adsemblies. Should the words, "shall be main-
       Articles 37-40 treat matters that pertain particularly to      tained" (zullen  onderhouden   `worden)  be emphasized in the
the consistory, the first of these assemblies;                        present article so that we understand the thrust of it to be
       Articles 41-45 treat matters relating to the classes  i        ,chat churches of Reformed persuasion  must   hold meetings                 .
       Articles 46-49 treat the particular synods; and,               of these four assemblies or they are violating a vital prin-
  w                                                                   ciple  ? We think not ! Were this the meaning our churches
       Articles  50-52  treat the general `synods.'                   have never observed this article. In  the, beginning of our
       The above outline already gives  ir?dication of the im-        denominational existence we had no Synod. We met in
portance of the  mat.erial treated in this section of the church      conibined  classes as many of our older readers well remem-
order. In it are to be found some of the key articles of our          ber. Fifteen years after our denominational birth  o&- first.
church order and in  .these articles are embodied various             Synod was convened and to date we do not hold (maintain)
basically fundamental principles of Reformed Church Polity.           "particular Synods." This is no violation of the church order
Differences of interpretation regarding some of these prin-           but rather circumstances determine to what extent the  foLir
ciples have occasioned more  than a single difficulty in the past.    assemblies shall be maintained.
If these differences concerned only the routine function and           Joh. Jansen in his  "Korte  Verklaring van de  Kerkorde,"
procedural operation of the assemblies of the church, they            states in respect to this question, "Maar de nadere  witww-
could perhaps be brushed aside and ignored since there                king  en regeling van het  kerkverband  is een jus  divinum
would really be no material effect upon the spiritual life of' p~?&ssiz~z~+~,  d.i. een  aan de kerken  toegestaart   Goddelijk
the church. However, this is not at all the case. Matters of          recht. Daarvoor heeft Hij in de  Schrift geen bepaalde  voor-
the "modus operandi" of the church intrinsically involve the          schrift& gegeven. Die heeft Hij  aan de vrijheid der kerken
basically deeper questions relating to the relation of ec-            overgelaten. Zij kan dan ook op verschillende manier  ge-
clesiastical assemblies, their proper authority, the limits of        schieden. De kerken zijn vrij bijv. om te bepalen of er vier
their jurisdiction, their binding power and its extent, and           kerkelijke  samenkomsten zullen zijn,  n.i. kerkeraad,  classis,
several related matters that concern deep principles. In the          part. synode en  g,enerale  synode; of drie,  n.1. kerkeraad,         ,.
light of these matters the question concerning the effect             classis en synode (zo de Christelijk Geref.  kerk in  AnJerika)  ;
which the various decisions of ecclesiastical assemblies have         of twee,  n.1. kerkeraad en synode (zo de Geref. kerken in
upon the life of the church and its members cannot be easily          Zuid-Afrika)   ; voorts of de synodes jaarlijks, of  om de  twee
repressed. We cannot avoid being confronted with many                 of drie jaar zullen gehouden  worden;  en, in  verband   daar-
questions and problems of this nature as we treat this sec-           mee, of de  verkiezing  ier afgevaardigden rechtstreeks of
tion of our church order. These we shall be called upon to            trapsgewijze zal geschieden,  enz.`!
weigh cautiously and carefully, seeking their solution on the             Akin to this question is the matter of whether or  n&
basis is established principles derived from God's Word.              this Article intends to be exclusive in its stipulation of "four
Even so, we do not tread this hallowed ground without a               ecclesiastical assemblies  ?" Must we emphasize the number
deep sense of human frailty.                                          "four" here? Does that exclude the possibility of adding a
       In writing on the content of the 29th. article we can          fifth assembly? And, since no mention is made in the article
necessarily be rather brief. Firstly, since the article itself        of such gatherings as `the "congregationnl meeting" or
merely contains a statement of fact with respect to the                "ecumenic  synods," must we conclude from this. that these

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

are not ecclesiastical assemblies? If we do this, how  must               it would be still better to simply speak of  "TWO   lzinds of ec-
we conceive of these gatherings and, on the other hand, if                clesiastical assemblies" and this would then be in harmony
we assert that they are ecclesiastical assemblies, do we not              with the implication of  Artic1.e 36 which distinguishes just
violate the rule respecting the "four"?                                   two kinds of ecclesiastical jurisdiction.

