      VOLUME  xxx111                              MAY  15, 1957  - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                   NUMBER  16

                                                                             And then, what about the fact that Abraham loved this
                                                                         son, this only begotten son ? Does God desire to trample on
                                                                         his loving heart i
I/          M  E.  D-1 T  A,T I 0 N
                          \                                                  These and more  ~questions  must. have presented them-
                                                                         selves to the suffering, bleeding heart of Abraham.
               GOLGOTHA  IN  P.ROSPECT                                       This was indeed a great teyaptation.
              "And it came to pass after these things,  that~ God did       -Temptation  ?
              tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham:' and
              he said, Behold here I am. And he said, Take now               Does not James say later, much later, "Let no  ,one say
              thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou  lovest,  and     when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot
              get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there      be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man."
              for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which
              I will tell thee of." - Gen.  22:1, 2                          The word "tempt" is not used here in its proper and real
                                                                          sense.
      After these things!                                                    To tempt is to appeal to the sin in man with the intention
      No, this designation of time does not refer to Abraham's            and purpose that he may do evil. To tempt is to present that
last vision; but has a far broader application.                          which is against God's will and to put it in its most attractive
      After these things has reference to all what had happened          light with the purpose that the person tempted may fall into
to him beforehand : his struggles and sufferings, his hopes               sin and do that which is against God's will.
and fears, his anxieties and perplexities, his sojourns and                  But when this word "tempt" is used in its unreal sense,
wanderings from  IJr to Haran  to Egypt and to Canaan again,              it has the meaning of &y and prove.
 his longing for a child and the, wonderful receipt of a son in              As such, it means to appeal to,that which is good in man,
 his old age, in short, after all these things, when he finally           namely, his faith, with the purpose that he may stand, and
 had come to the relaxed estate of a happy father to whom                 that his faith may appear the stronger after the trial.
 the promise and partial fulfilment  of that promise had come,
 after these things God came to tempt him.             _                     And in this sense does Jehovah tempt His servant Abra-
                                                                          ham.
      And what a temptation!                                                 As one writer puts it : "Do this pleasant thing ! And da
      Slay thy son for a burnt offering !                                 not be hindered that it is wrong !" That is to tempt unto evil.
      A burnt offering of all things !                                        While in the case of the trial of our faith it is put: "Do
      A burnt offering is atonement for sin.                              this sterrible  thing and do not be hindered by the fact that it
      Everything in this order from on high seems to militate             is painful !" That is to try a person's faith.
 against all he knew of God.                                                                        * *  *  *
      A burnt offering is atonement : but how can his sinful son
 Isaac be an atonement for -Abraham's sins ?           .                      How did God prove Abrahem?                                  _
      How can God order- him to slay a man ? That's murder.                   Well, it concerned all that Abrahoam held dear.
      How can God make His own promise of non effect: was                     Listen `to the word of the Lord in, which the trial came -.
 not Isaac the promised, seed, in whom the whole church                   to him:
 aromld  the great Seed was to be called ?                                    First : Take now thy son !

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

       Second : Thine only son !                                           I see the scene. Abraham with the' knife and the fire in
    Third : Whom thou lovest  !                                        his hands. Isaac ?. His father laid the wood on his shoulders.
       Fourth : Get thee to Moriah ! (That's a 3 day journey !)            Much later we will see the fulfilment : God- will lay on
                                                                       Jesus the wood of the cross when He ascends Moriah's hill.
    Fifth : Offer him there !                                          .4nd  both of  Them  wmt together.  This together-ness is the
       Sixth : For a burnt offering ! (Of all things !)                God-man.
    That is blow upon blow.                                                Well, the altar is built. Isaac does not remonstrate when
       It did not take long to inflict these mortal wounds upon        the cords are bound around about him. He is the wondrous
the soul and heart and very life of the patriarch.                     type of the silent Christ.
    At every word of God the knife sank deeper and deeper                  Abraham stretches forth his hands to the knife. The knife
into his bleeding heart.                                               ascends and is ready to plunge into the heart of Isaac his
                                                                       beloved son.
       Note further how the holy record emphasizes the trial of
Abraham's heart :                                                          But there comes the voice of the angel : Abraham ! Abra-
                                                                       ham !
    a. Abide ye here: I and the lad will go yonder and'wor-
ship and come again unto you.                                              It is enough.
    b. He takes with him Isaac  his son.                                   I think that neither Abraham nor Isaac talked much in
                                                                       their descent of Moriah's mount.
    c.  Lays the wood on  Isaac his  son.                                  They had seen Jehovah in His provision of the lamb, the
       d. Isaac spake unto Abralmm his father.                         ram, caught in the thicket.
    e. Isaac says:  My father!                                             Caught in the thicket! The thicket of the wrath and fury
    f. Abraham answers: Here am I  my son!                         of God Almighty.
    g. My son. : God will provide !                                        They had seen the Christ!
    h. Abraham binds Isaac his son.                                        No, but they worshipped !
       j. Abraham took the knife to slay his  son.                         I think that when Jesus later on would say: Abraham
       Do you not notice how this terrible trial is stressed in the    saw My day and rejoiced, He had in mind this hill of
whole narrative?                                                       Moriah. There Abraham saw more than all the disciples of
                                                                       Jesus before His crucifixion, although He had prophesied
    And what about the prospect of walking and riding with             the whole Divine Drama beforehand.
his son for those terrible .three  days with the knife and the
blood and Isaac's death rattle in Abraham's ears?                          Oh, Abraham is the father of all believers. No one saw
                                                                       more during the Old Testament days of shadows than Abra-
       Abraham's silence speaks volumes, volumes of agony.             ham.
                             *  * * *                                      How strong must his faith have been.
                                                                           God had said to him: look to the heavens, and thyI seed.
       But he did.                                                     will be as numerous as all those stars. And in Isaac shall thy
       He arose early and prepared for the journey.                    seed be called.-
       It is also very clear that he never acquainted Sarah with           But now he is called to sacrifice that son !
this terrible news from heaven. Otherwise Sarah' would                     But he persisted in his blind love and obedience of faith,
certainly have embraced Isaac for the last time, and such un-           He actually would have slain his son. In fact that is exactly
warranted emotionalism would have aroused the curiosity of              stated in Heb. 11 :17-19.  There we read twice that he off&red
Isaac. No, Abraham did not take counsel with flesh and                 z,p his  only begotten  son
blood. Why should he? God spake, and for him that was
final.                                                                     And that Scripture also tells us what was in the heart of
                                                                        Abraham. To till the considerations of his fleshly mind he
       There was just one thing to do, and he did it: to obey           answered : "That God was able to raise him up from the
the heavenly voice !                                       -            dead !"
  Oh, what faith !           .                                             Abraham had just one solitary thought in his heart all
       And they went both of them together: twice you read              those terrible hours from Beer-sheba to Mount Moriah : GOD
that.                                                                   IS ABLE! And: GOD IS FAITHFUL!
       There may be no other witnesses.                                                               * * * *


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R `                                                                                       363

     What we have seen of Abraham, Isaac and Mount Moriah
 is the everlasting Gospel of God.                                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
     It was a burnt offering. And Abraham was not'allowed                  Srmi-ntn~rthly,  except  vvaonth.ly during  J?me, July  md August
 to go through with his contemplated offering. A burnt offer-                Published by the  REFORMED   FREE  PUBLISHING  ASSCCIATION
                                                                           P. 0.  Uox  SSl, Madison Square  St&ion,  Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
 ing is atonement. And a sinful Isaac could not atone. Fur-                                   Editor`-  REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA
 8thernlore,  in a burnt offering the hand was laid on the head            Communication& relative to contents should  ,be addressed to Rev.
-of the sacrificial animal: that is substitution. That is Christ.          J-l.  I-loekscma,  11`39 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
     It was killed, flayed, cut in pieces, drained of its blood.           All matters relative to subscriptions should be .addressed  to Mr.
                                                                           ti. Pipe, l-163 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Michigan.
.That is the horrible death of Christ.                                     Announcemei~ts   al;d Obituaries must be mailed to the above
     It all was burned until nothing remained,  upto God  a                address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
 sweetsmelling Savour. That was Jesus, Eph. 5  :l, 2.                      RICNEWALS:   Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                           ceived, it is assumed that the subscriber wishes tihe subscription
     Every morning and every evening. There is a depth here                to  coJltinue.without  the formality of a renewal order.
in which I can look, but it is dazzling. Christ added an                                         Subscription price: $4.00 per  yeas
 everlasting merit to His suffering.                                       Entcwd  (IS  Secovtd Class matter at Grand Rapids,  Mkhhigm

     And so Isaac and Abraham are types. And they knew
 it. Abrahain intimated such when he said : God will provide
Himself a Lamb for a burnt offering.                                                                      C O N T E N T S
     But here is the greatest of all: Abraham saw Golgotha           .\lI~III.I.A'I.lON  -
                                                                              Golgotha in Prospect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 and the garden of Joseph where Jesus would arise Triumph-                                                                                                                  361
                                                                                    Rev. G. Vos
 ator !
     For the  Bible  says of this event:                             EDITORIALS  -
                                                                              The Free Offer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..I......-364
     "By faith Abraham offered up Isaac, accounting that                      Persecution in Hungary . . . . . . . _ . . , . , . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . .365
 God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from                       As to the Gospel Invitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365
 whence also he received him ,in a jiguye!                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema
     That can mean only one thing.: Abraham saw in Isaac
 when this lad clamhered  down from the altar the resurrected        OLR DOCTRINE -
                                                                              The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .,. . . . . .368
 Lord, but in a figure!                                                             Rev. H. Hoeksema
     Holy jealousy assails us when reviewing the hero of
                   I
faith.                                                               FROM HOLY WRIT-
                                                                              Exposition of I Corinthians 12-14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .373
     But the worship of Abraham and Isaac is shared by our                          Rev. G. Lubbers
 own: May our wondrous Jehovah God be praised unto eter-
nity for the Gift of His dear Son! Amen.                             IN  HIS  FFAR-
                                                            G.V.              Keep It A Thing af Be&y  (3). . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .375
                                                                                    Rev. J. A. Heys

                                                                     CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -
           A  VINDICATIOti  OF GOD'S WAYS                                     The Church and the Sacraments . . . ..*................... 377
   God loveth the righteous, His goodness is sure,                                  Rev. H. Veldman
   He never forsaketh the good and the pure ;                        T IIE VOICE  OF OUR FATHERS -
   Yet once "y faith faltered, I envied the proud,                           Tlhe Exposition of the Canons of Dordreoht.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .379
   In doubt and disquiet my spirit was bowed.                                       Rev. H.  C. Hoeksema
   The wicked are prospered and firm in their strength,              D
   No pangs do they suffer, though death come at length ;                 ECENCY AND  ORDER-
                                                                              Only Ecclesiastical  Mattei-s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
   They are not in trouble as other men are,                                        Rev. G.  V&den  Berg
   The plagues of their  fellotis  they view from afar.
   I went to God's temple ; my doubts were dispelled,                ALL AROUND  Us-
                                                                              Congregational Meetings and Woman Suffrage. . . . . . . . . . . .383
   The end of life's journey I clearly beheld ;                               Getting Past the Preacher.. . . . _. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .383
   I saw in what peril ungodly men stand                                            Rev. M.  Schipper
   With sudden destruction and ruin at hand.
                                               Psalm 73: 1, 2, 6

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

     Ii                                                                  more of this "common grace" than the righteous. Hence
                     E  D- I T 0 R I A  1  S                        jl his trouble and confusion. He was envious at the foolish ; he
                                                                         saw the prosperity of the wicked. There are no bands in
                                                                         their death, their strength is firm. They are not in trouble
                             The Free Offer                              as other men ; they are not plagued as other men. They are
                                                                         filled with `pride and "violence covereth them as a garment."
           According to the authors of "The Free Offer" the fact         They live in abundance and have more than their hearts can
     that God loves all men, even the reprobate, even His ene-           desire. They are wicked  andeorrupt  in heart and mind as
     mies, .is evident from the gifts of so-called "common grace"        well as in their walk. They speak loftily and even set their
     as clearly taught in Matt. 5  :44-48.  According to them, we        mouth against the heavens.
     must love our enemies, even the enemies of God, because                 Thus are the wicked.
     God loves His own enemies, all His enemies, even the                    Thus are the objects of the "common grace" of God, ac-
     reprobate. This is supposed to be revealed in the fact that         cording to the psalmist.
     God causes the sun to shine upon the wicked and the                     On the other hand, the poet and the people of God suffer.
     righteous and rains upon them all alike. How, in the light
&                                                                            They-certainly do not enjoy-the blessings and benefits of
     of this general "common grace" of God, they would explain           "common grace" according to the psalmist.
     the "common curse" of God  as' is revealed in all kinds of              Just hear them complain :
     evils, in sickness and death, -in wars and rumors of war, or,           "Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full
     as is the case in Texas at present, after a prolonged drought,      cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God
     in tornadoes and floods of rain, is a question which it is for      know? and is there knowledge in the most High? Behold,
     them to answer. Does this "common curse" mean that God              these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world ; they in-
     also hates the righteous, and the wicked, the elect and the         crease in riches. Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain,
     reprobate alike? Or must we rather accept the teaching of           and washed my hands in  innocency.  For all the day long
     Scripture that, even as God causes all things to work to-           have I been plagued, and chastened every morning."
     gether for good to them that love Him, to them that are                 Yet this is not the end.
     the called according to His purpose, so He causes all things            The psalmist entered into $the sanctuary of God. He now
     to work together for evil to them that hate Him, whom He            viewed the same situation in the world from God's point of
     has reprobated according to His purpose? Let them answer.           view, in the light of His own revelation. In that light, he
           That the Scriptures must have nothing of the, "common         clearly understood that there is no "common grace."
     grace" of the authors of "The Free Offer" is very evident.              He saw the end of the wicked which is eternal destruc-
           I could simply quote an abundance of passages.                tion. But he also saw that all the way of the wicked, all their
           But rather than simply quote I will explain one or two        prosperity and abundance, is only'a means unto the end. FOI
     of them briefly. I have done this before, but it can do no          he writes :
     harm to do it once again.                                              `Until I went into the sanctuary of God  ; then under-
           The first passage I have .in mind is Ps. 73, which is very    stood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery
     comforting for the people of God in the midst of the world          places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are
     of all ages.                                                        they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are ut-
           The psalmist announces what we may consider the theme         terly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh;
     of the whole psalm in the very  first,verse  : "Truly God is        so, 0 Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their
     good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart."              image."
           The meaning of this verse is, according to the context           Seeing all this, the psalmist now confesses that he was
     ,which  follows, that He is not good to the wicked and re-          very foolish when he was envious at the prosperity of the
     probate, no matter how much they may prosper in the world,          wicked. He was ignorant when he was grieved and pricked
     but only to His own people, to the righteous, no matter how         in his reins because of this so-called common grace.
     much they have to suffer in the present time.                          For now he understands, not only that the prosperity of
           Such is the theme.                                            the wicked must lead them to destruction, but also that his
           And this theme the psalmist further develops in the           own way, and'the way of all the people of God, is simply
     psalm and this, too, not, from a mere doctrinal viewpoint,          a means to lead them and him to everlasting life and glory.
     but from the aspect of his own subjective experience.               God shall lead him with his counsel, and afterward receive
           Bis feet were, for a, time, almost gone, his steps had        him to glory. And the conclusion of the whole matter is ex-
     almost slipped from the path of the righteous. The reason           pressed in the words of VSS.  26-28: "My flesh and my heart
     was that, like the authors of "The Free Offer," he had              faileth : but God is the strength of my heart, and.my portion
     looked at the rain and sunshine, at the "common grace" of           for ever. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish:
     God. Only, according to him, the wicked received much               thou hast destoryed all them that go a whoring from thee.


