       V O L U M E   XXXIV                                             OZTOBER   1,  1957  -  Gum  F~PIDS,  MICHIGAN                                       NUMESER      1 .

                                                                                                             Watch your own heart and mind:  how you and 1 turn
                                                                                                         to evil with hardness and the spirit of bravado ! And shudder.
                                                                                                             But that sinner has another name. It is sin.
                                                                                                             Sin -is literally : to miss the mark, to turn away. It is
                                                                                                         the next logica1 step in our corruption.
                                                                                                             And here is the idea :
                    "A  Psalm  of                                                                            God has set a certain mark for  every  man to shoot at,
                                      David,   Maschil.   Blessed   is  he  whose   transgression
  .___  .  >S".    -is'  `forgiven,   whose   -sin  is-   covered.~-   8lessed  ,is  --the  -mam-unto    and has provided man with numerous arrows. From within
                   whom  the  Lo~b  imputeth   nat-   jniquity,   and-   in,  ..whose   spirit           and from without the Lord has qualified man for this shoot-
                   there   is  no  guile."  Psalm  32:1,  2                                              ing gallery. From the  very heavens and the earth  come  a
      My  `text is quoted many years later by Paul in Romans                                             thousand voices,  telling him to shoot and how to shoot.
4  :7, 8, and is employed by Paul to prove that the elect  of                                                The  bull's eye of this mark is the glory of God, the en-
-God are justified by faith `without  the works of the  law.                                             hancing  of His majesty and power, the singing of His praises
It. is  curieus  to note that the  Holy Spirit in `Paul really                                           forever. Man is `called to always honor the Godhead.
interprets  David's   message  to Isrel. Interprets, for Paul                                               But man tore himself  away from God, but retained his
states the truth in a positive form  rather  than the negative                                           armour. He stil1 shoots.
way  which David employs. IDavid says that the Lord doth                                                     But he shoots at a different mark. He turned away from
not impute iniquity, but Paul says &that God imputes right-                                              God and searched for other aims.
eousness without works.                                                                                      If you would ask me to catalog his aims 1 wuld have
      Here ,is an example of the age-old truth that the Scrip-                                           to give you a sorry listing. There is a magnitude of  foul-
tures exposits the Scriptures.                                                                           ness and dirt in this catalog.
      The Blessedness of the Justified Sinner !                                                              The Bible speaks of `the aim of the belly. His god is his         :
  Indeed!                                                                                                belly.
      That sinner is described from a threefold point of view.                                               It also speaks of the pride of life, the lust of the eye, and
And it is not attractive.                                                                                the lust of the flesh. Altogether the aims of sinful man.
      First, he is the transgressor.                                                                         Then also, there is mention  of covetesness, concupisence,
     The meaning of that word is to jerk loose, to tear  loose,                                          uncleanness, idolatry, and deception.
to break loose. And according to the idea it is our rebellion
against God.                                                                                                 And shooting at his mark, he lost his God. And as the
      Principally *that refers to Adam and Eve in their fa11 from                                        ages restlessly rol1 around, he gets farther and farther away
original  righteousness.  The idea of the rebellion we find in                                           from God.                                                            I-
such words as "wanton"  in the phrase employed by Reformed                                                   Look around you and see present day civilization. And                  .^-
dogmatics  such  as  "bmnton   disobedience of Adam."                                                    shudder again.
      Our  fa11 from God was far from innocent. It was down                                                  Life is full and  rich. Invention and  human ingenuity
right rebellion.                                                                                         knows no bounds. Everything is full and plentiful. NO mat-
     And this terrible rebellion was repeated and approved of                                            ter  how  much leisure our civilization  may  bring,  there is
by US, by al1 the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.                                                    much to enjoy  and cherish. Life is a riot of pleasure.
     The word  tTamgPes.sor  pints to the wantonness of our                                                 They even  enjoy  (  ?)  their religion. There are  churches
sinning.                                                                                                 nd temples and synagogues. But far from "sanctifying the
     Watch  your children: see  how they wilfully transgress                                             Lord God in their  hearts" (and that is the striking of the
your ordinances  ,and prohibitions !                                                                     right buli's eye), we find BIG MAN on the throne, and the

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

real,  the Biblical God and His Christ are thrown  out of               In a word: he is justified !       -
doors.                                                                  Justification, according to this psalm, consists in this:
     Oh, yes, Pelagius bas his doubtful, vain, victories.               First, his transgression is  forgivert.
     But God did not `receive His due.                       _-         That means that the Lord God took al1 his transgression
     More and more, the world approaches the day  when Man,         and bore it away, never to return.
the Wicked One, Anti-Christ, inhabits the throne.                       John the Baptist must have seen a glimpse of this
     That is sin, missing the mark, losing your God.                astounding truth when he cried: "Behold, the Lamb of God
     And then there is another characterization: the sinner is      that taketh away the sin of the world !"
unrighteous.                                                            Isaiah  also  when he avows that God  tast our sins  into
     And that is the worst of all.                                  the depth of the sea.  Many,   many years ago 1 listened to
                                                                    prayers and often heard the sentence: Oh God, who hast tast
     Because  unrighteousness  is to make crooked that which        our sins in the sea of everlasting forgetfulness !
was straight, to set awry, to do wrong.                                 Second,  his sin is covevgd.
     The idea of. that horror is to be perverse, to be crooked,         That means that the Lord God looked at His people from
to be hideous, to be very ugly in the face of God and His           all-eternity,  and al1 He saw was the precieus  blood of Jesus
angels.                                                             Christ. There was no sin anymore.
     ,Oh, de& reader, wlien we have received  the full heavenly
capacity to see and to evaluate al1 things, we shall see that           Third, his iniquity was not  hputed.
the. horror of  hel1 fits the sinner perfectly. Now we  often           That  means that the Lord God never  counted,-enmnsted
wonder if the punishment fits the crime. And that is caused                                le whom
                                                                    -------                             He  foreknew.-  It is as if he
exactly by the fact that we neither know God nor sin to the         never  sinned. NO, further than that, it is as if they perfectly
full. And at that time t wil1 become plain too how the ele&        fulfilled the whole law of God.
can sing when they are standing by the glass sea, mingled               This man is justified before the throne of the Judge.
with the red of God's indignation.                                     .The rebellion is lifted up and carried away.
     A pre-audition and pre-vision  of that you receive when
you  watch  the deportment of  Moses,  Aaron,  and Miriam,              The wandering away from God and  the losing of God
with the men and women redeemed from Egypt, singing the             is covered  up, and shall never be seen again unto al1 eternity.
song of Moses  and the Lamb at the shores of the Red Sea.               The crookedness is never ,reckoned  in the day when God
     But the above is the explanation of the threefold  char- . shall reveal His book keeping. There are no entries against
acterization of the sinner.                                         this man. The debit side of his book is clean.
     But this sinner, this object of David's psalm and Paul's           But, oh God of eternal miracles, how is this come about?
epistle, is blessed. The Dutch has `a beautiful name for him.           We have heard of Thee that the soul of the sinner shall
In English you simpIy read that he is blessed, but the Dutch        die?!
calls him "Welgelukzalig." Welgelukzalig  means three                   We have heard that Thou art too righteous than to look
things. First, he is "zalig," i.e., full of that which he really    upon sin and iniquity ? We have heard it say that Thou
needs, and that is God. Second, this fulness is called "geluk,"     revealest Thyself as a great Wrestler to theaman  that defies
and  stresses his joy, his ecstasy his superabounding gladness      Thee ?
in the God he might   tin& And "wel" strengthens both his
"zaligheid" and his "geluk."                                            How then can this man go free and be justified?
                                                                        The answer to  al1 these and  many more questions is
                                                                    Jesus Christ. And if you love to dig down to the very depths
                                                                    of. things, the answer is: Jehovah!
     The question  forces itself  upon  US :  how is this  come,        For  al1 the rebellion of the  elect  sinner we see a little
about ?                                                             Lamb, the Lamb of God.  Far from being rebellious and
     How can the rebel, the wanton  sinner who lost his God,        tearing away drom His God, He  cries   out in the  utmost
and the ugly crook find such heavenly bliss ?                       agony of the cross: Why, o My God, hast Thou  forsaken
     How can he escape hell? How is it that the severe punish-      Me ? He wants to  stay close to His God even though that
ment of "rampzaligheid' is not meted out to him ?                   God reveals nothing hut horror to His soul.
     The answer  to that question is the  main theme of this            For  al1 the wandering of the sinner we see One  who
psalm? and, in fact, to the everlasting Gospel of God.              never departed from His God, but  who  always  travels  to-


                                              T H E   STANDAR.D   B E A R E R                                                                                                        3

ward Him even though that way was the way of the cross.
   And for  al1 the q-ookedness  of man we see One who is                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER'
straight to the  utmost degree.' His name is the Lord our                    Semi-monthly,   exeept  &onthly  iiuring   June,   July and  August
Righteousness. He is the Good Shepherd.                                           Published  by the  REFORMED   FREE   PUBLISHING  ASSOCLLTION
                                                                             P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station,  Grand   Rapids  7,  Mich.
   He shows a value, a merit,  a. virtue that is enough for                                         Editor   -  Fi~v.   HERMAN  HOEKSEMA
.all the billions of the redeemed. To them the Lord did not                  Communications relative  `to  contents  should be addressed to
reckon sin, crookedness and filth. N                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
                                           O, because the Lord                                               Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
God reckoned  al1 this horror to His beloved Son. He bore                    All matters relative to subscriptions  should be addressed to Mr.
the guilt of al1 that were given Him by the Father.                          G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
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                                                                             Entered  as-  Second  Class matter  at Grand  Rapids,   Michigan

   But, who are those happy people?                                                                                                                                           s
   With one stroke of the pen God has given their identity.
   They are the people in whose spirit there is no guile.                                                         C O N T E N T S
   Oh yes, God has put a differente  between the Egyptians                MEDITAT1oN  - s
and the Israelites.                                                                 The Blessedness of the Justified Sirmer  _.............______................  1
                                                                                            Rev. G. Vos
   At some  time or another God inhabts the justified sinner.
That is regeneration. And as surely as day follows night,                 EDITOPJALS                   -
                                                                                     The Three  Points and Those tbat Forsook  the
conversion follows regeneration.                                                    Protestant Truth . . .  .._____..............................................................           4             ,
   You  may know whether or not you are justified. God                                      Rev. H.  Hoeksema
seals  His justification in a heart, a spirit  where  there is no         OUR  DOCTRINE  -
guile. Negative speech  which  means that God's own  up-                            The Book of Revelation...  .._ ..____.....  . ..__..._  ___ . . . . . .._............ 6
rightness is granted in the inmost  heart.                                                  Rev. H.  Hoeksema
                                                             G.V.         THE  DAY  OF  SHADOWS   -
                                                                                     The Prophecy of Z e c h a r i a h   _____._.   .__  _ _ _   _._.  ..__._   _....... 9
                                                                                            Rev. G. M. Ophoff

                       ACTS OF SYNOD                                      FROM. HOLY  WRIT  -
   The Acts of our 1957 Synod are now ready for distribu-                            Exposition of .I Corinthians 12-14.. ..__._  ..____....  . . . . . . ..__.. . . . ..__..  ..12
                                                                                            Rev. G.  Lubbers
tion. Have vou obtained
             d               vour  copy
                                    _-  ? There should be one
in every  Protestant Reformed home ! Get yours through the                IN  HIS  FEAR   -
                                                                                     Showing the Coming Generation  God's  Praises ( 2 )   .._.___   1 4
Clerk or Minister of your church or send $1.00 to  under-                                   Rev.  J. A. Heys
signed.
                          Rev. G.  Vanden  Berg, Stated Clerk             FEATURE ART1cLE -
                                                                     I               The Symbolism  `of Colors in Scripture . . . . . . . ..___.__..................... 16
                          9402 South 53rd Court                                        -  Rev.'  R .   Veldman
                          Oak Lawn, Illinois                                                                                             `.
                                                                          THE  VOICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS   -
                                                                                     The Canons of Dordrecht  ..__.  __.  ..__  __. . .  ..__._.....   .._.  ..__._  . . 18
                                                                                            Rev. H. C.  Hoeksema
                   Eastern  Ladies' League
   The Eastern  Ladies' League  wil1 hold  its  fa11 meeting,             DEoENoY   AND  ORJXR-                                                                                      . ..20
October 24, at  8 P. M. in  our Hudsonville Protestant  Re-                          Legal. Matters .__ __.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
                                                                                            Rev. G.  Vanden Berg
formed Church. Rev. R.  Veldman  wil1 speak on the topic,
"Obedience in the home."                                                  ALLARouNDus-                       .
   Reserve this date and enjoy an evening of Christian fel-                  _       God is  nt Deformed  .__.._._..._..._..__............................................  22
l o w s h i p .                                                                             Rev. M. Schipper
                                                                                                                                                           .  -
                           Mrs. H. Velthouse, Vice- Secretary                                                                                                                                    ~. .-


      4                                            T H E   STAND'ARD   B E A R E R   .
                                                                           - -

                                                                             in a room in the Pantlind Hotel, for the purpose of discussing
                    EDITORIALS                                               the cause of the schism  and of the possibility of a reunion.
                                                                             At that conference I read a paper in which 1 elaborately dis-
                                                                             cussed the Three Points as the  cause of the  schism  and 1
           The Three Points  and Those  that  Forsook                        invited the brethren of the Christian Reformed Church that
                  the Protestant  Weformed Truth                             were present there to discuss  them with US. They refrained
                                                                             from  al1 discussion. But what  attempts  did the Christian
           In  The  Bann.e;r  of Sept. 6, 1957, we fincl a  rather com-      Reformed Church ever  make  in the direction of Reunion  ?
     plete account of the attempt  on the part of those that were            None whatever.
     once with US but who denied the Protestant Reformed truth,                    And now they, i.e. the editor of T?ae Ba,sner reports with
     attempted to corrupt  om- churches from within and,  when               gratitude the proposal  made by the schismatics that left US !
     they did not succeed,  forsook the-fellowship of our churches,               The second element in the article of the editor that struck
     to return to the fold of the Christian Reformed Churches.               my attention is that  he refrains from fixing "the  blame  for
           The editor of  The  Banwr  `leaves the impression  with           this sad  situation."
     me that he is. rather favorably disposed to this attempt  and                 From this 1  gei: the impression that he himself `is not sure
     would like to see it succeed.  Writes he in an introductory             where  the blame lies.
     statement :                                                                   Let me help him.
           "A source of deep grief on the part of al1 who truly love               The blame lies entirely with the synod of 1924 and with
     the peace of Zion .must  have long been felt in view of the             the classes East and West Grand Rapids as they existed at
     sharp cleavage that has separated the  members  of our                  that  time.                                               _
     denomination from brothers and' sisters in the Protestant                    The synod of 1924 adopted the "Three Points" of  com-
     Reformed Churches since 1924. It is painful to contemplate              man  grace  which, to say the least, are not based  on our
     that we who have so much in common could possibly be so                 Reformd Confessions, nor are they Scriptural, although an
     far apart and that bitterness and heartbreaking divisions               attempt  was made to prove that  they are. The  committee
     have occured which have often given the nemies of Christ `of synod that was appointed to advise synod in the case
     great  cause to rejoice.                                                and drew up the "Three Points" also stated in their report
           "To try to fix the  blame for this sad situation is  nat          that we, i.e., the Rev. H. Danhof and undersigned, should be
     within the scope of this writing. Our purpose at this  time             demanded that we sign the "Three Points" and, if we  re-
     is  rather to report with gratitude the  proposal  made in a            fused, should be disciplined. The  latter element of the re-
     brotherly spirit by the Protestant Reformed Churches often              port was not adopted. This meant, of course, that  we- did
     referred to as the De Wolf group to establish contact with              not have to sign them.
     our denomination with a view to the welfare and the unity                    But what synod did not want to do  tl~e Grand Rapids
     of the church of Christ."                                              classes did. Although the case was synodically finished,
           The reader wil1 admit that the editor appears rather  glad       these two classes took  it up  once more, not in order to
     with this proposal  on the part of the schismatics to reunite          refer the matter  once more to synod as they might have
     with the Christian Reformed Church.                                    dorre  but to treat the two pastors involved.
           At the same  time, 1 must confess that 1  am  rather  sur-             This was, of course, illegal seeing that the case was
     prised because of two elements in the above ,paragraphs.               finished at synod.
           In the first place, what 1 find amazing is the strong note             My case (1 was the only one of the pastors that belonged
     of grief  expressed  by the editor because of the separation           to Classis East ; the Rev. Danhof and also the Rev. Ophoff,
     that was  effected  in 1924.  According  to  him, this grief was       who took our  side, belonged to Classis West) developed
     felt for already  a long time. To him, and apparently to many          briefly as follows. Protests including the demand that 1 sign
     others, this separation is very painful. This, 1 must confess,         the "Three Points" were lodged against me at my consistory
     1 cannot understand. If t were and is true,  how does the             and  when the consistory refused to treat them they were
     editor explain the  fact that, on the part of the Christian            delivered to classis. Classis took and treated them. They
     Reformed Church, never an attempt. was made to heal the                decided to demand of my consistory. that they ask of their
     breach  ? We, on our part, made such attempts. In the early            pastor to  express himslf about the "Three Points." The
     part of our history we addressed the synod of the Christian            consistory refused on the basis of  the  fact that the  whole
     Reformed Church reminding them of their sin of having  tast            case had been decided by synod and  that the  latter  body had
     US  out and admonishing  them  to  repent.  This, as far as I          never asked me a single question, about those points of
     know, they threw in the waste basket. During the first visit           doctrine. Then the classis itself took the matter in hand.
     of Dr. Schilder we made another  attempt.  Then several                1 gave them. very definitely to understand that 1 could not
     brethren, both of our churches and the Christian Reformed              agree with the "Three Points" and would never sign them.
     C$rch met  in,conference,  in the presence of Dr. Schilder,            They finally asked me whether. 1 would  promise to be