       In answering this question, it may be well to point out                As to the ecclesiastical assemblies themselves we may
firstly that the article does not speak of "four assemblies"              conclude the present artcile with a brief  discription of their
but rather of "four kinds" (Vierderlei). This is not the                  n a m e s .
same and certainly the number four in this connection then           .        "The word `Consistory' is derived from the Latin  `con-
does not exclude gatherings such as the congregational meet-              sistorium,' meaning. place of meeting. It indicates the body
ing and ecumenic synods provided these gatherings can  he                 of men chosen to govern the affairs of a local church. The
properly included in one of these four "kinds" of assemblies.             dutch speaks of  `Kerkeraad,' i.e. church council. The Pres-
We believe that they can. If our point is  takkn, it will be              byterians refer to the body of their. pastors and ruling elders
granted that the "four kinds" excludes only  ,the possibility             as the `Session.' Many  Anterican churches today  simply
of another  `l&d of ecclesiastical assembly, differing in nature          speak of  the `Church Board.'
and essence from those mentioned, but it does not exclude
the possibility of having different gatherings within the                     "The word  Classis is also Latin and indicates a division
framework of each of these "four kinds" of assemblies. For                or class of people or of other objects."
example, it is possible to conceive of more than one kind of                  "And the word Synod is derived from the Greek,  `suno-
Synod or  Classis or Consistory Meeting. Thus when  we                    dos,  indicating `a coming together, assembly, meeting.'  "
speak  ol the  Ecumenic  Synod, we do just that. We add  xo
the genus an additional species. The same, is true of the                     Not a great deal, therefore, can be learned "from these
congregational meeting although we will have more to write                names concerning the character, function, mutual relation,
about that later, D.V., in connection with Article 37. The           `etc. of these assemblies. Concerning this we will have to
congregational meeting is viewed as an open or public  con-               turn to Scripture and some of the other Articles of this
sistory meeting and thus can also be properly fitted within               section of our church order but this will have to wait, D.V.,
the framework of this article.                                            until next time.
                                                                                                                              G.  Vanden Berg.
       In connection with this yet we must also point out that
to  us  the same difficulty arises here as we confronted in
connection with Article.. 2 of our church order. That article
speaks of the offices of the church as being four in number.
At the time we wrote about that we reasoned at length  10
show why we felt the article should read "three" instead of
"four" and that, of course, would involve the combining of
the office of Professors and Ministers. This, we believe, is                             GOD OUR ADVOCATE AND JUDGE
proper for as we showed  *then  the office of the  Professo,rs of                                     Psalm 35  :l, 2
Theology is essentially .a specialized aspect of the office of
the Ministry of the Word.  No&, in connection with the                                    Be Thou my helper in  the strife,
Ecclesiastical Assemblies we face the same difficulty. Should                               0 Lord, my strong defender be  ;
it be three or four? We fail to see an "essential difference'*                            Thy mighty shield protect my life,
between a particular and general synod. That there is a                                     Thy spear confront the enemy.
difference in scope may be readily conceded but that there                                Amid the conflict, o my Lord,  ;
is a difference in "kind" or "essence" is not clear to  us.                                 Thy precious promise let me hear,
Consequently, we feel it would be better to express : "Three                              The faithful, reassuring word :
lzivtds  of ecclesiastical assemblies  shall be maintained : the                            I am thy Saviour, do not fear.
consistory, the  classis, and synod." Under the latter then the
particular, general and universal or "ecumenic" Synods could                              Aihamed, confounded let them be
be included. But  then.ag&n  it is also difficult to see a real                             Who seek my ruin, and disgrace  ;
difference in "kind" between a  Synodical and a Classical                                 0 let Thy angel fight for me,
gathering.. There, too, there is clearly a difference in scope.                             And drive my foes before his face.