                                           T H E   STAND.ARD   B E A R E R                                                     365

But `it is good for me. to draw near to God : I have put my            5. That they do this exactly in bringing to them the Word
trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works."           of God that God loves the righteous and hates the wicked,
    Another passage of  .Scripture with similar  contents is        that He loves His enemies only in Christ Jesus, and that,
found in Ps. 92:5-7:                                                therefore, they must come to Him in the way of repentance.
    "0 Lord, how great are thy works ! and thy thoughts                This is. the only love of their enemies the people of God       4
are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not: neither doth a            can show.                                                H.H.
fool understand this.. When the wicked spring as the grass
and all the workers of iniquity  do' flourish  ; it is that they
shall be destroyed for ever.?                                                      Persecution in Hungary
    This expresses the same thought as we explained in con-            The Dutch papers in the Old Country published recently
nection with Ps. 73. The things of this present life are, -by no    a call to prayer which was sent to all the consistories of the
means, proof that God loves the reprobate wicked. The               Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. It is a call to
very contrary is true. They may and do prosper and flourish.        prayer for the people of God in Hungary, particularly those
And only a'foolish and brutish man may imagine that this            of Calvinistic origin, because they appear to suffer rather
prosperity is a proof of the grace and love of God to them.         severe persecution from the Soviet knemy.
But, in the light of revelation the child of God knows better,         Many pastors and other leaders in the churches were
for he understands the deep thoughts of  God. He understands        arrested and were subjected to many hours of questioning.
the purpose of God with all this prosperity. It is that they        They  were so maltreated and heavily  beaten that permanent
may  be led to everlasting destruction.                             injuries were the result. Many homes were searched, and
    Such is the current teaching of Scripture.                      even several of the common members were arrested `and put
    How in the light of Scripture the authors of "The Free          into prison. A reign of terror seems to prevail.
Offer"' can write as they do, is a mystery to me:                       Shall we, in our .private and public prayers, also remem-
    For they write:                                                 ber our  fellowYsaint in Hungary, even though we do not
    "Clearly implied is the thought that God, the Father,,          necessarily specifically mention them  ?
loves his enemies and that it is because he loves his enemies                                                                H.H.
that he makes his sun rise upon them and sends them rain.
This is just saying that the kindness bestowed in sunshine
and rain is the expression of divine love. that back of the                      As to the Gospel Invitation
bestowal there is an attitude on the part of God, called love,
which constrains him to bestow these tokens of his loving-             On this subject writes  .the Rev.  I?. J.  Kuiper  in  The
kindness. This informs us that the gifts bestowed  .by God          Bnnnev   of April 27, 1957.
are not simply gifts which have the effect of good and blessing        He maintains
to those who are the recipients but that they are also  a
manifestation or expression of lovingkindness and goodness             1. That the gospel is not only a command and a warning,
`in the heart or will of God with reference to those who are        but "also a gracious invitation to come to Christ and find
the recipients. The enjoyment on the part of its recipients         rest of soul through faith in His name."
has its ground as well as its source in this lovingkindness of
which the gifts enjoyed are the expression. In other words,            2. He adduces some passages of Scripture that allegedly
these are gifts and are enjoyed because there is in a true and      must prove this contention.
high sense benevolence in the heart of God."                           3. Further, he argues that the gospel as an  .invitation
   This interpretation, that rain and sunshine teaches us that      does not come only to the elect. but also to the non-elect or
God loves ill his enemies; elect and reprobate, is contrary         reprobate who hear it.
to all Scripture.                                                      4. Next,  hk takes the position that  Go! is  de&ozw that
   To me, the Word of God teaches : '                               all who hear the gospel invitation should come to, Christ and
    1. That God loves the rightkous but hates the wicked..          be saved, whether they are elect or reprobate. As far as God
   2. That, indeed, He loves His enemies, but only in Christ        is concerned, none need to be lost. He wants to save all men ;
Jesus.                                                              in fact he longs to save all men, at least, in as far they hear
   3. That in sunshine and rain  Qis people may, indeed,            the gospel invitation. In other words, it is not of God, but
behold a symbol of this love of .God to His enemies who are         it is up to man to accept the invitation. This is supposed to
in Christ.                                                          be Reformed doctrine! To me, this is sheer Arminianism.
   4. That, because of this, the disciples, too, must love, not        5. Also this the Rev.  Kuiper  attempts to prove from
God's enemies, but their own.                                       Scripture. To this we may returri  later.


      3 6 6                                        T H E   STANDARi)   B E A R E R

          6. What we are immediately interested in, however, is          objections against such an explanation, such as : 1. That the
      his quotation from Canons  III,. IV, 8, because he, finally,       internal calling is not only by the preaching of the gospel,
      refers to us and maintains that we cannot subscribe to this        but also by the Spirit. 2. The term "unfeignedly" has no
      article of the Canons. Writes he: "This article  is  the rock      meaning if the calling is conceived as being internal. 3. The
      on which the denial of a sincere invitation of the gospel          article speaks of what God truly declares in His Word. 4.
      to  ali who hear is shattered. Honesty should compel all           Article 9 of the same chapter of the Canons speaks un-
      those who deny that there, is such an invitation to say that       doubtedly of the external calling and this article is most
      this is one article with which they do not agree."                 closely connected with Article 8. Hence, my conclusion  is
          This is rather strong. Kuiper virtually accuses us of dis-     that this article refers, not to the internal, but to external
      honesty. This we cannot let go unchallenged.                       calling by the preaching of the gospel.
                                                                            The word "unfeignedly" (I am still referring to my
          Let us, then, first of all quote the article:                  notes) signifies that God means exactly what He says in the
          "As many as are called by the gospel, are unfeignedly          gospel; He certainly does not lie. He never puts to shame.
      (seriously, Latin : serio, H.H.) called. For God hath most         He is always serious and fulfills all the promises of the
      earnestly and truly declared in His Word what would be             gospel. Does He say, in this calling of the gospel -fhat He i,
      acceptable to him: namely, that the called should come unto        desirous and longs that everybody accepts the gospel in-
      Him. (The text in our, old psalters is corrupt. It reads:          vitation ? By no means. But He, in the calling of the gospel,
      "that all who are called should comply with the invitation."       certainly declares that He wants the sinner to repent and, in
      Too bad, for Kuiper that this is not the text !) He, moreover,     the way of repentance, come unto Him. That is the con-
      seriously promises eternal life, and rest, to as many as shall     tents of this external calling of `the gospel. It, therefore,. does
      come to him, and believe on him."                                  not mean that God simply "invites" every one that hears the
         Kuiper would render this article, according to his own          gospel without distinction, but that He calls every sinner to
      interpretation, as follows :                                       forsake his wicked way and, in the way of sincere repentance
                                                                         to come unto Him. Hence, the way of repentance is the
          "As many as are invited by the preaching of the gospel,        only way to come to God. And this God "unfeignedly" de-
      are unfeignedly invited by God. For God hath most earnestly        clares in the gospel or in the calling of the gospel.
     and truly declared in His Word, that He is desirous, yea,
      longs and yearns that every one that hears the gospel invita-         Hence, also the promise of the gospel is "unfeigned" and
      tion should comply with it and accept it. Moreover, He             "serious." What is that promise ? Is it that God will give
      seriously promises to all who accept the invitation, and thus      eternal life and rest to all without distinction or to all that
.     come to him and believe, rest and eternal life."                   accept a certain general invitation? By no means. Accord-
                                                                         ing to the article of the Canons, He promises these blessings
         This is a very serious corruption of Canons III, IV,  S.        only to those that come unto Him in the way of sincere
      No Arminian would object to it. Even ~for that very reason,        repentance, and believe on Him. But who are they ? Ac-
      it cannot be the meaning of this article of the Canons, for        cording to all the rest of the Canons, they are those who.
      they are composed to combat the Arminian and Pelagian              by the power of His grace, believe on Him.- No one else
      errors. But the teaching of Kuiper in this entire article in       can or will ever believe on Him. Briefly, therefore, they are
      The Ba.nnev is, not Reformed but downright Arminian.               the elect.
         Repeatedly I instructed my catechism classes in the whole          This is the interpretation that is in harmony with all the
      of the Canons. The same I did in our theological school.           rest of the Canons.
      I omitted no article at all. Also III, IV, 8 was explained. I
      still have my notes from which I dictated. I may, therefore,          I challenge Kuiper to deny this.
      refer to them. Canons III, IV, 8 I explained as follows:              I challenge him to show: 1. That the Confessions in
                                                                         general and the Canons ever speak of the "invitation" in-
         First of all, in those notes, I ask the question, whether       stead of the calling of the gospel. 2. That the Confessions
      this article of the Canons speaks of the external or of the        or, particularly, the Canons ever speak of a possibility of com-
      internal calling.                                                  ing to God except in the way of repentance. 3. That the
          This question Kuiper does not and cannot even ask for          Confessions and, particularly, the Canons ever teach that
      he makes of the calling an invitation, and it is nonsense to       repentance is possible except by the grace of God. 4. That
      speak of an external and internal invitation.                      the promise mentioned in Canons III, IV,  8 is general and
         But I answer that question by stating that, although article    means all that hear the gospel.
      8 might be explained as referring to the internal calling,         . This he can never do.
      so that we might read: "As many as are internally called by        His interpretation of this part of the Canons is  thor-
      the gospel are unfeignedly called," yet there are several          oughly Arminian !


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 367

    He likes "contradiction" or "apparent contradictions."             lasting life. This promise, together with the command to
He, evidently, finds such an "apparent contradiction" be-              repent and believe, ought to be declared and published to all
tween article'8 of Canons III, IV and the rest of the Canons           nations, and to all persons promiscuously and without distinc-
that maintain the truths of predestination. And, according to          tion, to whom God out of his good pleasure sends the gospel."
him, the Canons are not afraid of -such "apparent contradic-           II, 5. This, therefore, is the external calling. It is not an
tions." Writes he :                                                    invitation, but the preaching of the promise together with the
                                                                       command to repent and believe.
    "There is not a single creed which presents the doctrine
of divine predestination as uncompromisingly as the Canons                 "For this was the sovereign counsel and most gracious
of Dort. Yet when the authors come to this article, they do            will and purpose of God the Father, that the quickening and
not, for the sake of maintaining the doctrine of predestina-           saving efficacy of the most precious death of his Son should
tion, sacrifice the plain teaching of Scripture that the invita-       extend to all the elect, for bestowing upon them alone the
tion of the gospel comes to all who hear the good tidings.             gift of justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly to
Neither do they try to solve the apparent contradiction, or            salvation." etc. II, 8.
even mention it. Instead of agreeing with those who dare                   "As many as are called by the gospel (This is. the same
say that God would be a hypocrite to offer salvation to those          external calling mentioned in II, 5, which must be accom-
-whom He excluded from it by His decree of reprobation,                panied with the command to repent and believe, H.H.) are
they say the very opposite; namely, that `as many as are               unfeignedly (seriously, H.H.) called. For God hath most
called by the gospel are zmfeigncdly called, . . . ; that is witiz-    earnestly and truly declared in His Wordi what will be ac-
out  hypocrisy, pretense, or false show."                              ceptable to him; namely, that the called should come unto
    But to me there is no contradiction or apparent contra-            him (in the way of repentance and faith, see II, 5, H.H.), He?
diction between this aritcle and the rest of the Canons.               moreover, seriously promises eternal life and rest, to as
                                                                       many as shall come to Him, (in the way of repentance and
    It is possible that one invents a contradiction by using           faith, see II, 5, H.H.) and believe on him." III, IV, 8.
the term "invitation" as Kuiper does, instead  of,"calling." But
this term is neither Confessional nor Scriptural. The Bible                "But that others who are called by the gospel, obey the
always speaks of "Calling" and so do the Confessions. But              call, and are converted, is not to be ascribed to the proper
if we employ this term, there certainly is no contradiction or         exercise of free will, whereby one distinguishes himself above
even apparent contradiction between Canons III, IV, 8 and              others, equally furnished with grace sufficient for faith and
the rest of the Canons.                                                conversion, as the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains; but
                                                                       must be wholly ascribed to God, who as he has chosen his
    Just let us test the truth of this statement by reading this       own from eternity in Christ, so he confers upon them faith
particular article in connection with the rest.                        and repentance, rescues them from the power of darkness
    "Elecion  is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby,             and translates them into the kingdom of his dear Son." etc.
from the foundation, of the world, he hath out of mere grace,          III, IV, 10.
according to, the sovereign good pleasure of his own will,                 I challenge Kuiper `to detect any contradiction in all this.
chosen, from the whole human race, which had fallen through
their own fault, from their primitive state of rectitude, into             He invents contradictions, first, by quoting article 8 of
sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to redemp-            Canons II, IV out of its context; secondly, tiy introducing
tion in Christ, whom he from eternity appointed Mediator               the term "invitation" instead of "calling."
and Head of the elect, and the foundation of Salvation.                    Thus he corrupts the Canons, deceives his reading public
    "This elect number, though by nature neither better nor            the majority of whom, I am confident, never study the
more deserving than others, but with them involved in the              Canons, and teaches the proud heresy of Pelagius.
common misery, God hath decreed to give to Christ, to be                                                                         H.H.
saved by him and effectually to call (note that this calling is
distinct from that in III, IV, 8, H.H.) and draw them to
his communion by his ,Word  and Spirit" etc. I, 7.                                                NOTICE!
    "What peculiarly tends to illustrate and recommend to us
the eternal and unmerited grace of election, is the express                The Editorial Staff of the Standard Bea*yev  will meet, the
testimony of sacred Scripture, that not all, but some only are         Lord willing, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the home of
elected, while others are passed by in the eternal decree,             Rev. H.  Hoeksema, on Thursday evening, June 6, 1957.
etc. I, 15.                                                            The members of the staff will please view this announcement
    "Moreover, the promise of the gospel is, that whosoever            as an official notice.
believeth in Christ crucified, shall not perish but have ever-                                          Rev. H. Veldman, Secretary