L


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  -  5

  silent about them. I  informed  them that  this, too, was  im-              It must be said that the above is a very "nice",  and kind'
  possible for the simple reason that  these points of doctrine            and humble missive.
  were  .not Reformed and that 1 had to speak and  write                      But let that be.
  against them. Well, the outcome was that 1 and practically                  1 want to  cal1 attention to the  second point in this
  my whole consistory were deposed.                                        missive. For this is not true and, at the same time, it shows
      In the light of the  above, let the editor of  The  Ba.tner          which way the wind is blowing : in the direction of agreeing
  "fix the blame for this sad situation."        -                         with and signing the "Three Points" which, no doubt, the
                                                                           schismatics  wil1 have to do if they are ever to be received
                              * $  *  *                                    again in the Christian Reformed Church.           -

      Now, in regard  to the attempt  on the part of these,  that             Consider :
  left  US to be received back in the Christian Reformed Church,              .l. The Christian Reformed Church adopted the "Three
  1  wil1 be brief. Anyone  can readily understand that this               Points" in 1924 and they wil1 never retract or change them.
  whole matter is, to me, very  obnoxious.                                 This has been shown more than  once in the past, and the
      The synod of the schismatics that met last June in Red-              composers of the above missive know this just as wel1 as we
  lands, California, wrote a letter to the synod of the Chris-             do. It has been shown in the past, too. that, any minister who
  tian Reformed Church that is partly quoted in The Banner.                was Protestant Reformed and  who knocked at the door of
  We reproduce it here:                                                    the Christian Reformed Church to be admitted is required
      "Realizing anew, as churches, that Christ is one and                 tosign those "Three Points" before he is admitted.
  that  the calling of believers is always to seek the  unity of            2. 1 say that this  second point is not true if by  "we"
  the Spirit in the Gospel of Peace, we  address  this missive             they refer to the Protestant Reformed Churches. It is not
  to you.                                                                  even true if by the pronoun "we" they refer to  themr
      "We  *fee1 that it is essntial that we  thoroughly   under-         selves.  When,  1 ask, did they ever express fear concerning
  stand each other. Let                                                    the "Three  Points" ? Never to my knowledge. But if they
                            US not say that it is futile `to approach
  one another for that is to  deny the calling of our Lord to              refer to the Protestant Reformed Churches, it is nothing `less
. strive toward the  unity of  *the  church.   Rather  let                 than a glaring  untruth.  When  did they ever express  such
                                                               US trust
  that  where the Spirit is and  where  brotherly love in  sub-            a fear? 1 say again: never! Fear, to say the least, implies
  mission  to the Scriptures is present, there is  also the  pos-          doubt.  When  1 say that 1 fear that the "Three Points" are
  sibility of a'united witness in the same Spirit. To approach             not  truc, 1 mean that 1 am not certain. And this cannot be
  such understanding of  each other, we, on our part, assure               said of the Protestant Reformed Churches. They always
  you that if any misunderstanding or error becomes evident                maintained  very positively and they stil1 do that those points
  that we  wil1 confess and forsake the same, and we trust                 are contrary to Scripture and the Confessions. This is
  that you on your part wil1 do likewise.                                  evident from  al1  the literature that has been  produced  by
     "So, brethrn, we propose  to you `to consider prayerfuliy            our churches  and their leaders. Hence, this is glaring  un-
  the following propositions :                                             truth as anyone  wil1 readily acknowledge.
      "1.  Wil1 you kindly favor                                              3. By  stating this,  however,  `they at once  weaken  their
                                       US with an answer to this
  missive so that we may fee1 a corresponding desire  on your              own position and  already   compromise  with the Christian
  part to seek the welfare and the unity of the church of Christ ?         Reformed Church. The  latter has no fears concerning the
                                                                           "Three Points" of 1924, at least not as a church. By talking
      "2.  Wil1 you kindly consider the fears we have  ex-                 about their fears  the senders of this missive suggest already
  pressed  cncerning the Three Points of 1924 and consider                that they  may easily be persuaded to adopt the  "Three
  the possibility of an interpretative statement which wil1 allay          Points" for  themselves  if only the Christian Reformed
  these fears and show that these Three Points are  and. are               Church  wil1 "kindly"  receive them back.
  intended to be a clear  setting forth of the Reformed Faith ?               4. This is corroborated by what follows in the same
      "3. For this  purp-ose or for broader contact  wil1 you              second point of this missive. They ask the Christian  Re-
  kindly consider the appointment f a broad  committee  whose             formed Church so to interpret the "Three Points" that their
duty it shall be to meet with a like  committee  from our                  fear  may be allayed and they ask them to show that those
  churches, both  comrnittees   empowered  to  discuss freely the          points "are and are intended to be a clear  setting forth of
  differences and similarities which are found to exist and to             the Reformed Faith." This  admits the  possibility,  as far
  report back to  respective  churches ?                                   as they are concerned.,  that the "Three Points" are Reformed,
      "4. If your Synod should consider some other  way  of                and that they are not al1 sure but what they might be. More-
  seeking the contact proposed in this letter,, wil1 you please            over, as far as their asking  for an intrpretation is concerned,
  inforin  US of it?'                                                                             (Condinued   on page 8)         .

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

                                                                            appeal   to the Judge of heaven and earth for vengeance be-
               O U - R   D O C T R I N E                                    cau& their blood has been shed by the enemies of the
                                                                            kingdom  of God on earth.  Also in this case it is difficult
   .!                                                                    ll`4 to detect any act of judgment whatsoever. The martyred
                THE  BOOK OF REVELATION                                     saints  are  simply  told to be patient yet a little while ; and
                                                                            white robes are given them as a symbol of their anticipatory
                              CHAPTW   1               3                    glory and righteousness. And therefore we must arrive at
                         THE FOTJR HORSEMEN                                 a more general,  comprehensive conception of the nature of
                            Revelation 6 :l-8                               these seven seals, and consider them rather  as symbolizing
                                                                            the history of this present dispensation,from  its main aspects,
         At first we intended to treat these seals separately, one          the chief  currents of events as they al1 flow toward the one
   by one ; but a study of the first four seals soon led US to the          great goal of al1 history, the perfection of the glorious king-
  Eonclusion  that  such a method  wo'uld  be both impossible               dom of God in Christ Jesus. The history of this  dispensa-
   and impracticable. For, in the first place, it soon becomes              tion has only one possible purpose and consummation
  evident, as one investigates the  contents of the first four              the coming of the glorious kingdom  of God. Al1 the events
  seals, that they really belong together, are very closely allied,         of history, al1 the factors and agencies that combine to .make
  and therefore ought to be discussed  in their relation to one             history must be conducive to that one great purpose. And
  another and in their combined  effect upon the history of this            any event in the world's history possesses its own peculiar
  dispensation. And in the second place, a method that would                significante  for the coming of the kingdom  of glory. Taking
  discuss  these seals one by one would be in danger of calling             in consideration, therefore, that the one important  theme
  attention  to.  al1 kinds of doctrines and truths that are  un-           of the Book of Revelation is the coming King and the com-
  doubtedly  implied in the text,  hut the discussion of which              pletion of the kingdom,  and that the book of the:seven  seals
  would be irrelevant to  the  main  purpose of the Book of                 must be taken as symbolic of the living and powerful decree
  Revelation, that is, to reveal the coming Christ in glory. We             of the Almighty, the ultimate purpose of which is the glory
  now therefore enter upon a discussion of the first four seals,            of God's name through the coming'of  God's  kingdom,  we
  which contain the vision of the four horsemen.             ,.             are safe in drawing the conclusion that these seven seals
         Before we begin the discussion of the significante  of each        are intended to reveal to  US the  main  aspects:  .and larger
  of these four horsemen, it wil1 perhaps not be superfluous to             currents of the history of this dispensation as they cooperate
give a word of  general  introduction both in  regard  to the               to bring the kingdom  of Christ to its perfect consummation.
  genera1 character of the seven seals and the proper mode of                  In  regard  to the second question we raisd, pertaining,
  their interpretation. As to the first question, there seems to            namely, to the proper mode of interpretation, we would re-
  be a  rather  genera1 impression that  al1 of the seven seals             mark that we cannot agree with those interpreters that .ex-
  can be classified in the category of judgment-acts of Christ              plain these seals in the temporal,  historica1  sense, as if we
  over a sinful and antagonistic world in the special and                   must consider them as revealing the  successive  events of
  narrow sense of the word. Now  it is  very  wel1 possible                 history in their exact chronological order, each seal extend-
  to consider  al1 that  Christ  performs in the world in this              ing over a  rather  definitely designated period of history;
  dispensation as being acts of judgment in a genera1 sense                 (til1 finally the climax of this dispensation is reached in the
  of the word, either for good or for' evil, in as far, namely,             kingdom  of God. In  regard to this mode of interpretation
  as He is the King of glory Who works for the establishment                we would make  the practica1 observation, in .the first place,
  and  final perfection of His  kingdom,  and as  such appears              that it not infrequently has been conducive to the wildest
  always as the great opponent of Satan and his dominion.                   speculations  .with respect to the exact date of the coming
  But if we take the word "judgment" in its  specific  and                  of Christ for final judgment. Naturally, if the different seals
  narrower sense, namely, as a calamity sent by Jesus Christ                are  indicative  of seven  successive periods of the history
  lor the  -purpose of chastizing the world, or by way of                   of the church and of the world, and if, moreover, it is
  recompense for wrong committed, it  wil1 soon become                      possible to identify these periods in actual history with any
  evident that  ethe most genera1 idea of  al1 the seals cannot             approach to definiteness, we must surely be able to ascertain
  be expressed by  that" one term. To begin with, it is  rather             rather  reliably exactly  how far we have advanced in our
  difficult to  discover  the idea of judgment in the  -sense'              day on the road to  the second advent, and make at least
  designated in the first horse and its rider, going forth con-             some calculation as to the length of the way stil1 before
  quering and to conquer, and  symbolizing,  -as a  super-                  US. This, however,  is an impossibility if we may believe that
  ficial consideration of the text wil1 assure  US, - the  victorieus       the Word of Jesus in relation to the exact day and hour
  progress of the  cause  of the  kingdom  of God in this  dis:             of  His coming is true today as  wel1 as at the time  when it
  pensation. The same conclusions must be reached ;n regard                 was spoken. Besides,. such an interpretation is based  on an
  to the fifth seal. As it is opened, the  souls under  the  altar          altogether too mechanica1 view of history, and is not .at al1


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   7

 in harmony with reality. It is, for instance, not true that the         the horses  and their riders, which occur in connection with
 first four  .seals,  -  cal1 them, if  _ you please: the  victorieus    al1 the first. four sals, and with them only. In the  second
 progress of the  kingdom,   war, famine, and pestilenc,  -             place, they are distinct by the .fact that in the issuing forth
 find their corresponding realization in definitely marked               of  each one of  -them one of the four living  creatures  that
 periods of history.  On. the contrary, history  much  rather            surround the throne of the Almighty sounds the command,
 presents  such an aspect as  "CO  make a surmise from the               or invitation : "Come !" This is evidently the correct render-
 outset that these four riders are simultaneously upon earth,            ing. Our  version has it that in  each case one of the living
 although with this exception, that  now the one, now the                creatures  bids : "Come and sec." And the impression might
 other, appears emphatically on the foreground. And there-               be that every  time it is John who is addressed, rather than the
 fore, this mode of interpretation cannot be accepted  as the            horse and its rider.  However, this is not the case. John is
 proper one.  ,On the other hand, we must  also  dissent  from           already  in the Spirit in heaven, and does not need the  in-
 those that would refer the realization of the -prophecy  con-           vitation to  come and see. And if  such an invitation  should
 tained in al1 the seven seals entirely to the future, preferably        have been necessary at the rushing  forth of the frst horse,
 to a period immediately preceding' the coming of our Lord.              it certainly would have been superfluous to repeat it with
 Among these we  may especially note that  class  of  inter-             the other three cases. Besides, it may, be supposed that John
 preters that would  place  al1 the seals in the period of the           is wide awake, stirred to the depths of his soul, profoundly
 great tribulation. The church has  already  been taken up               interested in the  vision he  receives,  and therefore does not
 into heaven,  *the rapture has taken  place,  when these seals          need the invitation, "Come and see." Not to him, but to the
 shall be realized. Against this view  may `rightly be urged that        horseman that is about to rush forward on its impetuous
 in that case the  boek  loses its value and purpose. For it             drive through the earth, comes the simple command  : "Come !"
 undoubtedly  means to be a source of instruction and  con-              And if now we remember that in these four living creatures
 solation for  tlie church of Christ in  general,  which she             we have the  symbols  of the fulness of  al1 earthly  creason,
 scarcely  needs if al1 these things shall be realized  after she        we understand immediately that the suggestion.  is given in
 has been taken up into glory. Against this  may be urged,               this four-fold  command  that  al1 the world is deeply interested
 in the  second  place,  that  heretofore  `the book has not             in the work of these four  horses  with their riders.  How-
 spoken of a rapture of the church whatsoever. The slender               ever this  may  be' certain it is that  also in this repeated bid
 ground that is supposed  to be found in chapter  4, verse 1,            we have an indication that the first four seals evidently be-
 where  the seer is called "up hither," is altogether too feeble         long together, and form a distinct group.
 to support this theory. And finally, against this  may  also               In  regard  to the symbolism implied in these seals, in
 be urged: the fact that history plainly reveals that the things         genera1 we have our attention called, in the first  place,  to
 symbolized in the seals to a certain extern actually do come
          . .                                                            the figure of the  horses  and their riders. Even in our day
 to pass and re realized day by day. Hence, we must rather              the horse is an animal employed in battle. But especially
.' combine the t.$o theories  mentioned into one, and maintain           in Scripture does the horse occur preeminently as an animal
 that although`,the'  realization of the seals undoubtedly must          of  war.  Already from Psalm 33  :17 this becomes evident,
 be  -1ooked  up,on `as to  a':certain extent stil1 future, and  al-     where  we read.: "A horse is a vain thing for safety, neither
 though there is `a certain succession noticeable in the fulfill-        doth he deliver  any by his great  power."  Here the  ,horse
 ment of their  ~prophecy  in  actual  history, so that new  ele-        is evidently referred to in connection with the battle. And
 ments enter. in ,o'ccasionally that have nof been witnessed in          then it is also plain that he is pictured  in Scripture, even by
the past,  atid, besides, there is an increase in clearness and          implication in  the text quoted, as symbolic of undaunted
 vividnesh of their realization, nevertheless to a large  extent         courage  and vehement,  irrepressible.  onslaught in battle.
 the  ,sals,   - especially the first  six, -are being realized         Beautiful is from this point of view the description we have
 simultaneously, so that, as we have  remarked,  the four  horse-        of the horse in Job  39:19-25 :  "Hast thou given the horse
 men are making  their drive through the earth al1 at the same           strength ? hast thou clothed his neck  with thunder ? Canst
 time, and that throughout the period spanned by this  dis-              thou make him  afraid  as a grasshopper ? the glory of his
 pensation  many of these things have come to pass in days               nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the  valley,  and  rejoiceth
 gone by, are being realized in the present day, repeat them-            in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. He
 selves in the history of the  world' from  time to  time with           mocketh at fear,  and is not affrighted  ; neither turneth he
 increasing vehemence and clearness,  til1  al1  -the different          back from  the sword. The  quiver  rattleth against him, the
 streams and currents of history shall converge in  the  final           glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground
 goal, the completed  kingdom  of our God.                               with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the
    Turning-  our attention now to the first four seals, we              sound of ,the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha ;
 may  remark,  in the first  place, that they  belang  together          and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the cap-
 and  farm  .a group of seals distinct from the rest. First of           tains, and the shouting." This is surely a most beautiful and
 all,  they are plainly distinguished by their  allegorical  figures,    masterful.picture  of the horse from a literary point of view.