The one is a broader gathering  .than the other. In  .the one                             Without a cause my life they sought,
all of  th'e denomination of churches is represented while in                               Without a cause their plots they laid ;
the` other only a part  05 it is. Yet, this difference in scope                           Themselves within their snares be caught,
does not make it different in "kind." Perhaps, therefore,                                   And be my crafty foes dismayed.


                                            THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   333

                                                                    What of the Godless?
            ALL AROUND  US                                              The Religion department of Newsweek, March 18, 1957,
                                                                    raises  <this question as it reflects on the contention of a cer-
                                                                    tain Dr. A. Powell Davies, a minister of an All Souls Uni-
The Rising Strength of Christianity.                                tarian Church.
    In the Religion department of Newsweek of March 11,                 We quote the article in its entirety which begins with a ,
1957, we came  upon  a Special Religious Report intended to         quotation of Dr. Davies.
show the dramatic rise in numerical strength of the so-called           " `The. right to disbelieve is inherent in the right to be-
Christian Church and appearing under the above title.               lieve!' said Dr. A. Powell Davies in Washington, D. C.,
    The report in part reads as follows: "In the world today        last week. `This is a fundamental American principle, and
there are some 225 million Protestants, 200 million Ortho-          it is going by the board.'
dox, and  464  million Roman Catholics. These figures repre-            "The minister of All  Sou,ls  Unitarian Church, long a
sent an increase of roughly 25 percent over membership of           champion of intellectual freedom, was commenting on a ser-
1920.  One of the most dramatic surges in the last two  dec-        mon titled `The Rights of Atheists,' published in the current
`ades  has been the growth of, Christianity in the United           issue of The Christian Register. His lively defense of doubt,
States.    For example, Southern Baptist membership  has            which, he says, `is still bringing  more praise than brickbats,'
swelled from 5.1 million in 1940 to 8.7 million now: Meth-          was inspired by a reported announcement from George
odists, from. 7.4 million to' 9.4 million  ; and Episcopalians,     Washington University last November that atheists could
from 2.2 million to 3.1 million. The total Protestant popu-         not hold jobs on its faculty. The university later claimed  the
lation in the U.  S.`today is  estimz&ed  at 100 million. Catho-    statement was reported out of its context, but the dispute
lics have made a spectacular jump of their own. From 21.4           gave the Unitarian minister a  chapce to air some of his
million to 37.6 million, a gain achieved during the vital reign     favorite ideas.
of their beloved Pope, Pius XII."                                      "1f.a university is to bar doubters, Dr. Davies warns in
   The article gives no explanation or reason for this phe-         The Register, `no longer is a bright student to have a chance
nomenal growth. Other periodicals we have read, also not-           to  `argue with an accomplished atheist. In religion, he is not
ing the steady increase in church membership, offer various         even to cross swords with a vigorous agnostic.
reasons. One commentator asserts that the American public              " `What a pity ! In my view, every institution of higher
is becoming more religious minded. Another attributes the           learning should, if possible, have one or two atheists on its
growth in membership to fear brought on by the complexes            faculty if only to keep the theists stepping lively . . . What
of our atomic age.                                                  could be more essential to a  .good university professor than
   Naturally we are in no position to dispute the figures.          to keep constantly reminded of how much he does not know?
They are undoubtedly correct. We do contend, however,                  " `This applies particularly to the schools of religion. A
that bare  ntimbers  do not make the church, nor is  she to be      theologian who is not intellectually an agnostic is of neces-
weighed by the pound. One wonders today how much true               sity a fool. For what is theology ? Theology is the attempt.
religion there is in the midst of this religious surge. In the      to give an orderly account of the unknown . .  .'