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

                                                                        shall study in the chapters that follow the gradual displace-
              OuR.DOCTRINE                                           /I ment of the sinful order by the perfect one, pictured to us
                                                                        in the  sevens seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven vials,
                                                                        that represent the general outline of the second part of, the
               THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                   book. Even as we have already maintained in connection
                                                                        with the discussion of the seven churches, so also in relation
                             CHAPTER  XI                                to the second part of the Book of Revelation we. must re-
         `x.V~X~~~o~   OF THE THRONE OF  GOD.                           member that what is pictured in this part is both contempor-
                             Revelation 4                               aneous and consecutive. History repeats itself. And in that
                                                                        ever-repeating history you will see the recurrence of the
        On the one hand, therefore, we shall find in the battle that    scenes pictured on this screen, only remembering this, that
 is pictured before us in the Book of Revelation the force of           they develop and repeat themselves with ever increasing force
 the devil, Satan, the Antichrist, the beast and the false              and vehemence, till finally Christ shall come to establish His
 prophet, Babylon, and Gog and Magog. On the other hand,                own kingdom forever and in perfect righteousness.
 we shall find the Almighty God revealed in Jesus Christ our                There is a- parallel noticeable between the first part of the
 Lord, the Lamb, the holy angels, the church, and the new               book, which we already discussed, and  <this second part. You
Y creation, with all its powers battling for victory, even though       will remember that in the first part, before the letters to the
on the part of Christ the victory is not only sure but is also          seven churches were written, we found the vision of the
 already won. Hence, the ultimate result will be that the force         Christ, the Head and the very life of the church. Thus it is
 of the kingdom of Satan is hopelessly and definitely defeated          also here, in  thq second part. Before the Lord shows John
 forever, while the glorious kingdom  .of our God has the               the actual battle between the two opposing kingdoms in his-
 eternal victory.                                                       tory,. He reveals to him in chapters 4 and 5 the eternal and
     One thing we must be warned against, as we follow the              inconquerable power that surely shall have the victory. In
 discussion of this most intricate, but at the same time most           these two chapters He gives us the picture of the battling
 beautiful part of the Word of God. And that is that we have            force of the kingdom of God from its ideal point of view.
 in the Book of Revelation, no more than in any prophecy                In these two chapters, therefore, there occurs as yet nothing
 of Scripture, not a mere'history  written beforehand. If such          that relates to the battle as such. But they give us a picture
 were the character of *the book we are studying, the matter            of the eternal power and control of the world's history as it
 would be quite simple indeed. In that case you would simply            will display itself in the new dispensation. We shall find
 be able to turn page after page, just as you peruse the pages          that it gives us a picture of the new order of the kingdom as
 of history, in order then to find scene after scene of the             it must surely battle on to victory throughout this dispensa-
 world's history depicted in this book,. and that also, just `in        tion, even unto the end. In chapter 4 we have the vision
 the order in which they will take `place. In that case you             of the throne of God, an `ideal representation of the new
 would, of course, also be able to identify the fulfillment of          order that is to come at the parousia, in the day of the Lord,
 every portion in actual history, and point out very definitely         the realization of which is the efficient cause of all that is
 how far we have already advanced on the road that leads to             revealed in *the rest of the book.
 the end of time and to the victory of the kingdom of God.                 "After this," so John tells us, "I looked, and behold, a
 Even though many interpreters of the  Bpok of Revelation               door was opened in heaven : and the first voice which I heard
 entertain this notion, and still persist that only in this way         was as it were of a trumpet talking with me  ; which said,
 can we properly understand the book, this conception is                Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be
 nevertheless very false. We must rather present the whole              hereafter." There is no reason to believe, as some have it:
 book to your attention as a picture of all that must still come        `ihat there was a long interval between the time that the
 to pass thrown on the screen of symbolism. No attempt is               first vision was finished and the time that the second vision
 made at all at following the historical order of things. At            began. However, John was conscious of a change, as is
 no time does the book present the chronological order. The             evident from the entire description, and especially from the
 element of time is wanting. John merely perceives different            words `of verse 2, "And immediately I was in the spirit . . ."
 scenes, and he relates those, scenes as they are held before           We remember that he told us with respect to the first vision
 his vision. No attempt is made' in the book to point out               that he was in the spirit on the Lord's day. It seems that
 historical causes and effects, so essential in the record of any       after that first vision was finished he returned to the natural
 history worthy, of the name. John merely presents to us the            state. And now, at the call of the same voice he had heard
 scenes that are presented to his vision and that picture the           before, the voice as of a trumpet, he  ,again is translated in
 future, as they are all connected with their main cause, the           the spirit, so that he can behold the things which natural eye
 Almighty God and His eternal decree as revealed in Jesus               cannot perceive. Although, therefore, we must not suppose
 Christ our Lord. This, therefore, you must remember as we              that there was a long interval of time between the first and


                                           THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   369

the second visions, there is nevertheless a decided transition      in heaven. He merely informs us that he himself was trans-
from the first vision to the second, - a transition of whicll       lated, and that too, only in the spirit. But above all, if that
John is very definitely conscious. The difference between the       .were  the case, if the church from this time forth would have
first and the second vision is characterized especially by the      no  part in all the tribulations the world must suffer, what
change of scene. The first vision was on earth, and-for that        would be the use and the purpose of the rest of this book,
reason had a very definite historical background,  which made which is plainly written for the comfort of the church in the
it rather easy for John and also for us to understand and           midst of the tribulation of this present time ? Hence, .we will
comprehend its meaning. John was acquainted with the                have nothing of this interpretation, but maintain that all is
seven churches. And those seven churches, as we know, were          recorded in the rest of the book concerns the whole church
a picture of the whole church as it exists throughout the           in the world, and is written for the joy and comfort and
ages, as it also exists today. But in the; second vision John       hope of the church of Christ in this present time. And when
is called to heaven. Heaven is opened to his spiritual eye,         the text says that these things must come to pass hereafter,
and a voice calls to him, "Come up hither." Of course, we           it does not mean after the church has finished her course, but
do not understand  <this to have been a literal and bodily          simply after the present time, from John's point of view.
translation; but it was a translation only in the spirit. It was    John was to record the things that are and the things that
a being called to heaven in the vision, and it was for that         will be in the future, according to 1  :19. The things that
same reason also the obedience to the call that was visionary,      are he has recorded with a view to the seven churches of
or, if you please, in the spirit. The door, the voice that          Asia. In the rest of the book he is to receive the revelation
called him up hither, and the obedience to that call, all were      of ,the things that must come to pass in the future, and then
visionary. Nevertheless,  &e must remember that what we             again, not merely things that happen only toward the end of
are'to see and to study in the future is more idealistic and        time, but in the entire future, in this entire new dispensa-
more symbolic than that which we have studied in the past.          tion, from the time that John receives his vision even unto
   The things revealed in this second part are things which         the end. But again we must remember that these things shall
must come to pass hereafter. This must,  you understand, is         come to pass in this dispensation with increasing force as
a divine must. It implies the necessity of God's counsel.           the day of the Lord draws nigh.
God has decreed the entire course of history, and because              Having  thus  introduced the vision and prepared our
of that decree things must necessarily come to pass, and that       minds and hearts to receive it, John informs us about the
also, exactly as decreed, and not otherwise. It is because of       things which he saw in heaven. The first object that draws
this fact of the decree of God that the Almighty only pos-          his attention is a throne. It is indeed the central figure in
sesses the power to reveal what must come to pass in the            Ithe whole vision, the chief element of it. It, above all, draws
future. Nothing that is revealed in this book can fail to come      his attention. All the rest is grouped around that throne.
to pass, because behind it all stands the unchangeable counsel      A throne, as we have had occasion to remark before, is the
of the Almighty, that has determined the end from the be-           symbol of royal sovereignty and majesty, and therefore, of
ginning. And when these things are further described as             course, at the same time, of the supreme power of judgment.
things that' must come to pass hereafter, and therefore, in         Here, of course, as we learn from the rest of the vision, ir
the future, we must in no wise understand this to mean              stands for the highest sovereignty of heaven and earth. For
after the church has finished its history. Thus, indeed, some       He that sits on the throne is none other than the Triune God.
would have it. They present the course, of events and the           It is true that John simply speaks of one sitting on that
outline of the Book of Revelation as follows. First there is' throne,  ,He does not attempt to describe Him. And this is
the history of the church in the world, as pictured in the          perfectly appropriate: no one has ever seen God, and John
first three chapters of this book. Then follows the rapture         could not definitely describe His form. He merely states
of the church, the being caught up of the church in heaven.         the general impression he received of His holiness and right-
This is supposed to be ,described  in chapters 4 and  5. After      eousness and glory and majesty in general, when he tells  us :
this, according to these interpreters, follows the period of the    "He was to look upon like a jasper and a sardius."  A sardius
great tribulation for the world, when all the woes and afflic-      is a stone of bright red color, and therefore is representative
tions that are predicted in the main body of this book shall        here of the fire of God's holiness and wrath. Exactly what
be realized. But the church shall have no part in this great        was the appearance of the jasper which John here mentions
tribulation. For from the time that is pictured in chapters         cannot be ascertained. But in connection with elements of
4 and 5 the church is no more in the world, but in heaven.          other visions of God, in Ezekiel and Daniel, we may
Thus these interpreters picture the order of this second part       probably think of a bright, crystal-white stone, something
of the Book of Revelation. Evidently, however, this is a            like the diamond, thus indicating the righteousness  ancl
mistaken notion. The church is spoken of several times,             purity of God, as well as His glory and victory. These
also in the remaining portion of the Book of Revelation. And        stones, shining together and their glittering view interming-
besides, John never  *tells  us  that the church is caught up       ling, present a beautiful picture of the righteousness and

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

 holiness of God in themselves, as  welI, as in their action        forever. This, therefore, is the place of the seven Spirits in
 against a sinful world, shining forth in their majesty and         this beautiful vision which is symbolic of the new order that
 sovereignty, and therefore also in His holy wrath.                 is to come.
     But there are still more elements to be considered. Round          There is still more. Before the throne John beholds as
 about the throne John saw a rainbow, like an emerald to            it were a sea of glass like unto crystal. Some have made of
 look upon. We are all acquainted with the rainbow. It calls        this sea of glass the realization of the brazen sea in the
 to our mind every time, it stretches forth its beauty. in the      temple, connected with the altar of burnt offering in the
 heavens the gracious covenant God made with Noah, promis-          court. Others are of the opinion that this sea of glass re-
 ing him that the world should no more be destroyed as in the       presents the sea of nations, because in the Book of Revelation
 flood. In general, therefore, the rainbow is a symbol of God's     the term sea always refers to the nations of the world. How-
 grace with a view to all His works. And if we read, as we          ever, neither of these explanations can satisfy us. For the
 do in ,this section, that this' rainbow round about the throne     brazen sea there is in this scene no place, no' more than for
 of God was like an emerald to look upon, we find in it             the altar of burnt offering. For it `is plainly the picture of the
 especially the symbol of hope. The emerald is green. It            ideal new order, as it will ultimately have the victory. And
 is the symbol of nature budding forth and renewing itself          although it be true that the term sea in the !Book  of Revela-
 in the time of spring, the symbol also of the new creation,        tion generally symbolizes the nations, it must be remembered
 and therefore the symbol of hope with respect to the coming        that for such nations there is no room here. Nor is the picture
 of the day of the Lord. Together, therefore, the vision of         of the crystal sea very appropriate to indicate the sea of the
 the throne, with God to look upon as a jasper and sardius          rebellious nations. And secondly, John does not say that he
 and with the rainbow round about the throne, represents            saw a sea, but as it were a sea, something like it. We there-
 God in His righteousness, holiness, purity, grace, and             fore rather fasten our attention on the glass and crystal, and
 majesty, and at the sanie time in His wrath against sin and        explain that this sea is a symbol of the splendor, as well as
 Satan, and as promising the coming of the new and sinless          of the transparency, of the entire new creation. In the. sea
 order in the new heavens and the new earth. It is a throne         of glass and crystal before the throne the new creation in all
 of righteousness and grace, holiness and purity, wrath against     its glory and beauty must have been reflected. So in the new
 the world and hope for the people of God. Still more. Out          creation all things shall reflect the glory and beauty, the
 of the throne proceed lightnings and thunderings and voices.       holiness and righteousness and grace of Him that sits on the
 Voices here does not stand for anything definite, as if the        throne. In that creation there shall be no more darkness.
 voice of God or the voice of any creature `were meant, but         There nothing shall hinder the beauty of God to shine forth
 simply indicates the impression John received over and above       gloriously. And there all things shall reflect His glory,
 that of the lightnings and the thunders. They'were accom-          where we shall know even as we are known.
 panied, no doubt, by the roaring noise of the stormy sea,             John in his vision, however, beholds still more. Round
 which John calls the voices. They are as the voices of many        about the throne of God he beholds twenty-four different
 waters. What is more important is that in this description         thrones. On those twenty-four different thrones he perceives
 we find once more a symbol of the majesty of God, both in          twenty-four elders. It is not difficult to understand the
 itself and in its terrible activity against the sinful world as    symbolism of this all, and to be convinced as to the identity
 the Judge of all. When we read of these lightnings and             of these twenty-four elders. Literally, the term eZ&-s  refers
 thunders, we naturally think of Mt. Horeb,?  where God ap-         to older men, and therefore to the heads of tribes and families.
 peared in His majesty as the  King of Israel and  its Law-         Here, in the words of our text, it is to be understood in that
 giver. We may also think of the many psalms that describe          sense. It does not mean elders as officebearers of the
 the Lord in His majesty and His coming for judgment in             church, or elders in any official meaning of the word, but it
 lightnings and thunder. .But there is still more. Before the       simply refers to older people, first of all,  - heads of the
 throne are seven lamps burning, which are the seven Spirits        tribes, heads of families, heads of. a certain people. And as
 of God. These seven Spirits, as we have already explained          far as the number twenty-four is concerned, immediately  yort
 in connection with 1 :4, are indeed. the Holy Spirit, but then     observe that it is twice twelve, and that as such the number
as the Spirit of Christ as He dwells in the church of God for-      will have to be explained. Twelve tribes there were of the
 ever. The Triune God sits on the throne  ; the Father, the         people of. Israel. And in the church of the new dispensation
 Son, and the Holy Ghost in their essential divinity are en-        there were also twelve apostles. There can be no shadow of
throned as the Lord God Almighty, thrice holy. But; here,           doubt that these tweny-four elders here  .must be taken as
 before the `throne stands the Spirit of Christ. It is the Holy     representatives of the church and of the people of God of all
 Spirit as He dwells in Christ as the Head of His church,           ages, both of the old and of the new dispensation, of Jew
and therefore, the Spirit that also dwells in the church. It        and Gentile. How, in the face of this symbolism, people can
 is also the-Spirit of God, in Christ through Whom the king- possibly maintain that there was no church in the old dis-
dam of God will be perfected, and in its perfection exist           pensation, how, in the light of this symbol, people can POS-