 `8  .                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 But for our purpose it is sufficient to  observe  that the            In the  second  place, the rider  receives  a  crown: not the
 Word of God knows the horse as the animal for battle pa?,             royal  diadem  in this case, but  the garland, the wreath of
 en-cellence,  the picture of  strengt11 and undaunted  courage,       victory. And finally, this idea of victory is definitely  ex-
 of irrepressible onslaught, and vehement eagerness for the            pressed in the last  clause,  that. the rider  goes forth  ."con-
 battle. Hence,  when we see these  horses  go forth into the          quering and to conquer," which by its peculiar repetition as-
 earth, we may be assured that there is to be war and battle,          sures  US of the certainty of the victory this rider  wil1 win.
 and that the power of these seals cannot be checked  or suc-          Therefore, we have in the first seal the picture of an armed
 cessfully opposed. However, they do not symbolize wild and            warrior, going forth to battle, whose victory is assured him
 undirected forces. On the contrary, these horses   al1 have a        beforehand.
 rider, who, of course! directs the horse according to his will.          The color of the second  horse is red, or, as the original
 This shows in genera1 that the powers and forces symbolized          indicates,  a color glowing like fire. It is the color of wrath
 by these horses  can do nothing more than they are supposed          and anger, of heated  passion  and violent  emotion,   such as
 to do. They are forces directed and limited by intelligent           causes  a man's blood to rush to his countenance, of lust
 wil1 to a definite goal. Ah-eady the  fact that they  proceed        and gain, of envy and revenge,  of blood and war. The man
 @om the boek  with its seven seals, and that they therefore          that cometh from Bozrah, with sprinkled garments, who has
 are liberated to do their  werk at  the  bidding  of the Lamb,       trodden the winepress of Jehovah's anger alone, is red in his
 inspires US with confidence that they cannot run at random,          apparel. And  when the Lord is described in  al1 the  holy
 that they are not blind powers or independent forces. But            zeal of His heated anger, He is  pictured  in Scripture as a
 especially' the  fact that  each of these  horses  has a rider,      consuming fire: This horse bears the color of a glowing fire,
 directing  them intelligently, is  symbolic  of the  fact that       of heated  passion-  and  revenge   and bloodshed and  war, of
 they cannot  run. wild, that the forces symbolized by the            which it is also symbolic.  Again, the other details mentioned
 horses  are  wel1  controlled  and directed to their proper          of this  second horse and its rider serve to corroborate and
 destination. We must not ask  the irrelevant question as to          enforce this idea.  `For, in the first  place,  we  read that he
 who the rider represents on  every  horse, for the simple            receives  a great sword, symbolic of  war and death and
 reason that he does not symbolize  any particular  person            destruction. And in the  second  place, the definite  informa-
 definitely. Horse and rider belong together. They constitute         tion is given  US that  this horse  receives  the power to take
 one  whole.  They represent one idea. And that idea is an            peace from the earth. And therefore, in genera1 the second
 irrepressibly  streng  and vehement force, ready for battle,         horse and his rider are the picture of heated  passion   and
 completely  controlled  by intelligent  will. Or, if you please,     wrath going forth to do its work in the earth.
 it reveals to s that history in this dispensation is completely         The third horse is black. Occurring in the Word of God
 under the  control of the Lamb that standeth as though it hath       this color is ,the symbol of scarcity and famine. In referring
 been  slain,  to  Whom  al1 power is given in heaven and on          to a droughtin the land of Judah in his own time, the.prophet
 earth, and that events on this earth are definitely and  in-         Jeremiah  writes  : "Judah mourneth and the  gates  thereof .
 telligently directed by His Spirit,  sent forth into  all the        languish,  they sit in black upon the ground ; and the cry of
 earth.                                                              r Jerusalem is gone up." Jeremiah 14 :2.
    Our next observation in  regard to the  symbolism  of                                                                         H.H.
 these four seals concerns the color of  each horse, and in
harmony with their  respective colors the other details of
 description. The color of the first horse is white, which is                                    EDITORIALS
symbolic  of victory. Repetedly this color appears as such                                 (Continued from page 5)
in Scripture. Those that are faithful and  overcome  shall            they know  very  well, or they should know if they are not
ultimately appear in white robes. In chapter  19 :ll, ff., where      entirely ignorant, that such an interpretation has been given
we.have a final description of the battle of Armageddon, the          more than once and that the Christian  Reformed can simply
Lord Jesus appears as the victor, seated upon a white horse, refer to those interpretations. It is not  very likely that they
in  al1 the glory of His power and victory. Thus it was               wil1  depart  from or repudiate the interpretation offered by
also customary in the Roman  army  that the victors should            the former professor Berkhof,  one of the chief  authors of the
return riding on white  horses. Hence, it  may be deemed              "Three Points." .
rather evident. that the white horse is symbol of a victorieus            Let this  be sufficient.
power. In harmony with this color of the horse are the                    1 fee1 confident that if th schismatics are demanded to          .
other features  pictured  in the text. First of  all! we are told     sign the "Three Points," as they undoubtedly wil1 be asked
that the rider has a bow, which is symbolic of righteous  and         to do, in order to get back to the Christian Reformed Church,
victorieus   warfare.  In Psalm 45  :5 we  read of the king that      they  wil1 have no objection unless a large number of their
is typical of Christ : "Thine arrows are sharp, the peoples           followers raise their voice against it.
fa11 `under  thee, they are in the heart of the king's enemies."                                                                 H.H.


                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA-RER                                                         9
                                                                                                                         - - -
                                                                                the incarnate  Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ at the right
                                                                                hand of the throne, the King of kings and the Lord of lords,
                                                                                and the head over al1 things in the church. And l@e lightni~~g
                                                                                hall  %.s  aq~ow  go  forth.  According to  the preceding verse,
                     The Prophecy of Zechariah                                  this arrow- is His people. As stirred up by Christ's-Spirit
                                Chapter 9 :14-17                                they go forth and  pierce the  eneml,  yet not they but the
                                                                                Word that dwells rightly in them and  with the power of
           14. And Jelzovah shall appeap a.bove them,  and like light-          which they are surcharged  and that they proclaim  by a living
       ning  hall  kis  arrow  go  fortlz,V and  tlze Lord  Jehovak  sha.11     faith. And th Lord Jehovah shall blow the trumpet. And
     .  blow  the  tmmpet, and go  fort12 in  the  stores  of  the  South1      there is heard the trumpet-bla&, the gospel-sound by which
       15. Jehovak of hosts shall protect thcm,  and tkey devour a.nd           Christ calls His people to the holy warfare. And go forth in
       trend down sling-stones,  and they drink and yutake  a mise as           the  whirlzh~ds   of tlae south. `'he Lord fights for His people
       frori  wine, and  become full  like  bowls,  as  the  cornem  of  the    through  al1 the brute  forces in His creation. For  al1 things
       a.ltar. 16. And Jehovah  tkeir God  smes  them  in  that  day,           are  Christ's and Christ is theirs. Singled  out  here- are the
        (saves) like a flock kis people,, for Jewels l,ike a crown  slzall      storms of the  South, from  across the broad desert and
       they  be..  sparkling   ovey  the land. 17. For  lzow  great  is  bis    peculiarly severe. Penetrated by His essence, they whirl
       goodness, a.nd how great bis -bea.uty ! Corn makes the young             and twist their way over the earth by His power. And theye-
.      waen grow, and new  wine  the  maidem.                                   fore it is so true that He  comes in  them.  And the  place of
                                                                                their origination is the South. Perhaps there is an illusion to
          The promise  that the Lord wil1 reward His people double              Sinai, as the original dwelling  place of the  Lord,_   from
        (verse 12) can only be realized in the way of the destruction           whence He proceeded to fight for His people. But the
       of the wicked, of  al1  such  who  make answer of  war to the            church bas come to the heavenly Jerusalem and to Jesus the
       proclamation of peace to the heathen.  There is stil1 therefore          Mediator  of the new  covenant.  From here  comes now  al1
       a fight to be  fougl$, the good warfare of faifh that Christ             her help.
       wages through His church toward the victory that He  merited
       for her and that is hers in  Him. In this  section  (verses                  15.  Amd the Lord of hosts  sha.11  cover  thewt.  He is their
       13-17), this  victorieus  warfare is described in figures bold           sun and shield through Christ  who prays for them. And
       and sublime. In this warfare Judah and Ephraim are bow                   therefore no  real harm  can befall them. Their  faith  abids.
       and arrow in the hand of Jehovah and Zon the sword (verse                Atid though  the outward man perishes, the inward man is  re-
        13). Being  creatures,  who live and move and have their                newed day by day. 14nd they devour a.nd sxbdue  bit& sling-
       being in God,  also the wicked in their  violente are rods in            stones and they drink. Their subduing the enemy as armed
       God's hand  - rods of His anger.  So',the king of Assyria                wit11 nothing more formidable in the way of weapons of war
       whom the Lord sent against the people of His wrath and                   than slings  .and pebbles accentuates the truth that their
       charged  `to tread them down like the mire of the street, Isa.           victory is a wonder of God.  Fleslt  is to be  supplied as the
        10  :5ff. ., But the saints are a sword in the hand of God as           object of devo;zhy  and  blood  as that of drink.  The figure is
       His workmanship, created in Christ  Jesus  unto a warfare                that of a lion that eats the flesh and drinks the blood of-his
       that is  holy, which God hath before ordained that they  shou1.d         victim. An identical figure is that of Num. ,23 :24, "Behold,
       wage it, which they do by His .mercy. By His spirit He stirs             the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself
       them up  against  the adversary. And their sword is now                  as a young lion ; he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey,
       solely the sword of the Spirit, which `is the Word of God,               and drink of the blood of the slain.`" The reality d&oted  by
       the  GospeI of Christ. It is this word that  pierces  and  slays         this imagery  is.the  overwhelming and complete victory of the
       the enemies of  t$q, church. For the Word, the Gospel,  de-              saints over their enemies. The world-powers  will. be over-
       mands and.foretells  the overthrow of the enemies, and being             thrown never again to rehabilitate themselves. The world  wil1
       the Word of God that He speaks it  alway8  accomplishes what             pass away with a finality that wil1 spel1 its end forever. The
       He declares. And as identified by faith with the Word, the               wicked, the heathen  that made answer of war,  wil1 go into
       saints overcome  the world, yet not they hut the Word.                   perdition.  Tee  devil  wil1  be  tast into the bottomless pit.
           14.  A.nd  Jeh0va.h   slzall   appear   above  hem.  With the        Corruption  wil1 put on incorruptiqn and this  mortal  im-
       saints fighting the good fight the Lord is manifest above                mortality  and thereby death swallowed up in victory. The
       them as their captain to lead, protect and fight for them and            elements wil1 melt with a fervant heat and the heavens wil1
        to  give  them  the victory. During the forty years of Israel's         be rolled LIP as a scroll, atid there wil1 be new heavens and
       sojourn in the wilderness, the Lord was manifested to His                a new earth upon which righteousness shall dwell. And the
       people for these purposes by the "pillar  of cloud" that  the            saints devour subdue and drink.  It is therefore to be an
        Scriptures in the book of Exodus identifies  with the Atigel            accomplishment  of the saints yet not of the saints but of the
        of the Lord and the  latter with Jehovah. And through the               Word of God, of the Christ of God. There are works tht
        Scriptures the church of this age sees this same Angel now              the saints perform as the fruit of  the working of Christ's