light of history, one may truly fear when religion becomes             "The lesson in all this, Dr. Davies says, is that there is
popular as seems to be the case today.                              a need to return to America's traditional principles of intel-
   One can hardly say that the Protestant Reformed                  lectual freedom, and a recognition that God needs no pro-
Churches `have been caught in the stream of numerical               tectors. `For  -God lives  ip the open mind, in the power of
growth. It was in the year 1947 that a  denominatiorial   `ten-     its thought, the voice of its `truth, the inner impulse of  .ts
sus  first appeared. At that time our churches constituted,         honesty. He needs no protection . . . . Just give him room.  "
1154 families and 5026 souls. The peak  of. church member-             We have only two or three brief comments to make re-
ship in our churches was reached at the time of the split in        specting this article. First, Dr. Davies' definition of theol-
1953. The 1952 census revealed 1302 families and 5449               ogy is quite different from that which we have learned. He
souls.  The census, which was taken after the split, revealed       tells us that "Theology is the attempt  `to give an  orderly-
S63 families and 2353 souls. The report that will appear at         account of the unknown . .  ." We have learned that  "theol-
the 1957 Synod will reveal that our denomination is pres-           ogy is the science that-systematically treats of the knowledge
ently constituted of 610 families and 2482 souls.                   of God as revealed in the Scriptures."
   If we were to be measured by the pound, we would not                Secondly, we are tempted to call Dr. Davies exactly
be worth very much in comparison. with other  deno+nations          what he says the theologian is who is not intellectually  83
whose membership runs into the millions. We are thankful            agnostic. Dr. Davies is Unitarian, and the latter deny the
to God, however, that He also has respect for the things            triune God as He is revealed in Jesus Christ. That comes
that are weak, and that it is His goodpleasure to reveal to         awfully close to what the psalmist  dkclares in Psalm  14:1,
us the things of His truth.                                         "The fool has said in his heart, There is no God."

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

       Thirdiy, that does not mean that some fools  cati some-      charity, ready to acknowledge that they are their brother's
times not say things that are correct. Dr. Davies is one of         keepers.' It is, in fact, the believing Christian who is `the
them when he asserts that the right to disbelieve is inherent       preserver of sound  values'in  a society that would otherwise
in the right to believe is a fundamental American principle.        decay.' Mr. Rogers points to loneliness and slackening of
We have before contended that the religious liberty which           the social ties that strengthen life as resulting from living in
is  Ijroposed and defended by our  Constitutiofi and granted to     the modern State. These  deficiencis, it is true, are made good
our citizenry is the right to believe in God, or not to believe     by church life, which offers `fellowship and shared responsi-
in Him.  ?Ve insist that our Constitution was made up by            bilities.' Saying this, however, he makes the following very
men like Jefferson and Franklin, men who were influenced            salutary comment  on- what has  come to be known as the
by men like Paine and Rousseau, who in turn were human-             social gospel: "What went wrong with the  so&l  gospel  :il
ists and libertines whose doctrine was man's inherent free-         the generation immediately past was that it put  so&l  first,
dom to believe'in God or. not to believe in Him.                    and a diluted gospel second. Men and women of noble in-
       Those who insist that our country was originally a           tention strove to implement the Sermon on the Mount while
Christian nation, founded on true Scriptural principles, from       pushing into the background the Cross and the Resurrection
which we are fast departing, and who are attempting by              - and found that their fine phrases and benevolent exhorta-
means of radio and printed page  to call America back to            tions splashed ineffectively on the rocks of  -sin."
God, are thoroughly mistaken if  they find  the basis for their         "Who will not agree with his conclusion that the doc-
contention in our Constitution. No one will deny that there         trine of the sovereignty of God- is `a doctrine desperately
were early settlers who came to our shores seeking true re-         needed to check the blasphemous and destructive  .doctrine  of
ligious freedom.  iBut the freedom of which the Constitution        the absolute sovereignty of the State'; for the State `is the
speaks is the freedom Dr. Davies wants and insists is a             servant of God, not the master of men  ?'  "
fundamental American principle. That is the freedom which               These are striking remarks, indeed, coming from a
would allow the atheist  as well as the theist to have a place      `Methodist.
in our institutions of learning. No State controlled institu-
tion of learning, therefore, under our Constitution, has the            It is `to be recognized that  he emphasizes the  Script&al
                                                                    truth that the Christian is to be in submission  to-his govern'-
right to deny the atheist to teach in it.                           ment, even when it is corrupt and cruel.