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               371
___-
sibly maintain that Jew and Gentile shall not be one in the         and an eagle. And therefore, the two visions are strikingly
kingdom of heaven that is to come, we confess is a mystery          similar. It will not do to interpret the one without the
to us. Evidently these twenty-four elders represent the entire      other. What is the purpose' of. the vision in Ezekiel?  It
church of ,the old and of the new dispensation, the church as       forms the basis of the entire prophecy. Ezekiel was com-
she was redeemed and  wasbed  in the blood of the Lamb              missioned especially to prophesy the destruction of the old
throughout the ages of history. For notice that these twenty-       temple and the rebuilding of the new, that is, of the ideal
four elders sit on thrones surrounding the great throne in          temple of God. Or, if you please,. he was to predict the dis-
,the midst of them. This' symbolism, which means that also          placement of the old temple that was made with hands by
they possess royal glory and dominion, at the same time             the new temple .that would consist of the new creation, of the
makes it very plain that their royal dominion, the royal            new heavens and the new earth. Just as John must prophesy
dominion of the church, is dependent upon the throne which          the displacement of the sinful order by that of the perfect
they surround. Moreover, wreaths or crowns of victory, they         order of the new creation, so also Ezekiel. And even as John,
wear. For the church is, of course, pictured here from its          so also Ezekiel at the outset receives a vision of the perfect
ideal point of view, not as the church in tribulation but as.       order that is to replace the old and where God shall dwell
it exists in the decree of God, looked at from the point of         among His people in all the new creation. And therefore,
view of eternal glory in heaven, and therefore as. having al-       in Ezekiel, as well as in John, you mayt, call the beings, the
ready overcome. And garments of white these elders wear,            four living creatures, cherubim. But in both these visions
for they-are washed in the blood of the Lamb, Whoi is still         the cherubim are, made to represent the fulness of the life
to appear on the scene. Round about the throne, therefore,          of creation as it will shine forth in the new heavens and the
the church, washed in the blood of Christ, having overcome          new earth. If we bear this in mind, we shall be able also
in the battle of faith, and being set in royal dominion and         to explain their appearance. In the first place, we must con-
glory in dependence on God Almighty, appears here in the            sider their number. John saw four of these creatures. Four
vision which John beholds.                                          is the number that is symbolic of creation in all its fulness.
   More difficult it may seem to explain the appearance of          Think of the four winds of heaven, and the four corners of
the four living creatures. John informs us that he "saw             the earth. In their number they therefore represent the entire
in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four        creation. Then we can also explain their appearance. These
living creatures full of eyes before and behind. And the            four creatures present the appearance of a lion, of an ox,
first creature  `was like a lion, and the second creature like      of a man, and of an eagle. They are therefore four royal
a calf, and the third creature had the .face of a man, and the      representatives of the animate powers of creation. What the
fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living        lion is among the beasts of the field, the ox is among the
creatures, having each one of them six wings, are full of           cattle, man among the intelligent creatures, and the eagle
eyes round about and within." Innumerable explanations              among the birds. They represent, therefore, the powers of
have been given of these four living creatures. We shall not        creation in their physical strength, in their keen intelligence
consider them all here. Only two of them deserve our con-           and intuition! in their freedom of movement and development
sideration. In the first place, there is the interpretation         with majestic flight. In a word, once more, they represent
which explains these four creatures to be mere cherubs,             creation in all <the fulness of its power and talents, as once
heavenly beings, angels, therefore, of `a specific class. And       it shall. develop to the glory of Him that sits on the throne.
in the second place, there is also the interpretation that          Then we can also understand the symbolism of the eyes and '
refers these four creatures to all living creation and its          of the six wings. As to the latter, the wing is the symbol of
powers. It appears to us that we must rather combine these          free flight and movement, as well as of ascent and develop-
two as they are in the vision, and say that they are cherubim,      ment. Six is the number of creation as it originally received      ,
which, however, in the vision are made to represent the             its power from God. The six wings of every creature in-
entire fulness of creation in- all its various powers from an       dicate its power of development to its full extent, unhindered
ideal point of view. When the kingdom of Chirst shall once          and unhampered. In the new world all creation shall mount
be completed, the sigh and groan of the brute creation which        up with its six wings, and reach the fulness of its develop-
is mentioned in the 8th chapter of the Epistle to the Remans        ment to the glory of God. And as to the former, namely.,
shall also cease, and all creation, with all its powers and with    that these creatures were full of eyes, we must not refer
all its forces, shall be delivered actually from the bondage of     this `symbol to their ability of looking and moving in every       I
corruption, and share in the glorious liberty of the children       direction, but much rather as revealing plainly their inmost
of God. And this ideal creation, with all its fulness of life,      nature and being. All creation is to reveal itself plainly and
with all its powers and gifts, `these four cherubim represent       openly  to God's glory, and the nature of creation shall no
in the vision. Clear this is especially, if we compare this         more be under the veil of sin. That this. is the meaning
vision with that in Ezekiel 1. The prophet there also has a         of the symbol is plain to us from the following chapter,
vision of four cherubim with faces of a lion, a calf, a man,        where we read of the Lamb that has, the seven eyes, which


372        "                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B,EAIIER

are the seven Spirits. In the eye the creature reveals his              Here we have what we consider the song of. the new
spirit,  his nature, and therefore, his name, above all other       creation, anticipated in the vision, and that too, in the most
features. In the seven eyes the seven Spirits that dwell in         beautiful symbolism.. Remember, as we have emphasized
the Lamb shine forth. In the eyes of these creatures their          repeatedly, the purpose of all things is the glory of God. For
real nature, their spirit of life, under the influence of the       that glory  all. the world exists.  All the world, and all the
Spirit of all creation is revealed. Once more, therefore: in        fulness of the world, and all the powers of the world, and all
these four creatures, cherubic though they be, we see a re-         the beauty of the world, -it all exists to reflect the glory
presentation of all the fulness of power and glory of the new       and the majesty of Him that sitteth upon the throne. In
world, as it shall be completed when the kingdom of God shall       brute creation as well as in man God is to be glor;ified.  But
have come in all its perfection.                                    there is a difference. Brute creation glorifies God uncon-
    Thus the symbolism is complete. In this vision of the           sciously. It is as such a reflection of the majesty and power
fourth chapter of the Book of Revelation we have an ideal           and glory of God. But man stands in the midst of this silently
picture of the kingdom that is to  disblace  in  hisiory the        adoring creati&,  and consciously takes note of God's glory.
kingdom of Satan and sin, and that is to have the complete          He knows that they and he were created for the purpose of
victory in the erid.  We may even say that in this vision we        being a name unto the Most High God. And therefore, he
have a picture of the battling force that will come up against      understands creation round  ab6ut  him.  .He sees how  ,the
Satan and his host. In that kingdom God and His throne of           creatures glorify God. And standing in the midst of this
righteousness and holiness and majesty and grace shall be           glorifying creation. and beholding the beauty of the Lord
the central figure. For He  sha!l be all and in all. In that        his God in them all, he falls down in adoration, and exclaims,
kingdom the church shall  -be enthroned forever,  deliverecl        "0 my Lord and my God  !" So is the original intent and
from all the power of sin and darkness, washed in the blood         purpose of the existence of all things. And what now do
of the Lamb, and crowned with wreaths of victory. For               you see in the vision ? The same thing. The creatures give
the elders are clothed in white  raiment,  and have golden          glory and honor ani thanks to God in the highest, to Him
wreaths upon their heads. In that kingdom all creation shall        that sitteth on the throne and liveth forever and ever. That
be delivered, and shall be allowed to exist and to develop          is, all creation here gives praise to God. The fulness of crea-
in unhampered flight of development, and to reveal itself in        tion ascribes glory to Him. It all sings of the holiness of
all the fulness of its life to the gldry of Him that sits on the    the Most High: "Holy,, holy, holy," thrice repeated to ex-
throne. In that new creation all things shall reflect the           press the divine fulness of the holiness of God, of the Triune.
glory of the Most High God through Jesus Christ our Lord            But in this connection  wk must remember that also the power
and in the seven Spirits that are before His throne. All shall      of sin and the whole sinful order still exists. And that pbwer
be glory and life and bliss. And all shall reflect the holiness     of sin and Satan must be opposed and overcome before the
and righteousness and glory of  ,Him that sitteth upon the          kingdom of God and of Christ can be perfectly realized. In
throne forevermore. That kingdom exists ideally in God's            the vision the creatures and the elders sing of this power. All
decree. That kingdom must go through a process of battle            creation shall presently show forth the power of God. But
before it can reach its historical realization. But that king-      again, we hear also a battle cry in this song of the creatures
dom shall surely come. For God Almighty is on our side,             and,of the elders. The Lord God is almighty, and therefore,
and the Lamb is our King. For that kingdom of light and             His is the victory over all sin and over all the power of dark-
glory and bliss we long, we hope, we fight. For that kingdom        ness. They sing of His eternity. For He is the One Who
we. gladly sacrifice all, and glorify the Lord our God,  also       was, and  is; and is to come. And also  iri this we hear the
in the present dispensation of spiritual realization.               battle cry, announcing a sure victory. For it tells us that God
  That this explanation of the.vision  is no mere philosophy,       is eternal, that therefore His kingdom ruleth forever and
or human fancy, but the actual interpretation of the text in        ever, while the powers of darkness shall surely suffer defeat.
Revelation 4 is for us at least corroborated in what the text       And as all ,creation  thus sings of God? glory, the redeemed
tells us of the activity of the creatures and of the elders. We     shall look and listen, and see the beauty of their God, and
read: "And they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy,         worship and adore. For the elders fall down at the voice of
holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.         the creatures. And acknowledging that their royal power
And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks              and glory is but a reflection of the sovereignty of Him that
to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,        sitteth upon the throne, they cast their diadems before Him,
The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat            descend from their thrones, fall in the dust, worship, and
on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever,       say: "To Thee, 0 Lord our God, belongeth the honour and
and cast their crowns before `the throne, saying, Thou art          the glory and the power`: for thou hast made all these things .
worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory and honour and power : for         because and on account of Thine own will." They shall thus
thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are         glorify their God in all His works, and God shall be all in all.
and were created."                                                                                                            H:H.


                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  373

     I/                                                                        in the words "Thou shalt love the Lord, `thy God with all
                FR-OM  HOLY  WRIT                                         II thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and thy
                                                                               neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all
                                                                               the law and the prophets." Here the term "phileoo" would
                 Exposition of I Corinthians 12-14                             n o t   f i t .
                                                                                   It is interesting to notice what we read in John 21 :15-17,
                                      VI.                                      where we read the following questions put to Peter by Jesus,
                                                                               and Peter's reply to Jesus each time. We quote and trans-
                                                                               late, as follows: "So when they had broken their fast, Jesus
                           (I Corinthians 13 :l-3 j                            saith to Simon Peter, Simon, Son of Joanes: lovest (agapas)
                                                                               thou me more than these ? He saith unto him : Yea, Lord ;
                                                                               thou knowest that I like (philoo)  thee . . . . He saith to him
.          To properly understand this 13th Chapter of I Corin-                tlie second time, Simon son of Joanes,  loveit  (agapas)  than
     thians, it must be constantly kept in mind; that Paul is here             me ? He saith  unto him, Yea, Lord  ; thou knowest that I
     speaking of love  as.it manifests itself in the church, the body          like  (philoo)  thee . . . . He saith unto him the third time,
     of Christ. In no sense of the word is Paul speaking here of               Simon son of Joanes  likest  (phileis me) thou me  ? And he
     "!ove" in *the sense of humanistic "milk of human kindness !"             saith to him: Lord, thou knowest all things,  thozt pwcekest
     He is speaking of the love of God in Christ Jesus in the                  that I  Like  (philoo) thee."
     church.                                                                       From the foregoing, it seems to us, is clearly demonstrated
           Nor is Paul speaking simply in the abstract about love.             the distinction' between love as ethical perfection (agapee)
     On the contrary, he is speaking purely and simply about this,             and love in the sense of having friendly attraction toward
     love of Christ as it reveals itself concretely in the members             (phileoo) . Since Peter had denied his Lord three times in
     of Christ. For is not Paul here speaking of the more ex-                  the night he was betrayed, he dared not tell the Lord that
     cellent z~ay ?                                                            he loved "agapee," with a love of ethical perfection, with
           Let us then attend to this rhapsody on the love of God in           a love which is the  fulfilmenti  of the law of God. He takes
     the church.                                                               the  weakei-  term upon his lips. Besides, it should be ob-
                                                                               served that Jesus noticed this distinction. The third time he
           The text reads as follows :  "If I  s@a.k  zwith  the tongues       really says to Peter : is if true that even the weaker term can
     of-omen  clnd`of  a.ngels, but have  wet love, I  .a.% become  soztnd-    be taken by you upon your lips? Do you "like" me? That
     img brass,  or  a<  chnging   sywtba.1.  And  if I have the gift of       Peter dares to repeat. Later Peter writes to the churches of
     prophecy, and know all  wtysteiies   a?d all knowledge;  and  if          Asia Minor :, "Whom having not seen ye love (agapate) ."
     I Izazu? a.11 fa.itk, so as to remove vxountains,  but have not love,
     I  am  ,nothing.  And if I  ,bestozv  a,11  my goods to feed the poor,        This stronger term for "love" Paul employs here in the
     ,anzd; if I give my body to be  bumed,  but have not love;  ifi           text under consideration. The weaker term would `never do
     profi.teth  yM.e nothing."                                                here: Paul could not say: If I speak  with the tongues of
                                                                               men and angels and have not "friendship," I am a sounding
           It is really of importance to notice  th+ the King James            brass and tinkling symbal. For one can very, very, well
     Version renders the greek noun "agapee". not by the term                  have simply this "friendship" sort of love,  and still be
     "love," but rather by the term "charity." We agree with                   simply a tinkling symbal, while speaking with tongues. But
     A. T. Robertson that this term in the text, as employed by                such can never be the case when one hossesses  this "love,"
     Paul, is far richer and weightier in import than what can be              which is the bond of ethical perfection !
     ekpressed  with the limited notion expressed in the term
     "charity." Hence, we shall throughout, in the discussion of                   For what really is this love ?
     this Chaper,  render the term "agapee" by "love."                             It is not simply a feeling of the emotions, nor, is it simply
           For the term "love" really is such, that in its length and. natural attraction of like sort of people. This love here is
     breadth, height and depth. it surpasses all human knowledge               ethical, that is, it deals with God and with our neighbor: It
     and understanding.                                                        deal?  with God, as we are the image-bearers of God, created
           The term "agapee"  is rather sharply distinguished, both            in true knowledge, righteousness and holiness. And, therefore,
     in classical Greek as well as in the Greek New Testament,                 it deals with our neighbor as we stand in relationship to him,
     from the term "phileoo." The latter term might well be pin-               with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. This
     pointed by translating -it by "like," have  a friendly feeling            is the love which dwells in the heart.
     toward one. The term "agapee" is really the love which is                   From this point we can understand that the Scriptures
     rooted in ethical perfection. It is the "love" which is the               say that God  is love; and that he that abideth in "love"
     fulfilment  of the entire law, as Jesus briefly sums up the law           abideth in God. Oh, this fact that God is "love" does not