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

      Spirit in  them. By His  mercy they believe in His name,                 farm is reflexive and is derived from a stem meaning to raise
      crucify their members which are  upon the earth, walk in  new-           up.
      ness of life,  confess His name before men and proclaim~ His                    17. But what is this beauty of the church hut the creatural
      gospel. But there are also works of Christ that He performs              reflection of the goodness and the beauty of the God of her
      apart from them, such as overthrowing and making  an end                 salvation. In lively  awareness of this the prophet  exclaims in
      of the  kingdoms  of this world, etc. But  also these works              joyful amazement,  For  how great is  bis goodness and  bis
     they arelsaid  to do because of their being in Him by a living            bea&y!   And concludes,  Corrt  ma.kes the  yo'ung   men  thhve,
      faith. He the vine and they the branches. This explains the             a,pzd   r&ze the maidens.  The Lord wil1 provide  abundantly for
      closing  verses of the  boek  of Deuteronomy  where  it  stated          His living jewels, His redeemed and glorified people. It ex-
     that there arose not a  prophet  since in Israel like unto                plains their everlasitng  well-being  and sparkle.
      Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face in al1 the signs and                     Some additional remarks on verse 15.
      wonders, which'the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt.                    And they shall subdue witk sling-stones. Some think that
     The reference is to the ten plagues. Here the Lord as good                the enemies are contemptuously called sling-stones or mere
     as  tells  US that  Moses  brought  ,over Egypt these plagues,            pebbles  tread,down  by the saints and therefore translate here,
     which  can only  mean that the Lord performed these wonders               And they  shall tread down sling-stones. This view is strained.
      in the way  of!  Moses'  implicit  trust in  Him. as the wonder-         Yet it is not inadmissible as far as the possible grammer of
     working God and thus in the way of  Moses' holding His                    the Hebrew is concerned.  Slin&stones   may  also be the ob-
     promises and relying  upon His Word. By faith, by  such                   ject of the verb in this sentence.
  .'  ' faith, the saints  overcome   the world,' yet not they but the                And  they shall be filled  as a bowl and as the corners of
     Christ in whom they put al1 their confidence. Because they                tlze  altar,  but according to  ethers,  "And they shall  fill both
     have  such faith as given them of God,- they are said to do               the bowl and the corners of the altar," that is, by offering
     what Christ alone  can do. Because by faith they are in Christ,           sacrifices  in  token of their gratitude for `victory. But this
     it is throu&& Christ ,that they do al1 things, not alone fight           rendering is hardly warranted by the grammar of the Hebrew.
     the good fight of. faith as the fruit of the working of Chrjst's                 From the description of Zion's King  contained  in  this
     grace in  them,but  in this fight  overcome  the  devil and His           chapter  - He is. lowly and meek and afflicted and just. He
     whole dominion. Being more than conquerors in Christ, tkeyl               speaks peace to the heathen  and His  kingdom  includes the
     wake  a noise as of wine. Wine is a physical stimulant that               whole earth and its peoples  - it is  clear  that the  reach  of
     makes glad the heart. Christ is the true bread and the true               the prophecies of these  verses extends to the end of  time.
     wine. Eating and drinking Him they have life in themselves                That 1 spiritualized our prophet's predictions, expressing
     and a heavenly gladness floods their sul. Having  achieved               their thought in the language of the New Testament Scrip-
    * the victory thro$gh  Him they joy in Him and make a joyful               tures, was therefore the right thing to do. What comfort
     sound.  They&ng`the  song of  Moses  and  the Lamb.  ,jnd                 could the church of this age derive from these discourses,  -
     tlaey  beconze  full  LCke a  ,~@zvl,  as the  corners  of  th  altaT:    if the prophets are not always dealing in types, if, in
     The bowl is the  ene in which the blood of the sacrificial                other words, they in the final instance are not occupied with
     victim was caught (Ex. 38  :3; Num. 4  :14). As these were                the work of the  incarnate  Son of God in this present  dis-
     filled with the blood of the sacrificial  animal,  so the saints          pensation of the world and with. the final deliverance and
     wil1 be filled with the blood of their enemies devoted to God             glorification of the church ? NO comfort whatever. To  re-
     on the  altar  of His wrath. And they  shall be  covered  with            fuse to spiritualize  where  it is plain that we  should, and
     the blood of. their enemies like the corners of the altar are             accordingly end with these promises in the Jews is to  fa11
     covered  with the blood of the sacrificial victim. The reference          into the error of premillennialism.
     is to the sprinkling `of the blood against the altar (Lev. 15,
     ll), and not to the putting of the `blood  upon the horns                                              Chapter  X
     (Ex. 29 :12). Indicated is again the overwhelming and com-
     plete victory of  the saints over the enemy.                                     THE LORD  T&X  ON~Y FOUNTAIN  OF ALL GOOD, 1, 3.
            16. As their victory is  solely  their faith, our  prophet                1. Ask of  Jehozmh  min in the  time of  the  latter  rain;
     goes on to say that Jehovalz tke& God wil1 save t,hevu intlzat            Je1zova.h   c+eates   lightningis,  and  showers of rain wil1 he give
     day, save  &ke a  flock  His people. He  shall deliver them               them,  to  everyone   grom in  the field. 2.  FOY  the  teraphim
     from the totality of their enemies  - sin, death and the world            have spoken vanity, and  the  divinevs have seen a  lie, and
     and the prince thereof, the  devil  - and give them life in               speak  drea.nas  of  deceit, they comfort in  min;  themfore  they
`%%$: glory. And He saves them that, according to His purpose,                 have -mxvzdered  like a flock,  they are oppressed  because these
  ~  `$hey be  for jewels of a crow~,  sparkling over His la.nd, that          is no shepherd.
     is, glittering in their heavenly beauty over the new earth, or,                  The prophecies of this chapter  are encumbered by an in-
     according to the Hebrew text literally translated;  For jewels            definiteness peculiar to al1 prophecy of the Scriptures seeing
     of a crown,  raising themselves up over his land. The verba1              that it is not history written beforehand.


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARl?R                                                         11

           Also the Gospel of this chpter comes, as it always does,       heaven it  shall'-come.  upn  thein  until  they be destroyed.
       to the people of God who ar oppressed and afflicted and in         These  curses  included further being smitten before their
       consequente  thereof in great distress, and  who,  such is the      enemies and removed into  al1 the  kingdoms  of the earth
       implication, look to the Lord for. deliverance. They are the        (Deut.  28:i5ff). So were the blessings and the  curses  of
       same people whom the prophet  in the previous chapter calls         the  law made to reveal themselves in the existance of  the
       prisoners  of  kope.  At the  time of the utterance of this         church of that day, it being the dispensation of shadows. This
       prophecy they were found in every  land of what was then            material  prosperity was shadow. It typified the spiritual and
       -the  known world as a result of the dispersion of the Israel of    heavenly blessings of the  kingdom  of Christ, while  the divers
       the ten tribe8  among the nations. But also through centuiies       calamities by which the nation was overtaken  when it  for-
       previous to this time the heathen  had been preying upon the        sook the Lord foreshadowed the nameless woe to be suffered
       people of Israel and leading away captive  many of ihem.  Not       by the damned in hell. This material good, being the token
       to be included in these oppressed and distressed  ones are the      of God's favor  and love  was a blessing only for the  elect.
       voluntary exiles in Babylon, Jews  who, because of. their           For the others it was a curse-and  was also so intended. These
       love of this world, had abided in that heathen  land, where         calamities were a curse only for the reprobated. For the elect
       they had prospered, instead of heeding the exhortation of           they were a blessing, seeing that, according to the purpose of
       Cyrus to return to Jerusalem and build the temple.  Btrt there      God, they drove them into the arms of Christ.
       is no reason to exclude the believing Jews in Judea. For
       though the Lord had turned their captivity, they were stil1            Ask  of Jehovah  raiK exhorted the Lord's prophets when
       under the dominion of the world powers and were looking             in time of natiotial  apostacy there was n8 ran and the_zbza.ven
       for the consola'tion of Israel. And  ihe lot of these believing     over head was brass and the earth under foot iron. Rightly
       Jews there in Judea was also hard. For they were oppressed          considered it was a cal1 to repentance that came to tlie whole
       and exploited by the carnal Israel in their midst, most of          nation soul for soul, a  mandate   that  thefiforsake their
       whom  were  rich and  who refused to build the temple on            abomin%tions  and seek  after God in their  affij&tions as  con-
       which account the Lord withhpld rain and sent drought. And          fessing that it was He  who was smitting them  on account
       this affliction had also to be endured by the devout in Judea       of their sins. And there was aSso a promise u%to these asking
       also certainly on account of their own  sins.. In fine, these       and  seeking.   ones  who by His  mercy  wotild humble  them-
       pppressed  ones are the  church  in  tribulation   also of this     selves under' .$Iis mighty hand and ccinf&s ,that His strokes
       present age. It  means that  also the Gospel of this chapter        were deserved. `The promise was this,$e?zova?z  crfates light-
       is for us.                                                          ving, and shtiwe+s  of rain wil1 la< give &h~m,;&~,.eve$y  ovze grass
                                                                           in the field, that is, to every  penitent oti&&*
          1. Ask  of Jehovalz mivz . .`. io the prophets of the Lord
       had been crying to the people of Israel through al1 the ages            So spake, rebuked and admonished, ?he triue  ,prophets of
       of the past from the day of Moses  on, when in punishment           the Lord. But there were  also other, the  divin&s and their
       of their apostacies the Lord had sent drought and smitten           idols, the false prophets in Israel. Their  great%n was that
                                                                           they prophecied f rain and genera1 prosperity and peace
`I     His people with divers calamities.  Moses  had forewarned
       them. "And it shall  come to  pass,`>  He had said, "if thou        without  calling  the apostate Israel to  repentance.  This was
       shalt heark& diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God,         like declaring  that God loves impenitent, reprobated men
       to observe and do al1 His commandments which 1 command              and that grace is common. In the false prophets,the  apostate
       thee this day, that the Lord  wil1 set thee on high  above  al1     Israel put  al1 its confidenc. Instead of  asking   rain  I$ the
       the nations of the earth. And al1 these blessings shall come        Lord, it asked rain of them and repented nat._ So, when the
       upon thee, `and overtake  thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the      cup of iniquity was filled up the Lord removed Israel into
       voice of the Lord thy God." In the succeeding verses  these         the  kingdoms  of. the  nation.  He scattered them among  al1
       blessings  are  named. These blessing included  also plentiful      people from the one end of the earth even unto the other,
       goods, in the fruit of their body,  atid in the fruit of their      as  Moses  had fortold (Deut. 27  :64). And  amotig these
       cattle, and in the fruit of their ground, in the land that the      people,  in these strange lands, they found no rease;  neither
       Lord sware unto their fathers to give them. In the way of           rest for the sole of their foqt, but  trembling  of heart, and
      ,their obedience the Lord wil1 open to them His good treas-          failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind. Their life hung in doubt
       ures, the heaven to give rain unto the land in his season, and      before them and they feared day and night and had no as-
       to bless  al1 the work of their hands (Deut. 28 :lff). But it       surance of their life. They were sol6 unto their enemies for
       shall come to pass, if thy wil1 bot hearken unto the voice of       bondmen and bondwomen, and there was no man to resem
       the Lord their God, that  al1 these  curses   shall  come  upon     them (Deut. 28 :65ff). In the words of our prophets, there
       them. In the succeeding  verses  these  curses  are named.          in those strange lands, they  -wmdered  as a flock, and weye
      < They include also drought. Their heaven that is over their         oppressed, a,flictcd,  because they had 120 sheplterd,  meaning
       head.  shall be brass and the earth under them iron. The            that surh was their terrible lot because  they had no king to
       Lord wil1 make the rain of thejr land powder and dust. From                               (Conthwd on  page 21)


 12                                             .THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
Il                                                                         rael which is  called Israel, but which really is not Israel of
             FROiiHOLY   WRIT  `. I th promise at all. It is merely Israel as they are the chil-
                                                                           dren of the flesh. They are essentially no different than was
                                                                           Ishmael,  who  was'not  born from the  free-woman  but from '
              Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14                            the bond-woman. They are stil1 in the bondage of sin. They
                                                                           are those who are "tast out" by God as was Ishmael of old.
                                  x 1 .                                    Hence, they are called "this people." From a natural-organic
                        (-1 Corinthians 14 :21 j                           viewpoint they are one with Israel, to  whom pertained the
                                                                           adoption, *the law-giving,  the promises, and from whom Christ
        In om fermer essay we pointed out the very  grave error            is born, who is God blessed forever, Amen ! Rom. 9 :l-5. The
-of the Corinthians in regard  to their perversion of the "gift            designation "this people" reminds US of what Jesus says in
of tongues." They were very  little concerned with the word                Matthew 15 8, "Tl& people honoreth me with their lips ; But
of prophecy, with the clear expression in their "own tongue"               their heart is far from me.' But in vain do they worship me,
of the  message  of salvation in Christ Jesus, the Lord. It                Teaching as their doctrines the commandments of men."
seems quite evident that this "speaking with tongues" in the
bonafide sense of -the word had deteriorated into mere foolish                 2. As  such  they- are to be considered to be principally
and  unintelligent  gibberish.                                             different from the children of the promise,  those .whom the
        In their folly for striving after "speaking with tongues"          prophets  cal1 the "residue of my people" (Is. 28  :5). This
they had separated what God had in bis wisdom joined to-                   latter people is the people  who are blessed because they know
gether. Thus they tempted God in Othe church. For they did                 the joyful sound, hear the  message.  Psalm  89:15. Of this
not wil1 to hear the clear speech of God in prophecy. They                 latter people Isaiah had prophesied when he named his son
did not wil1 to hear and heed the "thus saith the Lord."                   "Jear-jashu'b," a remnant  wil1 return, the' remnant according
        Principally they were on the road of those for whom the            to  election.  See Isaiah  7:3 and Isaiah  10:20-23. Did not the
~Holy Scripture had become a closed book. Thus "tongues"                   angel say unto Gabriel  when explaining the conception of
were nat a medium of hearing the Word of God, the Gospel                   Jesus by the  Holy Spirit in Mary, "And ye shall  cal1 His
of our salvatin, but they wre simply the empty  frm,  a                 name JESUS, for he shall save His  people   from their sins."
counterfeit of the true speaking with tongues, which were                  And did not the angel declare unto the shepherds in
an evidente  that God was truly in their midst.                            Bethlehem-Ephratha that this glad-tidings was of  such  a
      To demonstrate the  `profound error of  #this reckless  dis-         nature that it would be to "al1 the people?"
regard  of  _prophecy  and to warn the church of its  conse-                  3.  When  the propht speaks of what God  wil1 say to
quences Paul qotes from the prophecy of Isaiah, which he                  "this people" it ought to be clear  that  he is speaking to a
denomintes as "law." It is  written "in the  law," which is               rebellious and  stiffnecked people, to those  who are not
the rule of faith and' life. He quotes the very  significant pas-          merely  little in faith, but  who are unbelievers. They are
sage which  reads as  fellows:   "Whom  wil1 he  teach   knowl-            those which  caused Isaiah to cry  out,  "Lord   who, hath be-
edge  ? and~ whom wil1 he make  to understand the message  ?               lieved our report and to whom hath  the arm of the Lord been
them that `are weaned from the milk; and drawn from the                    revealed." Isaiah  53:l.  Compare  Romans  10:16. They  aren
breasts ? For it is precept  upon precept,  precept  upon precept  ;       those in whom the hearing was not mingled with faith. Yes,
line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little. N0.u        they had indeed heard with a natura1 hearing. They under-
.bztt by  mtin; of  strange   lips  wit,`2  anotlzei*  tongue  wil1  he    stood  very  wel1 with their natura1 understanding the Word of
>pea.k  to t%s people;  to whom he said, This is the rest, give            God. But their hearts are fat, as we  read in Isaiah  6:10,
ye rest to him that is weary; and this is the refreshing: yet              "Make the heart of Gis people fat, and make their ears heavy,
they zeroul$ not lzew." Isaiah 28 :9-12.                                   and shut their eyes, lest they sea with their eyes, and hear
       The reader wil1 notice that the part which Paul quotes in           with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn
1 Cor.  14:21 is underscored by  US in the text quoted  from               again and be healed." Of these Jesus says in Matthew 13 :ll,
Isaiah 28. This is quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians  14:21                  "Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom
as fellows  : "In the law is written, By men of stmnge  tonguzs            of heaven, but to them (that  are without) (the rest - Luke
and. by  tlae  6ps of  strangem   wil1  I  speak  ztnto  tlzis-people;     8 :lO) it is not given. For whosoever hath to him it shall be
md  nat even ths wil1 they lzea/lT me,  sa.ith the Lord."                  given, and he shall have abundance, but whosoever hath
       After   making  a rather careful and  comparative  study of         not from  him  shall be taken what he hath.  "And  in Luke
1 Cor.  14:21 in the light of Isaiah  28:9-12,  we  submit  the            8:18 we read of these same unbelieving Israelites as follows,
following for `the. considered and sanctified attention of the             "Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to
reader of these lines:                                                     him shall be given ; and whosoever hath not from him `shall
      1. In genera1 we  may note that in Isaiah 28 the  prophet            be taken  even that which  lze  thinketh to have."  And does
is addressing Israel from the viewpoint of its being the Is-               not John say in the Gospel, Chapter 12 :37-40,  "But though