   We may be thankful to God that our Constitution also
.allows us to have institutions of learning which insist that           It is also to be noticed that he looks disparagingly upon
all instruction shall be God-centered and thoroughly perme-         what is called the  so&l  gospel, and considers the heart of
ated with the truths of divine revelation.                          the gospel the Cross  5.nd Resurrection. This does not sound
                                                                    like the speech of a modern Methodist. Rather, it  sotincls
                                                                    more like the speech of a John or Charles Wesley, and con-
Cm-rent  Thoughts pn Clmrch  and Stu.te.                            temporaneous with their day.

       In the April 1st issue of Christianity Today, in the de-         Consistently  also he emphasizes the doctrine of the sover-
partment called Review of Current Religious Thought, we             eignty of God, and seriously attempts to apply this doctrine
came upon the following interesting remarks in  c'onnection         to the modern  atempt to establish the sovereign State.
with the relation of Church and State :                                 I reheat, rather  .striking remarks, coming from a
       "The Rev. Edward Rogers, a Methodist minister, writ-         Methodist.
ing in the Janudry  issue of The London Quarterly and  Hol-
bol-n   Review  on the subject of `Christians and the Modern            There are other views respecting the relation  df Church
State,' speaks of industrialization, urbanization,  centraliz2-     and State expressed in the remainder of the article which are
tion, and secularization, as the four distinctive features of       bold as they are `interesting. Here are two views expressed
the modern State, and asserts that the Christian, `simply           by C. H.  Glasson,  laj, member of the Church of England.
because he is a Christian, confronts the State in  two  insep-      "The dualistic doctrine that the care of the State  .extends
arably related ways,' as one who, `whatever the social or           only to the body and the care of` thee Church only to the soul
political order, . .  .'must seek to live by faith and love. The    is entirely unchristian."
political order,' he says, `may be corrupt or cruel, the eco-           According to Rev. Philip Hughes of England, who gives
nomic  ,lorder  unjust and  the moral code of  society  debased.    us this review, "Mr.  Glasson   w a r n s - t h a t   t h e   R o m a n
Nevei?heless,  he will be generous and just, truthful and  bon-     Church is far from having abandoned  its political objectives."
est, kind and forbearing.'  (                                       A little later in the article he says, "The political aims and
       "We are reminded that political liberty is "a rare and       ambitions of the Roman Catholic Church are no less total
precious thing, hardly won and  easily  lost' and that it `de-      and. arrogant than are those of Communism."
mands and depends upon men and women of  integrity  and                                                                              MS.


                                                   T       H           E                  S.TANDARD   BEARER                       335
                                                                                                                                  - -
 II                                                                          This study of the Canons has now been completed in the
                   CONTRlBUTlONS                                  II Loveland area of the congregation. There are five families
                                                                       in Denver, who also are members of the Loveland church,
                       Mission&y Notes                                 who are now studying the Canons with the undersigned,  ancl
                                                                       we are studying Heads of Doctrine II.
       While writing these lines I am `once more at my home                  It  stanas to reason that in the method of approach to the
 address in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I was about to write               dogma a historical background of the Synod of Dort had to
 that I am "visiting" a few days at home; however, that                be studied. It was necessary to demonstrate that the fathers
 would hardly be in good taste. Nevertheless, such the life            of Dort, were defending the "five points of Calvinism" over-
 of a Home Missionary to all practical affects becomes.                against the Remonstrants, who hated the teaching of the
       When these lines come from the press and are being read         Heidelberg Catechism and would have "abbreviated it," that
 by you, I expect to be back "home" in Loveland, Colorado              is, corrupted it. And always and again we noticed the  es-
 in the very neat apartment-which the Hope Reformed church             plicit teaching of the "Five Articles of the Arminians." The
 of Loveland rents for the Home Missionary of the Prot-                undersigned feels rather confident that many of the brethren
 estant Reformed Churches, laboring in their midst.                    in Loveland know the wording of these Articles verbatim
       The labors in Loveland are being performed `by the              by *this time. Each time we thus showed  th& the Arminians
 undersigned with continued joy and strength by the Holy               were exactly enemies of the Reformed faith, and that the
 Spirit. And through the self-same Spirit the labors are also          fathers ably defend the Reformed faith, as expressed in the
 fruitful in the hearts of the congregation. Theirs is a healthy       Heidelberg  Catechism  and the Belgic Confession, while
 spiritual joy. Often the brethren and sisters testify of the          appealing to the express testimony of the Holy Scriptures.