 374                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
`
  -              -  _ . . -----
 mean that we can say: "love" is God. We cannot change                   spea.12 . . . . `And if I have the gift of prophecy . . . And if I!
 "love". into being the  subject.  Love is still  "predicalted"  to      bestqw  all my. good to. feed the poor . . . Forsooth, says
 God.  But  the truth that God is "love" surely means  that              Paul, such would be the state of affairs with anyone, be-
 such is His whole ethical perfection. God is the Law fulfilled          ginning with  WLyself.  This is, indeed, a  fine touch of ped-
 in Himself. God loves Himself eternally. Such He does out               agogy ! But it is more than that : it is simply the truth. of
 of the Father, through the Son and in the Holy Spirit. Such             the situation. And it is such a tremendous reality, that the
 is'the love-life of God in the ontological Trinity. SUCK  is the        very thought of. it makes Paul write : "If I speak with the
 love of God in its architypical  sense.                                 tongues," ktc.? etc.
        This love of God is also manifested ek-typically, that is,            we should notice that Paul writes in climactic effect.
 outside of God <toward  and in the creature, created in his own         This heightens the sense of the reality of the indispensible-
 image, man. And always, even then this love is out of the               ness of love.
 Father, through the Son and in `the Spirit. Love in its                      We should observe that Paul reasons, ascends from the.
 operation is never from us to God. Love never has its source,           lower, the lesser gifts to the greater.
 its fountain in us. Love only and always has, and shall                      That he begins with the gift of "speaking with tongues"
 forever have its source alone in God. And this love is, there-          probably has its reason in the sad fact, that there was a great
 fore, such that it  will  not rest until its object is completely       misunderstanding concerning the importance of this particular
 perfect in ethica. perfection, that is, until the object of that        gift in the  .church  at Corinth. It seemed that this was the
 love, `will in that love, turn unto God in the Spirit, and              one and all that counted with some. And that must be done
 through the Son, and say : Abba, Father ! In *that same love' away with once and for all. Paul will return to this subject
 for God, we will then also seek the eternal, spiritual well-            later, in I Corinthians 14. To make certain that no possible
 being of the other members in the church, as is so beautifully          kind of "speaking with tongues" be excluded, Paul says :
 expressed by Paul in Ephesians 4:15-16,  "but speaking the              "If I speak with the  tongues  of  1phen  and of axgels,  and had
 truth in love, may grow' up in all things unto him, who is the          not Zove( ! j. then he would be like a clanging symbal and
 head, even Christ; frOm whom all the body filty framed and              sounding brass. Paul, evidently, means to say: then my
 knit together through that which every joint supplieth, ac-             speaking would have in it as  .little  spiritual life and vig&-,
 cording to the working in due measure of each several part,             as little manifestation of the image of God, as there is in
 maketh  the increase of the body unto the build~ing z&p of itself       so much noise by brass and steel. And, indirectly, this is a
 in love !"                                                              keen and pointed rebuke to so much "noise" iti the church
   Such is the love spoken of in the text.                               at Corinth, who are not spiritually sensitive.
        It is greater than both faith and hope, since it is the               One would think that if one had the "gift of prophecy"
 spiritual energy  and power of both! Thus Paul writes in                he would at least fare better, if he had not love. At least
 Galatians 5  6,  ". . . . but faith  zvorking  (being energized)        that would be to the objective upbuilding of the church, or,
 by love."                                                               at least, the impartation of knowledge.  iB,ut, hold on! Not
        Paul says: Except I have love, it makes no difference            so, congregation at Corinth. Why, even if you had all knowl-
 tihat spiritual gift I have received from the Lord, or what             edge, and knew all the Mysteries of the kingdom, and did not
-virtue I may display  in my life, I still am nothing, and  it           have "love," one is simply: ndtlmhg!
 profits me nothing.                                                          And thus is also. the case, even though one gave all his
        For, note well, Paul does not speak here of "love" simply        goods to feed the poor. Yea, even though one gave his body
 in the abstract. I know that the text says: "and have not               to be burned. Even that has nothing of spiritual value in it,
. love  !" It could have read and  practiced  love, that is, Paul        when love is absent. When love is absent then the image of
 could have written that had he willed to express that thought.          God is not revealed. Then it all still profits nothing!                -.
 Evidently, Paul has & mind "and ha.ve not love." He wills                    Such is the sobering reality Paul presses forward to our
 to emphasize that one must  have  love, shall anything he               attention.
does have spiritual and moral value. Only when we  have
 this love, only when we grow more and more in this love,                     This way of love is called the "more excellent" way. It
 will our lives also be spiritually sensitive in the things              is not a way in -which "gifts" cannot come to their own: It
 that differ.                                                            is the only way in which all gifts, speaking with tongues,
                                                                         prophecy, giving of goods to the poor, dying for the faith, if
        And,  now, to  de`monstrate this tremendous reality, Paul        need  be, come to  their own.
 cites three possibilities in which all gifts, seeming preemin-
 ences in the' church are so much loss and dung, since "love"                 We need not shun these gifts.
 is absent. And he does this by stating that such would be               :    Nay we seek the best gifts, and place them in the service
 the  .case first of all in regard to  hivvtself.  Writes  he:  If  [    of God in the church,!                                        G.L.


                                                1` 1-J E S `I' A S D A Ii D B E A 1< E 1C                                        375
 -
                                                                         And -we may add that those who ridicule with adultery
               I N   H I S   F'EAR                                   and hold up the  ,whoremonger  as an interesting and alto-
                                                                     gether fitting fellow to bring to the wedding ceremony to
                                                                      invoke a' little (or much) wicked laughter, God will also
              Keep it  a  Thing of  Beady!                            judge. The beauty of the whole evening flies  qiuckly  away
                                                                      when the "master of ceremonies" (slave of indecency and
                               (3)                                    immoral ceremony) ignores all the truth and beauty of the
                                                                      event as expressed in the wedding form and seeks tom-bring
    A beautiful beginning !                                          his hearers to a carnal merriment and laughter about lewd-
    And a terrible ending!                                           ness and all violation of the Seventh Commandment.
    Many  a wedding ceremony is impressive and seems to                  The bride and bridegroom are not always to blame for
 breathe such a beautiful spirit of reverence and of godliness.      this. Often they are and invite it by deliberately appointing
 All things as far as  <the earthly eye can see were done de-        one who is known for such gross indecency. There are, how-
cently and in order. The Word of God was there clearly and           ever, times when to their utter amazement and  embarass-
 emphatically spoken. Our covenant God and His praise were,          ment  the one whom they had picked for this "entertainment"
there in song as well as in speech. A blessing was asked             reverts to these things and that with more boldness and
 upon the bride and bridegroom. They were in prayer com-             shamelessness than they ever expected this person,was  cap-
mitted to the care of a loving Father Who as it were with            able of performing. It is a strange thing- that *those, who
 His hand brings to every man his wife and to every woman            seen? so shy and hesitant to speak of these things otherwise,
her husband. The request *that their life might be a reflection      reveal a great boldness and freedom to do so at the wedding
 of that blessed union of Christ and His Church had been             reception. But the very least that the bride and bridegroom
offered before the throne of grace.        -                         can do is to speak plainly and with definiteness to the `one
    A few moments were spent in' the congratulations and             they have chosen to take the lead in all the activities -of the
best wishes to the "newlyweds" while loud, joyful strains            wedding reception and so make it clear that they want ab-
from the organ painted an appropriate background for these 1 solutely none of it. These things happen all too frequently
unforgettable moments in .the lives of the bride and bride-          today for the bridal party to be considered naive for assum-
groom.                                                               ing that it might happen at their wedding ceremony.
    Then the wedding reception begins and again a blessing               By all means, keep it a thing of beauty by keeping all
is asked upon the youthful couple and upon the food and              these  wickednesses  out of your wedding celebration.
drink that has been prepared.                                            Then, too, the program so often contains things that take
    Usually; rather than unusually, that reception  *then be-        away the beauty of the event. The vocal solos that are sung
comes an ugly thing rather than a thing of beauty. All               as a rule are not the most obnoxious elements on the program.
restraint, decency and beauty are discarded and moral filth          But the songs that are given to the audience or celebrants at
and sensual hilarity, is the order of the day (night).               this wedding reception are often something quite different.
    Why  ?                                                           Here again, we do not object to a little clean humor. But
    Why must a "master of ceremonies" become a slave of              we maintain that it surely is not in His fear when in these
immorality ? Why at the weddings of our covenant youth               songs the proper relationship between husband and wife is
 must the "success" of the "master or ceremonies" be meas-           denied and ridiculed.
 ured by his `ability to get  ,the group assembled into fits of          That usually is also ,the theme of the dialogues and skits
laughter by filthy? suggestive jokes ?                               that often plague our wedding receptions. We have just
    0;it is a time of rejoicing.  We, are not required to sit        heard the Word of God. In no uncertain terms from the
 there with long faces and to speak in hushed or sad tones.           Scripture we have been told that the husband is the head of
 Solomon says, "To everything there is a season, and a time          the wife. And now that ordinance of God, that divine ar-
 to every purpose under heaven: a time . . . to weep and a            rangement in the home is ridiculed and made to be the
 time to laugh.; a, time to mourn and a time to dance . . .,"         reason for sinful laughter. Do we dare to believe that God
 Ecclesiastes 3 :l, 4. And Jesus says, "Can the children of the       approves of such wickedness  ? Do we dare to believe that
 bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with                .a few words of prayer before all this takes place and a few
 them?" Matthew 9 :15. A wedding celebration is a time for            muttered phrases of prayer at the end of the reception "make
 rejoicing ; and laughter is not necessarily out of place there.      it all right?'
    But filthy talk, immoral jokes, sly (and often even bold)            We are not against a program.
 references to the marriage relationship as a license for im-            We do not say that we must do away with the "wedding
 morality and fornication do not `belong there at all !        ,      feast."
    "Marriage is honorable in all, and *the bed undefiled : but           But there surely is something wrong when the gathering
 whoremongers  and adulterers God will judge," Heb. 13 :4.            is relieved to see the officiating minister go home after the