                                                    -THE  S T A N D A R D   B0EARER                               r                               13
        -            -  -.. ---
       he had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not          exactly  what they desired in the fury and hot displeasure -of
       on him: that the word of Isaiah might be fulfilled, which he          the Lord. God wil1 now speak to them by "another tongue,
       spake, "Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom               by the lips of a strange pepole." They did not  desire "the
      hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? For this cause they            message"  in their  "own tongues"; they did not  desire to
       could not  .b$ieve,  for that Isaiah said again, "He hath             hear the wonderful works of God in the Christ, which was to
       blinded their eyes and hardened their heart : lest they should        come. Hence, the prophetical word  wil1 be wholly taken
       see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart and should         from them. In the first place, it should be notice that these
       turn and 1 should heal  them."                                        "ether  tongues" are the tngues which are principally
           4. Here in Isaiah 38:9-13  we should notice the following         "ether"  from those who hath uttered the Word of the Lord.
       particulars concerning "this people" to whom it Is said that          They are the "tongues" of the Assyrians. In these "tongues
       the Lord wil1 speak to them by the "strange tongues and by            of ethers" they shall not hear words in which the manner and
       the lips of strangers."  In the first place we should notice that     the  time of the suffering of  Christ is searched  out and the
       we cannot agree with the various interpretations which                glory to  follow. (1 Peter 1  :ll). The Hebrew  text calls the
       would  make "this people" the true children of God for the            stammering  lips. They do not  proclaim  rest for the weary.
      .Simple  reason that it does not agree with the context nor            They are words which speak only of judgment, loudly they
       with the manner in whieh the Holy Spirit in Paulquotes this           proclaim the  reality that, that which they thought to have                       -
       passage to refute the evil "speaking with  tonges" among the         was taken  from them. Then, in the  second  place. it should
       Corinthians.  When  the prophet  says, personifying God, the          be noticed that even thus they do not  desire-  to hear the Lord.
       Lord,  what he  wil1 do to "this people,"  he is speaking of          There is no return. There is no repentance. t is a finished
       those  who have turned away from the Word of God as                   work. For a full end, and that  determined,  (full consumma-
       spoken clearly by the prophets. The  yare those  who are              tion) wil1 the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, make in the' midst of
       "weaned from milk" and "drawn from breasts." They are, so             the earth. From this there is no return. There is not a
       to speak on their own. They do not long for the pure milk             "second  chance." Only the Remnant  shall return,  the rem-                  '
     of the word to grow thereby. They have not  tasted that                 nant according to the  election of  grace.
       the Lord is good. The Stone in  Zion is for them a Rock                  6. That Paul quotes this tremendous, passage, in  con-
       of offense - unto which they have been set. `( Compare  1             nection with the conduct of the Corinthians, shows  how
       Peter 2  :l-8).  In the  second place, their stumbling at the         serious Paul considered this erroneous speaking with tongues.
       "Rock of offence," the Stone laid in  Zion, reveals itself in         Surely the mere  fact that Paul quotes this passage and  in-
       their evil and unbelieving speech. Tired of the clear  word           timates the relevancy of this passage to the  condition in
       of the prophets they  mimiek  them and say:  Precept   upon           Corinth is ample reason for becoming sober and serious.
       precept,   precept  upon precept,  line upon line, line upon line,    They  who  desire  tongues, without prophecy, or interpretation
       here a little, there a little. This is not an  objective.descrip-     with tongues, evidently did not like the "message" of hope
       tion of  God's favor to the Jews, their abundant instruction          and redemption in the Cross. Whether there be "rest" pro-
8      in the oracles fo. God intrusted to them, nor is this a descrip-      claimed  for the  "weary"   means nothing to these "tongues"
       tion of the method of instruction necessarp for a people for          zealots. Thus their flesh was like the unbelief of  Israel,   if
       whom it is difficult to learn higher  knowledge, nor"does  this       not worse.
       refer to the methods of teachers, being a description of their            Just  how  such a speaking with tongues in Corinth
       puerile and childish methods of instruction, It is simply the         stands in the way of the church being the  mother  of-  be;
       unbelieving sing-song mockery'and jest of "this people"  who          lievers, in the way of  the  offices and Charismata in the
       honors  God with their lips, but who in their deepest heart is        ehurch to edify the entire body, we hope to show in  our
       far from God! This is very descriptive  in the Hebrew where           next article, D.V.  -           -
       transliterated we  read:  tsau latzau,  tsau latzau,  kau  lakau,                                                                       G . L .
      kau lakau, tsau latzau, tsau latzau, kau lakau,  kau lakau. It is
       for them here a little there a  little. They  hate, what they
       consider, this minuteness in detail, and this perpetual  repeti:
       tion .of the prophets. Of this "this .people"  is sick and tired.                              I N   MEMORIAti
       Thirdly, we know that these people never heard "the mes-                 T'he  Ladies'  Aid Society and the Men's Society of the Holland
       sage" of the Christ in the Scriptures. At thisthey  "stumble."        Church  join together in expressing  their heartfelt sympathy to
       Hence, al1 they have left is he law. They principally kil1 the        their- fellow members, Mr. and Mrs.  Justin H. Kortering and
       Lord of glory with the book of the prophets in their hand             their family, in the recent death of Mrs. Kortering's  m&hei
       asa "closed  boek," which they cannot read!                                                 M R S .   DIENA   BARKEL
                                                                                "The Lord is my light and my salvation;  whom   shall  1 fear?
          5. To "this people" the Lord  announces  a terrible j'udg-         the Lord is, the strength of my  life,; of  whom   shali 1 be afraid?".
       ment.  It is on the  bnris of their own unbelief. They get                                                                       Psalm  27  :1


  14                                                  T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R                                               -          -
                                                                            subscribe  fully  to the versification which  says, "Instructing       _
                   I N   H I S   FEAiL                                      our Sons  ; . . for He hath commanded that what He hath
                                                                            done be passed in tradition from father to sen."
                                                                               That is where it must begin !
             Showing  the  Coming Generation
                             God's Psaises                                     God gives to US the-children which He is `pleased to place
                                                                            under our  care. Atid He  ' demands of those to  whom He
                                                                            gives these children that they use  al1 their faculties and
                                       2.                                   resources - which He  also gave and over which He has
           "My people givi eav, attend to my word,                          made US stewards - to train up those children in the fear
            In  parables   new deep  tm&s  slzall be  lzeardj               of His name. That calling  and that responsibility cannot be
            The  wonde+1  story  OW  fathers   made  known                  transferred to other parents. The parent  may - and in this
            To  claild~~en   succceding  by  ats  ~vmst be  slaown."        day and age that is an absolute must because of the com-
                                                                            plexity of our present day life- hire others to do this for
        So we sing. And so the psalmist wrote in Psalm 78:1-4.              him. Parents  may, and wisely do, band together to form a
  And we like to cal1 special attention to that "by US must be              school society and hire teachers to give instruction in the
shown."        This is brought  out more strongly and properly              various  subjects  for which the parents have. neither the
  emphasized in the second stanza of Psalter number 213, of                 time nor the training. But then the parent  does not transfer
  which we quoted the first verse above. In it we sing,                     his responsibility to that teacher. He only adds to his own.
                                                                            He stil1 is responsible for that covenant  training of bis child ;
           "1Tnstrzccting  OUY sons we gladly record                        and he is now  also responsible for seeing to it that the
            Tke  pt-aises,   tlze works,  tlae,  utzight  hof  the Lord,    teacher he hires - individually or collectively as member of
            For He hatlz commanded  that what  He hath done                 the school society - gives the instruction which he must see
            Be passed in traditioiz   from father  to son."                 that his child gets. This is a calling  and a responsibility every
        You wil1 note- that here we have the "must" of this show-           parent  has in respect to al1 his children.
  ing of God's praises to the coming generations. He hath                      However we have not said  al1  when we  say that the
  cornnzanded  that what He hath done be, passed in tradition               parent  must  ,se to it that God's praises are shown to his
  from  father to son.                                                      son. It is- not enough to say that the  father must pass to
        There is one point of  differente  between the psalm as             bis son the tradition  (the  truth concerning God) he  re-
  written by Asaph and the versification quoted above. The                  ceived from his father. (We understand, of course, that this
  versification is a  very  faithful one ; and we are not criticizing       is Old Testament language, when there was no printed Bible
  it as misleading and leaving a wrong impression. But we                   for each home to possess. And God preservtid  the truth con-
  want to note that the psalm does not speak of instructing  our            cerning Himself by tradition as father handed down "CO his
  sons, and of father passing tradition to his son, but instead             son the praises of God when he would tel1 and retell of the
  to of the sons of the Church and of shewing these things                  mighty works of God). That is not what Asaph says in this
  to the coming generations. I                                              psalm. He  writes, "We  wil1 not hide them from their
                                                                            children . . . For He . . . commanded our fathers, that they
        The versification is correct in that it expresses the funda-        should make them know unto their children." The  whole
  mental  Scriptural  principle  that God  holds the  parent   re-          Church has a calling  and a responsibility' before God for the
  sponsible for the covenant  training-of his own son first of all.         instruction in God's praises of al1 the children of the Church.
  A man not interested in providing for the spiritual training              Note that the psalmist speaks of "their" children and says
  of his own flesh and blood  wil1 not, of course, have  any.               that "We  wil1 not hide  them."  The actual training and
  sincere desire  to show God's praises, or help others to show             giving of instruction may not and often cannot be given by
  God's praises to the children of other  covenant  parents.                one to  the children of  ethers; but the  calling  of  al1 is to
  The Scriptures know nothing of a sincere, fervent  zeal for               support financially and with mora1 support the training and
  bringing to the  Hotte.ntot  in  frica  and his children  the            instruction in which God's praises, His might and His won-
  praises, the works  and' the might of the Lord that has no                derful works are shown to the youth of the Church.
  interest in the children between  our homes and Africa  and
  in providing al1 the training that is possible for the children              The  childless  have a  calling  to  contribute financially  to-
  in the  very home itself. The Apostles were not set on fire               ward and support morally the covenant  training of the chil-
  with a zeal to go first to the ends of the earth. They started            dren of others. Those whose children are now parents and
  in Jerusalem with an ever .widening circle of activity as God             who have no more children at home to `send to a  Chris-
  opened  the way. And they were instructed to go first to                  tian school stil1 have a  calling to  assist the training of  tlie
  the  Jew and then to the Gentile. For that reason we  can                 children of others. The psalmist speaks the language of faith


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       .15

when he says that the believers wil1 show forth the praises             who  expresses this  covenant  resolve before God's face. For
of God to the coming generations. The believer has interest             in verse  5 he  adds,   "For: He established a testimony in
in God's kingdom,  in His cause, in the spiritual joy and salva-        Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded
ticn of al1 the youth of the Church. And therefore he, with             our fathers, that they should make them known unto their
Asaph, says WE wil1 not hide them : WE wil1 show them t6                children."
the coming generations.                                                    It is God's law that we should!
    The Church is not a group of rugged individualists. The
Church is the body of Christ and is composed of members                    God has commanded that we should shew His praises,
that stand in an inseparable connection with  each other. They          His might and His wonderful works to our children. If and
shall not simply comprise a body in the new creation. That              when natura1 love should fail and the love of money, which
Church of Christ is now already  the body of Christ. It was             we cannot  frce  ourselves  to spend for this instruction,
designed and brought into being by God as a body. Al1 the               rules US instead, we cannot get away from that command  of
members work together for the same goal. Al1 the members                God. If  an~d  when natura1 love  fails  and convenience and
are interested in the wellbeing of the other members. When              the ease and comfort of our flesh asserts itself in the place
one member suffers, they al1 suffer. Therefore tbe members              of that natura1 love, we stil1 have a law which God appointed'
who have no children (or whose children have graduated                  in Israel. And Israel here  means  His  Ch-urch  iri  al1 ages.
from school and no longer  have personal need of an institu-               uou can get around men. You Can ignore what man tells
tion that gives instruction and training that has for its               you from the pulpit. You can argue with them in your home.
purpose the showing of God's praises to His people)  wil1               You  can even convince them that yours is a good  excuse,
understand their  calling  to help in the showing of God's              yours is a just case. But remember you cannot  get.around
praises and wil1 de.+e to do so in the love of God.                     God. You cannot  ignore Hin.and  have Him remain helpless
   That brings US to the second observation which we wish               over against your opposition to His  laws and commandments.
to make at this time. The reason why a child of God shows               You cannot convince  Him that your excuse is goob and that
the praises of God to the coming generation is that he loves            your cause is  jus't. You have to deal with Him. You must
God. 0,  indeed, he  loves his children  ; and in that love  `he        live always,  also with your children and their training in
seeks the very best of everything  fo;  them.. In his  love for         His fear.
his  child a  parent   wil1  surely   desire  the salvation of  that       And, you wil1 now understand, then it is the love of God
child   wil1 desire  to see that hiS child has the joy of the only      that wil1 cause you to shew, and see to it that others show,
comfort in life and in death. Yet we must not confuse  naturai          unto your children God's praises, His strength and His
love, which even the reprobate, sin-hardened individual  may            wonderful works. Only the love of God wil1 cause US to keep
have for his  child, and the love of God which  comes from              His  law. His  law demands love in the inner being. With-
God, returns unto Him in al1 the things which He gives to               out the love of God we cannot keep His commaridments;  not
usand does for US and delights in His praise and glory. It              this one either.
is that love of God that  causes   US to show His praises to
His children.                                                              You have that love `of God.
   Why should a childless  couple, why should a father and                 You confessed that  when you brought your  child to
mother  whose children are grown up continue to support                 receive  the sign and seal of the covenant  at its baptism.
financially and inorally the showing of God's praises to                   Walk  then in that love.
those children who have no physical  tie of relationship and                                                                         `1
natura1 love to them ? The answer is and must be : Because                 Then, and then only, we walk in His fear.
they love God. A  parent  in his natura1 love for his  child                                                                       J.A.H.
may and  wil1  desire to see his  child escape the awful  tor-
ments of  heil.  Such is  also the implication of the parable
of The  Rich Man and Lazarus. He surely  desires  to  sec
his five brothers escape the. agony in which  he found him-                                       IN MEMORIAM
self. There is nothing spiritual in that. A carnal, natura1
`love  can cause that. Yea, a man  can  desire that while he               The Consistory of the Edgerton Protestant Reformed Church
hates the God Who  inflicts that torment in His  jusfice  and           wishes to extend its sympathy to a fellow office bearer, elder
holiness.. But it takes the love of God to cause a man to               G. Gunnink, in the loss of his mother,
desire  to show God's praises unto God's covenant  children.                                MRS. JENNIE GUNNINK
The rich man in the parable makes no mention  of that. bod                 May the Lord comfort him in this bereavement and give
is nat in al1 his thou&ts.                                              him  grace  to rejoice in the assurance that "blessed are the  dead
    That we  wil1 not hide these things from the  covenant              who  die in the Lord."
youth because we love God is also set forth by the psalmist                                                 Rev. H. Veldman, President