 goodness of God in sending them a preacher, who preaches                    The interest in the study of the Canons was spontaneous.
 the doctrine of sovereignly free grace of God. Such grace             The brethren and sisters were like the "violent who take the
 is their solid comfort in life  ,and in death.                        kingdom by -force." They knew that the Canons were the
                                                                       truth. They enjoyed the many facets of Reformed faith that
       Particularly is this true after and while we were study-        could thus be discussecl. And they testify that they were
 ing the Canons of Dort together.                                      confirmed in the faith, in the solid comfort'in life and in
       About this study of the Canons of Dort in Loveland              death.
 I would like to relate just a bit.                                          One elder said "we have learned more about the  Re-
       First of all, let it be clearly understood, the study of the    folmed faith, the Heidelberg Catechism during the past two
 Canons of Dort was undertaken upon the suggestion and                 years with our children, than what we did for the past twenty
 initiative of members of the Con&tory. One of the elders              years." Now we have  "Schrift-erklarung   !" An other elder
 in the congregation brought the suggestion before the  Con-           testified (and others corroborated this testimony with theirs)
 sistory that such a study should be undertaken. He opined             that he had never known the  steaching  of. the Heidelberg
 that there was plenty of time for the Consistory to meet each         Catechism until he had studied the Canons. "This is the best
 Monday evening to study the Canons. This was to be done               thing we have done yet," he said.
 in the spirit of the Bearean brethren, who had the nobility to              Plans are now to study the "Church Order of  fiort." I
see whether these things were true. And the Consistory by              feel confident that  ,the brethren and sisters are going to show
 formal  l?lotion decided unanimously to make a study of the           a real interest in this study of the Presbyterial form of
Carions, and if they found the Canons sound to also have               church government. They will wish to know just the "why"
 the congregation study the Canons with them.                          and "wherefore" of certain "usages and customs" in our
       The reader must understand that the brethren and sisters        churches. Upon principle matters they will have few  ques-
 in Loveland officially have only the Heidelberg Catechism             `tions anymore, This field has been- quite well covered. At
 as a Standard of Doctrine. It is wholly understandable that           least to the extend that they are persuaded in their hearts
 in their minds there must be no conflict between the teaching         that the Protestant Reformed Churches are hewing to the
 of the Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of Dort  atid              Reformed line: that they are, from that view-ppint, in safe
 also the Belgic Confession. Contrary to the opinion of some           company with our churches!
 it is not true that the Hope Reformed Church places the                     And I am persuaded in my heart that the brethren  ancl
 Catechism before the Bible. But` they  -do believe that the           sisters in Loveland are good company to be in. They are
 Heidelberg Catechism is the only safe book of Catechetical            not a foreign segment to be added to `our churches in a
 instruction for the children as pertains to  Reformed  doctrine.      mechanical manner. They grew  qrganically-spiritually  with
 That is their  official  doctrinal stand to this present moment.      us in the Vine, Christ Jesus. They are one with us in faith,
 And since this is the case it was very heartening for the             hope and doctrine.
 undersigned that these brethren and sisters were willing to                It will require a little enlightenment in Church Order, it
 study the Canons.                                                     seems to me, for them to know how things are done in


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   336            --                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R -   _
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   "decency and order" in our churches. That will require a                  But  YOU  must remember, Mr.  S'tob, that blessings are
   bit more time and patience.                                          not merely in things, but only if we receive them in God's
        Meanwhile we look into the future. We just  receivxl            favor, and this also holds for the celebration of the  Cen-
   word from the attorney that the date of the  Court  Trial in         tennial of your Church.