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

meal so that all restraints and inhibitions may be lifted.         concerned, if no sermon  ,was  .forthcoming at the wedding
       That it may be and can be a time of rejoicing and glad-     ceremony and the prescribed form alone was read, then by
ness ought to be evident in that Jesus changed the water into      all means, there ought to be a few words spoken at the
wine at  Cana  for use at such a  ,wedding  celebration. And       reception concerning this important event in the lives  l)f
in Psalm 104 :15 we read that God giveth "wine that maketh         `those joined in the bond of matrimony.
glad the heart of man." It must be used wisely and with               That does not mean that there should be a mere repetition
great restraint, but in it God has created the power to make       <of what was declared in the form just in order to have a
tthe heart of man glad. It is better, nevertheless, not to         religious atmosphere also at the reception. Not at  all! But
have it at our wedding ceremonies and receptions today             there certainly is ample room for a short talk to bring out
because the danger of it being overdone is far greater today       more in detail the things that are merely indicated in  t!;e
than in the days when Jesus changed the water into wine.           form. A few well chosen words of admonition and of Chris-
Nevertheless, the fact that He changed the water into. this        tian counsel to those who have taken this important step is
substance that maketh glad the heart ~of man shows not only        never out of order. Surely it is a fitting thing at the recep-
that God does not disapprove of`man being glad and happy           tion when it was not given in a sermon at the ceremos:y.
but also that there is at' a wedding celebration nothing
necessarily wrong with a joyful and happy heart.                      And in conclusion let us state that a union in the bonds
                                                                   of matrimony as performed by the Justice of Peace is entirely  '
       The same thing holds true, of course, with the "wedding     to be condemned by *those who profess to be members of the
feast." Things are not "taboo" and sinful just because they        body of Christ, the Church which He loved and for which
bring delight and pleasure to man. God did not put into our        He gave His life.
foods the delicous  taste that .they have ; He did not place in
the flower the fragrant aroma; He did not create the world            That surely is not in His fear.
of melody and harmony in order to make things that would               Those who live in His fear, as we wrote a few years ago.
be sinful for man to enjoy and experience. He gives `to each       will  ,also live in His sphere. In the sphere of the covenant
cut of meat and type of flesh its own peculiar taste. He           they will live and move. In the sphere of His covenant they
gives to each flower its own peculiar fragrance. He has `led       `will seek to have the marriage bond confirmed. And that
man to find out the law whereby the plaintive yet pleasing         means  ,that they  desire  to have a form read wherein the
oboe produces its sound, whereby the flute gives forth its         things of God's covenant are brought to their attention as
round, pure tone, whereby the strings give their smooth,           they enter into a covenant amongst themselves as husband
flowing quality and the brasses their vibrant power. And           and. wife.
all.this He does that we may see HIM, may hear HIM and                . But to' avoid such a`form and to avoid the Word of God
know HIM in all His beauty and glory. "Every  creature of          at the ceremony and reception is to show no interest in God's
God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with     covenant.
thanksgiving" Paul writes in I Timothy 4:4. If then we can
receive these things as gifts of God, if we can see Him in             The bride and bridegroom who make a covenant amongst
these things so that we serve Him therewith, if we use them        themselves outside the sphere of the covenant of God can
with a heart that is grateful to Him, we surely may have           expect no blessing upon their married life.
beautiful music, the fragrancy  and beauty of flowers and the          Keep the wedding ceremony and reception things of
delicious, pleasing taste of well prepared food at our wedding     beauty by conducting them in His fear.
celebrations.                                                                                                                 J . A . H .
       We may not do these things when we do so beyond our
means just to keep up or to surpass the "Joneses." We may
not make an empty, vain show and put LIP a big front. Nor
may we, when we do have abundant means, make display of                              WEDDING   A N N I V E R S A R Y
it to show others how a wedding celebration "ought to be              On June 2, 1957, the Lord willing, our dear parents,
done." God hates all such things. For they cannot possibly
be done in `His fear. As much as He forbids jealousy,  so                        MR. and MRS. DANIEL VAN  ALTEN
much He hates all works of men designed to provoke                 hope to commemorate  thejr 35th wedding anniversary.
jealousy. And how easy it is at a wedding celebration to plan         T,hat the Lord will continue to bless them as He has in the
things to show others what we can do. Then that food,              past, is the prayer of their grateful children.
music and flowers, costly clothing and the like are not                                         Dr. and Mrs. Lloyd Van  Alten
received with thanksgiving ; and the good creature we use                                       Mr. and Mrs. Pierson J. Van  Alten
in a sinful way.                                                                                and `2 granddaughters,
       And as far as the program at this wedding reception is                                   Ann and Bonnie Wynne


                                             TllE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 377

!I . .                                                              State for the temporal government of men ; but in his con-
      Contending For The Faith-                                //~ flict with the civil `power he takes the pessimistic view that
                                                                    the State is the product of robbery, murder, and all sorts of
                                                                    crimes, and a disturbance of the original equality, which must
               The Church  &d the  Sacrcnnents                      be restored by the priestly power. He combined the highest
                                                                    view of the Church and the papacy with the lowest view of
   VIEWS DURING THE THIRD PERIOD  (750-1517 A.D.)                   the State and the empire.
                                                                       His theory of the papal power could not have been more
                   THE SUPREMACY OF THE POPE                        explicitly stated than when, writing to Sancho, king'of Aaron,
          G                                                         he said that Jesus, the king  .of glory, had made Peter lord
               REGORY  VII  AN; THE PAPACY  (continued)             over the kingdoms of the world. This principle he con-
    Among his favorite Scripture quotations, besides the            sistently acted upon. Henry IV of Germany he twice de-
prophecy about Peter (Matt. 16  :18,  19)) are two passages         posed and absolved his subjects from allegiance to him. He
from the Old Testament: the words of the prophet Samuel             cbncluded  his second excommunication of Henry IV, at the
to Saul, which suited his attitude to rebellious kings (I Sam.      synod of Lent, March 7, 1080, with this startling peroration:
 15 23) : "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubborn-     "And now, 0  ye princes and fathers, `most holy. Apostles
ness is as idolatry and teraphim  ; but because thou hast re-       Peter and Paul, deal ye with us in such wise that all the
jected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected thee from         world may know and understand that, having the power to
being king;" and the words of &the  prophet Jeremiah (48  :lO) :    bind and to loose in heaven, you have the like power to take
"Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently,          away empires, kingdoms, principalities, duchies, marquisates,
and cursed by he that keepeth back his sword from blood."           earldoms,  and all manner of human rights and properties . . .
He meant the spiritual sword tihiefly,  but also the temporal,      Having such mighty power in spiritual things, what is there
if necessary. He would have liked to lead an army of soldiers       on earth that may transcend your authority in temporal
of St. Peter for the conquest of the Holy Land, and the             things? And if ye judge the angels, who are high above the
subjection of all rebellious monarchs. He projected the first       proudest of princes, what may ye not do unto those beneath
crusade, which his second successor carried out.                    them ? Let the kings  Bnd princes of the earth know and
    We must consider more particularly his views on the             feel how great ye are-how exalted your power ! Let them
relation of Church and State.  Public   ofiinion in the Middle      tremble to despise the commands of your Church! But upon
Ages believed neither in co-ordination nor separation. of the       the said Henry do judgment quickly, that all men may know
two powers, but in the subordination of one to the other on         that it is not by fortune or chance, but by your power, that
the basis of union. Church and State were inseparably inter-        he has fallen! May he thus be confounded unto repentance,
woven from the days of Charlemagne and even of Constan-             that his soul may be saved in the day of the Lord !"
tine, and both together constituted the Christian common-              This is the extreme of hierachical arrogant?  and severity.
wealth,  rep`u.blicn   Christimzit. There was also a general        Gregory always assumed the air of supreme authority over
agreement that the Church was the spiritual, the State, the         kings and nobles as well as bishops and abbots, and expects
temporal power.                                                     from them absolute obedience.
    But  the parties divided on the question of the precise            Sardinia and Corsica he treated as fiefs (a fief was a
boundary line. The papal party maintained the theocratic            feudal estate, a landed estate held under feudal tenure-
superiority of the Church over the State: the imperial party        H.V.). To the Spanish princes, in 1073, he wrote that from
maintained the caesaropapistic superiority of the State, or at      of old Spain had belonged to St. Peter, and that it belonged
least the equality of the two powers. It was a conflict be- to no mortal man but to the Apostolic see. For had not the
tween priestcraft and statecraft, between  sacerdotkwt   and        Holy See made a `grant of Spanish territory to a certain
ivlz,pe&*pl,  the clergy and the laity. The imperialists em-        Evulus on condition of his conquering it from pagan hands ?
phasized the divine origin and superior antiquity of the civil      Alfonso of Castile and Sancho of Aragon, he reminded that
government,, to which even Christ and the Apostles were             St. Paul had gone to Spain and that seven bishops, sent by
subject; the hierachical party disparaged the State, and put        Paul and Peter, had founded the Christian Church in Spain.
the Church above it even in temporal affairs, when they  con-       Philip I, kin&of France, he coolly told, that every house in his
`flitted  with the spiritual. Emperors like Otto I and Henry        kingdom owed Peter's Pence, and he threatened the king, in
III deposed and elected popes; while popes like Gregory VII         case he did not desist from simony, to place his realm under
and Innocent III deposed and elected emperors.                      the interdict. A few months later in a letter to  Manasses,
    Gregory compares the Church to the sun, the State to            archbishop of Rheims, he called the king a rapacious wolf,
the moon, which borrows her light from` the sun. The                the enemy of God and religion. He summoned the king of
episcopal dignity is above the kingly and imperial dignity,         Denmark,  Sueno,  to recognize the dependence of his king-
as heaven is above the earth. He admits the necessity of the        dom upon Rome and to send his son to Roine that he might


378                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER

draw the sword against the enemies of God, promising. the           scholastic theology,  &tiplied monastic orders and charitable
son a certain rich province in Italy for his services. Boleslav,    institu,tions,  checked wild passions, softened manners, stimu-
duke of Poland, he admonished to pay certain monies to the          lated discoveries and inventions, preserved ancient `classical
king of Russia, whose son, as we are informed in another            and Christian literature, and promoted civilization (all this,
letter, had come to Rome, to secure his throne from the             we understand, ,does not necessarily bear a Christian char-
pope. The Hungarian king, Salomon, was reminded that                acter. The Common -Grace theorists would undoubtedly laud
King Stephen had given his kingdom to St. Peter and that            all these accomplishments, but these things can denote noth-
it belonged of right to Rome, and he was  sharply  rebuked          ing more than a natural advance of civilization- H.V.).
for having received his crown from the king of the Germans          The papacy struck its root deep in the past, even as far back
as a fief and not having sought it from Rome. On  Deme-             as the second century. But it was based in part on  piouB
trius, duke of Dalmatia, Gregory conferred the royal title          frauds, as the pseudo-Isidorian Decretals and the false  Dona-
on condition of his rendering a yearly payment of two hun-          `Lion of Constantine.
dred pieces of silver to himself and his papal successors. TO          The mediaeval theocracy was at  best,a  carnal anticipation
Michael, `Byzantine emperor, he wrote, expressing the hobe          of the milennial  reign, when all the kingdoms, of this world
that the Church of Constantinople as a true daughter might          shall obey the peaceful sceptre of Christ. The papacy de-
be reconciled to its mother, the Church of Rome. In other           generated more and more into a worldly institution and an
communications  to the emperor, Gregory made propositions           intolerable tyranny over the hearts and minds of men. Human
concerning a crusade to rescue the Holy Land.                       nature is too noble to be ruled by despotism, and too weak
       For William the Conqueror, Gregory expressed great af-       to resist its temptations. The State has divine authority as
fection, addressing him as "best beloved"  ca&s.siutte, but         well as the Church, and the laity have rights as well as the
solemnly reminded him that he owed his promotion to the             clergy (the first half of this statement is certainly true, but I
throne of England to the favor of the Roman see and bidding         would surely dispute, on the basis of Holy Writ, the asser-
him to be prompt in the payment of Peter's Pence. The proud.        tion that the laity as well as the clergy have rights. I do not
Englishman replied that he owed his crown to God and his            like to speak of men having rights, equal rights with others.
own sword, not to the .pope. He was willing to pay Peter's          - H.V.). These rights came to the front as civilization ad-
Pence which his predecessors had paid; but fealty he                vanced and as the hierarchy abused its power. It was the
refused to pay as his predecessors had refused to pay it. In        abuse of priestly authority for the enslavement of men, tht
a letter William the Conqueror had written: "Hubert, your           wordliness of the Church, and the degradation and pfofana-
legate in your behalf has bade me to do fealty to you and           tion of religion in the traffic of indulgences which provoked.
your successors, and to think better in the matter of the           the judgment of the Reformation.
money which my predecessors were wont to send to the
Roman Church. The one point I agreed `to, the other I did           Gregory VII as  Q Moral Reformer.  .Yimony  and  Clerccal
not agree to. Fealty I refused to do, nor will I do it, nor do      Mawiage.
I find that my predecessors did it to your predecessors."              Gregory VII must be viewed not only as a papal ab-
       Unbiblical and intolerable as is Hildebrand's scheme of      solutist, but also as a moral reformer. It is the close connec-
papal absolutism as a theory of abiding validity, for the           tion of these two characters that gives him such pre-eminence
Middle Ages it was better that the papacy should rule. It           in history, and it is his zeal for moral reform that entitles
was, indeed, a spiritual despotism ; but it checked a military      him to real respect; while his pretension to absolute power
despotism which was the only alternative, and would have            he shares with the most worthless popes.
been far worse. The Church, after all, represented the moral           His Church ideal formed a striking contrast to the actual
and intellectual interests over against rude force and pas-         condition of the Church, and he could not actualize it without
sions. She could not discharge her full duty unless she was         raising the clergy from the deep slough of demoralization to
free and independent. The princes of the Middle Ages were           a purer and higher plane.
mostly ignorant and licentious `despots ; while the popes, in          His reforms were directed .against  simony and Nicolait-
their official character, advocated the cause of learning, the      ism. What he had done as Hildebrand, by way of advice, he
sanctity of marriage, and the rights of the people. It was a        now carried out by official authority.
conflict of moral with physical power, of intelligence with            In the war on simony he was altogether right from the
ignorance, or religion with vice.                                   standpgint  of Protestant as well as Roman Catholic ethics.
       The theocratic system made religion the ruling factor in     The traffic in ecclesiastical dignities was an unmitigated nuis-
mediaeval Europe, and gave the Catholic Church an op-               ance and scandal, and doubly criminal if exercised by bishop;
portunity to do her best. Her influence was, upon the whole,        and popes.
beneficial. The enthusiasm for religion inspired the crusades,         The Lord willing, we will continue Philip Shaff's descrip-
carried Christianity to heathen savages, built the ,cathedrals      tion of the significance of Gregory VII in connection with
and innumerable churches, founded the universities  and             the development  in the supremacy of the pope,             H.V.