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

                THE SYMBOLISM OF COLORS                                 stand this revelation of God in nature His Spirit must dwell
                          IN SCRIPTURE                                 and work in our  minds and hearts. Even so, the speech is
                                                                       there.  Every creature is the expression of a divine thought.
         "The heavens declare the glory of God  ; and the  fir-         That is speech. Nor is it so  that this speech of God in  cre-
  mament  sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth                 ation merely  concerns the wisdom and power and beauty `of
  speech and night  unto night sheweth knowledge." PS. lg :l,          the Creator in a genera1 way  ; that there is in  nature  no
  2. Indeed.they  do ! Speech about God ; His infinite  beauties !     speech concerning Christ and grace,  salvation and heavenly
  Knowledge about God ; His divine praises and glory ! How             things  ; that  nature and Scripture are simply two unconnected
  wel1 David understood that  al1 creation is a continuous             revelations. The two are closely related since the  ne God
  speech, deciaring.  to US the eternal and wonderful thoughts         is the author of both. He adapted the one to the @her,  things
  of God.                                                              erthly  to things heavenly. Essentially genera1 and special
         "For the invisible things `of him from the creation of the    revelation are one.
  world are clearly  seen, being understood by the things that             Therefore we can speak of symbolism in creation.                   -
  are made, even his eternal power and Godhead  ; `so that they            There is symbolism, rich and beautiful, in nature itself, in
  are without  excuse." Rom. 1  :20. The things of God are in          the world of animals, in grass and  ' flowers and trees, in
  themselves invisible. They are seen and understood,  however,        numbers and shapes. Al1 creation is one grand parable.
  by the things that are made. The creature may do with them               There is symbolism, too, in colors. Day unto day uttereth
  what he pleases; acknowledge God or ignore Him; bless or             speech !
  curs ; adore God or despise Him ; serve His Maker or go                 Scripture abounds in references to one color or another.
  his own reprobate way; the simple fact stands that al1 things        In either the Authorized or Revised  Version  of the Bible
  speak of God.                                                        you  find  mention  of at least fifteen different colors.  Bay,   a
     It pleased God to reveal Himself in a creature outside of         shade of  re& is used  very rarely. Black appears  quite  fre-
  Himself.  He did so in Scripture as the God of our salvation         quently in  Holy  Writ and. with application to various things.
  through Jesus Christ our Lord. .He did so as wel1 in al1 the         It is applied  to hair, marble or pavement, mourning,  passion,
  works of His hands. Revelation is God's speech concerning            horses, the heavens, the sun,  ,the skin and to  flocks. Eight
  Himself in language the creature is able to understand.  Such        different words, indicating as  many shades of meaning, have
  divine speech we find in  al1 things round about  US; the            been thus translated. Blue occurs a number of times,  mostly
  inanimate creation, mountain and valley,  ocean and lake and         with reference to the fringes, veil and coverings of  taber-
  river, rocks  and precieus  stones ; the world of plants and of      nacle  and ark ; to the vestments of the priests ; to "werkers
  animals no less ; the  human body and soul with  al1 their           in blue" ; to palace adornments and royal apparel.            T h e
  marvelous parts and functions ; the heavens as we see them,          Authorized  Version  speaks in Gen. 30  :32- of the  "brown
sun and  moon- and stars, firmament and  clouds,  rain and             cattle among the sheep." In  the Revised  Version,   however,
  snow. Al1 are creaturely embodiments of divine Self-know-            the same word  is translated  "black." Crimson, known best
  ledge, that together spel1  out the name of God and reveal to        for its brilliance, is applied especially to  raiment  and sins.
  US His infinite greatness and beauty.                                The color green occurs rather  often in Scripture, but almost
         In the midst of all-this  Self-revelation God placed  man,    exclusively as the color of vegetation, Grey is the color of
  wondrously made to understand it and through it know His             the hair in old age. The same word is also rendered "hoar"
  Maker. Else there stil1  could be no revelation,  however            or  "hoary." Purple is a color  often mentioned in the Bible.
  beautiful  might  be the creatrely mirror of God's wonders          It was utilized extensively in connection with the adornment                :
  in  al1 the works of His hands. There had to be a subject `of the tabernacle. Among those summoned to  assist in the
  capable  of receiving this revelation. To that end God made          beautifying of the temple were also the "workers in purple."
  man' in His own image with an intellect capable  of knowing          It is used often for regal attire and for gorgeous apparel in
  Him, a heart adapted to love Him and a mouth fashioned               general.  Red is prominent in Scripture and has a clear sym-
  to declare His praises. Again, that man he endowed with              bolic significante.  It is applied to dyed skins animals, human
  marvelous  faculties of sight and hearing, touch a.nd taste and      skin and eyes, sores, wine, water, pavement and pottage,
  smell,  that by  means of these he might have contact with           .apparel,  the sky and to sin.  Starlet is a shade of red. It,
  creation round about him and be able to read this handwri-           too, was prominent in the equipment f the tabernacle as
  ting of God. Of these five senses  the two most important are        wel1 as in  the cleansing rites for  lepers  and purification
  sight and hearing. Qf the two the more important, no doubt,          ceremonies. It is used for royal or gorgeous apparel and
  is  sight.                                                           with various other applications. Sorrelis used only once, in
    Thus God speaks to  US through  al1 the  miracles  of His          the RV. Vermilion, another shade of red, appears in  Jere-
  creation. True, we need the light of Scripture to understand         miah 22 :14 and Ezekiel 23 :14 only. Yellow occurs  only in
 it. In its light  only do we see the light. God must, interpret       Esther 1  :6 to describe pavement, in Lev. 13 to describe                   '
  for US His own handwriting. Equally  true it is, that to under-      lepreus  hair, and in Psalm  68:13  to describe gold. Finally,


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E  R E R                                                     ; l.7
 -        -

      there is the color white, used numerous  times  and with            28  :3. Immediately  `after the ascension of Christ  two  .mn
      diverse applications.                                               stood by the disciples "in white  apparel.!'   Acts-  1  :lO. The
          Although there is little doubt, in view of the infinite wis-    same is true of the redeemed saints. To  Daniel  it...is  said
                                                                                                                                       _ .  ._.
      dom of our Maker, that  al1 these colors must and do have           concerning the last times,  "Many  shallbe purified,  and made
      symbolic  significante,  it is by no  means easy or, in some        white, and tried ; but the wicked` shall do wickedly." Daniel
 cases, even possible to ascertain just what that  significante           12:lO. Of the Lamb's wife Rev.  .19:8  tells  US, "And to her
      is. Bay,  brown, sorrel, vermilion, even green and yellow are       was granted that she should be arrayed, in. fne linen,  clean
      referred to, but no further light is shed on  any figurative        and white  ; for  the fine  linen- is the  rig%heousness  of the
      meaning. Nor should we resort  to guesswork or personal             saints."  When  Christ was' transfigured  on.  the'mount  "His
 -philosophy.;  this can lead only to confusion and arbitrariness.        face did shine as the sun, and His raimnt'was whit  `is-`the
      Other colors,  such as black, crimson, even blne and starlet        light." In Rev. 6 :ll it is said of the souls of them that were
      appear to have more than one symbolic connotation. Their            slain  for the Word of God and for the testjmony which they
      precise  significante   wil1 have to be determined in  each case    held, "And white robes were given unto every  onk f them."
      by the concrete context.                                            The throne of God which Ezekiel saw was white and in Rev.
          It is  well, too, to bear in mind that some colors have a       20  :ll we see Christ sitting on  "a  great, white throne." We
      figurative  significante  in  every  day life, which they cannot    could not go on, but there is no need: White is` the color of
      be said to have in the Word of God. This is true particularly       righteousness, holiness, victory ; the' color f heaven' and its
      of yellow and green. When  a man is a coward he is said to          inhabitants; the color of God.  1  `,
      be "yellow." The color is also used to symbolize caution. In          -`Streng,  too, in symobism is the color "re+" .It is the color
      Scripture you find nothing of the kind. Green in every  day         of  anger,   passion,  wrath,  violente  and  .murder,:  war . and
      parlance is often used to denote envy and jealousy. A person        bloodshed. These naturally are denoteddby  red. In Scripture
      is said  to be "green  with  envy" and jealousy is referred to      it is no different. The man that comes from Edom i8'"red  in
      as  .the  "green-eyed  monster." Again,  however,  the  conno-      his  apparel,"  Isaiah  ,63  :l, 2. Little wonder, for he has been
      tation seems  quite foreign to the Word of God and even             treading the winepress of the wrath of God and his  .garments
      more so to  God's own creation,  where  green is most pro-          are stained with'the  blood of God's and his enemies. In His
      minent, most soothing and comforting too.                           terrible wrath God is a consuming lire.  Red is the coior of
         Let                                                              fire. The second of the Apocalyptic horsemn rides on a red
                 US examine a few of the more'prominent colors men-
      tioned in Scripture a bit more closely, that is, from the view-'    horse and concerning him it is said : "And power was given
      point of their symbolism.                                           to him to take peace from the earth, and that  they should
                                                                          kil1 one another : and there was given to him'a great sword.i'
         Of al1 the colors mentionecl in the Bible not one is used        Rev. 6:4. The indication is, that there would be great wars?
 more  often and with a clearer symbolic  significante  than              wherein multitudes would be killed and L streams of-`bloed
 "`white." 1% is the color f righteousness, holiness and com-            would flow. Therefore we see Satan in Rev. 12  :3 `as  Ira
 plete victory : purity, innocence, peace and light. Now the              great red dragon." By the same token  red is  also the color
 one, then the other connotation8 appears on the foreground.              of sin. "Though  they be red as crimson they shall be as
 Therefore it was used so extensively in connection with the              wooI." Isaiah 1 :lS. Red, here, does not stand for indelibility,
 tabernacle, its curtains, the veil, the ephod and girdle and             although this meaning need not be entirely excluded. It is a               .
 breastplate of the high priest. The breeches and miter of the            hard, fast, stubborn color. Try to wash it  .off  .and usually
 high priest as wel1 as the garments of the lower priests were            you only worsen matters.  That is also true of sin. Al1 man's
 white exclusively. The first  .of the four riders of the                 accomplishments cannot  blot it  out. Nothing  can  wash it
 Apocalypse sits on a white horse. Rev.  6:2. Here the color              away,  -."nothing but the blood  ,of Jesus."  The  -  iclea  _ is
 clearly typifies complete and  eternal  victory.         The other       striking  enough and true. Even  So,  this. is not  the,  .primary
 things said about this first  horseman  put this meaning                 significante  of red. It is the color of unbridled. lust, blind
 beyond the reach  of al1 contradiction. To  .him was given a             fury, wrath, bloodshed, war and terrible destruction.  :
 "crown," a victory wreath,  and-   "he went  forth conquering
and to  conquer." The "Ancient of Days" -(Dan. 7  :9)  ap-                   The third horseman sits on a black horse. It is the; color
 pears in a garment white as snow and even the hair of His                f want, hunger, mourning, death ; also of fiith and .corrup-
 head is like the pure wool. "Let thy garments be always                  tion. It is the  absente  of  al1 color. The night is black and
 white," Eccl. 9 :8. Here the reference is to righteousness and           dark. In Jeremiah 14 :2 we see the gates  of the city as black
                                                                                                                                  .
 ethica1 purity. In Rev. 15 :6 we see the seven angels having             of the drought.                                                   :             _
 the seven last plagues "clothed in pure and white linen."  Al-              "Starlet" is referred to some forty or more times  in the
 ways the angels are presented as clad in white. Of the angel             Word of God,  often in connction with the-tabernacle and the
 at the empty tomb of Jesus it is said, "His countenance was              vestments of the priests.  It symbolizes wealth and prosperity.
 like lightning, and his raiment white as  snow.ll Matthew                                     (Continua$   on  p a g e   2 4 ) .   _

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

ll                                                                                 It. is of importante  for the understanding of this article
             The  VoCce of  C9ur  Fathew                                    ll that  .we try to conceive again of the erroneous, Arminian
                                                                               position over against which the fathers present these truths.
                                                                               After   all, while it is certainly  truc that the fathers here
                    The Canons of Dordrecht                                    present a certain positive truth and  lay down certain guiding
                                 PART TWO                                      principles  for the conduct of the Reformed believer toward
                                                                               others in the church. the primary aim also here is to combat
                      EXPOSITION OF THE  CANONS                      . .       and expose the  Arminian  errors and calumnies brought
             TH I R D  AND  FOURTH   HEADS   OF  D O C T R I N E               against the Reformed position. And an analysis of these wil1
      OF  THE  CORRUPTION OF  MAN,  HIS  CONVERSION TO  GOD,                   bring to light the interesting fact that the tactics of the enemy,
                     AND  ,THE  MA N N E R   TH E R E O F                      have not  changed   much in our day. He  who is  truly  Re-
                                                                               formed wil1 have to face some of the very same charges and
          Article 15. God is under no obligation to confer this grace
          upon   any; for  how  can he `be indebted to man,  whu had  20       wicked calumnies that were brought against the Reformed
          previous gifts  tot bestow, as a foundation for  such   recom-       believer of yester-year.
          pense?  Nay,  who has nothing  o,f his own but sin and
          falsehood? He therefore  who becomes the subject of this                 The main accusation which is answered in this fifteenth
          grace, owes eternal gratitude to God, and gives him thanks           article is that the Reformed doctrine of sovereign predestina-
          forever.  Whoever  is not made  partaker thereof, is either
          altogether regardless of these spiritual gifts, and satisfied        tion and particular and irresistible grace is a proud doctrine.
          with  bis own  condition;  or is in no apprehension of danger,       It is  the charge that it is proud and conceited for anyone
          and vainly boasts the possession of that which he has not.
          With respect to those  who make an  external profession of           to claim that he, in distinction from and to the exclusion of
          faith, and live regular lives, we are boand,  after the exampie      others of his fellow men, is chosen of God and the recipient
        L of the  cpostle,   to, judgment and speak of them in.the.most
        favorable manner. For the  secret  recesses of the heart are           of God's grace unto  salvation.  They charge, first of all,  that
          unknown to  US. And as to-others,  who have not yet been             this is pride over against God. And secondly, in close con-
          called, it is our  duty to  .pray for them to  Gold,  who  calls
          the things. that are not,  2s  if they were. But we are in  no       nection therewith, they charge that this doctrine leads to pride
          wise to conduct ourselves towards them with haughtiness,
          as if we had made ourselves to differ.                               over against the fellow-believer and the fellow-man.  It  causes
                                                                               one to divide men into  elect  and reprobate, to pass  judg-
        Much  of the above translatin is, I believe, more of  a               ment as  to whether they are elect or not, and to assume a
paraphrasing of  the thought of the original than a translation                boastful and haughty attitude over against those  who are
of it. And in  my opinion the  attempt  to paraphrase is by                    not elect. That this is indeed the charge that is answered in
no means successful, but rather hides the original though in-                  the article we are considering is plain from its  entire  ap-
stead of elucidating it. We  ,will therefore present a com-                    proach  and language, especially from the last part which deals
plete translation of  *the  article,  and a translation which, as              with the proper attitude of the recipient  of God's grace to-
the reader  may  discover  by a comparison,  also is in  sub-                  ward others.
stantial agreement with the official Dutch  version of this                       In this connection we would  point  out that this is, of
paragraph. Our translation is as fellows  :                                    course, nothing strange to the Reformed believer of the
         This grace God owes to  no  ene.. For what  would he                  present  day: Some such false charges as, "You preach only
         owe `to him who beforehand is able to give nothing, in                to the  elect," or, "You try to determine  who are the  elect
         order that it should be repaid to h.im ? Nay more, what               and  who are the reprobate in the church," or "You people
        .would he  owe to him,  who  bas nothing as regards his                think that  you. are the  elect,  that only members of your
        own things (nothing of himself) , except sin and a lie ?               church are saved," etc., etc., are not unknown among those
      Whoever  therefore  receives  that grace owes. and gives                 who maintain the Reformed truth strictly. And for that same
        eternal thanks to the only God  ;  whoever  does not  re-              reason it is  wel1 that we be acquainted with the answer which
        ceive it, he is either altogether unconcerned about these              our fathers had to such calumniators.
      spiritual things, and delights himself in his own: or,                      We may observe, furthermore, that the Arminians follow
        being.  careless (Latin : secztrats, having  the unfavorable           the age-old  tactics of  heretics in  general,  namely, that they
        connotation of a false sense of- security) , he vainly boasts          register charges against .the truth and against those  who
        that he has that which he does not have. Further, con-. maintain the truth of which they themselves are actually
        cerning those  who externally profess their faith and                  guilty.  For the truth is not that the Reformed doctrine of
        show amendment of life,  we are to judge and to speak                  sovereign  predestination   and irresistible grace is a proud
        the best, according  to the example of the apostles, for               doctrine, but  that the Arminian heresy is a proud doctrine; -
        the  secret  recesses  of the hearts are unknown  to  US.              a doctrine that exalts man  rather than  God not  only,`buf  also
        Moreover, on behalf of those who are not yet called we                 a doctrine that in actual  fact  causes one.man  to conduct  him-
        are to pray God, who calls the things which are not as                 self with haughtiness over against another, as though he had
        if they. were. Certainly in no wise are we to be haughty               made himself to differ, had distinguished himself by the
         over against them, as if we had made urselves to differ.             exercise of his own free will.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   ` B E A R E R                                                   19