   Loveland concerning the church and parsonage has been                     Do you remember  1924?  I cannot forget, and am  con;
   again reset. This  -time  to  .an earlier date. It will now  be.     vinced  in my mind that then and there your Church went
   May  7th, 1957.                                                      wrong  ; that she put  up three points of doctrine which are
        Whether the Lord returns the buildings to the faithful  ;. not found in your Confessions, neither in Scripture. There
                                                                       lies all your trouble, and if your Church does not confess
   continuation of the Reformed Hope Church of Loveland  or  "
   not,  ,the brethren and sisters understand that he that hath         its sin before God and men, then it is a hopeless case, and
   put his hand to the plow, and looketh back, is not worthy            the blessings of our covenant God cannot rest upon your
   of the kingdom.                                                      Church.
                                                                             Do you remember what your Church has done in the
        One brother said: "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven          Kalamazoo Synod of `24  ? She threw out ministers which
   and his righteousness and -all these things shall be added           were truly Reformed (according to your own records),
   unto  you.?                                                          because she did not want the truth anymore  ; but who am
        May that ever be our guiding star!                              I that I should warn you ? Men of more knowlegde and
                                                            G. L.       ability have warned your Church time and again, but to no
                                                                        avail.
                                                                             In the same Banner, on page 4, the Rev. Vander Ploeg
                          The Centenniql of the                         writes in "Editorials" on "Enthusiastically Reformed," and
                        Christian Reformed Church                       he comments by saying:  .Our Centennial will surely be a
                                                                        farce unless we as individuals and as a denomination are
   Dear Editor :                                                        e n t h u s i a s t i c a l l y   R e f o r m e d .
        In the March 1 Banner Mr. T. Stob, who is a member                   -Now,  then, I can inform you that it surely will be a
   of the Christian Reformed Church (the Second Church of               farce, for your denomination is not Reformed, and so there
   Englewood, Chicago) writes a few lines in connection with            is not any reason to be enthusiastic.
   the Centennial of his Church  ; and he is not so very  enthusi-           Today the Christian Reformed Church believes in the
.  astic about it. He wonders whether instead of rejoicing              free offer of grace  ; in the free will of man  ; that God is
   he should not put up a doleful lamentation, when he con-             gracious to all in the preaching of the Word  ; that God
   siders the  <trend toward which his Church is moving. Says           checks sin  ; and that the ungodly can perform good deeds
   he: For the first time in 100 years many of our churches,            in the sight of God. Now this is not Calvinism but  Armin-
   have' cancelled services which have been prescribed in our           ianism  and  Pelagianism.
   Church Order, referring to the Old Year's services. And,                  Now, Rev. Vander Pioeg, your Church lost its distinct-
   his churches are getting bolder as the years pass by.                iveness and turned apostate, and the "Ecclesia reformata
        The writer laments that his Church compromised on the           est reformanda" cannot be applied to your churches any-
   divorce and remarriage question. It can hardly be refuted            more.
   that never before in the history of our Church have' evidences            It looks out of place that the pictures of Rev. A.  Brum-
   of spiritual decline been so apparent as in recent years, so         melkamp  and Rev. H. De Cock are printed in your "Edi-
   he writes. Satan is freely admitted into our homes, and on           torials," who became professors at  Kampen shortly after
   the Lord's Day we satisfy our desire for entertainment by            the Secession in 1834 from the Established Church in the
   means of television  ; in some meetings Hollywood movies             Netherlands. The meaning is of course that your Church
   are replacing the study of God's Word  ; the line of demar-          is just as pure as the Churches of the Secession were in
   cation between the Christian and the world is fast disap-            lS34.
   pearing. The spirit of jazz is taking hold, and materialism           I  would  have pictured there the heads of Prof.  Berkhof,
   is gaining rapidly, so the writer laments.                           the father of the three fatherless children, and Rev.  Elders-
        However, around this dark picture .he sees a bright             veld, the radio preacher from coast to-coast; and, remember,
   lining.                                                              Rev. Eldersveld, your responsibility is great.'
        The writer is grateful that in his Church there are                  Would to God that even now, while you celebrate the
   leaders who have the conviction to warn and oppose such              Centennial of your Church, you would follow in the foot-
   conditions which made inroads in his Church, and he is               steps of De. Cock and  Brummelkamp, who never preached
   grateful to `his God for the showers of blessings which He           a "Christ pro omnibus," but a Christ for His elect people.
   poured down upon them during the past 100 years.                                                                            S.D.V.