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               379

II                                                                        His  Word, speaks to them of His Christ, and thus bestows
            The Voice of Our Fathers                                      upon them benefits which are not `shared by those who have
                                                                   -`I    not the preaching of the gospel. This grace is general. All
                                                                          men receive God's grace equally, in so far that they all have
                  The Canons of ,Dordrecht                                sufficient grace to come to faith and conversion.
                                PART TWO                                      .2) All have a free will. By this the Pelagian means that
                    E                                                     the will of the natural man is free to choose either the good '
                         XPOSITION OF THE CANONS                          or the evil. Man's will is not under the dominion of sin and
             THIRD AND FOURTH HEADS  OP DOCTRINE                          in the bondage of  corrugion,  so that he is able only to
      OF  TIIE CORRUPTION OF MAN,  HIS  CONVERSION TO GOD,                choose the evil and always does choose the evil ; but he is
                    AND THE MANNER THEREOF                                still capable of choosing the good. In the specific instance
                                                                          under discussion, the natural man, according to the Pelagian,
                          Article 10 (continued)                          is capable either of accepting or rejecting the grace of God.
        The question faced in this article is: how is it to be ex-            3) Some men by the exercise of this free will accept and
plained that, in distinction from the many who do not obey                make proper use of the grace sufficient for faith and conver-
the call of the gospel, there are others, called through the              sion that is bestowed, and thus  thejr obey the call of the
same ministry of the gospel,  whb come `to Christ and are con-            gbspel, come to Christ, and are converted. By this exercise
verted ?                                                                  of their free will .they distinguish themselves from others.
       .dnd the fathers treat, first of all, the Pelagian answer to           4) These others, gifted with the same grace sufficient for
this question.                                                            faith and conversion, reject and resist this grace, and thus do
       .It might be asked.: why do they refer to "the proud               not obey the call of the gospel, do not come to Christ, and
heresy of Pelagius" in &this  connection ? Was not the Pelagian           are not converted.
controversy a matter of`the past, something which took place                  An analysis of this view will reveal immediately a three-
long before the time of our Reformed fathers of Dordrecht?                fold error. In the first place, the entire view is based upon the
And are not the fathers concerned rather with Arminius and                fallacy of a common, or general, grace. In the second place,
his followers? The answer is that indeed the fathers are                  the. view involves the error of free-willism. And in the third
busy, also in this article, with the heresy of the Remonstrants.          place, it maintains ,the heresy of resistible grace. These three
But in a parenthetical clause they insert this characteriza-              hang together: it is impossible fo maintain one of the three
tion of the Arminian-doctrine as Pelagian, in order that the              without maintaining the other two. A  common  grace must
Arminian heresy may be known and recognized for what it                   needs be a resistible grace, unless, of course, one wishes to
is. It is  riothing new in the history of the church. It had              involve himself in the folly that God arbitrarily bestows grace
arisen long before the time of the Reformation already. And               and then withdraws it. And a resistible grace compels one to
though in our fathers' time this heresy was promulgated                   maintain the error of free-willism. Furthermore, we should
by. a new leader and under a different flag and with subtle               not fail to note *that the underlying heresy here is that of the
and sinister modifications, it was the same old heresy of the             denial of sovereign predestination. If the latter is strictly
British monk, Pelagius, and thus also a heresy which the                  maintained and applied, there is  .simply  no room for the
fathers were not the first to condemn, a heresy which the                 entire Pelagian-Arminian view of the gospel-call  `and its
church had condemned centuries before. `And therefore, tha                effect.
implication is that he who would remain in organic unity                      A prozbd heresy this view is denominated by the fathers.
with the church of all ages, with the one holy catholic church,           And the reason for this  is'not difficult to see. First of all,
he who would stand in the historical line of the true church              it is evident that even as one man distinguishes himself `above
in the world, must with, the church of the past continue to               another by the exercise of his free will, so he exalts himself
condemn the Pelagian heresy, no matter what form it as-                   in haughty conceit above that other. After all, is he not better
sumes, and no matter who promulgates that heresy and gives                than his unbelieving and unrepentant fellow? And is not his
it his name.                                                              kxcellence  to be ascribed to himself alone ? Did not both he
       What is the Pelagian heresy referred to here? The                  and his fellow man share the same grace of God ? And was
Canons tell us in this article that the proud heresy of                   it not he who by his own free will accepted that grace, while
Pelagius is that the coming and conversion of some  in                    his fellow man, with equal opportunity as himself, rejected it ?
response to the call of -the gospel is to be ascribed to man,             We may go a step farther. On the Pelagian basis, this pride
who through a free will distinguishes himself from others,                is justifiable, not sinful. There is no posible basis left for the
furnished with equal or sufficient grace for faith and conver-            condemnation of such pride. In the second place, however, -
sion. We may nbte the following! elements in this doctrine:               and what is still worse, - this Pelagian heresy is proud be-
        1) All receive equal or sufficient grace to believe and be        cause it exalts man above the living God. From this point
converted. This grace consists herein, that God gives them                of  view. it is not at all amiss to denote this doctrine as the


 3 s o                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 prize lie of  thk devil! For after all, it is the very same lie    fast. How this calling is accomplished belongs to the follow-
that was first proposed in paradise, "Ye shall be like God."        ing articles. But now let us understand that it is effficachs,
 Only now this lie is dressed in a religious garb, surrounded       first of all. Sometimes, especially over against those who
 with  a&aura  of piety, disguised with the name "gospel," and      maintain the error of resistible grace, we speak of an ,&es&-
 delivered supposedly upnn  the authority of God Himself by         ,ibZe  calling. The latter term emphasizes that God through
 those who clailn  to be accredited ambassadors of Christ.          the calling overcomes the stubborn rebellion and hard im-
     And be not deceived! This is no out-dated doctrine. It         penitence of the sinner. And in this sense the term may
 is the fashion of the day in the majority of our pulpits. Nor      certainly be used. However, it must be admitted that there
 need we imagine that this very same proud heresy has been          is a certain mechanical connotation' in the term. It might be
 forever removed from the pulpits of Reformed churches. The         understood as meaning, that a man resists God's calling ail
 Ca.nons  as a creedal  document could not accomplish this. NO      the way, but that his resistance is in vain, that God drags him
 confession can ever succeed by itself to eliminate heresy. If      in spite of himself into His kingdom. And it is this connota-
 the church is not minded by the grace of God in Christ Jesus       tion that is avoided by the term eficacious.  God's calling is
 to live by its confessions and maintain them, she soon is          powerful  in the sense that God by His calling effects that
 victimized by the very heresies which her confessions con-         which He speaks, and does so without fail. God Himself says
 demn and which they were designed to shut- out. And thus           `to  &me  through the ministry of the gospel, "Come  !" And
 it has been that this proud heresy of Pelagius-Arminius has        he whom God thus calls surely domes. God  .Himself  says,
 made its inroads today as easily as though the Camns had           "Repent !" And he to whom God thus speaks surely repents.
 never been composed, and, in fact, by an appeal to the Canons      God Himself says, "Believe in My only begotten Son, Jesus
 thems'elves  for proof and support. For this is fundamentally      `Christ !" And when God thus speaks, the sure fruit of His
 the heresy involved in such a theological inanity as the First     speech is a living faith in Christ. Such is the efficacious call-
 Point of 1924 and in  the,preaching  and teaching of a general,    ing. But in this sense  sthe term  e#icac&s  is more apt than
 well-meant offer of saliation that is so rampant in Reformed       the term iwesktible, because by God's calling the resistance
 `and Presbyterian circles today. And it seems that men do          is destroyed. There is no question of any resistance. God
 not realize that they have forsaken the very strong point of       produces by His calling a loving and willing obedience.
 the Reformed faith, and that they have abandoned the very              The  etiect  of this calling is described in the further lan-
 element in the preaching of the gospel that is- of inestimable     guage of the article : "confers faith and repentance, and trans-
 comfort for God's sinful people in the midst of a world of sin     lates them, having been torn out of the power of darkness,
 ,and death. They foolishly prefer that which appeals to man's      into the! kingdom of his own Son." The idea here is not to
 sinful, pride and which bestirs the wicked conceit that origin-    describe further acts of God, in addition to the efficacious
 ally moved man when he rebelled against his Creator in             calling. :But this is a description of the calling from the point
 paradise. How is the gold become dim!                              of view of what it effects. The fruit of God's calling is faith
     God ! That is the keynote of this article. That others who     and repentance, Even as the call of the gpspel is unto faith
 ai-e called through the ministry of the gospel come and are        and repentance, so when God calls efficaciously through the
 converted is to be ascribed not to man, but to God. Always         gospel, the effect of that calling is entirely in accord ?rith the
 this must be both the deepest motivation and the content of        demand of the serious gospel-call, namely, that men repent
 the ministry of the gospel. Never may in any wise athe door        and believe. And when faith and repentance are bestowed on
 be left open for any element of man and his work. Never may        a man, that man is by that very act torn out of the power of
 the' impression be left that the obedience to the call of -the     darkness and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son.
 gospel is to be ascribed to man. For the' end must be humility,    Thus in these last words is described the total effect, the
 true and complete. The end must be that those who are              end result, of the efficacious  callirg.
 called and who are obedient to that call of the gospel show           And the key to all this is sovereign election. For the
forth the praises of the God Who called them  out, of dark-         question must still be answered: whom does God thus call?
 ness into His  marvelous  light. The end must be that they         And : who determines who shall be effectually called ? Very
 glory not in themselves, but in the Lord. And how shall this       exactly the fathers draw the line here. The obedience to the
 possibly be as long as there is a single element in all this       gospel-call is to be ascribed to God, "who, as he has chosen
 wonderful work that can be ascribed to man? And how shall          his own from eternity in Christ, thus he calls them effica-
the people of God be instructed in His praises, be instructed       ciously . . ." The standard of the calling is God's sovereign
 to glory not in themselves, but in the Lord, if they are taught    selection. Unless this be maintained, and unless the absolute
 a doctrine which ascribes this work to man?                        sovereignty of this election from eternity in Chirst be main-
    For God does not  .merely  call through the gospel, and         tained, it must be conceded that after- all man is the decisive
 then leave it to the whim of man's sinful will to obey or to       factor. And therefore, it is not thus, that God foresaw in
 disobey that call. No, He calls efficaciously. He is the God       eternity who would obey the call of the gospel and who would
 Who speaks and it is done. Whb commands and it stands                                   (Corhzmf  on cage  382)


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  381

II                                                                    However, this situation did not prevail very long. The Re-
             DECEFdCY and ORDER                                       formers soon  .realized!  that this practice was contrary to the
                                                                      Word of God for the Word clearly defines the calling of the
                                                                      church as spiritual and not secular and so in the very first
              Only Ecclesiastical Matters                             redaction of  our Church Order provision similar to that of
      Not infrequently matters are presented to ecclesiastical        our present 30th Article is already found :. "In Ecclesiastical
assemblies which do not properly belong there or concerning           Assemblies none but ecclesiastical matters shall be trans-
which a question may be asked as to whether or not the                acted." And as early as 1571 the Synod of the Reformed
material can be properly, treated. This question may arise            Churches of the Netherlands through Marnix .van St. Alde-
with reference to the "legality" of the material presented as,        gonde refrained from acting upon the request of William the
for example, a case where a consistory is asked by a,member           Silent who ,sought the aid of the churches in the bitter, op-
of the church to treat a certain brother for the committal of         pressive, struggle with Romish Spain. They acted on the
a personal sin against hiin: The consistory must know,, be-           principle :- "Only Ecclesiastical Matters."
fore treating the matter, whether the grieved party has com-              The wisdom of this principle is not difficult to under-
plied with the  lay of Matthew 18. If he has not, the  con-           stand. That the church, as the body of Jesus Christ, should
sistory cannot proceed to investigate and decide the matter.          concern herself only with those things that pertain to the
It is not "legally" before them.                                      ministry of the Word and Sacraments and in a `broader sense
      Btit the question regarding the propriety of matters            with all that pertains directly to the coming of Christ's King-
presented to ecclesiastical bodies may also arise with refer-         dom follows from the very nature of matters. How absurd
ence to the "content" of the material itself. All matters are         it would be to even consider calling a surgeon to repair your
not for consistories, classes and synods to decide and these          automobile or going to a garage mechanic to have your tonsils
ecclesiastical  asselllblies  may not involve themselves in things    or appendix removed. Just as ludicrous is it when the church,
that do not pertain to their specific calling before God. To          a spiritual organism, begins to meddle in matters political,
do so is not only to act unlawfully but certainly the fruits of       social, economic, etc. She has neither the ability nor the right
such labors cannot be conducive to the welfare and promotion          to deal with these things. When she nevertheless attempts to
of the cause of Christ in the world. On the contrary, any             do so, acting outside her proper domain, she does  `SO only
ecclesiastical assembly that does not comply with the sound           to her own detriment. That many churches fail to realize this
rule of the 30th Article of the Church Order respecting this          today is evidence of the facti that there is general ignorance
matter, is inviting endless trouble and is doing damage rather        concerning'the  nature and calling of the church.
than good tb the spiritual cause of Christ. Evidence of this             We should understand that we are not at present con-
we can see in many churches today that no longer concern              cerned with the calling of Christian individuals and Christian
themselves with "ecclesiastical matters" but are constantly           organizations in relation to the various spheres of life in this
engaged in "non-ecclesiastical affairs." It is no wonder that         world. That the church in her assemblies is limited to the
:here  is such a wide-spread spiritual ignorance and decline          transaction of ecclesiastical matters only does not exclude
aomng church `members. However lamentable the fact may                the fact that her members, either ai individuals or through
be, the church has only herself to biame. She has neglected           organization, may or may not be active in the social, political,
`her principle duty, busied herself with secular matters, and         industrial, and economic spheres of life. That is something
consequently, need not be alarmed. at the fruit of her labors.        altogether di.fferent which we will not at present discuss. We
      The churches oft Reformed persuasion even in the post-          are  concerned  only with the calling of the church in her
reformatioti era did not always limit the scope of their labors       official assemblies. With respect to these  ecclesiastial  as-
to what might be called strictly ecclesiastical matters. This         semblies there are various matters which, in the very nature
was probably due to the fact that at first it was rather dif-         of things, may not be treated. They do not belong there.
ficult to break loose from all the wrong influence and bad                           Matters  sot to be Acted  Ufon.
example of Romanism. The Roman Catholic Church seeks to                " It is not so easy to simply classify all matters into two
put the church in a position where she can control every              catagories,  ecclesiastical and non-ecclesiastical, and conclude
domain of life, -the social, political, industrial as well as         that all that appears under the second heading cannot appear
the religious. The Pope is not only supreme ruler of the              in any form or manner on ecclesiastical gatherings. If it
church and has the final say in  41 ecclesiastical affairs but he     were possible to do this our problem would be greatly simpli-
is supposedly also the supreme ruler of the State and all             fied.  Bu; this is an impossible and impractical way of dealing
temporal affairs within the state are under his province. To.         with the question before us. Life is simply not made up that
this influence.may  be added also the fact that circumstances,        way. There is an ihterweaving  and `overlapping, a very in-
especially in France where persecution was most bitter, may           volved and intricate intercommunion of the various spheres
have had much to do with the church's dealing with  non-              of human life. As a result of this there are many matters
ecclesitistical  matters in the early post-reformation times,         which  you  might classify as non-ecclesiastical but which  none-