     Now let US note how the ,fathers maintain the truth over         works has it? Nay, would God be obligated to bestow upon
 against the Arminian error in this connection.                       him even one minute more of life in His favor in the earthly
    In the first place, they speak of the inutual  relation of God    paradise? Not at all.  Al1 that Adam  could ever say, even
 and man in respect to the bestowal of the grace of conver-           wheti  he obeyed and served God perfectly, was:  "1  am an
 sion. The Arminian charges that it is proud and conceited            unprofitable  servant ; 1 have `done that which is my duty to
 for anyone to claim to he the object of such irresistible grace      do. And for the very  fact that 1 might serve Thee, 0 God,
 that has its source in sovereign  election.  They present the        with  al1 my heart and mind and soul and strength, 1  owe
 Reformed confessor as one who acts indeed as though God              Thee  my undying gratitude." To be sure, God would not
 were obligated to bestow His grace upon him. And, to be              i<ill him. Death is punishment;  it is the expression of wrsth.
 sure, any doctrine that teaches that God is obligatd to be-         But neither is it true that God would be obligated to Adam
 stow His grace upon a man is a proud doctrine. But that is           in any sene. Abstractlp considered, it were conceivable that
 exactly true of the Arminian heresy. It is the remonstrants          God would drop Adam back into the nothingness out of which
 who teach  that God's grace is conditibnal,  that the reception      he was created,  simply drop him out of existente.  But never,
 of the blessings of salvation is dependent upon the exercise         not even with everlasting obedience, could Adam have a claim
-of the free wil1 of `man, that corrupt and natura1 man can by        upon God. Hence, the point which the fathers malte; first of
 the use of common grace (by which they  understand.the  light        all, is that God's grace is always undeserved, unmerited, and
 of nature)  gradually gain a greater, that is, the evangelical       that God nevr can stand in a relation of obligation to His
 or saving grace and salvation itself, that nregenerate man          creature.  This is a good point to bear in mind. We  some-
 can yet hunger and thirst  after   righteousness  and life and       times defne grace as unmerited favor. And as a handy and
 offer the  sacrifice of a  contrite- and  broken  spirit; The Re-    brief definition this is  al1  right, provided we bear in mind
 monstrant  position  is founded  from beginning to end on            that God's favor did not become undeserved merely  through
 Man. Byt  what'.is  the Reformed truth? In this connection           sin, but that in regard to .the creature  God's grace is in the
 the fathers do not emphasize the  sov@/-eign  character of God's     very*  nature  .of the case undeserved. God never owes the
grace, but the urtNze&ed,   atndeser-ved   character  of the grace    creature  anything. God is God !
 of regeneration  and conversion. Of course, the former lies             `But, in the sccond  place, the fathers emphasize here that
`at the root of the latter; and the latter  cannot be successfully    the situation is far worse. Not only has man' as man nothing
 niaintained without the fermer'.  The truth behind the truth         whereby he  can make God indebted to him. The  very   op-
 that is presented in this article is  the truth that God is          posite is true. Man is a sinner.  Al1 that he has of his own
 sovereign, that He is the Divine Potter and we are the clay,         is sin and falsehood ? That is al1 he can ever bring to God of
 that He is absolutely free to let that clay serve His glory in       himself.  He can bring no hunger and thirst  after   righteous-
 whatever  way Tt pleases Him, the truth that He is merciful- ness, no broken  and contrite heart, no "decision for Christ,"
 to  whom He wills and that  whom He wills He hardens.                - nothing does he have of his own  except  sin &d lie. Hence,
 Nevertheless, the fathers here stress the  fact that God's grace     not only is God not obligated to bestow His grace  upon
 is absolutely undeserved, unmerited. "This grace God 0we.s           such a sinful man, but the very  opposite is true: that sinner
 to no ene." There is on the part of God no relation of obliga-       has merited dernal wrath and'condemnation. As the fathers
 tion, of debt, toward any man. And the fathers really present        have stated earliei-, 11, `A, 1 : "His justice  requires  (as he
 a two-fold  reason for this statement. In the first place, they      hath revealed himself in his Word), that our sins committed
 claim that this is impossible because of the very  p'osition of      against his infinite majesty should be punished, not only with
 man as man, as a creature,  - apart now from the fact tgat           temporal, but with eternal punishment, both in body and
 he is a sinner. Now, if it were true that man could first give       soul." Where is boasting then ? It is excluded, completely
 God something, then it might  also be true that man could            out of the question. God owes this grace to no one.
 cause God to be indebted to him. But the fathers emphasize                                 (to be continued)                   H.C.H.
 that we are  able to give God nothing beforehand, in order
that it should be repaid to  US. Man as man, as a  creature,
 apart from the consideration of sin, has nothing which he has                               IN MEMORIAM
 not in the first plce  received.   All that he has has been            The  Ladies' Aid of First Protestant  Reformed Church of
 bestowed `upon him by God. Even the right to serve God is            Grand Rapids,  mou% the  loss of one of its faithful members,
 a privilege.  Such was the case with Adam in the  state of                               MRS.  GEO. YONKER
 righteousness. To be sure,  he was the object of God's grace,        who.m  the Lord took unto himself July 21, 1957,
 His favor. And he had the callig to serve God, to love Wim             We hereby expres; our sincere sympathy with her husband
                                                                      and family.  May our heavenly Father's grace and  care help to
 with al1 his heart and mind and soul and strength. But could         comfort and guide them day by day.
 he merit anything with God ? If Adam served God perfectly                                         Mrs. Hoeksema, President              -
 for a certain length of time,  would God then be obligated to                                     Mrs. J. Van Winsheym, Secretary
 bestow tipon him etemal life, as the theory of the covenant  of         P.  S. The above memorium which was to be  placed in the
                                                                      August   1, issue was delayed because of misplacement.

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

                                                                                       This is undesirable and damaging and, therefore, it ought to
                           DECENCY and ORDER                                           be greed, inasfar as is possible, what the legal  requisites for
                                                                                       treating matters are so that tha question of legality in most
                                                                                       instances  can be disposed of with dispatch.
            -.                           Legal Matters
      :                                                                                   Now it must also be understood that no set of rules can
 j,__, `In our last article we raisecl the question, "What  deter-                    be so broad and involved so as to cover every  possibly circum-
mines the  legal status of matters presented to the various                            stance  that  may arise. Always there exists  that possibility
ecclesiastical assemblies `for deliberation and decision?" We                         that a case is presented wherein the circumstances simply do
cited at that  time seven  rules of the Christian Reformed                            not fit the rules.  From  such instances,  however,  one cannot
Church, governing the legality of matters presented to  the                           arge for the abolition of al1 rules.   Rather,  these are excep-
Synod and we stated then that our churches d not have                                tions and must be treated as such. To every  rule there is an
such, a compliation of definitely  written  rules but that a                          exception.
committee of Synod is at present. mandated to  provide  them.                             Furthermore, the matter of determining whether or not
This does  nat  mean,  however,  that our churches have                               a certain matter is legally before the ecclesiastical assembly
throughout  the years been functioning without  rules in re-                          is not an incidental, unimportant matter. It is not, as is often-
gard  ,to these matters. On the contrary there are several                            avered, a  mere technical thing and  when the ecclesiastical
fundamental  rules incorporated in the body of our Church                             assemblies  prolong  debate on those matters they are not
Order. that are binding  upon every  ecclesiastical assembly.                         simply  "wrangling over technicalities" or engaged in  f'mental
They- prescribe in genera1 what is required in order `that a                          gymnastics" for the sake of "oratorical exercise" but there
giveqmatter be declared legally before the Consistory, Classis                        is usually a vita1 principle  involved in the discussion. After
04 Synod. We nate in this connection the following :                                  ah, to bring a matter before .an. ecclesiastical assembly in the
                                                                                      proper, orderly way or not to do so involves  more than com-
            1. Article 30 stipulates three things:                                    pliance with or violation of  some  legal code. It  may be
                       a) First, the matter must be of an ecclesiastical nature       grantde that in some instances a violation of the legal  proce-
                          which  means that it is classified with  sthose  matters    dure  may be due to  ignorante  but  it must not be  over-
                          that properly belong to the business and jurisdic-          looked that wilful and intelligent viplation  often results from
 _                        tion of the church.                                         a wrong spiritual attitude toward the matter in question;
                       b) Secondly, if presented in a major assembly it must          a sense of conscious  guilt  and so an evil maneuver attempting
                        be evident that it could not be finished in the minor         to bar or gain treatment of a matter. through legally wrong
                          assembly. The legal procedure in al1 cases is that          practices. From this point of view the legal  aspect of a case
      ,                   matters be treated in the order of consistory,              may be more important than the case itself. History in our
                          classis and synod.                                          own churches, and ,that not so long ago that we cannot re-
                       c) Thirdly, the exception to the  <aforecited rule is          member,  has borne this  out and so it is  wel1 to have a set
                                                                                      of concise and  wel1  -defned  rules which express what  con-
      _'                 that matters pertaining to the churches in  com-
                          mon may and should be legaily  treated in the major         stitutes legality and in the light of which most matters can
                  :       assemblies without prior treatment in the minor             he readily judged.           .
                          assemblies.                                                     Obviously, Classis East felt the need of this in 1944 for
                                                                                      at that time a committee was appointed to study the matter
      +.  2.  Article  46 sets forth the  principle  that what has  once              and give advice  to the Classis. Before.me 1 have a copy of
             been decided by the major assembly  shall not be                         that  committee's  report and although 1 do not  at. present
                       treated anew  unless there is a preponderant reason            know what the Classis did with this report, 1 wil1 acquaint
 :  `-. for reconsideration or revision.                                              the reader with parts of this report; The committee calls
             However, these rles cover  only the major  .facets  of the              itself, "A Committee for the formulation of a set of  Rules
problem and frequently there arise various other  complex-                            for judging clearly the legality of Communications  sent to
ities that give rise to  .the question, "Is this or that matter                       Classis.f'  In its study it expresses two  basic  principles  that
legally before the body ?' These situations  often lead to time                       wil1 guide them in the formulation of these rules.  They are.:
consuming   debates  which impede the proceedings of the'                             "1. The  nature of Classis as an Ecclesiastical body, and 2.
assembly and contribute little, if anything, to the execution                         The nature of the relation individuals sustain to the Classis."
of the real labors of the body. They decide nothing as far as                         As to the first of these, the `committee states that "Classis
the, matter in' question is concerned. These debates expend                           differs from the consistory in the  fact that its powers and
&ch'  valuable  energy of the. delegates wifh the. result that                        courses of  action are agreed  upon by free and mutual consent
frequently later` matters are treated with undue haste and.                           and  that, therefore,  also its decisions and its relations to other
rushed through without proper consideration because the  as-                          persons  are by such mutual  consent." Just how this particular
sembly  has bcome weary through needlessly  long sessions.                           distinction affects the legality of communications sent to the


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      21

body is not  clar  nor is it explained in the committee's report.            "c) Whether the consistory, in case it has not  received
Concerning NO, 2 above, the committee distinguishes between               a copy, waives its claim because it is confident of, its knowl-
those "persons  related to the Classis  who have an inherent              edge of the material."
right toward it by virtue of the fact that Classis is composed                In addition to al1 this (with which we do not express full
of persons  who represent them, is supported by them and is               agreement  ) the commfttee also suggests that a communication
responsible to them, (i.e., members of the  denomination)                 may be declared illegal, ruled  out of order, if it contains
and those "persons  who stand in no inherent relation to the              language tht is indecent, abusive, defamatory to one's char-
.Classis," (i.e. those who are not members of the denomina-               acter,   e t c .
tion, outsiders). It is the reasoning of the committee that the
same  rules cannot  apply to both of these groups.                            In conclusion we  wish to make the following suggestions :
                                                                              1. In addition to the foregoing we fee1 that an ecclesias-
    Concerning  non-membersl  the committee suggest  that they            tical  assembly  should have the right to refuse and declare
may desire  to approach or address  the Classis with regard  to           illegal  any communication which, as to form or content, is
matters that may concern such things as : Quote - " (1) the               unreasonably vague, disorderly or long. It should be returned
negotiations concerning operation-materials,  ,etc., (2)  negota-         to its author (s) for revision. Since this is difficult  to  en-
tions regarding civic  morals or charities, etc., (3) treatment           force without  rules,  it  may be  wel1 to  incorporate  certain
of doctrinal questions with unrelated church groups, etc."                limitations with regard  to this in a set of rules  for future use.
The right to do so in this case, according to the advice  `of the
committee,  shall be limited by one consideration, namely,                    2. To  expedite the determination of the  legal question,
whether the Classis wil1 grant him or them this courtesy. If              the following suggestion :
a  person   outside  of our churches  wishes  to  address  or                 a)  Each  Classis or Synod have an agenda prepared in
petiti'on  Classis, bis-legal  right to be- head-shall  -be ~decided.    advance  by its Stated Clerk.
by the  assembly:  ' `They  can  refusem  or grant to  ~him this              b) In the event there is doubt in the mind of the Stated
privilege.                                                                Clerk with respect to the legality of a  given  matter, this
   According to the report of the committee, this same rule               matter be referred to the Classica1 OL Synodical Committees
applies to those  who have been members of our churches  hut`             (the  latter no  longer   existant),. which  committees  be  em-
have withdrawn  such membership. We quote the report:                     powered to carry  out the necessary investigation to  deter-
   "In the case of a person  withdrawing  from the control of             mine  such legality (in certain instances in the `recent past
his consistory, such a person  shall be regarded as having  lost          such preliminary investigation would have been very bene-
al1 inherent connection. and right with the Classis and hence             ficial) and serve the assembly with the pre-advice.
can be heard only if the assembly grants him. the courtesy.                                                                       G.V.D.B.'
Then the procedure shall be as follows : (a) The communica-
#tion shall have been in the hands of the Stated Clerk at least                               `THE DAY OF SHADOWS
five days. (b) The Stated Clerk shall  state the purport of                                   (Con&ued from page 11).
the communication. (c) The president shall apply the crite-               deliver them. And the result was that they perished in their
rion given in C. 0. 30, 31 and invoke  the rule therefore. (d)            misery.
In case of doubt remaining after the president has ruled, the                 With this terrible history of the past generations of his
objector  may move to have it  read and the meeting  shall                people before his,.eye, the prophet  turns to the oppressed and        '
decide whether to  read it or not. (e) `And finally,  .if it is           afflicted church of his own day,- to her bondmen and  bond-
decided to read, the assembly shall decide by vote whether the            women, to her prisoners in the pit, he says to them,
material  warrants treatment."                                            Ask ye of the Lord  rain, that is, as humbling  your-
   Then, regarding members of our churches  who  address                  selves under His mighty hand, as puting  al1 your  con-
a communication to the Classis, the committee advises the                 fidence in Him, let Him be al1 your salvation, Him the only
following considerations as  rules for determining the legality           fountain of al1 good and who alone can save. And you pen-
of the communication. We quote:                                           itant ones, prisoners of hope, asking  you shall receive,  show.-
                                                                          ers of rain, copieus  blessing from above. And put not your
   "a) Whether the consistory testifies that the communica-               confidence in the diviners and their idols, who prophecy to
tion is a matter that could not be treated conclusively at the            you of rain and prosperity and who cry, Peace, Peace, when
consistory, though it has followed the legal   process  at that           there is not peace. For your  very present  suffering-  prove
consistory.                                                               that they. speak vanity, have seen a lie and tel1 false dreams
   "b) Whether the consistory testifies that it has  received             and that they comfort in vain and that therefore their proph-
a copy, which is indeed a matter of courtesy and justice, but             ecies  wil1 never be fulfilled.  So it was in the past with them
also inherently related to the question whether it could be               and so it is now and so it wil1 ever be with them.
finished at the local consistory.                                                                                                   G.M.O.

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

                                                                       Paul writing +to Timothy says, `Al1 scripture is given by in-.
                                                                       spiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,,for reproof,
                                                                       for correction, .for instruction in righteousness : that the man
                                                                       of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto good works.'
  God is not Refovmed.                                                   "In these various ways  God's marvelous attributes are
        Under  the above title L. Nelson Bell, executive editor of     revealed, being exercised by him in his works of creation,
  Chz?-istimzity   Today,   writes  in the September 2,  1957 issue    providence and redemption.
  of that religious periodical                                             `Why then the necessity of  affirming,  in a spirit of
        T.here  is something striking in what Mr.  Bel1  wrote  on     deepest  reverence,  that God is  nat deformed? Because in
  this subject and that is, that in contrast. to much that is writ-    each generation, and particularly in our own, God is. often
  *ten today in religious papers which presents- God in  such          presented in only one aspect of his  ,personality or by only
  light that He appears to be deformed, Mr. Bel1 attempts  to          one attribute to the exclusion or depreciation of others. This
  give  US a well-rounded conception of God. The author  in-           narrow presentation  causes  God to be seen as though he were
  sists that "fhose  who are so overwhelmed by the love of God         deformed; his glorious person is disclosed out of focus.
  and al1 of its implications that they overlook other attributes          "There  are those who are so overwhelmed by the love of
  which are equally truc and impelling," have a God Who is             God and  al1 of i'ts implications that they  overlook other  at-
  deformed. We  can only  be. pleased with what the author             tributes,  which are equally true and impelling. The depth and
  says here and it is entirely in harmony with the truth we            height and breadth of the love of God can never be exhausted,
  have always been taught,  namely, that God is  al1 His attri-        for he is the epitome  of love and al1 that it implies.
  butes, and, al1 His attributes are one in Him.                           `tHe is  also the God of holiness and justice. The Bible
        However,  when we  read  al1 that the author has to say        which tlls us'-fhat  God is love also affirmsthat"  he' is a con-
  on this subject we were inclined to  place a question mark           suming fire. Therefore, to stress the love'of'  God to the ex-
  behind the above title. For it became plain to  US that Mr.          clusion of his perfections in holiness and justice is to give
  Bel1  fel1 into the  very error concerning the conception of         a distorted picture.
  God that he warns his readers against. 1 am going to quote               "The Cross of Jesus Christ reveals the love of God. But
  bis entire article and .you see if you can detect the fallacy 1      it reveals far'more. The depths of sin, the magnitude of its
  believe 1 discovered when 1 read  .his writing. Here follows         offense against a holy God and the price necessary to free
  his article :                                                        man from its guilt and penalty, al1 are revealed by the Cross.
        "CuiL  vza.gz  Izope to have an adequate concept of God ?      We see combined  in one sublime act the love, truth,`-holiness,
  Certainly we  can never hope to understand comprehensively           righteousness, mercy,  faithfulness, justice, and knowledge of
  al1 of his perfections and attributes for we are finite. Never-      God, and  having  said this,  al1 of its implications have not
  theless God has not left himself without a witness. It is            been exhausted. Let US never forget `that in this glorious act
  both ur privilege and duty to learn that which he has been          of redemptipn and propitiation we see combined   many  as-
  pleased to reveal `about himself.                                    pects of the God with whom we have to do.
        "We know only that which God has been pleased to r,e-              "God is the God of infinite and absolute perfection. Being
  veal, and for sinful man  that is overwhelmingly adequate.           infinite he is free from al1 possible limitation. Being absolute
        "To contemplate  the attributes of God staggers the imagi-     he is an eternal  self-existent   person   who  ,is the voluntary
  nation,  yet he has revealed himself for the very  purpose that      cause of  al1 that is, has been or ever  wil1 exist. He is `the
  we might, although limited by the flesh, know him and glorify        same yesterday, today and forever' and he is `without vari-
  bis name and distinguish between thatwhich is true and false.        ableness or shadow of turning.'
        "God has made it possible for US to know him through               "One  may hear the seemingly wise statement: `God is
  his genera1 revelation in nature.  Romans 1 :20 says, `For the       too good to dat& anyone,' and from this premise the deduc-
  invisible things of him from the creation of the world are           tion that therefore al1 men wil1 some day be saved regardless
  clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,          of what they do about Christ, God's provision for their need.
  even his eternal power and Godhead ; so that they are with-          Paul,. in Romans,  writes : `Note then the kindness  and the
  o u t   excuse.'He reveals himself  also in history and  con-        Severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but
  s c i e n c e .                                                      God's kindness  to you, provided you continue in his  kind-
        "He ha;-revealed  himself in his Son of whom we read in        ness ; otherwise you too  wil1 be cut off.' The crux of the
  Colossians 2 3, 9: `Beware lest any man spoil you through            matter is that sin must be judged and God in his infinite
philosophy and vain  deceit,  after the tradition of men,  after       love and justice has done something about it,  sending  his
  the  elen?ents  of the world, and not  after  Christ. For in him     Son through  whom man  may be freed from the guilt and
  dwelleth al1 the fullness of the Godhead bodily.'                    penalty of sin and restored to fellowship with Him now and
        "God reveals himself in his  written Word. The  apostle        forever.


                                                THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     23

    "If we would know God and the attributes whereby  he               he declares'that being absolute God is an eternal self-existent
is known we have but to turn to Holy Scripture. In both Old            person who is the voluntary cause of al1 that is, has been or
and New Testaments we find the  same God. Some  wou1.d                 ever wil1 exist. We agree with him when he denunciates  the
distinguish between *the `God of the Old Testament' and the            attempt  to  inake separation between the attributes of God
`God of the New,' but they are the same. To discard the one            such as his attributes of love and justice so that the one
for the other is to be guilty of a selective  prejudice  that leads    attribute negates the other. This is al1 as it should be. God
to grave error.                                                        is not deformed, and he is exceeding wrathful overagainst
    "For instance, in Isaiah we read : `Therefore as. the fire         every   attempt  to conceive of and present him differently than
devoureth  the stubble, and the flame consumeth the  chaff,  -SO       he has revealed himself to be.
their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom  shall go            But now notice where  the writer of the above quotation
up as dust : because they have tast away' the law of the Lord          falls into the very  error he intends to warn against.
of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.'               First of all, he evidently believes that God  makes salva-
But the same God, speaking in the same book  also says:                tion possible for al1 men and' is unwilling that any souls be
`Come now, ancl let  US reason together,.saith the Lord: though        lost. Writes he, "Peter tells of the patience and longsuffering
your sin be as starlet,  they shall be white as  snow; though          of a holy God ,unwilling  that any souls be lost." He no `doubt
they be red like crimson, they shall be as. ~001.'                     has in mind here the passage in 11 Peter 3 :9. 1 claim that
    "We  find the Lord Jesus Christ  uttering  this scathing           this is a distortion of the truth of God's sovereignty in elec-
denunciation  : `Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,  hypo-           tion and reprobation. Mr.  Bel1 does not apparently reckon
crites ! . . . ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye        with this truth, and therefore has a deformed  presentation of
escape the damnation of             "
                                heil: This  same Christ  also says:    the God `of the Scriptures.
`Come unto me, al1 ye ,that~ labour and are heavy laden, and
1  wil1 give you rest.'  _  _  _  ,, ____                                 Secondly, in close connection with the preceding, he
                                                                       evidently  believes that the rejection of Christ is the sole cause
    "The apostle Paul denounces sin and the unrepentant                for the damnation of the lost. This  also is not the truth.
sinner but offers pardon and peace to  al1  who  wil1 turn to          Again,  he does not reckon with the Scriptural presentation
Christ  in'full  repentance. The writer of the  Epistle  to  He-       of  God's sovereignty in  election  and reprobation. And he
brews affirms God's revelation through the prophets and the            fails  also to reckon with the truth that man is naturally de-
Son and presents a picture  of. escape and eternal salvation to        praved and lost due to the original sin. of .Adam.  And when
those  who believe.                                                    YOLI mutilate God's truth you deform God.
    "Peter tells of the patience and longsuffering of a  holy             And finally, in close connection with the immediately  pre-
God unwilling that any souls be lost, but also of the day of           ceding, he evident&  believes that salvation is conditioned by
impending  jhdgment  from which none  who have rejected                our repentance and believing on Chrict. This too is a denial
Christ shall escape.                                                   of the truth  that God is the sole  cause and worker of our
    "NO, God is not  deformed.  He is revealed  to  US in the          salvation from beginning to end. And to  deny this is  also
perfections of his glorious attributes. It is his  wil1 that we        to `present -God quite differently than he reveals himself to
should see him and believe  in him fr who he is and what he           be in the Holy Scriptures.
is. "We who are capable of love, feeling, knowingt righteous              It  should be plain to Mr. Bel1 and al1 ethers.  addicted to
                                                                       his view of salvation as he presents it in the quoted article
indignation, kindness,  mercy and a sense of right and justice,
should realize that in  him  al1 of these things are found in          that you have a distorted view of the God of *the Scriptures.
                                                                       Now it is true that God is not deformed no matter what
absolute perfection. He  who knows no limitations of  time,
s,pace or circumstance deals with  mankind  in perfect love and        men  may make of him. But it is likewise true  that  many
                                                                       today under the guise of speaking  the truth nevertheless give
also perfect justice. He who is of purer eyes than to behold
evil, and who cannot look on iniquity, has nonetheless made            a presentation of God that is grossly. deformed.
perfect provision for sin and the sinner. In  al1 of this the                                                                       M.S.
perfection, and absoluteness of his attributes are revealed to
man.
    "NO, God is not deformed. He is perfection, a Spirit,                       UNSHAKEN FAITH AMID DANGER
infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being,  wisdom,                 The Lord is most righteous, the. Lord loves the right,
power, holiness, justice, goodness, truth and love."                       The evil He hates and wil1 surely requite;
    As we intimated above we are in agreement with the                     The  wicked  His anger wil1 drive from their place,
author of the above quotation when he asserts -that- God is
the God of infinite and absolute perfection, and that, being               The upright in rapture shall gaze on His face.
infinite, he is free from  -1 possible limitation. We agree  when                                                           Psalm  11:3


                                                                 ---.___                   -/

24                                                  THE  S T A N D A R D   BEAR-ER

      Feature  Articles  for the  Siaidard Bearer.                          the high priests denotes, that the latter  is not only the ser-
                                   in 1958                                  vant. of the God of love, but  also of the God of' wrath. In
                                                                            Rev. 17 we see the great whore, Babylon, the Antichristian
Subject,  date and Writei                Rubric and  wr3ter   rephced       worldpower, sitting  "upon a starlet colored  beast"  and she
January  l-                                                                 is arrayed in "purple and  starlet." The reference is to her
  The'Parable  of  the Ten                    Voice of our Fathers          worldly wealth and beauty and royalty,  hut as  wel1 to her
  Virgins                                       H. C.  Hoeksema
      C. Hanko                                                              thirst for  bloed, for she is drunken with the blood of the
                                                                            saints and is rlated ethically to the "great red dragon."
F e b r u a r y   l-                                                                                                                                   .
  The Sign of the Son of                      Decency and Order                ,"Purple"  has much the same meaning in Scripture. It is
  Man in Heaven                                G.  Vanden Berg              the color of royalty and gorgeous apparel. It, too, is used
      R.  Veldman                                                           much in connection with the tabernacle. To prepare the
March  l-                                                                   latter Israel had to bring offerings of gold and silver; brass
  The  Symbolism  of  Metals                  Contending for the Faith      and blue, purple and  starlet.  Ex. 25 :4.  Moses  ,was ordered
  in the Old  Toestament                        H.  Veldman                 to make the ten curtains "of fine linen, and blue, and purple,
      H. Hanko                                                              and starlet." Ex.~ 26.:1.  The color was prominent as, wel1 in
April 1-            `-                                                      the garments of the priests, the ephod; the girdle and breast-
  The Jesuits                                 In His Fear                   plate of judgment. It has always been the color of royalty.
      G. Van Baren                              J. A. Heys                  When  the Lord was mocked in His royal office "they clothed
May  l-                                                                     Him with purple," a soiled, faded, ludicrous robe, no doubt,
  The Quiet and Peaceable                     Al1 Around US
  Life of 1 Tm.  2:2                          M. -Schipper                 hut-intended  .as..acaricature of the regal toga.--It is also the
      G. Lanting                                                            color of- riches,and.  splendor. Rev. 18 :16, 1,7.
June  l-                                                                       The  symbolic   significante  of  "green" is not easily  deter-
  Revelation Through Dreams                   From  Holy  Writ              mined. It is used  almost  exclusively as  the color of  vege-
      B .   W o u d e n b e r g                 G. Lubbers                  tation. It does `not symbolize  jealousy.  Perhaps it is the
July  l-                                                                    color of hope and life, because of its association with plant
  The Angel of Jehovah in                     Day of Shadows                life and the period to which we look forward.in the bleak
  the Old Testament                             G.  M. Ophoff               and barren winter.
      A. Mulder                                                                To our knowledge  "blue"  is not found in the book of
August  l-                                                                  Revelation.  It would seem that its  basic denotation is that
  Revelation through Visions                  Voice of  our  Fathers
      H. Hanko                                                              of divine faithfulness. Perhaps that is the message  of comfort
                                                H .   C .   Hoeksema   ~    brought to US by the blue firmament as it spans this earthly
S e p t e m b e r   l-.  :                                                  creation   like a gorgeous and reassuring canopy from horizon
  Jesus' Baptism by John                      Decency and Order
      R.  Veldman                               G.  Vanden Berg             to horizon.
                                                                                                                                  R.  Veldman
October  l-
  The Living Creatures of                     Contending for the Faith
  Ezekiel' 1' and 10                            H.  Veldman
 C .   H a n k o                                                                                                                       .     p
November  l-                                                                               THE PERFECT  LAW OF GOD
  One's Part Taken  out of                    In His Fear                                  Jehovah's perfect  law
  the Book of Life. Rev.  22:19                 J. A. Heys
      G. Lanting                                                                             Restores  the soul again ;
                                                                                           His tstimony sure
December  l-                                                                                 Gives wisdom  unto men ;
  Making  Friends                             From  Holy  Writ
      E. Emmanuel                               G.  Lubbe&                                 The precepts of the Lord are right,
                                                                                           And fill the heart with great delight.                 e

        THE  SYMBOLISM  OF  COLQRS  IN  SCRIPTURE                                          The  Lords command  are pure,
                          (Codinued  from  page 18)                                          They light and joy restore ;         -
Of the  exemplary  wife it`is said in Prov. 31  :21:  `,`All her                           Jehovah's fear is clean,
households are clothed with starlet." It also indicates  blood                               Enduring.  evermore  ;
and bloodthirstiness. Therefore it, too, is used of sin.                                   His statutes, let the world confess,
"Though your sins be as  starlet  . .  ." In this case starlet is                          Are wholly truth and righteousness.
red accentuated. Starlet along with white. in the garment of                                                                      Psalm  19:1,  2