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

  theless are related to the church so that she cannot  avoid-or          lems also affect the lives of those who are of the body of
  escape dealing with  them. We will come back  to  this present-         Christ, the church may be concerned with these things.
  ly.  On the other hand there are ecclesiastical matters that               Dr. F. Rutgers cites another example of a case which is
  really have nothing to do with the spiritual essence of the             really not ecclesiastical but which nevertheless the church in
  church (Word and Sacraments) but which involve solely                   her minor and perhaps. even major assemblies may be corn--
  material and mundane things. Yet they may be classified as              pelled to treat. A certain Mr. A. owes Mr. B. a certain sum
  ecclesiastical. Matters of real estate are an example of this.          of money, Mr. B. has difficulty collecting the debt. He, like
  Though a queition  concerning' ownership of certain proper-             the, man in Luke 12 who asked Jesus to make his brother
  ties, rentals, leases, etc. may be considered and treated by the        divide the inheritance with him, brings the matter to the
  ecclesiastical assemblies as an ecclesiastical matter, yet, really      consistory and  requests  them to make Brother A. pay his
 there is nothing ecclesiastical about it. We can agree with the          debt. The consistory cannot go into this. It is simply none
  "Church Order Commentary" on the matter of. what should                 of their business. Consistories are not collecting agencies.
  not be treated in the ecclesiastical assemblies when it states :        Where naught but material matters are involved the  cdn-
   "Thus, e.g. political issues and the question regarding the            sistory may well say to Brother B., "And who made  US
  government of State and  natipn  are non-ecclesiastical and             judges or dividers over you ?"
  cannot be acted upon in our assemblies. Furthermore, mat-                  However; if in the same example Brother B. approaches
  ters social and  ecbndmic  are also non-ecclesiasitical.  Dis-          Brother A. and shows him that his refusal to pay his debt is,
   cusion  and action pertaining to these spheres cannot take             sin against the  ninth commandment and admonishes the
  ,place  at our Consistory meeting,  Classes,  or Synods."               brother again and again to: repent, the case is an altogether
      With the last statement we agree provided it is understood          different one when it gets before the consistory. The prin-
   to mean that no ecclesiastical assembly can  -"decide upon"            ciple is a spiritual one. Brother B. is not as much concerned
   these matters. That is true, indeed! The church does not               about the material side of the question as he is about the
                                                                          spiritual welfare of Brother A. When then he informs the
   declare war. She does not levy taxes. She does not legislate
   over social and economic conditions. These things lay- out-            consistory of the sin for which Brother A. refuses to repent
                                                                          and requests the consistory to labor with him to convince him
   side of her jurisdiction. However, this does not mean that             of his evil, she cannot refuse. It is an ecclesiastical matter.
   the church cannot in any way be concerned with certain                 She would have to investigate and if she found Brother B.`s
   political, industrial, and social questions but rather, insofar        charges true, brother .A. must needs be disciplined. Such
  as these often vitally effect the lives of her members, it may          things ai-e very difficult because the consistory must be care-
   be the church's calling to speak but loudly and boldly with            ful not to involve itself in the matter of collecting the debt
   respect to the  w&ids evils in these various spheres. Take,            and yet one easily see that this is intricately interwoven into
  for example, legislation by the government that affects the             the spiritual aspect of the case with which the consistory
  position of both the Christian and non-Christian  w,orkin,man           inust be concerned. So this and many other cases show that
   in the sphere of iabor  and industry. It is strictly not an "ec-       life cannot simply be divided into certain classifications buti
  clesiastical matter," and, yet, it is a thing that .vitally  affects    each experience and question must be determined in light of
  the church. In the past our Synod and Classes have spoken               its own circumstances and only where there are matters ec-
  out with respect to laws regarding Sunday employment, labor             clesiastical involved may the assemblies of the church act. If
  unions, etc. We should continue to do so. The voice of the              from the basic level of consistories this is borne in mind con-
  church must be heard arid the Gospel of Christ so preached              stantly, many consistories will  bk spared much grief and
  that the `will of God may be clearly manifest in every sphere           ,misery #that is consequent to their dealing with matters that
  of life whether  men will conform themselves to the pattern of          lie outside of their scope.
  that will or not. Very careful must the church be in dealing
  with some of these things. She must not be carnally and                                THE VOICE  6F OUR FATHERS
  materialistically motivated. Her objective must never be the                                (Contimed   from  page  380)
  material advancsment  of her members. Then her gospel de-               not, and that He chose the former, and that these in time
  grades into the commbn  ,"social gospel" which is no Gospel.            make God's counsel come true. But it is thus, that God
   She may not take things into her own hand even if she had              sovereignly chose His own in Christ, that He sovereignly
  the power to do so. She must let goyernment  remain govern-             realizes His own counsel of election in time, efficaciously
  ment and she must remain church. As church she must speak               calling His own, and that thus God's eternal election is re-
  the truth with regard to the many problems of life  `in this            vealed in time as the fountain and cause of every saving good,
  sin-torn and cursed world. She must testify of judgment and             producing in the elect objects `of His good pleasure the obe-
  repentance. She must demand that her members conform to                 dient response to the gospel-call of faith and repentance.
  the truth in all 6f life even if tbe cost is deprivation and death.        Where: is boasting then ? It is excluded by the principle
  And, insofar then as political, social, economic and other prob-        of free and sovereign grace,                            H.C.jH.


                                          T~I-IE   S T A N D A R D   BEAKER                                                      3 8 3
                                  --
                                                                           In the present article he discusses "the nature and place       .
              ALL  ARBUN~D US                                 II of our congregational meetings in our church governmental
                                                                   system." As far as I was able to discern, much of what he
                                                                   says about this subject is expressed also in his commentary.
Congregational Meetings and  Woman  Suffrage.                              Briefly, his views on this subject may be summarized as
   Sometime ago we made the prediction that the commit-            follows :
tee appointed in the Christian Reformed Church to study                    1. Congregational meetings are not governmental as-
the matter of woman suff~rage  in the church would eventu-         semblies in the sense that consistories, classes, and synods
ally come with advice `to thlir synod to act -favorably upon       are.
it. It appears now that our prediction is cqming  true.                    2. Congregational meetings are gatherings of believers,
   Rev. Martin Monsma, professor in Calvin Seminary,               at which gatherings the consistory informs the congregation
and co-author of the Church Order Commentary (Van Del-             regarding matters of interest pertaining to the church and
len and Monsma), again writes on this subject in the April,        its activities, consults with the membership as to its opinion
1957, issue of  torch  and  trumpet.  He is, I believe, an ad-     and preferences, and submits certain matters to a vote, such
visor on the above mentioned committee. The committee,             as-,the  election of office-bearers,  the purchase of properties, or
Professor Monsma tells us, is finished with its investigation      the construction of buildings.
and has formulated and sent on its report to the synod of the              3. Though' It is true that no consistory may treat the
Christian keformed  Church which will meet in June of this         membership of the church as if they are minors, and it is also
year. We are also told that  <the committee is advising the        true that what is decided at the congregational meeting is
synod "to declare in effect that there are no valid objections     settled and binding, it is nevertheless true that congregational
against the introduction of woman suffrage at our  congr*:-        meetings partake of a dependent character. The consistory
gational meetings."                                                decides what is to be discussed, and it presents the matters
   Well, there you have it.  It's, exactly as we predicted it      to be voted upon.
would be. And if Professor  Monsma.goes  along with the                    4. We may.add here as our conclusion of what must no
committee in its advice, as I conclude he does, it means he        doubt also be the conclusion of Monsma, that since con-
has changed his mind on the subject. It also means that he         gregational meetings are what is said above, therefore it is
will have to revise his commentary on the Church Order.            perfectly in agreement with the nature of congregational
   In the latter he writes on page 25 "The question whether        meetings that woman should have suffrage in them.
or not women should take part in congregational elections          Getting Past the Preacher.
we would answer negatively. Voetius, the great  ekpert in                  In paging through the Christian Herald, an independent
Reformed Church  governn&t,  excludes women from Church            and interdenominational magazine edited by Daniel A. Poling,
elections in as much as congregational elections are .church       we came upon an article with the above title. Generally we
governmental in character. And .women;  according `to Holy         are not favorably impressed with the contents of this maga-
Writ, are not to teach in the churches nor to help govern the      zine. When our subscription runs out, we will not  re-sub-
same. (I Cor. 14  :34.) Bouwman judges likewise. So does           scribe.
J .
 ailsen.!'                                                                 Iiowever, when we saw the above title in the April, 1957
    Professor Monsma is treating  the. subject "Our Congre- issue our curiosity was aroused and we read the short article
gational Meetings" in two successive  Articles.  He informs        which we will, quote in its entirety, not-because it was so
us that the study committee gave thorough consideration to         rich in content, but because it aroused other thoughts we. felt
especially two questions : "What is the character of our           we would like to express. The article, written by Dallas M.
congregational meetings among our ecclesiastical assemblies  ?     Roark, appeared as follows:
And., would it be in harmony with the Bible to let our                     "The SERMON was finished. I had pronounced the
women vote at congregational meetings ?" These two ques-           benediction. As the organist pulled out the stops for the
tions he begins to elaborate on in the April issue of tovch and    postlude, I walked to my customary place by the door of my
tmwqkt   and he plans to treat the last question in the May        little church. Planting myself so as to intercept  all leavers,
issue.                                                             I was open for the business of handshaking my people out
    We will. anticipate with interest his next article in which    of church and on their way to Sunday dinner. 5
he will discuss the "crucial Scriptural passages which refer               "For the pastor, it's an opportunity to greet his congrega-
directly to the woman's place in the church." He  purpqses         tiun, feel the warmth of their personalities, meet visitors to
`then "to show why, in the opinion of the committee, these         the servide. But I think sometimes that the old Protestant
crucial passages do not require us to condemn those churches       custom of Shaking Hands with the Preacher is a little rough
which permit their women members to vote at congregational         on the worshipers. I'm afraid that some of them regard it
meetings."                                                         as a gantlet which must by necessit'y of custom be run, and


                                                                                                               :,
                                                                  ~___.__  --
                       _____-----
     384                                     .--rE:sTA.NDARD   B E A R E R
     -                                                                              -.
     &en with embarrassement  or at least an uncomfortable feel-                We have attended services in churches where this custom
     ing about what to say when the fatal moment arrives.                   is in vogue and witnessed some rather amusing experiences.
            "There are any number of approaches to take. For For instance, at one service iYe attended we were amazed at
     example, there is the Noncommittal Approach.                         .- the agility of the preacher who, before the  ."Amen"  of the
            "The first. old stalwart who came back that morning             benediction had passed his lips,  had. bounded from his
     shook my hand as if he' were pumping -water out of a reluz-  ;-- pulpit and appeared, at the rear of the auditorium with such
     tant well, and said forcefully, `Beautiful day !' I ,agreed  with       speed that he left the impression he was in competition at a
                                                           . .
     equal heartiness that it was. This, and other banalmes.              : track meet.' His athletic prowess was also much in evidence
            "The second person to wander out used the  Daydreaming~          when he shook our hand. He was what one might call a
     Approach. You could tell his heart wasn't in it as he  said, bone-crusher.
     `Fine sermon.' Mentally marking `down the compliment by                    On most of the occasions where we worshipped in
     about  90 per cent, I responded, `Thank you.' The only                  churches where this custom is followed we can agree with the
_    problem with the Daydreaming Approach is  ,that it can                  writer of the above article that it is  ."a little rough on the
     sometimes get completely out of hand, as when the next                  worshipers." Most usually we have been helped out of an
     parishoner said absentmindedly, `Good sermon, wasn't it?'               embarrasing situation by the preacher himself who, having
            "Most of the people who filed out shaking the hand of            noticed that we were strangers, asked of our identity. Thus
     this country parson said the things that people think they              relieving us from making a remark about his sermon. It
     ought to say - the Usual Things. `Nice talk,' `Good speech.' does not happen often that we visit churches other than our
            "Or they took the Cheerleader Approach, `You really              own. But I can recall only two instances where I would
     gave it to `em today.' I have found that `em' is generally a,_ not have been embarrassed to speak to the preacher about
     member of some other church, probably in a distant city. ~~ i his sermon.
            "A preacher of course accepts the usually well-inten-               Now I do not know any minister who does not like to be
     tioned small-talk of such circumstances and presently, his              complimented on the "fine  sermon" he preached. All of us
     stint ended, goes to his own dinner, loving his people, loving          are carnal enough that we are often pleased even with
     his calling, but wondering if he is really getting to his               flattery. And it seems to me that the custom of handshaking
     parishioners.                                                           the preacher after the service is bound to create a certain
            "But sometimes the comments are different. Sometimes             amount of hypocrites in the church.
     they lift him right up on his toes - send him out possibly
     a better pastor, and certainly a more devoted one; I remember              Though we do not practise  the custom of rushing to the
     my first such experience.                                               exit after the service to greet the worshipers with a hand-
            "I had been speaking in a church about 30 miles from             shake, we do try as much as possible to greet our
     my own parish, on the problem of sin in a Christian's life.             own people and especially the stranger who worships with
      "As usual, after the benediction, I hurried to the door to             us. Most usually I find that a simple "Go.od morning"' is a
     greet the folk as they left, ready for the pleasantries. But            sufficient remark to exchange on such occasion. The preacher
     when one man who came by said, `We were talking about                   generally knows whether he preached a "good sermon" or
     that at home, and the sermon really helped us,' my heart                not. If he looks his audience straight in the eye while he
     l e a p e d .                                                           preaches, he can know quite well whether the Word he
            "A few handshakes later, a young woman looked me in              preached has found favorable acceptance or not. Sometimes
     the eye and remarked, `I never had thought of it that way               just a firm hand-shake, without remark, reveals enough.
     before.' Well, at least I had made somebody think!                         Personally, I do not care to hear some of the remarks we
            "A few cliches later, I heard a man say, `I felt close to        often hear : "wonderful message," "nice sermon," etc. If one
     God this morning.'                                                      wishes to pass along to the preacher his comment, it were
            "And there was the little old lady whose gentle last word        better, it  see.ms to me, if the sermon was really good, that
     meant a lot more to me than her first two,  !Fine sermon,               one would say: "I heard the Word of God this morning" or
     son.'                                                                   "I was edified under the preaching this morning."
            "You don't have to pay off any preacher with a compli-
     ment - and particularly not with a phony compliment. The                   That does not mean that the preacher does not occasion-
     Sincere Approach is best of all. It calls for you to say                ally need a lift. Not to be assured that God has sanctified
     whatever seems  the- thing to you to say-and not neces-                 the Word preached to the heart of His saint can bring
     sarily about the sermon. Just say, `Good morning'-if it  is             trouble to the soul of the preacher. Compliment that does
     a good one. And if isn't say it anyway, and with such a glow            not become flattery or give evidence of hypocrisy the faithful
     that it becomes a good morning-for you and for the                      preacher deserves.
     preacher who's trying his best."                                                                                                  M.S.


